tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/internet-porn-10414/articlesInternet porn – The Conversation2022-11-17T13:27:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1917312022-11-17T13:27:40Z2022-11-17T13:27:40ZWhy the re-release of iconic porn film ‘Deep Throat’ fizzled<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495448/original/file-20221115-23-7wrxw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=54%2C8%2C1745%2C1127&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Linda Lovelace starred in 1972's 'Deep Throat,' which kicked off porn's golden age.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/deep-throat-poster-us-poster-art-linda-lovelace-1972-news-photo/1137256251?phrase=deep throat&adppopup=true">LMPC/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1972, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068468/">Deep Throat</a>,” a feature-length porn film directed by Gerard Damiano, was hailed for moving pornography into the mainstream and beginning a golden age of theatrical porn. </p>
<p>To mark the 50th anniversary of its release, <a href="https://damianofilms.com/deepthroat50/4k-restoration">a restored high-resolution version</a> was released earlier this year. Yet outside of a few screenings in New York City, <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/06/10/deep-throat-still-hard-to-swallow-on-50th-anniversary/">most U.S. theaters expressed little interest in showing the film</a>.</p>
<p>As the editor of the essay collection “<a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/pornography/9780813538716">Pornography: Film and Culture</a>,” I’m not surprised by the relatively muted fanfare to the re-release. </p>
<p>To me, it’s a sign of how much pornography has changed during the past 50 years.</p>
<h2>‘Stag’ shorts in ‘smokers’</h2>
<p>Film pornography <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520219434/hard-core">has a long underground history</a>, going back to “stag” shorts in the silent film era, which for decades were screened in “smokers” – named after the all-male audience that gathered to watch the films together and smoke cigars.</p>
<p>In the late 1960s, pornography moved into theaters in porn districts in cities like New York, and these places remained male-dominated settings. The films initially were feature length and while they lacked traditional narratives, many of them had various forms of narrative structure. The 1970 documentary “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178315/">Sexual Freedom in Denmark</a>,” for example, used educating the public about Denmark’s liberal censorship laws and red light districts as a pretext to screen explicit scenes featuring hardcore sex.</p>
<p>Films such as “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315949/">He & She</a>,” also released in 1970, featured a young, attractive heterosexual couple. Similarly, this film fashioned itself as instructive <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3704912">in the tradition of marriage manual books</a> but used erotic hardcore pornography to teach the ins and outs of various sexual techniques. </p>
<p>Many other films with now-forgotten titles from the 1970s featured different couples simply having sex. But even those productions often had a loose narrative structure. </p>
<h2>The rise of ‘porno chic’</h2>
<p>“Deep Throat,” which stars pornographic actress Linda Lovelace, tells the story of a woman whose clitoris is in her throat. Because it was a feature film centered on female sexual pleasure, porn started being seen as somewhat respectable. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A billboard advertises 'Deep Throat' as a can't miss theatrical release." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495460/original/file-20221115-11-i3e6ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495460/original/file-20221115-11-i3e6ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495460/original/file-20221115-11-i3e6ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495460/original/file-20221115-11-i3e6ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495460/original/file-20221115-11-i3e6ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495460/original/file-20221115-11-i3e6ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495460/original/file-20221115-11-i3e6ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Deep Throat’ brought porn into the mainstream.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/theater-marquee-advertises-the-film-deep-throat-starring-news-photo/2884111?phrase=deep%20throat&adppopup=true">Arnie Sachs/CNP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When “Deep Throat” premiered in New York in 1972, the response was enthusiastic, giving rise to the term “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jun/10/deep-throat-at-50-linda-lovelace-porn-mainstream">porno chic</a>.” Movie stars, theater directors and composers embraced the film. Critic Roger Ebert, though he panned the film, <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/deep-throat-1973">called it</a> “the first stag film to see with a date.”</p>
<p>The norm in pornography had been for viewers to simply enter and leave the theater whenever they wished. Starting times were not even listed in newspapers. With “Deep Throat,” however, couples stood in line waiting for the next showing to start. This was, for many couples, their first foray into porn theater districts. </p>
<p>The film is said to have ushered in porn’s golden age, and classics such as “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068260/">Behind the Green Door</a>” (1972), “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075018/">The Opening of Misty Beethoven</a>” (1976) and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075018/">Barbara Broadcast</a>” (1977) soon followed. These films had comparatively big budgets and told stories with central characters. The production values were high, with good lighting, composition and editing. </p>
<h2>The home viewing experience</h2>
<p>But by early 1980s, theatrical porn had fallen by the wayside, and home video porn took off. </p>
<p>Homes created comfortable viewing environments for women who felt alienated from – and threatened by – the so-called theater “raincoat crowd” that one female porn film performer <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1dszzbk">described as</a> “isolated men masturbating under their coats.” Now women – and men who were also turned off by the movie theater atmosphere – could watch those same movies from the comfort of their living rooms.</p>
<p>The rise of digital, streaming porn further upended the industry. Feature-length films were replaced by low-budget, comparatively short videos, with no narrative. They often centered on kinks or simple sexual fantasies – feet fetish videos or skimpy narrative premises such as sex between realtors and their clients. </p>
<p>Sometimes longer versions are available for pay, but these often simply feature extended sex scenes rather than plot or character development. Streaming porn on the internet effectively ended the production and exhibition of features. Porn theaters and video stores – where customers could watch porn films in private viewing booths – have become relics of a bygone era.</p>
<h2>The re-release lands with a thud</h2>
<p>The response to the re-release of “Deep Throat” was so muted that very few people probably even know that 2022 is the 50th anniversary of the film’s initial release. Movie theaters didn’t show it and most of the media didn’t cover it. A high-resolution restored DVD is unavailable, nor is it streaming.</p>
<p>Although he acknowledged today’s appetite for digital porn, the son of director Gerard Damiano, Gerard Jr., seemed to pin the blame on Americans’ puritanical approach to sex. </p>
<p>Americans are “very skittish about talking about anything that has to do with sex,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jun/10/deep-throat-at-50-linda-lovelace-porn-mainstream">he told The Guardian</a>. “People today are so afraid of anything sexual because they don’t know what to do… There’s not a lot of sex positivity and we’re hoping to reintroduce that with this film.”</p>
<p><a href="https://nypost.com/2022/06/10/deep-throat-still-hard-to-swallow-on-50th-anniversary/">In a separate interview</a> with the New York Post, he noted, “Europe is much more receptive to us. We couldn’t find a U.S. venue that was comfortable showing the film.”</p>
<p>But in my view, saying Americans are skittish about sex doesn’t explain the box office failure of the re-release of “Deep Throat.” The current porn industry was neither built on skittishness nor fear of sex. A quick visit to Pornhub disabuses that notion. </p>
<p>Pornography is a genre much like others with a complex and changing history. It is not one fixed thing: It is not always dangerous, evil trash; nor does watching porn make people sexual perverts or worse. <a href="https://nbc-2.com/news/2021/01/12/heres-how-your-porn-habit-could-be-helping-human-sex-traffickers/amp/">While such serious issues</a> as sex trafficking and sexual abuse have arisen in the porn industry, similar problems have also plagued Hollywood involving high-profile figures such as <a href="https://people.com/tv/kevin-spacey-controversy-timeline/">Kevin Spacey,</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41594672">Harvey Weinstein</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/60-women-accused-bill-cosby-his-conviction-had-been-considered-n1272864">Bill Cosby</a>. </p>
<p>The re-release of “Deep Throat” may have ultimately collided with the #MeToo movement. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ordeal-by-Linda-Lovelace-1980-01-03/dp/B01FKWZ9QC/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1BXQCWJI87IFB&keywords=Linda+Lovelace&qid=1668567351&s=books&sprefix=linda+lovelace%2Cstripbooks%2C170&sr=1-5">In her highly publicized memoir</a>, lead actress Linda Lovelace described being physically abused at home by her husband, who worked as a production manager on the film. She also wrote about feeling coerced on set while shooting the sex scenes. </p>
