Ending Sexploitation

Special guest, Dr. Gail Dines analyzes the big business behind porn.

Dr. Gail Dines is a professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at Wheelock College, where she is also chair of the American Studies department. Having researched and written about the porn industry for over twenty years, Dr. Dines is internationally acclaimed as the leading expert on how pornography shapes our identities, culture, and sexuality. She is a consultant to government agencies in the US and abroad, including the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Canada.

While popular Internet pornography today seems like it is being mass produced by thousands of companies, the reality is that there is a porn monopoly. Could this be good news?

Dr. Dines provides key insights into the corporate infrastructure behind pornography, and what might happen if the largest porn company in the world got shut down.

Call to Action:

Visit Culture Reframed: www.culturereframed.org

Read Dr. Dines' book: Pornland: How Porn Had Hijacked Our Sexuality

We live in an age where many consumers demand transparency from companies they trust. We want to know the working conditions of those who made our clothing, and if pesticides were used to grow our food.

Now, thanks to The Dirty Dozen List, we can see which well-known entities promote and profit from forms of sexual exploitation.

No corporation should profit from or facilitate sexual exploitation.

Unfortunately, many well-established brands, companies, and organizations in America do just that. Since 2013, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has published an annual Dirty Dozen List to name and shame the bad corporate actors in America that perpetuate sexual exploitation—whether that be through pornography, prostitution, and sex trafficking.

The Dirty Dozen List is an activism tool that has instigated tremendous changes, leading to policy improvements at Google, Hilton Worldwide, Verizon, Walmart, and the Department of Defense.

This episode gives you a behind-the-scene look at the origin and accomplishments of the Dirty Dozen List.

Call to Action:

Learn more at dirtydozenlist.com.

Positive Thank You Action: Thank Apple TV for Keeping Pornography Off Its App Store and Apple TV

Email Action: Tell Comcast to Stop Selling Sexually Exploitive Content

Online library databases in many schools are piping pornographic and sexually explicit materials into children's lives.

We were shocked when we discovered EBSCO, and other similar companies, that provide academic resources for grades K-12 are not filtering out sexually explicit content. Even innocent searches return results like links to hardcore pornography websites, stories normalizing student-teacher sexual relationships, and articles encouraging group, public, and anal sex.

This is one of the largest scandals we've ever discussed, and it's something parents and teachers alike need to know.

Tune-in to learn more.

Call to Action:

Listen to our past episode #10 about filtering in public libraries: http://bit.ly/2m35tYY

Learn more and take action here: endsexualexploitation.org/ebsco

The unspoken truth is that Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue is not a triumph of female athleticism, agency, or empowerment. Instead, it is a descent into sexual objectification.

Research sows that when someone is being objectified the objectifier is viewing them as if they do not possess a real, individual mind and as if they are less deserving of moral treatment.[1] Some claim that these experiences are "likely to contribute to mental health problems that disproportionately affect women (i.e., eating disorders, depression, and sexual dysfunction.)" [2]

Objectification also impacts men, as shown by the fact that sexual objectification occurs in 37% of advertisements featuring men's body parts to showcase a product.[3]

But why is it that so many people actively participate in objectification culture? This podcast will discuss the phenomenon of self-objectification, and why it is ultimately not empowering.

CALL TO ACTION:

Email Barnes & Noble executives to ask them to remove Playboy magazine from their shelves.

Citations:

[1] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.755/full

[2] https://books.apa.org/education/ce/sexual-objectification.pdf

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23458607

The London Abused Women's Centre, Canada; Collective Shout, Australia; Culture Reframed, USA; and The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), USA have partnered to raise awareness that Fifty Shades of Grey - and it's latest film installment Fifty Shades Darker - normalizes domestic violence.

The Fifty Shades trilogy follows wealthy and powerful businessman Christian Grey as he meets Anastasia Steele, a virginal college student lacking confidence, and woos her into his BDSM (sexual sadism or torture sex) world and "red room of pain."

