Preventing & combating the devastating harms of pornography, prostitution, sex trafficking & sexual slavery. Nonreligious, nonpartisan, pro free speech, pro safe, healthy, equality-based sex, love & relationships
Here’s a powerful new article that explains how there’s nothing “sex positive” or “empowering” about pornography! ~~
I believe in a sexual liberation that goes beyond simply mimicking what we see in the media and pornography. Instead of actually breaking the mold, the current so-called “revolution” has just repackaged male pleasure and female submission and sold it back to us as empowering. To accept the warped version of sexuality that the porn industry has manufactured is to give up on a wonderfully intimate and human experience that has the potential to be enjoyable for everyone — not just men. Giving in to porn just because it’s easier means surrendering to a misogynistic and racist institution and being complicit in our own degradation. An authentic sexual experience for any and all genders is worth fighting for.
It’s time for a true sexual revolution, and the last place we’ll get this is from the pornographers.
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~ That’s for sure!
By the way, stating that pornography is not empowering may be an “UNpopular” opinion at XOJANE where this article was published, and where the “Duke Freshman” teen porn performer Belle Knox has had several of her pro-porn articles published, but it’s a very POPULAR opinion around here, and in many other communities!
Many thanks to Kelsey Ruane for having the courage and integrity to speak up with the TRUTH about the horrific harms of pornography, no matter how “unpopular” it may be.
NOTE: The outspoken author of the above article has an equally outspoken feminist blog at Tumblr, where she posts a great deal of informative anti-porn and related content. Kelsey also answers a lot of interesting questions about pornography harms submitted by her readers. So if you’re at Tumblr, we recommend that you follow her.
WARNING: Her blog shares the hardcore truth about pornography, so it does contain a lot of graphic and disturbing content.
We’d like to thank all good people who did everything they could in 2014 to help humanity — especially those who fought against the devastating harms of pornography, prostitution, sex trafficking and sexual slavery. We hope that more people will step up and do their part for this important cause this year.
The future of millions of lives of those who are being brutally exploited, abused and enslaved depends on what each and every person does or doesn’t do to help, and we are ALL equally responsible for helping as much as we can. It’s not up to “the government”, a few overworked volunteers, a handful of underfunded organizations, or “somebody else” to do the work to make things better. It’s up to ALL OF US. So we hope everyone will take heed of this and act accordingly.
In case you missed it, here is our year-ending newsletter, with lots of inspiring successes that our organization accomplished in 2014 in changing people’s lives and humanity for the better!
If you’d like to really step up to make a difference in 2015, mature, responsible and hard-working volunteers from North America with good English language skills are always needed!
ANNUAL REPORT AND CALL FOR YEAR-ENDING DONATIONS! 🙂 There’s still time to make an anti-porn contribution for 2014! It’s tax-deductible! ~ Doing so will help us do more much-needed and important work to reach and help humanity in 2015!
5) We facilitated Jessica Mendes speaking out about her harmful experiences doing porn by arranging two radio interviews for her, a video interview with The Mindful Habit, an interview for an upcoming book by UK feminist Kat Banyard, and a powerful speech at Arizona State University! (With over 265,000 views in just 7 months!) All are posted on her page at our website:
6) We got two articles by sex industry survivors Cameron Adams (Bay) and Alexandra M. published online at the online magazine Ravishly, and they were later also published at the Huffington Post:
8) We gained many new supporters and informed many people about the harms of pornography at our WordPress and Tumblr blogs, and our other social networking sites at Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+!
9) We got some great new volunteers, including awesome Taylor, who presented an excellent speech at NYU, and wrote a powerful essay about why he’s a man against pornography and prostitution!
11) We had almost 200,000 unique visitors spend time at our website this year, for a cumulative total of more than 500,000 people!
12) We got over 400,000 page views at our website this year, for a cumulative total of over 1.2 million!
13) Most importantly of all, we achieved many *concrete results*, such as: a) inspiring new activists to start speaking out, and b) reducing demand for sexual exploitation — by getting many men to truly understand the devastating harms of pornography and to stop using it.
Below are a just a few examples of our many results that we have achieved this year. NOTE: Quite a few of them come from our video of Jessica Mendes’ speech to ASU:
We find that sharing the stories of ex porn performers is one of the most powerful ways to create meaningful change, which is why we focus on a great deal on this.
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MEANINGFUL RESULTS FROM OUR ORGANIZATION’S WORK IN 2014:
“I just want to thank you for changing my life and the wrong perspective I had about porn.” – SF
“Jessica’s story was how I’ve managed to get off porn, and I’m so grateful.” – NT
“Wow… This is really shocking…. I honestly always looked at porn as normal, and that it was normal for every one to watch it. But what is actually behind the lines is really depressing and sick….” – ICE Trey
“This video with Jessica brought me some answers and makes me even more motivated to never watch any porn again (and it’s not easy as I started when I was 14 and I’m already 24.)” – David Barrau
“I usually watch porn and like it, but this video…. made me cry, and made me more human than I used to be. Because porn is something so aggressive… but women are not pieces of meat to eat, they are humans. (Women — I mean ALL OF THEM, including the pornstars).” – Tomás Jesús
“Jessica: Your voice is the cure for the cruel and destructive pornography that polluted my soul. Thank you so much for setting me free from it. :-)” – NLJ
“This was actually very enlightening. I like this video and agree. You guys have inspired me to stop watching the filth known as porn.” – Mark Sullivan
“The impact that your story is having on me, Jessica — and probably many visitors to AntiPornography.org — might seem a small thing, but because of it we learn to see women once again in all their true natural beauty as full humans, and not as slaves anymore.” – NLJ
“Well, I have to admit that I have watched porn for a long time and always told myself that “these people like what they do,” etc. However, that’s over. Videos like this educated me and now I know what is really going on in this “industry”. The abuse and the disrespect for human beings which is implicated in the process of making porn is horrific, and for anybody who has some empathy or ethics there can be only one answer: considering porn as a threat not only for women but for all people involved. So I decided that I will never watch porn again and I will tell all my friends what is happening there.” – Kl2002010
“Jessica: I’ve been addicted to porn since I was an 8th grader. To this day I’ve watched porn on a daily basis. So, for over a decade I’ve been mentally locked by the facade of porn. After I watched you address the students at ASU, I immediately deleted every trace of porn that I had. Listening to you speak nearly brought me to tears, and I’m not the guy to cry over anything. But seeing you change made me realize that I too can change. I’m glad I was able to see someone who was in the business get out, and have a voice. That is incredibly powerful!” – JW
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for validating my feelings about porn. My husband used to be into it and it almost ruined our marriage. I’m so sick of people thinking wives over-react to something that is “normal” for men. Porn is not erotica.Thanks again for educating people about this.” – Janet G.
“I would like you to know that I’ve been making a lot of progress enriching peoples lives with your organization’s message. And like I said before, Jessica Mendes’ story inspired me to undertake this task and it’s proving to be successful… Many people feel a change of heart and believe they’ve made errors in their ways. Her story as well as many others have had profound effects on them. Will keep you posted on more things happening. Peace be with you. Jessica’s message here in South Africa has touched many, and I will continue to do my part.” – Micalyn Moodley
“Well thanks for sharing this video. I’m not going to watch porn any more. I was going to, but after watching this video I changed my mind.” – jovany valencia
“This makes that 3rd month that I have gone without viewing pornography online, or through other means for more than a few accidental clicks. Thanks for the information on the website. Anti-pornography information has been very helpful to me!” – Mealane8
“Jessica Mendes’ videos have truly opened up my mind my eyes, and I’ve now not watched a single porn video in over 8 months, and am planning to stop permanently. Apart from that I’m trying my best to spread around to my porn addict friends about this website. BRAVO TO JESSICA MENDES, as she made an addict like me feel sick about the dark side of porn. Jessica is doing great efforts. I support her and AntiPornography.org all the way.” – 20 year old male
“Your website provided me with such helpful information and completely changed my perspective…. I just wanted to thank you for changing my perspective at a young age and spreading the word, which I find to be INCREDIBLY important.” – Kenton
“Thank you for all of the helpful information. I work with sexually abusive youth and your website has been a great resource.” – Tam
“BRAVO. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR EFFORTS. EVERY ASPECT COVERED. (At AntiPornography.org’s website.) I have faith that as people open and purify their hearts they will see that in hurting others we are ultimately hurting ourselves and all. Great love to all of you working on this. I am confident you are SAVING LIVES.” – 27 year old female
“This was seriously such a fantastic opportunity for my class at ASU and we were SO grateful to have Jessica with us that day. It was amazing to hear her story, experiences, and wisdom. I think my class really learned a lot that day and hopefully they will look at the world differently now. I look forward to continuing my involvement with AntiPornography.org through volunteer work and inspiring others to do the same. This is an important cause and I am so glad to be involved with such a great organization!” – Emma-Li Thompson
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Well there you have it! Pretty inspiring stuff, isn’t it? 🙂 We’d like to accomplish a lot more great work like this to prevent and combat the harms of pornography, prostitution and sex trafficking in 2015, (remember: they are all connected!), but like all nonprofits we depend on the kind support and generosity of others to help us with this.
So we hope all of you who care will step up and make a much-needed donation to help us make the world a better and more porn-free world for everyone. Please remember that this is a TEAM EFFORT, and that we are ALL responsible for doing what we can to end the harms of all forms of sexual exploitation.
Many thanks to all who care enough to TAKE ACTION and give what you can. We really appreciate your support! 🙂
Please support Pornography Harms’ efforts to just SAY NO to the new porn “reality series” “The Sex Factor”! ~~~ It features “Duke Freshman” porn performer “Belle Knox” (Miriam Weeks). Here are some quick and easy things you can do to help:
1. Join the conversation by tweeting about the realities of porn. Write Tweets to @TheSxFactor and include the hashtags #pornharms and #endexploitation.
4. Post on The Sex Factor Facebook page about the REALITY of how pornography harms, and why glamorizing and promoting doing porn is unethical and destructive.
5. Tweet any or all of the porn performers on the show about the harms of pornography, or how they deserve better than the abusive and toxic porn industry. Or post on their Facebook pages. Remember to keep your communications respectful!
Here’s a great essay about how pornography contributes to violence against women and misogynist behavior and abuse.
Sexism and violence, prevalent parts of our society, have been leading factors in creating a male-dominated porn industry; it is designed to satisfy the desires of men who do not care for women. By encouraging violent behavior and sexual abuse in productions, this industry is sending a very negative message to society. Male behavior should, according to porn, be violent, dominant, aggressive, and tough; young males end up internalizing those standards for male behavior instead of developing on their own. The pornography industry promotes domestic abuse against women and creates twisted delusions of masculinity.
This essay was written by Emma-Li Thompson (@ehmmali), a supporter of AntiPornography.org who is a student at Arizona State University. It was Emma-Li who arranged for our volunteer Jessica Mendes to speak to her Women’s Studies class about Jessica’s harmful experiences doing porn. We recorded that very moving and informative speech in this video here:
We’re very glad Emma-Li reached out to us, and we’re thankful that she has been stepping up to do her part to take a firm stand against the harms of pornography and to educate others. Emma-Li will be doing some free-lance volunteering for our organization later this year, and we’re very happy about this. She is setting an excellent example to everyone of contributing to this cause in a much needed way, and we sincerely hope that others will follow her example. (It is necessary for more people to do their part to fight porn, or it will overtake our society even more than it already has!)
Thanks again for everything, awesomely anti-porn Emma-Li! 🙂
Many thanks to Pornography Harms and all others who helped, for their AMAZING efforts in making this happen!!
FROM PORN HARMS:
BIG VICTORY!
After our meeting with them last month, Google has alerted their advertisers that they will be implementing their new advertising policy which eliminates pornographic ads.
In an email, they informed their AdWords users that
“[b]eginning in the coming weeks, we’ll no longer accept ads that promote graphic depictions of sexual acts including, but not limited to, hardcore pornography; graphic sexual acts … [and] sexual activity.
“When we make this change, Google will disapprove all ads and sites that are identified as being in violation of our revised policy.”
PLEASE THANK GOOGLE and encourage more positive steps by them by adding your name to this thank you card! There is much more that they can do, and thanking them for what they have already done will help them do more!
Gail Dines of Stop Porn Culture and Donny Pauling, ex-porn producer, explain the harsh reality of the life of “porn stars”, and how they are manipulated and abused in the industry. Very disturbing, but very informative!