<p>That aspect of the film’s legacy – more than any sort of squeamishness towards sex – could have also contributed to the reluctance of theaters to screen it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Lehman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The son of the director has argued that Americans are still too squeamish about sex to fully appreciate the film. A porn scholar disagrees.Peter Lehman, Emeritus Professor, Film and Media Studies in English, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1810202022-04-28T19:10:26Z2022-04-28T19:10:26ZSelling voyeurism: How companies create value from the taboo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458021/original/file-20220413-24-ffc2bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5841%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A growing number of businesses across a wide range of industries are successfully selling voyeurism to their audiences. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/selling-voyeurism--how-companies-create-value-from-the-taboo" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>What do reality television, slum tourism, erotic webcam and mixed-martial arts have in common? They all rely on voyeurism to entertain their audiences. Voyeurism provides a glimpse into the private life of another person to give audiences a revealing and entertaining experience. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.mmafighting.com/">mixed martial arts</a> (MMA), for example, it provides a close-up look at the violence of a no-holds-barred fight. On reality television shows, like <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/"><em>Survivor</em></a> and <a href="https://www.bigbrothercanada.ca/"><em>Big Brother</em></a>, voyeurism creates the excitement, thrills and shock that entertainment-hungry consumers crave.</p>
<p>In most societies, voyeurism is taboo. Yet a growing number of businesses across a wide range of industries are successfully selling voyeurism to a growing audience. </p>
<p>As management researchers, we study the intersection of organizations and society. In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2019.0210">recently published research</a>, we explain how businesses use two key dimensions — authenticity and transgression — to create a commercial opportunities from voyeurism. </p>
<h2>Authenticity and transgression</h2>
<p>Authenticity emerges from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1479758042000797015">seeing the “real life” of another person</a> and transgression appears from <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Voyeur_Nation.html?id=4MloAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">viewing something forbidden</a>. What differentiates erotic webcam from most pornography is the perception that the audience is getting a live and interactive glimpse into the private bedroom of the cam model. </p>
<p>Authenticity and transgression work together to generate entertaining experiences for the audience. In doing so, businesses that commodify authenticity develop devoted and returning customers. </p>
<p>Delivering value to customers based on something taboo is no easy task. The mixed emotions that draw us into the voyeuristic experience can easily overwhelm us — there is a very fine line between creating entertainment value and creating too many negative emotions (such as anxiety and guilt) that push customers away. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two blindfolded people kissing while cameras film them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458028/original/file-20220413-16-g4rox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458028/original/file-20220413-16-g4rox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458028/original/file-20220413-16-g4rox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458028/original/file-20220413-16-g4rox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458028/original/file-20220413-16-g4rox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458028/original/file-20220413-16-g4rox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458028/original/file-20220413-16-g4rox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reality television shows, like E! Entertainment’s ‘Kiss Bang Love’ rely on the use of voyeurism to deliver entertainment value to audiences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Berenice Bautista)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It doesn’t take much to turn reality shows from a guilty pleasure to something that makes the audience feel too guilty to watch. In this way, the authenticity and transgression draw audiences in and create value, but can also push audiences away and destroy value. </p>
<p>For these businesses to be successful, they have to walk a fine line. How do they do it?</p>
<h2>Emotional optimization</h2>
<p>To successfully commercialize voyeurism, businesses engage in numerous tactics to turn down undesirable emotions, while retaining or turning up the desirable emotions for the customers. The ones that are successful know their audiences well and keep them coming back for more.</p>
<p>Businesses like MMA, reality television, slum tourism and erotic webcams use a variety of approaches to manage audiences’ emotional responses. Strategies, such as shielding audiences, de-personalizing performers and creating the impression that performers are willing participants, help balance customers’ mixed emotions.</p>
<p>For example, the use of cages in MMA — as opposed to less constraining barriers in boxing or the lack of barriers in traditional martial arts — prevents fear from overwhelming the audience. The cage acts like a protective barrier between the audience and the violence unfolding in front of them. But it also reinforces the idea that this is a no-holds-barred fight. In this way, the sense of violence and danger decreases, while desirable emotions, like excitement, are maintained.</p>
<p>However, there is no exact amount of authenticity and transgression that elicit desirable emotional responses from consumers. Because each audience member is different, the larger and more diverse an audience gets, the harder it is to find the sweet spot. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Behind a chain-link cage, an MMA fighter punches another in the stomach" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458027/original/file-20220413-22-xkzgr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458027/original/file-20220413-22-xkzgr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458027/original/file-20220413-22-xkzgr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458027/original/file-20220413-22-xkzgr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458027/original/file-20220413-22-xkzgr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458027/original/file-20220413-22-xkzgr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458027/original/file-20220413-22-xkzgr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The use of cages in MMA prevents fear from overwhelming audience members by acting like a protective barrier between the audience and the violence unfolding in front of them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Chase Stevens)</span></span>
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<p>When MMA was a “backstreet” activity, the smaller audience was more comfortable with higher levels of transgression and authenticity. But now, <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1614213-a-timeline-of-ufc-rules-from-no-holds-barred-to-highly-regulated">since MMA has gone mainstream, there are more restrictions to the fighting</a>. They still advertise as “no-holds-barred,” because that’s where the value is created, but they have <a href="https://www.ufc.com/unified-rules-mixed-martial-arts">implemented many rules</a> to ensure it’s not too real or too violent to watch.</p>
<h2>What can voyeurism teach us?</h2>
<p>The successful commercialization of voyeurism challenges how we think of both authenticity and transgression. Authenticity is assumed to be beneficial for value creation. In fact, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2019/06/20/why-brands-should-make-authenticity-a-business-imperative/?sh=541c6dd121fd">authenticity is used in an exponential number of industries to create value.</a> Transgression, on the other hand, is <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2008.27752775">assumed to be detrimental for value creation</a>, since audiences risk social disapproval for participating. </p>
<p>In the practice of voyeurism, however, the extreme authenticity can repel audiences if the experience feels “too real,” while the transgressiveness may appeal to audiences seeking a taboo experience.</p>
<p>In erotic webcam, for example, viewers look into the bedrooms of cam models as they perform sexual acts, while their personal lives are kept private. This strategy depersonalizes models so that audience members do not feel too much empathy for them, which can interrupt the “entertainment value.” </p>
<p>Our research shows that authenticity and transgression are not inherently good or bad, it’s the emotions that matters for value creation. From a business perspective, effectively managing the emotional responses is the core task that facilitates value creation. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1524&context=faculty_scholarship">ethics of voyeurism are widely debated</a> for good reason. However, understanding how voyeurism creates value is an issue that cannot be ignored, regardless of one’s views on the ethics. We need to understand how and why it creates value if we are to have conversations about what should and should not be allowed.</p>
