Through the Looking Glass: The Troublesome Truths Behind the Porn Industry
By Kat Lukin
Fight the New Drug (FTND) is a federally approved non-profit dating back to 2009 in Utah. Founded by college students, FTND creates a non-religious and non-legislative environment to share and acknowledge the harmful effects of the porn industry through research-based and education-focused strategies. They break down the harmful effects of pornography into three tiers, but our focus will primarily be on “How Porn Can Impact Society.” Here, they provide detailed insight from a survivor of GirlsDoPorn, a popular website featuring countless women between 2009 and 2019. The recorded podcast episode delved deep into her flight to San Diego, which completely altered the journey ahead of her.
In the following selected excerpt, Jane Doe describes the aftermath of having the taping of her sexual exploitation sent to her family and several members of her religious community.
“I just said how sorry I was for betraying their trust and making them feel shame. Maybe I was protecting them a little from my pain, and then I thought maybe if I killed myself, everyone would be better off. I don’t have to make them ashamed of me anymore. Everything that I’d done wrong would go away, and I still felt so stupid and naive for going out there. I held a lot of self-guilt. I thought, “Oh, you stupid, naive girl,” and they were charged with not only sex trafficking but conspiracy for sex trafficking. These men did it for over ten years! They were master groomers, master manipulators, and liars, and it’s taken a lot of therapy to work through that. I still have days where I blame myself, and I think many of the girls do, but overall, we’ve created this really beautiful support network.” (15:40 – 16:37)
In 2014, Human Trafficking Search wrote a piece titled “The Connection Between Sex Trafficking and Pornography,” in which the author explicitly states, “Traffickers can sell sexual photos of the women in addition to forcing them into prostitution at a great financial gain and the younger the girls, the more expensive the photos.” This gut-wrenching truth is only made worse by their following comment: “Since most transactions between the traffickers and buyers take place online, traffickers also use the photos and films of the girls to attract more clients.”
Human Trafficking Search further points to interviews from numerous women retired from the porn industry who have stories identical to those of sex trafficking victims.
In their article, “Hooked on Porn,” the Salvation Army newsletter states pornography is not only a gateway to sex trafficking but also a promotion of violence towards women through power dynamics both on and off-screen. In the piece, writer Lynn Armstrong does an excellent job of highlighting how open discussions surrounding sexual education and pornography, void of judgment, are an all-time necessity. Safe conversations create safe spaces for those deeply wounded by the porn industry and those who wish to stop using it.
These numerous resources have pointed to clear connections between pornography and human trafficking. Although, in the case of GirlsDoPorn, the three-year chase is over, and co-founder Matthew Pratt is facing charges including trafficking of a minor and child pornography, countless sites still applaud the exploitation of trafficking victims.
Feel free to check out some of the links below for more information surrounding pornography and its many negative facets:
- https://fighttoendexploitation.org/breaking-down-the-connection-between-pornography-and-sex-trafficking/
- https://fightthenewdrug.org/
- http://www.victimsofpornography.org/
Sources of information on this page
Armstrong, L. (n.d.). Hooked on porn. Salvation Army Canada. https://salvationist.ca/articles/hooked-on-porn/
Center newsroom. Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery. (2023, March 1). https://ucfglobalperspectives.org/htms/center-newsroom/
City News Service. (2022, December 24). Girlsdoporn founder on FBI most wanted list caught in Spain. NBC 7 San Diego. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/fbi-most-wanted-listee-girlsdoporn-founder-caught-in-spain-after-years-on-the-run/3128334/
Fight the New Drug. (n.d.). How porn can fuel sex trafficking. Fight the New Drug. https://fightthenewdrug.org/how-porn-can-fuel-sex-trafficking/
Human Trafficking Search. (2022, April 20). The connection between sex trafficking and pornography. Human Trafficking Search. https://humantraffickingsearch.org/the-connection-between-sex-trafficking-and-pornography/