Former playboy film producer, Donny Pauling, recently described his experience recruiting young women into the porn industry. At age 18, the targeted girls are typically in college, making $200 a week at a local coffee shop. Pauling would approach each one, tell her how beautiful she is, and would then invite her in for an interview.
The moment the young woman entered his office, he would begin seducing her into film making by manipulating her. He would let her talk for 30 minutes about herself, all-the-while Pauling was looking for ways to coerce her into making a film. He would argue that the money is great and the films were not that bad.
At the beginning, Pauling said, each girl was bright-eyed, happy, and excited about the money. The first day on the set, she would be asked to do soft core pornography. The young woman would leave thinking that it wasn’t so bad and the money was really good.
Within a few days, Pauling would call the girl and tell her how much money she would make in the next film, without giving any details. With the thought of the money alone, most young women are hooked into the concept and return for a second film.
Over time, Pauling would direct the young woman to do more and more aggressive, violent, or deviant acts. He and other producers push women as far as they can go—and then push even further, even to the point of causing injuries. All the while, they would refer to the legal contract the young woman had signed (and of course, she would not have an attorney assist in making certain the contract protected her.)
Pauling said that progression into darker and darker films would cause the light to go out in a young woman’s eyes; the girls are shocked and ashamed by what they have done. Eventually, most of them resort to drugs and alcohol abuse to escape reality and depression.
After time passes, young women leave or are kicked out of the porn industry with nothing to show—except a sexually transmitted disease, emotional and sometimes physical scarring.
Check out this very powerful and informative article on the harms of pornography and the issue of CHOICE, by an awesome pro-feminist young man, Kourtney Mitchell.
There are now multiple generations of men socialized on gross-level violence against women, brought to their computers, phones and game consoles via the internet. Porn stars visit colleges and universities for “sex week”; sports events increase revenues for sex traffickers; sexual sadism is deemed chic, and men claim oppression when anyone challenges their right to watch films in which men use their penises to choke and mutilate women.
If we were to claim that it is okay for a man to sexually accost a boy simply because that is what gets him off, we would be labeled as the sexually perverted predators we are. But when we claim that it is also not okay to treat half the human population in the same manner, we are dismissed outright.
We grow up conditioned to make certain choices – the choice to objectify, denigrate and treat women as sub-human. Even when our parents try their best to protect us from such content, the culture makes sure we continue to have access to it. Our whole way of being and living and behaving in this world is directly informed by dominance of women.
But when we know better, we should do better. The harms of pornography affect all of us. It is time we start making better choices. Our choices are the first steps toward reclaiming our humanity, and shedding the skin of collective perpetration in this world.
I do not want to live in a world where women are tortured on camera for profit. Do you? When you look into it, most of you will probably find that you don’t. Imagine this: what if that was your mother, sister, or daughter getting choked and crying and being called names? Most men would not get off on that.
I am one out of a growing number of men who are attempting to change the way we think of ourselves. Start by looking past the pleasure you receive from seeing another human being tortured on camera for profit. Consider the images outside of your sexual gratification, and instead consider them on the basis of how human beings should be treated.
READ THE EXCELLENT FULL ARTICLE AT THE LINK BELOW:
For more powerful writing by Kourtney, including an essay on the importance of educating men about pro-feminism and anti-violence principles, check out his articles here:
Want to get involved in anti-porn pro-feminist activism? Check out this info below from Stop Porn Culture and Kourtney Mitchell: (via SPC’s post of Kourtney’s article)
FROM SPC:
“If you are a feminist ally and would like to join the SPC Men’s Team or want to contribute to the Resources page “…For Men by Men”, please send in your article or write to mediateam [at] stoppornculture [dot] org. ”
FROM KOURTNEY MITCHELL TO SPC:
“Thank you so much for this opportunity! Looking forward to working with SPC. For all anti-porn and pro-feminist men, please contact us to contribute to this project.”