<p>Instead of arguments exclusively about <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/53026">whether voyeurism is ethical or not</a>, we should explore <em>why</em> we are drawn to voyeurism in the first place and where the limits should be for this taboo, yet incredibly prevalent practice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181020/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeline Toubiana has received funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maxim Voronov, Sean Buchanan, and Trish Ruebottom do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Voyeurism provides a glimpse into the private life of another person to give audiences a revealing and entertaining experience.Trish Ruebottom, Associate Professor of HR and Management, McMaster UniversityMadeline Toubiana, Associate Professor, Entrepreneurship and Organization, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaMaxim Voronov, Professor of Organization Studies and Sustainability, York University, CanadaSean Buchanan, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602382021-05-17T12:26:00Z2021-05-17T12:26:00ZSex work, part of the online gig economy, is a lifeline for marginalized workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400109/original/file-20210511-21-t2945p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C33%2C5646%2C3574&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters of sex workers' rights marched in Las Vegas in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SexWorkersProtest/00cb17e99298493e8e9ea622e59370fa/photo">AP Photo/John Locher</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More people are getting involved in more types of sex work, especially with the help of the internet, despite <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-prostitution-be-decriminalized-60086">criminalization of their occupations</a> and activist opposition, some of which <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7bj9w/anti-porn-extremism-pornhub-traffickinghub-exodus-cry-ncose">threatens people’s lives</a>. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zJGXmpAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">My research</a> <a href="https://drangelajones.com/">interviewing a wide range of sex workers</a> finds that <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479874873/camming/">more people are involved</a> in the industry, including marginalized people who are finding it a literal lifeline in tough economic times.</p>
<p>The internet has diversified forms of sex work, aided in the industry’s growth and interconnected previously unconnected types of sex work. Demand for amateur, non-studio-based porn has grown, expanding online pornographic industries like <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-adult-video-stars-rely-on-camming-104758">camming</a>, in which performers interact with viewers. Online sex workers post content on <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/selling-sexy-men-women-onlyfans-discuss-reality-scenes/story?id=75934010">specialized hosting sites</a>. Other websites connect <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/evew54/phone-sex-women-callers-secrets">phone sex workers</a> with new customers.</p>
<p>Some sites facilitate <a href="https://theconversation.com/sugar-daddy-capitalism-even-the-worlds-oldest-profession-is-being-uberised-109426">sugaring relationships</a>, in which one person gives another money over time in exchange for a relationship lasting beyond a one-time encounter. On other sites, people can even sell <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/02/spoke-women-sell-used-underwear-see-lucrative-seems-7736214/">used panties</a>.</p>
<p>Especially during a global pandemic with more people out of work and searching for job opportunities, the modern sex industry is incorporating many new providers, customers and job possibilities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People, including one under a red umbrella, march and shout in the street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Activists and sex workers marched in Miami Beach in December 2020, seeking the decriminalization of sex work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/activists-and-sex-workers-participate-in-a-slut-walk-in-news-photo/1229967377">Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who works in modern sex industries?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/understanding-sex-work-open-society">Sex work</a> has become more appealing to more laborers across social classes. In particular, online sex work has become more popular because it offers physical safety to those working fully online and minimizes risk to those laboring offline, has minimal requirements for employment and offers the potential for decent wages and autonomy. </p>
<p>These conditions create better work experiences. Sex worker <a href="https://triplextransman.com/">Trip Richards</a> said, “as a transgender man, … sharing my work on online platforms has offered me financial freedom and personal happiness I never thought possible and has allowed me to stay safe while pursuing my own goals as an artist, educator and activist.”</p>
<p>Online sex work is a better option than the poorly remunerated work available to some people. Many sex workers, especially those from marginalized groups, have told me they found it difficult or impossible to get or keep jobs in other industries, making sex work their only option to earn a living. People with disabilities and chronic illnesses who participated in <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479874873/camming/">my research on the camming industry</a> highlighted online sex work as flexible labor. </p>
<p>In my field, researchers assign first-name aliases to those we interview. One woman whom I call Kim remarked that camming is “easier to work with bipolar disorder.” Amelia explained, “I have Crohn’s and was unable to hold down a regular job. … My parents had no money, and I felt guilty asking them for help.”</p>
<p>The sexual gig economy can be a refuge from the discrimination some people face in the nonsexual labor market. Natalie told me: “It’s hard to find full-time work even at a fast food place as a full-time trans female who is pre-op and not on hormone replacement therapy.” </p>
<p>Not all sex workers come from marginalized social positions. As more people have been struggling before and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sex-work-has-been-affected-by-the-pandemic-160736">during the pandemic</a> to <a href="https://www.insider.com/people-are-creating-onlyfans-accounts-after-losing-jobs-during-pandemic-2020-6">make ends meet</a>, more people are becoming <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/23/everyone-and-their-mum-is-on-it-onlyfans-boomed-in-popularity-during-the-pandemic">open to working in sex industries</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands by a river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Allissa Star, seen here in Pittsburgh in February 2021, used to be an in-person sex worker at a legal brothel in Nevada, but pandemic closures left her struggling to pay bills and turning to online sex work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakNevadaBrothels/1cfc0653899748f998564851162cec2e/photo">AP Photo/Keith Srakocic</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><iframe id="784bq" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/784bq/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>What do sex workers earn?</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479874873/camming/">my study of the global camming industry</a>, surveying and interviewing workers worldwide, full-time performers could earn US$10,000 a month. But those uncommonly high wages went almost exclusively to young, white, thin cisgender women. “Cisgender” is an adjective derived from the Latin prefix meaning “on the same side as” and refers to people who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. In general, trans men are men who were assigned female at birth; trans women are women who were assigned male at birth.</p>
<p>Most of the top earners are from the U.S., and spent years building a brand. But most cam models work part-time, and median earnings were $1,000 a month overall, with trans women right at that average, but cisgender women $1,250 and cisgender men $350.</p>
<p>Online phone sex workers might charge $2 per minute, earning them $120 per hour, before the platform takes 30%. A model posting content on a subscription site might charge as much as $15 per month, though these sites generally take between 20%-30%.</p>
<p><iframe id="axcO2" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/axcO2/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Escorts, who provide companionship offline, often charge the highest rates of sex workers online. But their rates don’t necessarily reflect their earnings. How much an escort might make depends on consumer demand and the number of clients they see each month. </p>
<p>Their schedules vary and they often do multiple types of sex work simultaneously. For example, Lenny told me, “I created an online persona, a profile for the purpose to offering escort services, selling homemade porn video clips, and an additional feature is webcamming, which I utilize by creating live sex shows to replicate what customers could experience during escort meetings face-to-face.”</p>
<h2>What are the benefits of online sex work?</h2>
<p>Like other gig workers, sex workers do not receive benefits such as employer-provided health care, vacation or retirement packages in many countries. And they have to do a lot of administrative work: marketing, messaging with clients, planning shoots or shows, preparing legal forms and <a href="https://www.xbiz.com/news/259207/models-creators-report-issues-with-onlyfans-new-paperwork-policy">dealing with constantly changing legal requirements and stringent websites’ terms of service</a>. However, sex workers describe other benefits.</p>
<p>Among workers in my camming study, 56.2% said they were <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479874873/camming/">not motivated to cam by money only</a>. Carl told me, “The benefits of cam work are much the same as most independent jobs. You work at home on your own schedule and avoid the 9-to-5 daily grind.” Workers like Halona said that being an independent entrepreneur provides autonomy and allows for creativity, describing online sex work as “the job I feel least exploited for my labor.” </p>
