15 January, 2013

Porn & Trafficking


One of the greatest myths around human trafficking and pornography is that they are two separate and distinct issues. This is purely and simply untrue. Without porn there would be no sex trafficking. 

Read that again:  

If there was no porn, there would be no sex trafficking. 

According to ABC News, the porn industry has become a $10 BILLION dollar machine. “(B)igger than the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball combined.” (ABCNews) To think all of that money is being made without the exploitation of those involved is to deny what is right in front of our faces. 

We often refer to porn as the gateway to trafficking, both for the person being exploited and the purchaser. What that means is that before someone is bought on the street (or through Craig’s List or Backpage, sold by a pimp, etc.) the person purchasing them (the purchaser, buyer, exploiter, etc.) has gotten used to the idea as people as commodities thanks to the images (print and video) they have witnessed.

Let’s break the myth that all people who pose for Playboy or are in porn movies are there voluntarily. And let’s stop making those girls the bad guy. It is the simple logic of human exploitation all around: if there were no purchasers, there would be no trafficking. So let’s turn the finger around at those who buy porn and those who make it and stop placing the blame on those trapped in it. 

Girls Next Door is the worse perpetuator of this myth because it makes people think that if you want to be in Playboy you get to live in a mini mansion, and, if you are lucky, end up in Hugh’s harem (ew!) and live the highlife. What it fails to show is the severe level of exploitation and abuse that happens to many of the girls who attempt to use magazines like Playboy to further their career. The modeling ploy is one of the biggest scams pimps run to get girls. They play on a girl’s desire to make it as a model to exploit them.

People often try to pacify this reality by saying that she willingly posed, or that is it just a photograph. But, it’s not. In this day and age a photograph lives forever. And HOW that photo got taken and HOW it is being used matters. She might have consented to having a picture taken, but she did not consent to having it possibly photoshopped, sold to magazines and used around the world for buyers to get off on. 

In the situation of film porn the issue become even more complicated. It is possible that women can be filmed and not know, have that video sold and then they become the victim of trafficking. And women are trafficked specifically to be used in porn. So, in some ways, porn can be seen as rape that millions of people buy and use for pleasure. Pretty vile, right? 

But what about the buyers? The people who are the only reason porn exists and make it a $10 billion industry.  

The thing about porn and those who view it, is that it can become an addiction. And as with any other addiction you need more of the product to get the same effect. So this spirals into more frequent viewing and then deeper and darker story lines and when that fails then it becomes going to strip clubs and then buying another human being. 

When I was in Cambodia, porn sold for .25 cents. The rate of child abuse was extremely high because fathers wanted to test out what they had seen in the videos and their child was the closet girl around. It’s unimaginable. But with the addiction of porn and the steady stream of viewing, eventually the person will need more than what the viewing and self-gratification can bring them. Studies have shown that women being prostituted have had a purchaser ask them to do something they saw in porn. 

The other aspect of the porn industry that is rarely discussed is the use of alcohol and drugs to keep women dependent on their pimps (thereby ensuring they will do one more scene to get their fix on a drug their pimp got them hooked on), the pressure of boyfriends to perform and do, and the escalation from photo to film to being sold. There is also a huge number of children being used in porn. 

Remember, the definition of trafficking does not not limit the action to sex alone. Any sexual activity - which includes stripping, sex acts, the production of materials, etc. are all forms of sexual exploitation according to TVPA (http://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/) 

The point is, that if we are ever to truly address human trafficking we HAVE TO address porn. And that is hard, because to address porn we have to look at who is buying it and why. We have to stop making the participants the issue and focus on the purchasers. Because the simple reality is that if no one was buying Playboy they would stop making it. 

So, where do we go from here? Some final thoughts on combating this issue.

  1. The church needs to step up and in an mature way address this issue. It’s not an easy one to talk about, but how many more people have to be exploited before pastors take a bold stand and hold their congregations accountable? 
  2. We need to break the lie that every man looks at porn therefore its ok. Because one it is simple untrue that every man does it. And even if that was true, it doesn’t make it okay. 
  3. Men can do a lot to hold their friends accountable by helping to bring it back around that the person on the screen is really a person and not a commodity. 
  4. We need to stand up and loudly fight the idea that porn is victimless. As we have seen above that is not true. 
  5. Porn addiction does not only affect men. Let’s create a safe place for women who struggle to find a place to get support. 
  6. Talk to our kids about porn. Talk to them about why is it isn’t okay to view it, about how it harms others and how it doesn’t “make you a man” to do so. You’re really a man if you stand up against it. 
  7. We need to get a root causes. WHY IS PORN SO PROFITABLE? I think it has a lot to do with boredom and the dulling of our senses and being over stimulated. It also ties into gender roles, but we’ll get to that some other time. 
  8. There are people who are being exploited who return home at night and struggle alone. Reaching out to people, openly and without judgement is HUGE. Becoming that safe place is key, which means we have to stop being so self-centered and reach out to those who we don’t know. 
  9. When you hear a friend, family member, fellow church-goer bashing the victim, politely correct them and inform them that without a buyer there would be no porn. As long as we keep the action of porn on the participant and not on the buyer we will never get this addressed. She is the easy target, but let’s look at who is keeping her enslaved. 

I would encourage you to read http://www.morethandesire.com/. It is a beautifully written blog (and now a book) about a wife whose husband viewed porn and what it did to their marriage and their walk back from it. 

Also, Dirty Girl Ministries (http://dirtygirlsministries.com/) is for women who have been trapped in porn addiction. 


Further links: