Tags
analysis, anti-porn, humantrafficking, onlinepornography, porn, porno, sextrafficking, statistics
Pornography is common in modern society, although it is still a very controversial topic. According to a 2006 Internet Filter Review, every second 28,258 internet users are accessing porn and every 39 minutes a new pornographic film is produced in the USA. The average age children are first encountered with online porn is 11, and 90% of children age 8-16 view porn online.
What do these statistics mean? Well, The Freedom Youth Project sees this as proof of an issue largely overlooked. The Freedom Youth Project’s article “Pornography-A Gateway to Human Sex Trafficking” speaks a bit about how pornography as an addiction can harm all persons involved.
Pornography addiction meets the criteria of an addiction on 3 points:
1) Addicts can’t do without pornography
2) Requires repetition of the act
3) Addicts lose the ability of will
The article states pornography as the leading cause of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) in America (although, without statistics). It provides two reasons:
1) Children and adults who are trafficked are forced to participate in pornographic films.
2) As more children are forced into pornography, the demand for this material grows. Thus, the cycle continues.
The article also brought up a recent analysis of the 50 best selling pornographic films that revealed verbal and physical aggression in the films. On average, 11.52 acts of aggression were in each scene analyzed, with 94% of aggressive acts committed towards women.
The article argues that viewers become desensitized to the blatant problem that the children in the films are being forced into these situations. The article goes on to state that this desensitization process eventually leads to viewers looking for opportunities to act out these behaviors.
Human Sex Trafficking is a major issue, but did this article really make its’ point? I believe it fell short in some major ways:
1) It failed to mention the issue was about pornography addiction when the material covered was pertaining to pornography addicts. The information covered wasn’t on typical viewers. I find this misleading to readers.
2) It failed to connect many strong issues with statistical evidence. While it said pornography was the leading cause of DMST, it failed to provide statistics. It also failed to provide statistics backing up the claim that material viewed in the films caused viewers to perform the same actions. In conjunction with the issue stated in 1, this falsely accuses all pornography viewers.
Let me state, I am not against Freedom Youth Project’s views or statement; I just would have liked to see a stronger argument. Human Sex Trafficking is an issue that needs to be stopped, and FYP pointed out something very true: While the internet is a database of information and a hub for opportunity, when used incorrectly, it can hurt many lives.
Which raises the next point: Is internet censorship needed?
…
JK, I’m not going there today. : P
~NOMNOMreeses~