<p>For some performers, this labor has allowed them to explore their sexuality, and as several said, they have “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/686758">orgasms for a living</a>.” Others told me the work had helped boost their self-esteem, was affirming and brought them pleasure. As Whitney explained,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I have a physical disability [spinal muscular atrophy] … and had recently moved … I wasn’t working, and, honestly, I spent a lot of time at home bored and lonely. I started posting nudes on a social site and fell in love. I can remember being younger, watching porn, and thinking no one would want to see me doing that. With the support of my husband, I started camming. People did want to see me, and I really did love it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman talks with two police officers on a street at night" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tamika Spellman, left, an advocate for sex workers in Washington, D.C., speaks with local police officers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tamika-spellman-speaks-with-dc-police-officers-responding-news-photo/1200854581">J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How has the internet changed working conditions?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12282">The internet has helped improve sex workers’ lives</a>, including by keeping them safer. For those with internet access, escorts can screen clients online, making clients verify identity and provide references. Escorts develop and rely on online client review systems and community web forums, making them less dependent on exploitative third parties. </p>
<p>However, sex workers laboring offline and on the street remain at high risk. <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/scientific-evidence-for-ending-the-criminalization-of-sex-work">Continued criminalization</a> of in-person sex work in the U.S. and other countries and governmental attempts at <a href="https://peepshowmagazine.com/2021/03/05/peepshow-podcast-takes-on-laws-and-policies-that-impact-sex-workers/">regulating sexual commerce online</a>, limit consensual sex workers’ opportunities.</p>
<p>In 2018, a federal law made <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/13/17172762/fosta-sesta-backpage-230-internet-freedom">internet platforms legally responsible</a> if they hosted user-generated content <a href="https://hackinghustling.org/fosta-in-a-legal-context/">related to sex work</a>, which led free advertising platforms like Craigslist to shut down their personals sections. Other online review forums <a href="https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2018/04/02/the-impact-of-fosta-sesta-on-online-sex-work-communities/">shut down</a>. Those changes <a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol87/iss5/13/">reduced the ability</a> of internet services to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10020058">keep sex workers safe</a> – even in countries where <a href="https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201220147">consensual sex work is decriminalized</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Jones is affiliated with Scientists for Sex Worker Rights, the NAACP, and the SUNY Black Faculty and Staff Caucus.</span></em></p>More people are getting involved in sex work, especially online – and it can be a lifeline for marginalized people.Angela Jones, Associate Professor of Sociology, Farmingdale State CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1381222020-05-19T20:01:27Z2020-05-19T20:01:27ZDenied intimacy in ‘iso’, Aussies go online for adult content – so what’s hot in each major city?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335584/original/file-20200518-138624-15ap11z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=601%2C582%2C1971%2C1342&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/amsterdam-netherlands-may-16-2018-official-1092236918">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People have been finding ways to relieve the boredom of being stuck at home since varying degrees of lockdown have been imposed across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent research points to <a href="https://www.insider.com/uptick-in-sexual-experimentation-during-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-4">reduced sexual intimacy</a> as a result of these restrictions, so it really should come as no surprise that porn viewing levels have increased. Our desire for social interaction and solace during the pandemic has driven the hyper-digitalisation and social media-isation of our daily lives.</p>
<p>Social distancing – no handshaking, hugging or kissing – poses obvious challenges for <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/imm/covid-sex-guidance.pdf">navigating sexual intimacy</a>. Jennifer Powell and Andrea Walling <a href="https://theconversation.com/online-sex-parties-and-virtual-reality-porn-can-sex-in-isolation-be-as-fulfilling-as-real-life-134658">note</a> that technology has the potential to meet different sexual needs and desires. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/apr/16/self-love-in-isolation-i-hope-people-are-using-this-time-to-explore-their-sexuality">Brigid Delaney</a> has highlighted skyrocketing sales of sex toys in Australia and New Zealand as more of us indulge in a little bit of “self-love”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/online-sex-parties-and-virtual-reality-porn-can-sex-in-isolation-be-as-fulfilling-as-real-life-134658">Online sex parties and virtual reality porn: can sex in isolation be as fulfilling as real life?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/porn-use-is-up-thanks-to-the-pandemic-134972">Joshua Grubbs</a> has outlined <em>why</em> our interest in pornography has increased. Pleasure-seeking is the main reason. People also use pornography as a release to help with “stress, anxiety and negative emotions” – and the pandemic has provoked all of these. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://twitter.com/Planographer/status/1246618227926433792">Twitter poll</a> in April, I asked: “Which of the following best describes ur online porn viewing habits as a result of the COVID19 pandemic?” Just over 60% of respondents (N=360) indicated their viewing had increased: “slightly more” (21.9%); “moderately more” (15.8%); and “significantly more” (22.5%).</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1245510099264606208"}"></div></p>
<p>Although not a representative poll, the results resonate with data from <a href="https://www.pornhub.com/insights/corona-virus">Pornhub</a>, <a href="https://www.similarweb.com/website/pornhub.com">one of the world’s most popular porn websites</a>. Globally, daily traffic to Pornhub started to rise in late February with above-average spikes in <a href="https://www.pornhub.com/insights/corona-virus">mid-March</a>. Spikes in Australia started slightly sooner – <a href="https://www.pornhub.com/insights/corona-virus">March 4-6</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/porn-use-is-up-thanks-to-the-pandemic-134972">Porn use is up, thanks to the pandemic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Metro-sexuality and porn</h2>
<p>A disproportionate number of porn viewers live in the capital cities.</p>
<p>Aggregated data from Pornhub for January 1 to March 31 show almost 80% of Australian traffic came from three states: New South Wales (31.6%), Victoria (27.1%) and Queensland (20.6%). This corresponds with their shares of estimated resident population – 31.9%, 26% and 20.1% respectively. Other states and territories, save Tasmania, had similar patterns in traffic share.</p>
<p>However, the largest capital cities – Sydney (29.2%), Melbourne (25.9%), Brisbane (16.3%), Perth (9.6%) and Adelaide (7.2%) – accounted for a disproportionate share of online traffic relative to population share – 20.9%, 19.9%, 9.9%, 8.2% and 5.4% respectively. The eight capital cities accounted for almost 91% of traffic despite having around 68% of Australia’s population.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335587/original/file-20200518-138649-1ll77r4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335587/original/file-20200518-138649-1ll77r4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335587/original/file-20200518-138649-1ll77r4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335587/original/file-20200518-138649-1ll77r4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335587/original/file-20200518-138649-1ll77r4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335587/original/file-20200518-138649-1ll77r4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335587/original/file-20200518-138649-1ll77r4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335587/original/file-20200518-138649-1ll77r4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation. Data:</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The disparity in traffic volumes between metropolitan and regional areas appears to be due, in part, to relatively <a href="https://theconversation.com/true-blue-picks-a-snapshot-of-australias-favourite-porn-100595">poorer internet infrastructure and speeds</a> outside the major cities. Other non-technological factors are probably at play, but more social science research on porn viewing is needed.</p>
<p>The largest increase in traffic was in Brisbane. Here volumes in the last week of March were almost 20 indexed points higher than the first week of January. Perth had the second-highest growth, up 14 points over this period.</p>