Fighting the horrific harms of pornography effectively requires a huge TEAM EFFORT. Will you help us help others? ~~~ Please watch our new video & then help in whatever way you’re able to! Thanks! ~ 🙂
Pornography fuels sexual abuse, child abuse, addiction, infidelity, divorce, prostitution, sex trafficking, slavery, and many other very harmful social problems. We’re doing our best to do *our* part to prevent and combat these harms, but this cause will only succeed if MANY MORE PEOPLE like YOU step up and do YOUR PART, and help by contributing your time, energy and much needed funds. We are ALL equally responsible for doing everything we can. We hope you will do YOUR part to help.
Please make a TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION to support our efforts to fight porn harms, and to help survivors exit the sex industry and speak out! Thanks! 🙂 http://antipornography.org/donate.html
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR ANTI-PORN YOUTUBE CHANNELS! Many more videos will be uploaded soon! 🙂 (Including many with survivors sharing their experiences in the sex industry!)
Anti-Porn Film and Slideshow. Plus Stop Porn Culture Info
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** A GROUND-BREAKING documentary about pornography is available! **
Visit the site HERE for
"The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality and Relationships."
See clips: I.e. Noam Chomsky on "choice" in porn.
See the whole film HEREright now at Media Education Foundation.
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*** The AMAZING and very eye-openingStop Porn Culturevideo slideshow "Who Wants to Be a Porn Star?" is available on the Internet! It exposes the true harsh reality of the porn industry and analyzes it with many profound and disturbing insights. To watch it right now click HERE.
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** STOP PORN CULTURE Info **
-- NEW SLIDESHOW: "It's Easy Out Here For A Pimp: How a Porn Culture Grooms Kids for Sexual Exploitation." Available for download from Stop Porn Culture website.
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If you'd like to be get future SPC updates emailed to you, please request HERE.
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The "Who Wants to Be a Porn Star?" slideshow is SPC's first line of offense in the battle to reclaim this culture from the misogyny, racism and brute power of
the pornographers. Please join SPC in the struggle for a violence-free world.
StopPornCulture.org
NOTE: Please contact SPC HERE for information about buying a copy of the slide show if you can't
attend a training.
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This blog was created so that people who wish to do something about the harms of pornography will have resources available to help them and will know that they are not alone. This blog is pro-woman, non -partisan, non-religious, (but supportive of constructive, non-discriminatory, and pro-woman efforts of people of faith), and is a project of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization AntiPornography.org. We support, encourage, and welcome constructive anti-pornography activism on the part of everyone, even if we are less than 100% in agreement with someone's views or approach.
You have the power to choose how to make a difference in your own unique way, and to do your part to make the world a better place for everyone. We hope that you have found some information and inspiration here that will help you do so.
Thank you for visiting. May you have much success in your activism, and congratulations on choosing to be part of the solution to a better world for everyone.
AntiPornography.org
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Note: Donations to support further activism are gratefully accepted. (CC or PayPal.)
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"We can tell our values by looking at our checkbook stubs."
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Thank you for visiting!
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Disclaimer:
Just because a person, group, organization, book, website, video, or resource, etc., is linked to or presented here on this blog, it does not mean that everything expressed or done by that person, group, etc., is personally supported by AntiPornography.org. (No anti-woman views or actions are supported, regardless if the source of them identifies as anti-pornography or not.) A wide variety of resources are provided here for visitors. It is up to each individual person to examine the resources for themselves, and to decide for themselves what information is useful to them or not, and who or what to support or not, based on what is right for each individual and where they are currently at in regards to their views and activism. We support someone taking what is useful for them from here and other resources, and then ignoring or leaving behind the rest. We share what diverse individuals and groups are doing to fight against the harms of pornography so that you can get ideas from others and then proceed to do your own activism as you choose, not necessarily to have you support or do exactly what others are doing. Finally, if you have any concerns regarding the resources on this blog, please realize that this blog, its overall content, and the list of what a person can do about pornography are works in progress and subject to revision. (As the content is further examined and considered as time permits.) If you think something should be revised or removed, (because you feel it is anti-woman, or for some other valid reason), please feel free to respectfully comment and share your point of view on the matter.
Thank you for your patience and understanding in regards to all of the above. ~ AntiPornography.org
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P.S. RE: COMMENTS: The same guidelines apply to comments here at this mirror blog as at the main blog. (The guidelines are stated there in the comment box.) To be specific, "Polite and respectful comments are appreciated. (Others will be deleted.) Thank you for sharing!"
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