The relationship maps onto what would be considered an abusive relationship rife domestic violence in the real world. Christian puts Ana under contract to serve as a sexual "submissive" and uses intimidation, coercion, humiliation, violence, stalking, manipulation, jealousy and other controlling behaviors to groom Ana and keep her under his domination. Ana is consistently isolated, threatened, and manipulated, yet she comes back to Christian time and time again because she thinks her love can change him. As the story progresses, Ana, who was first fearful and disturbed by Christian's controlling behaviors and dark sexual practices, gradually becomes desensitized to his harsh treatment. These are hallmarks of abusive relationships.

You can read examples of domestic abuse in the Fifty Shades book here.

The mainstreaming of this book also sends the message to women that they can "fix" violent, controlling men by being obedient and loving.

Call to Action:

1) Sign this pledge to boycott the film.

2) Donate to a women's shelter instead of visiting the film through DomesticShelters.org.

3) Share graphics and learn more at FiftyShadesIsAbuse.com.

An Alabama child advocacy group called Palmer Place recently reported an increase in child-on-child sex abuse cases, and they believe it was brought on by a growing addiction to pornography among children.

How can we better understand the phenomenon of children who sexually abuse other children, and how can we intervene?

One 2015 study by Dr. Cathy Humphreys, and others, explored this question by sampling a broad range of research and literature on the issue.

In this study—published in the Health & Social Care in the Community Journal—they identified a few key areas that are vital to understand on this topic, and today we'll cover the Characteristics, the Causes, and the preventative Communications.

1) Characteristics

A 2009 national survey analyzed data from 13,471 cases of sexually abusive behavior. They found that there was an escalation in sexual abuse offending at the age of 12 years.

Case records of 700 young abusers in the United Kingdom found that 38% had intellectual difficulties. A 2013 study found that 97% of minors who've sexually abused other minors were male.

When it comes to pornography use, a 2011 longitudinal study of 1,588 US households found that minors who intentionally watched violent pornography over time predicted a six-fold increase in the odds of self-reported sexually abusive behavior for both boys and girls.

2) Causes

A (2000) life history analysis of two boys who sexually abused children showed trends of hegemonic masculinity.

Unfortunately, another reason some people may abuse others is because they themselves experienced sexual abuse.

A 2012 longitudinal study examined 2,759 records of children who had been sexually abused between 1964 and 1995. They found that 5% of male victims were later convicted of a sexual offense compared to 0.6% of males in the general population.

3) Communication

Sexual abuse prevention education is found in intentional teaching sessions to raise children's awareness about sexual abuse, and to provide them with tools for how to respond if abused.

There are two major sites for this kind of education: school–child communication and parent–child communication.

TAKE ACTION:

First, can talk to your local school and inquire what prevention strategies they have for both on school grounds and if they use any curriculum to try and prevention child abuse.

Second, talk with the children in your life about. 6 year olds, and those younger, can benefit from simple conversations about how "no mean no" and to come speak to a trusted adult if anyone ever hurts them or makes them feel uncomfortable. Also, it's important to speak to all children about the harms of pornography, and to create a trusting environment where they can express their questions about sexuality or what they might have seen in pornography.

Earlier this year, ESPLERP (Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project) filed suit in San Francisco District Court claiming that the state's prostitution laws were unconstitutional. The District Court rightly rejected ESPLERP's claims.

Now ESPLERP is appealing the decision.

Savanah Lawrence, NCOSE's Legal Fellow, shares about the amicus brief NCOSE submitted to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of ESPLERP v. Gascón, urging the court to recognize the harms of prostitution.

Because prostitution is inherently dehumanizing and harmful it is vital for the Ninth Circuit to uphold the lower court's decision.

Studies characterize the violence that animates prostitution as brutal, extreme, common, stunning, normative, and ever-present. Indeed, physical and sexual violence across prostitution types is pervasive, whether one is prostituting in Chennai or Chicago, indoors or outdoors, for drugs or to pay the rent, on a street corner, in a car, back alley, brothel, massage parlor, or strip club. Both the threat of, as well as actual physical and sexual violence, permeate prostitution. Most of this violence is perpetrated by sex buyers and pimps.