<p>Traffic growth during March in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide was above the national trend. Although growth for Melbourne and Sydney was below the trend, this is explained by both cities already having high traffic volumes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333308/original/file-20200507-49538-k7irlw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333308/original/file-20200507-49538-k7irlw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333308/original/file-20200507-49538-k7irlw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333308/original/file-20200507-49538-k7irlw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333308/original/file-20200507-49538-k7irlw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333308/original/file-20200507-49538-k7irlw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333308/original/file-20200507-49538-k7irlw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333308/original/file-20200507-49538-k7irlw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pornhub data.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The surge in traffic during March coincided with more people working, studying and staying at home due to restrictions on social gatherings. The closure of bars, clubs, casinos and cinemas, plus the effective suspension of hook-up apps, has reduced opportunities for face-to-face flirtatious interactions that might lead to sexual intimacy. Ultimately, people have sought pleasure via online pornography.</p>
<h2>How do cities’ porn preferences vary?</h2>
<p>What types of porn have Australians been indulging in?</p>
<p>“Lesbian” porn retains the overall title of top-ranked category across capital cities. It ranked first for Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Sydney; second in Melbourne; fifth in Hobart and seventh in Darwin. The top-ranked categories in the latter two cities were “Anal” and “Bondage” respectively. “Anal” porn ranked seventh in overall capital city terms and was highest in Perth (fourth) and Canberra (fifth) after Darwin. Bondage porn does not rank in the top 10 of any other capital city.</p>
<p>Hobart and Darwin had notably more diverse porn interests than the larger capital cities where preferences tend to be more consistent.</p>
<p>Japanese-categorised porn made the <a href="https://theconversation.com/true-blue-picks-a-snapshot-of-australias-favourite-porn-100595">top 10 of only three cities</a> back in 2018: Canberra (sixth), Sydney (seventh) and Melbourne (ninth). During the pandemic this category of porn was in the top 10 of all capital cities. It is now the second-most-popular category overall.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MILF">MILF</a> porn, which has long featured in the “top 3” categories of porn, appears to be losing some ground, ranking fourth overall in the cities. </p>
<p>In contrast, interest in “Amateur” porn has surged. It ranks second in Adelaide, Canberra and Perth, and third in Melbourne and Sydney.</p>
<p>The heightened interest in this category mirrors an increase in the <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/otilliasteadman/coronavirus-amateur-porn-onlyfans">number of people producing “Amateur”</a> porn via platforms such as MyFreeCams, Chaturbate and OnlyFans. The pandemic has arguably played a role here, but so too has <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Paying-for-Sex-in-a-Digital-Age-US-and-UK-Perspectives/Sanders-Brents-Wakefield/p/book/9781138318731">austerity</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-the-porntropreneur-even-hustlers-need-side-hustles-in-the-gig-economy-129067">rise of the gig economy</a>.</p>
<p>The category “Popular with Women” made it into the overall top 10 list, driven by interest in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. This points to a wider trend of <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319691336">increasing female viewership of porn</a> - females now account for about 30-35% of viewers in Australia. </p>
<p>The “top 10” categories for each capital city are shown below.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335942/original/file-20200519-83348-1gwwttb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335942/original/file-20200519-83348-1gwwttb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335942/original/file-20200519-83348-1gwwttb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335942/original/file-20200519-83348-1gwwttb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335942/original/file-20200519-83348-1gwwttb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335942/original/file-20200519-83348-1gwwttb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335942/original/file-20200519-83348-1gwwttb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335942/original/file-20200519-83348-1gwwttb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Click on table to enlarge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pornhub data</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/true-blue-picks-a-snapshot-of-australias-favourite-porn-100595">True blue picks: a snapshot of Australia's favourite porn</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many Australians to stay at home, the internet has become a lifeline for maintaining professional, social and personal relations. It has also been a medium for sexual exploration. Porn preferences across Australia’s major cities have shifted somewhat since 2018, which points to a dynamic (sub)urban <a href="https://www.routledge.com/SubUrban-Sexscapes-Geographies-and-Regulation-of-the-Sex-Industry/Maginn-Steinmetz/p/book/9781138060258">cosmo-sexuality</a>. </p>
<p>As long as social distancing restrictions prevail, we can expect more interest in online porn. We might even see more spikes in May, being <a href="https://masturbationmonth.com/history-masturbation-month">International Masturbation Month</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138122/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul J. Maginn is a Board Member of Sexual Health Quarters, Perth, Western Australia. </span></em></p>Visits to ‘adult’ sites surged in March when coronavirus pandemic restrictions came in. While tastes vary around the country, a disproportionate share of traffic comes from our biggest cities.Paul J. Maginn, Associate Professor of Urban/Regional Planning, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/945342018-04-09T10:43:16Z2018-04-09T10:43:16ZPorn ‘disruption’ makes Stormy Daniels a rare success in increasingly abusive industry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213638/original/file-20180406-5578-5fnnk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stormy Daniels is the rare 'porn star' to find success. She was even briefly a Senate contender in 2009.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Bill Haber</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, <a href="http://time.com/5225647/stormy-daniels-donald-trump-arbitration/">rocketed to fame</a> recently by challenging a non-disclosure agreement tied to the US$130,000 payoff she received to keep silent about her alleged sexual relationship with the president. </p>
<p>As a result, Clifford has secured numerous mainstream media appearances, including <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stormy-daniels-describes-her-alleged-affair-with-donald-trump-60-minutes-interview/">a recent interview on “60 Minutes.”</a></p>
<p>Journalists and interviewers universally call her a “porn star.” While it’s true that she was a performer and has now become a successful producer, her story is exceptional. The vast majority of women in the industry suffer abusive working conditions and don’t progress to real careers.</p>
<p>We – a <a href="http://gaildines.com/">sociologist</a> and a <a href="http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/">business professor</a> – have been studying the world of porn for years, chronicling how internet-fueled disruptions in the industry are causing conditions to further deteriorate. </p>
<h2>‘Corporatization’ of porn</h2>
<p>Well before her entanglement with President Donald Trump, Stormy Daniels was a well-known name in the porn industry. </p>
<p>Unlike most performers, who rarely last more than six months on the set, <a href="http://adage.com/article/the-media-guy/decoding-stormy-daniels-brand-strategy/312928/">Clifford has appeared in more than 250 films since 2000</a>. In 2002, she entered an exclusive contract with Wicked Pictures, a studio that specializes in longer features with a pretense of a storyline. She is also one of the very few women who have transitioned to production, <a href="http://adage.com/article/the-media-guy/decoding-stormy-daniels-brand-strategy/312928/">directing more than 90 films</a>. </p>
<p>Yet while she has prospered in the small and struggling feature segment of the business, the mainstream industry that mass-produces short hardcore segments has changed beyond recognition. Industry journalist Steven Yagielowicz <a href="http://www.xbiz.com/features/106157/the-state-of-the-industry">calls</a> this transformation the “corporatization of porn.” </p>
<p>“It’s Las Vegas all over again: the independent owners, renegade mobsters and visionary entrepreneurs pushed aside by mega-corporations that saw a better way of doing things and brought the discipline needed to attain a whole new level of success to the remaining players,” he wrote in 2009. </p>
<p>This has generated a monopolistic system of distribution, while production has become more fragmented, with dire consequences for performers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213642/original/file-20180406-5590-185n48k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213642/original/file-20180406-5590-185n48k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213642/original/file-20180406-5590-185n48k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213642/original/file-20180406-5590-185n48k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213642/original/file-20180406-5590-185n48k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213642/original/file-20180406-5590-185n48k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213642/original/file-20180406-5590-185n48k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pornhub is one of many sites owned by MindGeek.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RW/MediaPunch/IPX</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The MindGeek monopoly</h2>
<p>The early days of the internet <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/making-sense-of-modern-pornography">enabled rapid market growth</a> and attracted a proliferation of new entrants eager to make easy money.</p>
