Disclaimer: Fight the New Drug is a non-religious and non-legislative awareness and education organization. Some of the issues discussed in the following article are legislatively-affiliated. Including links and discussions about these legislative matters does not constitute an endorsement by Fight the New Drug. Though our organization is non-legislative, we fully support the regulation of already illegal forms of pornography and sexual exploitation, including the fight against sex trafficking.
Fight the New Drug is not your average anti-porn movement.
You won’t see us marching to state capitols with big “BAN PORN” signs and raised fists—though we are passionate about change. You won’t see us creating petitions and spreading them around online—though we are dedicated to getting the word out about the harmful effects of porn and the porn industry’s ties with sexual exploitation and sex trafficking.
You will see us embodying a movement of real love, championing real healthy relationships, giving live assemblies at high schools and college campuses all over the US and internationally, repping our conversation-starting Fighter gear to get the word out, and sparking viral online awareness campaigns that shine a light on how porn is anything but harmless entertainment. Oh, and we made a three-part documentary series and ensured individuals can watch it for free, because anyone and everyone needs to learn the facts on porn’s harms.
Why do we do all of this? Because we love real love, and thanks to the growing field of science and research out there, we believe consumers deserve to make an educated decision for themselves on porn.
But let’s go back a couple of steps, back to the basics. Who is Fight the New Drug, really, and what are we all about if we’re not ultimately about banning porn or shutting down the porn industry by force?
Note that Fight the New Drug doesn’t have the authority nor power to ban porn in the first place.
Our mission
Our movement is based on the fact that people deserve better than what porn has to offer—better information about sex, better relationships free from porn’s influence, better self-esteem, and better than contributing to sexual exploitation.
Fight the New Drug’s mission since our start in 2009 has been to decrease the demand for sexual exploitation through education and awareness, rather than restriction. It is important that we give props to our friends at organizations that do focus on taking political action, they do important work and we applaud them for their efforts.
As for us, our goal since our start hasn’t been to call for the abolition or ban of legal forms of pornography, however, we do want to clarify that we do support efforts to protect children from accessing porn sites, as well as efforts to stop the production and spread of child abuse imagery, and we support the fight against sex trafficking.
But instead of making the censorship of already legal forms of porn our ultimate goal, we choose to focus on a different angle than many who have fought the good fight before us have used:
Love.
Real love is our ultimate focus, first and most importantly. We feel that the power of love paired with the influence of education and awareness are more effective and lasting at reaching people at the heart than the possibility of creating laws trying to ban porn from every site in our ever-changing and ever-expanding digital world.
When many of our Fighters hear we don’t get involved in making laws to ban porn, we get some raised eyebrows and frustrated responses. And people have every right to have their own personal take on it, but this is ours.
Education to stop exploitation
Fight the New Drug’s Co-Founder and President Clay Olsen has said that our goal from day one has not been to take away adults’ rights to view legal pornography (not that its legal status makes it healthy!), but instead to decrease the demand through education. We are all about education and awareness, not legislation. Sounds simple enough, right?
Giving visibility to the negative effects of porn and raising awareness that people deserve better is a stronger movement than blanketed bans, in our eyes. Ban porn and the industry will go underground without decreasing in size or influence in culture and without decreasing the number of consumers who will do everything they can to seek out their content.
But stop the demand for porn at the source by helping people realize the absolute toxicity of the industry, how much damage porn does to consumers, relationships, and society, and how much more worth it love is, and the supply will decrease with the diminishing demand. See our angle?
We have always been confident that once people understood the science proving the harms of viewing pornography and pornography’s connection to sexual exploitation and sex trafficking, they’ll make the healthier decision for themselves and their loved ones that will last a lifetime.
Ultimately, we aren’t here to bully lawmakers into outlawing porn, we’re here to get to the deeper source of the issue and educate people on the very real harms of porn, and then let them decide for themselves. Because someone deciding against something freely is much more effective than forcing someone to do something they don’t agree with.
Not to mention that legislation banning porn has already been attempted, and it was neither successful in getting passed nor effective in theory. This article from The Atlantic outlines past failed attempts to outlaw porn and details how censorship or banning porn isn’t even necessary for private companies to actively stamp out the proliferation of exploitative content.
Let’s stop the demand
Our aim is to educate effectively enough to move the needle on this issue, stopping the demand and helping people wake up to the reality of porn, no legislation required!
It is important that we clarify, again, that we do jump on board with multiple states’ resolutions that declared porn a public health concern. We support these particular resolutions because they don’t restrict or ban porn, but they do make it easier for public awareness to spread on this important issue.
They go right in line with our stance of not seeking to outright ban but effectively promote education and awareness.
We have learned from history that bans aren’t as effective as stopping the demand at the source.
For example, England passed the first laws against pornography in the 1850s. The laws did nothing to stop the wildfire spread of pornography and may have even increased the demand by making it taboo and illicitly attractive. Laws gave more visibility and attractiveness to the issue.
The same thing with alcohol prohibition in the U.S. in the 1920s—if people want it, they will get it, legal or illegal.
Also, keep in mind that sex trafficking is already illegal and there are many laws in place to prosecute those who exploit other humans, but it still happens on an overwhelming and global scale. Same with the production and distribution of child exploitation images, known commonly as child porn. Laws do not always stop people from doing harm to others or themselves.
Learning from the past, Fight the New Drug isn’t trying to take away adults’ right to view legal forms of pornography, but instead, our focus is to decrease the demand for porn by helping people understand the facts about how harmful it is. Check out the research for yourself, we’re confident you’ll learn something as well.
If people truly understood the harms of pornography, we believe they would choose not to support it or engage with it. Decades of research does show how porn can harm individuals, hurt relationships, and negatively affect society, because there is that much science and that many research studies showing the negative effects of porn.
So, are you up for joining this global movement of love?
If you believe in what Fight the New Drug is doing, consider partnering with our organization and supporting this movement for love.
Donate NowIf you are interested in the legislative side of this fight, check out the National Center on Sexual Exploitation for more information.
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