Decriminalizing prostitution does not change this reality—it assents to it.

CALL TO ACTION:

Learn more about the harms of prostitution here: http://endsexualexploitation.org/prostitution

Free download booklet on violence in prostitution: http://bit.ly/2h04qb9

Before we can begin to address "how" to talk to kids about pornography, it's important to understand "when" that conversation becomes relevant.

Many parents might assume that a few years after puberty is the time to have this talk. However, in today's digital culture, studies show that many children are being exposed to pornography before puberty.

"The talk" is no longer applicable in today's world. Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE and mother of two, shares how parents need to establish open dialogues in our homes about sexuality and media.

Dawn shares that the best time to start talking to your child about these issues is right now. She discusses how this conversation looks for young children and teens alike.

CALL TO ACTION:

Check out our Resource Center for parents: http://endsexualexploitation.org/resources-parents/

Read this blog with some conversational tips: http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/why-vs-what-talking-to-kids-about-pornography/

Have a conversation with your kids this week about pornography and email [email protected] to tell us about it. We want to hear from you.

Amazon's online market is being used to facilitate sexual exploitation and predation.

Not only does Amazon.com feature thousands of pornography-related items in numerous categories, but it is facilitating the sale and distribution of sexually explicit material that normalizes and encourages the objectification and exploitation of women and children.

I'm especially shocked that Amazon.com is selling books featuring photography collections of eroticized child nudity by Jock Sturges and David Hamilton. These publications contain numerous images that many, including experts on child sexual exploitation, consider child pornography. These are not images reminiscent of a family photo album of children at bath time. These images are haunting displays of provocative child nudity, of prepubescent and adolescent children—many of which display their pubic areas or genitals.

If a man in your neighborhood took these pictures of your child, you would not call them 'art.' You would call the police.

Further, Amazon.com sells child-like sex dolls and clothing that pornifies women and infants, and books that are essentially sex trafficking "how-to" manuals.

Action: visit http://endsexualexploitation.org/amazon/. Here you can email executives to ask them to remove this exploitive content and learn more. There is also a proof portion on this page to validate our findings.

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The holidays are often thought of as the most wonderful time of the year. However, for victims of domestic violence, the holidays can be a very dark and scary time.

This kind of abuse (whether it's physical or sexual) is often more likely to occur when stress levels are high, and unfortunately holiday seasons bring their fair share of stresses. Unrealistic expectations, financial strain, and alcohol can increase stress, and lower inhibitions to domestic violence.

On Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day the National Domestic Violence Hotline reports a decrease in calls. Nearly 53 percent fewer. Whether survivors don't want to disturb family cohesiveness on these days, or can't find a private time to make a call for support, advocates say the decline isn't necessarily an indication that violence ceases on these days, reporting that calls will often increase above normal levels the days and weeks following a holiday.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence - On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.

It can be very difficult to spot an abusive situation.

The majority of abusers are only violent with their current or past intimate partners. One study found 90% of abusers do not have criminal records and abusers are generally law-abiding outside the home.

Some warning signs:

• Extreme jealousy,
• Possessiveness,
• Blaming the victim for anything bad that happens,
• Sabotage or obstruction of the victim's ability to work or attend school,
• Controls all the finances,
• Embarrassment or humiliation of the victim in front of others.

Common suggestions for loved ones of those in abusive situations include:

• Don't judge the victim (you are not in her situation).
• Don't tell her that the abuser is a jerk, that you never liked him, etc. (That might drive her away or make her feel she has to defend him.)
• Listen and become a confidant – safe place, and affirming

RESOURCES:

• If you are in immediate danger, call 9-1-1.
• For anonymous, confidential help available 24/7 call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE)
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline Blog on Safety Planning for the Holidays: http://www.thehotline.org/2015/12/safety-planning-for-the-holidays/
• Find domestic shelter near you: https://www.domesticshelters.org/
• If you're a friend concerned about someone: http://ncadv.org/learn-more/friends-and-family
• List of 25 Ways to Help Those Experiencing Abuse.