<p>Over time, the porn industry pioneered new business models and innovated new technologies that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07341510500508610">subsequently permeated</a> the wider economy. Few people realize that porn has driven the development of cross-platform technologies for data compression, file-sharing and micropayments. </p>
<p>It also developed the “free platforms” model that monetize user traffic through sophisticated techniques that cross-link numerous websites and encourage upgrade to “premium” pay-to-play sites. This allowed a few better resourced companies to grow rapidly and swallow up their smaller competitors who lacked the scale and capabilities to compete. </p>
<p>The biggest winner from this process was MindGeek (formerly called Manwin), which gained market dominance over the distribution of mainstream porn. As the company rather grandiosely <a href="https://www.mindgeek.com/">proclaims</a> on its site, it drives “the state of technology forward, developing industry-leading solutions enabling faster, more efficient delivery of content” and “thrives on a sustainable growth trajectory built on innovation and excellence.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-based-porn-firm-profits-3569482-Aug2017/">MindGeek owns most</a> of the top free “porn-tube” sites, including Pornhub and RedTube, as well as at least a dozen prominent branded pay-sites, such as Reality Kings and Brazzers, each of which contains thousands of videos organized by genre. Users click through from site to site, without realizing that they are in a highly structured network optimized to maximize revenues. MindGeek is secretive about its finances, but just one of its subsidiaries that processes subscriptions <a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-based-porn-firm-profits-3569482-Aug2017/">disclosed 2015 revenues of $234 million</a>, or more than $600,000 a day. </p>
<h2>Porn sweatshops</h2>
<p>This concentration at the distribution end of the value chain gives MindGeek and a few other large companies tremendous <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/10/mindgeek_porn_monopoly_its_dominance_is_a_cautionary_tale_for_other_industries.html">market power over producers</a>, who find themselves fragmented and squeezed financially as they supply cheap, usually unbranded commodity videos to the big distributor networks. </p>
<p>The business model mirrors that of YouTube, where consumers surf for free, and content providers hope to make some money from popular videos they upload. But it is the platform that makes the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jeclap/article-abstract/9/1/50/4713925">lion’s share of profits</a>. Many producers also <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/10/mindgeek_porn_monopoly_its_dominance_is_a_cautionary_tale_for_other_industries.html">complain that the porn tubes engage in rampant piracy</a>, further weakening them.</p>
<p>The model is also similar to that of other platforms that connect consumers with service providers, such as Uber and TaskRabbit, where the platform holds a dominant market position and controls the conditions for drivers or other service providers.</p>
<p>With the internet facilitating the globalization of value chains, and a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/measure-b-passes-condoms-in-porn-la_n_2088724.html">growing movement to regulate health and safety conditions</a> for porn production in California and elsewhere in the U.S., production is increasingly moving offshore. This is giving rise to a sweatshop model resembling that of the clothing industry before anyone had heard of corporate social responsibility. </p>
<p>Studios such as Daniels’ Wicked are now struggling to survive as the industry moves to low-cost production, less regulated “amateur-style” porn. As a result, applications for porn-shoot permits in Los Angeles County <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/making-sense-of-modern-pornography">fell by 95 percent</a> from 2012 to 2015. Even <a href="https://minxtechblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/mindgeek-small-companies-with-big-responsibilities/">Wicked’s website is now managed by MindGeek</a>.</p>
<p>The concentration of power with porn distributors and the fragmentation of production has hurt performers, who mostly toil without contracts or benefits in a “gig economy” controlled by the distribution platforms. They are paid per sex act, and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/making-sense-of-modern-pornography">wages have declined</a> across the board. In addition, performers need to cover significant out of pocket expenses themselves, including HIV tests.</p>
<p>As a result, performers are under pressure to do more dangerous acts, such as anal sex or double penetration, that pay more but increase risks of disease or physical damage. Many <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/jun/05/how-internet-killed-porn">supplement their income</a> with webcam shows and prostitution, which are known in the industry as “privates.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://nationalledger.com/2011/05/adult-industry-medical-health-care-foundation-shutters-porn-star-clinic/#.UDzoAb_MGIY">Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation</a>, a Los Angeles-based organization (now closed) that monitored the health of performers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/28/porn-syphilis-money-shot-condoms">listed on its website the injuries and diseases</a> to which porn performers are prone, including HIV, rectal and throat gonorrhea, chlamydia of the eye, and tearing of the throat, vagina and anus. It’s no surprise, then, that the average performer’s “career” is less than six months.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213640/original/file-20180406-5603-l7urd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213640/original/file-20180406-5603-l7urd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213640/original/file-20180406-5603-l7urd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213640/original/file-20180406-5603-l7urd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213640/original/file-20180406-5603-l7urd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213640/original/file-20180406-5603-l7urd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213640/original/file-20180406-5603-l7urd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former adult entertainment actresses and others campaign in 2011 for a Los Angeles ballot initiative that would have required performers to wear condoms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Phil McCarten/AP Images for AIDS Healthcare Foundation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Porn and politics</h2>
<p>Despite the industry’s efforts to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/02/gail-dines-pornography">portray itself as progressive and sexually liberating</a>, it has been especially aggressive in organizing against regulations to protect performers. And MindGeek’s market muscle has translated into political power. </p>
<p>This is most evident in its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/nov/12/la-county-measureb-safe-sex">campaign to defeat Measure B</a> in Los Angeles County, which mandates the use of condoms and requires production companies to obtain a health permit. The company poured over $300,000 into this effort, mobilized business allies, and set up fake “astroturf” groups such as the Council of Concerned Women Voters. All of this was to promote the message that Measure B was unwarranted and intrusive government regulation that infringed on the performers’ rights. </p>
<p>At other times MindGeek appears to support “intrusive” regulation. It recently backed U.K. proposals for mandatory age verification for viewers on porn sites and has already established its own platform, <a href="https://www.ageid.com/">AgeID</a>, for this. The motivation isn’t exactly altruistic, however, as <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/23/17043978/uk-porn-age-verification-law-mindgeek">industry observers suggest</a> that not only will MindGeek make money by licensing this product, it will also serve a gatekeeper function that will further consolidate its monopoly control.</p>
<p>Ultimately, in our view, the industry is unsalvageable. The porn industry has always been abusive, and the situation has only deteriorated as distribution has been monopolized. Whatever <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/how-to-watch-porn-ethically">some might say</a>, there is no such thing as “socially responsible” porn. </p>
<p>Stephanie Clifford is now trying to hold accountable the most powerful man in the country for his alleged abuse of power. We argue it is time to do the same for the porn industry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gail Dines is founder and president of Culture Reframed, a non-profit that develops research-driven education to prevent, resist, and heal the harms of pornography. Culture Reframed has receive grants from foundations to develop educational materials.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David L Levy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Stephanie Clifford may be a ‘porn star,’ but her success is hardly typical of the vast majority of performers affected by the seismic changes in the industry.Gail Dines, Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women's Studies, CEO of Culture Reframed, Wheelock CollegeDavid L Levy, Professor of Management, Director of the Center for Sustainable Enterprise and Regional Competitiveness, UMass BostonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/918882018-02-20T11:40:47Z2018-02-20T11:40:47ZParents need to start talking to their tweens about the risks of porn<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207015/original/file-20180219-116360-1kr0vfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C273%2C1455%2C931&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most parents are unaware just how easily available 'hardcore' porn has become.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chepko Danil Vitalevich/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: This article includes references to graphic sexual content that may be inappropriate for some readers.</em></p>
