Consider Before Consuming

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of sexually explicit AI-generated images, sexual harassment, exploitation, suicidal thoughts, and image-based sexual abuse. Listener discretion is advised.

Angela Tipton spent more than 20 years teaching middle school before discovering that students had created and shared a sexually explicit AI-generated image depicting her. What began as one fake image quickly spread throughout her school, reached her own children, escalated into fake social media accounts meant to make the image seem real, and ultimately changed the course of her career. 

How convincing are AI-generated nude images? What happens when students create and share AI nudes of a teacher? Why do fake explicit images cause real harm? How should schools respond, and what role does pornography play in shaping the way some young people think about consent and other people?

In this episode, Angela shares the emotional toll of becoming the target of deepfake abuse, why the effects continue years later, and what she believes parents, educators, and communities need to understand as AI becomes more accessible. She also offers hope and encouragement for anyone who has experienced image-based sexual abuse or is supporting someone who has. 

Episode Resources:

• Victim Resources
• Podcast: Consider Before Consuming Ep. 132, Melinda Tankard Reist
• Sexual Harassment of Teachers Report

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of human trafficking and exploitation. Listener discretion is advised.

Preston Goff is the Vice President of Global Communications at The Exodus Road, a global nonprofit organization working to prevent human trafficking, support survivors, and bring traffickers to justice.

Preston has spent years working alongside investigators, survivor advocates, and law enforcement around the world. In this conversation, we discuss the connection between pornography consumption and demand for commercial sexual exploitation, how social media is changing the landscape of trafficking, and why prevention is just as important as intervention.

What is human trafficking, and does it always involve kidnapping? Is there a connection between pornography and sex trafficking? How are traffickers using social media to recruit victims? Can platforms like OnlyFans contribute to exploitation? Preston helps unpack these questions while exploring why retrafficking happens, how to talk with young people about exploitation without creating shame, and what each of us can do to become part of the solution.

This episode is sponsored by Relay, a secure peer-support app that connects you with a small group of people who understand what you’re going through and help you stay accountable on your journey to quit porn. CBC listeners can try Relay free for 7 days by signing up at http://ftnd.org/joinrelay.

Episode Resources:

• The Exodus Road
• Stop The Demand
• Podcast: Consider Before Consuming Ep. 137: Louie Greek
• Conversation Blueprint: Let's Talk About Porn

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, physical violence, coercion, and abuse. Listener discretion is advised.

A recent trafficking investigation involving an OnlyFans content operation has sparked headlines across the country. Authorities allege that teenage girls were recruited with promises of money and independence, only to face coercion, violence, and exploitation behind the scenes.

In this bonus episode, Elisabeth and Scott break down the details of the case, discuss why it challenges common assumptions about platforms like OnlyFans, and explore the broader connection between pornography, exploitation, and demand.

What is the Bellevue OnlyFans mansion case? Is OnlyFans linked to human trafficking? How do content creators get recruited into the adult industry? And can viewers know whether pornographic content was created consensually?

Through the lens of this case, they discuss why exploitation can be difficult to identify, how social media and online platforms can normalize the industry, and what it means to address not only the abuse itself, but the demand that makes it profitable.

This episode contains discussions of sexual violence and child sexual abuse. Listener discretion is advised.

Clare McGlynn is a professor of law at Durham University and an expert on violence against women and girls.

Clare has spent years researching the ways pornography, technology, and online platforms shape culture, influence sexual norms, and contribute to harmful attitudes and behaviors. In this conversation, we discuss how algorithms influence what people see on porn platforms, why certain themes and behaviors have become increasingly common in mainstream pornography, and what that means for how people understand sex, consent, and relationships.

Why has choking become so common among young people? Does pornography influence attitudes toward consent? What is "sleep porn," and why is it allowed on mainstream platforms? How are AI chatbots and deepfakes creating entirely new forms of abuse? Clare helps unpack these questions while exploring the broader cultural impact of pornography and emerging technologies.

We also discuss the growing popularity of "barely legal" content, the normalization of rough sex, and why technologies like AI and virtual reality may be amplifying harms that already exist online.

Brian Schillingburg is a former school principal and recovery coach who spent 25 years working with students before his own struggle with pornography escalated into behavior that ultimately led to his arrest.

Drawing from decades in schools, Brian shares what he's seen as pornography and sexualized content have become increasingly accessible to young people. He discusses the realities of early exposure, how pornography can shape expectations around relationships and sexuality, and why many parents underestimate what young people are navigating online today.

Brian also shares his personal story, including his first exposure to pornography as a child, how it became a coping mechanism for stress and pain, and how years of use eventually escalated into buying sex. He opens up about the arrest that changed his life, the impact it had on his family and career, and what accountability, recovery, and rebuilding have looked like since.

This episode is sponsored by Relay, a secure peer-support app that connects you with a small group of people who understand what you’re going through and help you stay accountable on your journey to quit porn. CBC listeners can try Relay free for 7 days by signing up at http://ftnd.org/joinrelay.