<p>Today teenagers are viewing far more pornography than their parents realize. And the porn they’re watching is much more “hardcore” than moms and dads could possibly imagine. </p>
<p>These were the main messages of “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/magazine/teenagers-learning-online-porn-literacy-sex-education.html">What Teenagers are Learning From Online Porn</a>,” a recent New York Times story by Maggie Jones. It quickly became one of the most read and shared articles.</p>
<p>While this may be a surprise to many American parents who perhaps imagine porn as merely a naked centerfold, it wasn’t to scholars like me who immerse ourselves in the world of mainstream porn. We know how widespread <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801210382866">violent, degrading and misogynistic</a> pornography has become, as well as the implications for the emotional, physical and mental health of young people. </p>
<p>In an effort to better understand the problem from a “front-line” perspective, feminist activist Samantha Wechsler and I have been traveling the world talking to parents about the issue. The question we’re asked most often is: “What can we do about it?” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_YpHNImNsx8?wmode=transparent&start=23" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The author talks about the perils of porn.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Hardcore’ porn is everywhere</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/domestic-intelligence/201103/access-pornography-are-parents-concerns-justified">Surveys</a> and our own experiences show that parents are deeply concerned about the easy access their kids now have to porn via mobile devices.</p>
<p>The statistics paint a dismal picture. A <a href="https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/research-reports/mdx-nspcc-occ-pornography-report.pdf">recent U.K. study</a> found that 65 percent of 15- to 16-year-olds had viewed pornography, the vast majority of whom reported seeing it by age 14. This is especially problematic given the findings of <a href="http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/08/pornography-exposure.aspx">another study</a> that found a correlation between early exposure to pornography and an expressed desire to exert power over women. </p>
<p>Yet for all this concern, they know surprisingly little about what mainstream porn looks like, how much their kids are accessing and how it affects them. The Times article, however, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/magazine/teenagers-learning-online-porn-literacy-sex-education.html">cited a 2016 survey</a> that suggested most parents are totally unaware of their kids’ porn experiences. Jones called this the “parental naivete gap.”</p>
<p>This matches our own experiences. In the presentations we do at high schools, we ask parents to describe what they think of when they hear the word “porn.” They invariably describe a naked young woman with a coy smile, the kind of image many remember from Playboy centerfolds. </p>
<p>They are shocked when they learn that the images from today’s busiest free porn sites, like Pornhub, depict <a href="http://robertwjensen.org/articles/by-topic/gender-sexuality-and-pornography/getting-off-pornography-and-the-end-of-masculinity/">acts</a> such as women being gagged with a penis or multiple men penetrating every orifice of a woman and then ejaculating on her face. When we tell parents this, the change in the atmosphere of the room is palpable. There is often a collective gasp. </p>
<p>It bears repeating that these are the most visited porn sites – which get <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/internet-porn-stats_n_3187682.html">more visitors every month</a> than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined. Pornhub alone <a href="http://www.pornhub.com/insights/pornhub-2015-year-in-review">received 21.2 billion visits</a> in 2015. We are not talking about images on the fringe. </p>
<p>Ana Bridges, a psychologist at the University of Arkansas, and her team <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801210382866">found</a> that 88 percent of scenes from 50 of the top-rented porn movies contained physical aggression against the female performers – such as spanking, slapping and gagging – while 48 percent included verbal abuse – like calling women names such as “bitch” or “slut.”</p>
<h2>Bad for your health</h2>
<p>More than 40 years of research from different disciplines has demonstrated that viewing pornography – regardless of age – is associated with harmful outcomes. And <a href="http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/10692/1/BasicallyporniseverywhereReport.pdf">studies show</a> that the younger the age of exposure, the more significant the impact in terms of shaping boys’ sexual templates, behaviors and attitudes. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10720162.2011.625552">2011 study of U.S. college men</a> found that 83 percent reported seeing mainstream pornography in the past 12 months and that those who did were more likely to say they would commit rape or sexual assault (if they knew they wouldn’t be caught) than men who said they had not seen porn.</p>
<p>Another <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650208326465">study of young teens</a> found that early porn exposure was correlated with perpetration of sexual harassment two years later. </p>
<p>One of the most cited <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcom.12201/abstract">analyses of 22 studies</a> concluded that pornography consumption is associated with an increased likelihood of committing acts of verbal or physical sexual aggression. And a <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11199-012-0164-0#page-10">study of college-aged women</a> found that young women whose male partners used porn experienced lower self-esteem, diminished relationship quality and lower sexual satisfaction.</p>
<h2>It begins with parents</h2>
<p>Fearing for their children’s well-being, parents at our presentations, whether in Los Angeles, Oslo or Warsaw, want to run home in a panic to have the “porn talk” with their kids.</p>
<p>But in reality, they often have no idea what to say, how to say it, or how to deal with a kid who would rather be anywhere else in the world than sitting across from their parents talking about porn. At the same time, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28215380">public health research</a> shows that <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/facts.html">parents are the first line of prevention</a> in dealing with any major social problem that affects their kids.</p>
<p>So what can be done?</p>
<p><a href="http://bphc.org/whatwedo/violence-prevention/start-strong/Pages/Start-Strong.aspx">Most current efforts</a> focus on teens themselves and educating them about sex and the perils of porn. Although it is crucial to have high-quality programs for teens who have already been exposed, the fact is that this is cleaning up after the fact rather than preventing the mess in the first place. </p>
<p>So a team of academics, public health experts, educators, pediatricians and developmental psychologists – including us – spent two years pooling research to create a program to help parents become that <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/facts.html">vital</a> first line of defense.</p>
<p>That’s why the nonprofit we set up – <a href="http://culturereframed.org/">Culture Reframed</a> – <a href="https://parents.culturereframed.org/">initially focused on parents of tweens</a>, addressing a key question: How do we prevent kids from being exposed to images of sexual abuse and degradation at that critical stage when they are forming their sexual identities?</p>
<p>What took shape was <a href="https://parents.culturereframed.org/">a 12-module program</a> that introduces parents sequentially to the developmental changes – emotional, cognitive and physical – that tweens undergo and the hypersexualized pop culture that shapes those changes and is the wallpaper of tween lives.</p>
<p>For example, boys learn from music videos, violent video games, mainstream media and porn that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Guyland-Perilous-World-Where-Become/dp/0060831359#reader_0060831359">“real men”</a> are aggressive and lack empathy, that sex equals conquest, and that to avoid being bullied, they have to wear the mask of masculinity. <a href="http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report.aspx">Girls</a>, on the other hand, learn that they have to look “hot” to be visible, be as passive as a cartoon princess and internalize the male gaze, leading them to self-objectify at an early age.</p>
<h2>Navigating the porn minefield</h2>
<p>Helping parents grasp the degree to which hypersexualized images shape their tweens encourages them to understand, rather than judge, why their girl wants to look like one of the Kardashians, or why their boy, hazed into hypermasculinity, is at risk of losing his capacity for empathy and connection. This helps parents approach their kids with compassion rather than with frustration and anger that can undermine the parent-child relationship. </p>
<p>Navigating all the minefields of living in today’s toxic porn culture – from sexting and poor self esteem to porn and peer pressure – is very tricky terrain, and parents need all the help they can get. </p>
<p>But ultimately, the Culture Reframed project is about so much more than providing parents with newfound confidence and skills. It’s about taking power back from the porn industry, which is <a href="http://www.beacon.org/Pornland-P765.aspx">out to hijack</a> the sexuality and humanity of kids in the name of profit, and giving it back to parents.</p>
<p><em>Samantha Wechsler, interim executive director of <a href="http://culturereframed.org/">Culture Reframed</a>, co-authored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91888/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gail Dines is co-founder and president of Culture Reframed, which seeks to recognize and address pornography as a` public health crisis of the digital age.