Episode Resources:

• Article: What 25 Years in Schools Taught Me About Early Porn Exposure
• Article: When Porn Use Shatters Trust: A Therapist Explains Betrayal Trauma
• Podcast: Consider Before Consuming Ep. 162: Chris Bennett
• The 9th Inning Project
• Demand Disruption

Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

What happens when the person you trust most is secretly violating that trust for years?

In this episode of Consider Before Consuming, Zoe Watts shares her story of discovering that her husband had been drugging and sexually assaulting her while she slept. Zoe opens up about the confusion and disbelief she experienced, why it took time to fully understand what had happened, and the emotional and physical toll the trauma left behind.

Zoe also discusses how abuse within marriage is often minimized or misunderstood, the harmful cultural messages that blur the lines around consent, and the disturbing online communities built around sharing and consuming nonconsensual “sleep content.”

After her story became part of a major CNN investigation into online sexual exploitation, Zoe founded End Eye Check, an advocacy movement focused on raising awareness around drug-facilitated sexual abuse and supporting survivors.

In this episode, we discuss how sexual abuse can hide within long-term relationships, why some survivors struggle to recognize abuse right away, how online communities normalize exploitative content, and what healing can look like after trauma.

Episode Resources:

• Victim Resources
• End Eye Check: Join The Campaign
• CNN Article: Exposing a global ‘rape academy’
• Article: She Was Asleep While It Happened: Gisèle Pelicot and the Disturbing Rise of “Sleep Porn”
• Podcast: Consider Before Consuming Ep. 163: Amanda Stanhope

In this bonus episode of Consider Before Consuming, Elisabeth and Scott bring you into a conversation they’ve found themselves having often behind the scenes.

As Fight the New Drug’s social media manager and presenter, Elisabeth is constantly immersed in current events, research, and the realities young people are facing online. Scott, who works more behind the scenes, intentionally keeps some distance, but hears about these stories secondhand. This episode is an opportunity to bridge that gap and bring listeners into that same conversation.

Using a real case involving AI-generated explicit images at a small U.S. school—where 347 images were created of 59 minors—they break down what happened, what it reveals about the world young people are navigating today, and what parents and communities need to understand right now.

Episode Resources:

• FTND Live Presentations
• Conversation Blueprint: Let's Talk About Porn
• Documentary: Brain, Heart, World

In this episode of Consider Before Consuming, we’re joined by Dr. Nicholas Lawless, a clinical psychologist and couples therapist, to explore how pornography can impact connection in relationships.

Does porn affect relationships? Can porn change how you see your partner? Is watching porn considered cheating? Why does porn sometimes feel like a betrayal?

Dr. Lawless shares what he’s seen in both research and real-life couples—how shifts in attention and expectations can lead to disconnection over time, and what it looks like to rebuild connection.

If you’re wondering whether porn is affecting your relationship, or how to reconnect if something feels off, this episode offers a clear, practical perspective.

This episode is sponsored by Relay, a secure peer-support app that connects you with a small group of people who understand what you’re going through and help you stay accountable on your journey to quit porn. CBC listeners can try Relay free for 7 days when they sign up at http://ftnd.org/joinrelay

Episode Resources:

• Articles: How Porn Can Impact Relationships
• Documentary: Brain, Heart, World
• Dr. Lawless' Practice: DRT Psychology

In this bonus episode of Consider Before Consuming, Natale and Elisabeth take you behind the scenes of managing Fight the New Drug’s social media and the kinds of comments that come with it.

From someone sharing, “I started viewing porn at 11 and didn’t even distinguish between adult and child porn,” to debates like “nobody is forcing you… you’re choosing to be that person,” this episode highlights the wide range of reactions these conversations bring up.

Together, they unpack what these responses reveal about how porn is understood today, and why the way we respond matters. From early exposure and normalization to addiction and recovery, this conversation explores how empathy and education—not shame—can lead to more meaningful change.

• Core Articles: Get The Facts
• YouTube: CBC Playlist
• Podcast: Consider Before Consuming Ep. 160: Hunter Clark

Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

Amanda Stanhope was recently featured in reporting by CNN on drug-facilitated sexual abuse, where she shared her personal story—part of a broader conversation gaining attention after survivors like Gisèle Pelicot helped bring this issue into the spotlight.

What began as an intense relationship quickly shifted. Amanda started experiencing memory loss, confusion, and physical symptoms she couldn’t explain, at one point believing she might be developing Alzheimer’s. Over time, she came to realize she had been being sexually assaulted while unconscious.

In this conversation, Amanda shares how the relationship unfolded, what made the abuse so difficult to recognize in real time, and the challenges she faced in seeking help and reporting what happened. She also speaks to how trauma can show up in the body, and why greater awareness of this kind of abuse is critical.

Episode Resources:

• Victim Resources
• CNN Article: Exposing a global ‘rape academy’
• Article: She Was Asleep While It Happened: Gisèle Pelicot and the Disturbing Rise of “Sleep Porn”