</span></em></p>While parents are growing more concerned about their children’s easy access to porn, they often don’t realize just how ‘hardcore’ and violent it has become and how early their kids are seeing it.Gail Dines, Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies, Wheelock CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/812132017-07-24T15:03:09Z2017-07-24T15:03:09ZThe UK’s online porn crackdown could harm young people more than it helps<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179442/original/file-20170724-29742-1l992se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Won’t somebody please think of the children!?” The UK government seems to be using this catchphrase from The Simpsons as the basis for its proposed new pornography laws. Its <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40630582">recently announced plan</a> to force pornographic websites to verify users’ ages suggests it thinks it can use a blunt technological tool to stop under 18s watching online porn. Anyone as tech-savvy as the average teenager will tell you how unlikely this is.</p>
<p>The move is part of a barrage of recent measures to clamp down on online porn in the UK. The government aims to to protect young people from what it sees as the social ills of pornography, regardless of the issues of personal privacy, data protection and censorship this will create. Yet the biggest impact will likely be on those working in the adult entertainment industry, whose voices have gone unheard within such debates. What’s more, these kind of restrictions entirely fail to tackle the underlying issues that lead to harmful sexual behaviour and social alienation among young people.</p>
<p>Under the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uk-government-wants-to-control-porn-viewing-habits-69374">Digital Economy Act 2017</a>, all commercial pornographic websites will be required to verify UK users’ ages to prevent access by under 18s. The government hasn’t yet decided how the age verification process will work, but it seems likely to require users to register their credit card details.</p>
<p>This will effectively force pornography users to join a commercial database that could include information on their viewing preferences. As yet, no safeguards for storing and protecting this data have been announced, meaning that it will be vulnerable to hackers. Meanwhile, those who want to get around the law would be able to do so relatively easily using anonymous browsing software such as a virtual private network, which <a href="https://securitygladiators.com/change-ip-to-other-country/">masks your country of origin</a> and would bypass the age check altogether.</p>
<p>The act also includes restrictions on the kinds of pornographic content that can be watched in the UK, banning imagery of certain “unconventional” activities. This follows a similar pattern to the <a href="http://www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk/stricter-rules-for-the-pornography-industry-what-has-changed/">2014 Audiovisual Media Services Regulations</a>, which banned UK-based companies from making online pornography depicting an array of sexual acts including face-sitting, erotic urination and female ejaculation. This brought internet porn productions into line with the rules for DVD productions, which are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/dec/02/pornography-law-bans-list-sexual-acts-uk-made-online-films">supposedly designed</a> to stop children viewing “harmful” content.</p>
<p>But given that UK internet users can still access this kind of pornography from other countries, the main impact has been on the UK adult production industry. <a href="http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/9822">Companies have been</a> fined, forced to close or have moved abroad to countries where the legislation is more permissive, resulting in estimated losses of millions of pounds – and without even solving the problem as imagined.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179450/original/file-20170724-19173-1erh4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179450/original/file-20170724-19173-1erh4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179450/original/file-20170724-19173-1erh4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179450/original/file-20170724-19173-1erh4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179450/original/file-20170724-19173-1erh4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179450/original/file-20170724-19173-1erh4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179450/original/file-20170724-19173-1erh4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Access denied.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The financial consequences of the new law will be far more severe for the industry. The implementation of the age verification software required to comply with the new regulations <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmpublic/digitaleconomy/memo/DEB61.htm">costs between 5p and £1.50 per user</a>. This is financially unachievable for many smaller, more niche websites that cater for queer or trans people and those interested in kink or other minority sexual practices, which <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmpublic/digitaleconomy/memo/DEB61.htm">often make less</a> profit than the cost of deploying the age-check software. This will likely force many of them out of business and others to relocate outside the UK.</p>
<p>In this way, the new law disproportionately targets these alternative providers, just as it targets unconventional practices. Many of the banned acts are among those favoured by queer or kink-oriented individuals. Done properly and with consent, they are safe ways for people to enjoy intimate sexual contact. Some, such as depictions of female ejaculation and menstruation, <a href="https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=556009073006107083011127082069106078024081022041024036031090112103120084014070080024099002021039108007045066101000081091006118104036001013036113104028082031012118094041060084090065094010104125127026123096086103108097014111086112088002020120126082027068&EXT=pdf">work to break taboos</a> that display limited views of what female sexuality should be. Yet these will also be banned under the guise of obscenity, extremity and health and safety. This effectively means the government is prescribing a particular notion of what sex and sexuality should be, one that many people do not fit into.</p>
<h2>Porn and education</h2>
<p>For all its problems, pornography has the potential to allow people to explore sexuality in a way that current sex education does not. This could involve anything from discovering different ways of experiencing pleasure to conventional intercourse, to increasing understanding that not everyone fits into a clear male or female definition of gender.</p>
<p>The new clampdown will close down this option and could even end up censoring educational websites that try to stop people hurting themselves through unconventional sexual practices. This will leave those exploring their sexuality without the current array of resources to do so safely. Instead, we will return to a homogenous ideal of what sex should be, and anything outside of this will effectively be invisible or discouraged. </p>
<p>While the government argues that viewing pornography is damaging to young people’s moral development, this really sidesteps the need for schools to provide comprehensive, compulsory sex education. Of course, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9934792/Pornography-online-is-warping-childrens-minds-teachers-warn.html">concerns have been raised</a> about the potential dangers of pornography to young people’s sexual development. But <a href="http://dro.dur.ac.uk/17175/1/17175.pdf">research is currently divided</a> on what the consequences of young people accessing porn really are and whether or not these fears are actually symptoms of our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/23/sex-education-schools">wider sexual culture</a>. What the research does suggest is that, contrary to popular belief, young people <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12119-005-1008-7.pdf">are not zombified viewers</a> and instead critically engage with the media they access.</p>
<p>Set in the context of comprehensive and diverse sex education, certain pornography can actually help highlight gender and sexuality issues and safe sexual practices, including kink. But if sex education doesn’t include these things, then the government’s plans to block online porn will leave many young people with even less information to navigate their sexualities. And meanwhile, plenty of others will still find ways to access pornographic material.</p>
<p>The UK government seems more concerned with holding back a mythological barrage of filth and obscenity than in finding solutions to the wider social issues that underpin the problems related to pornography. To protect young people, they must be equipped with the knowledge and resources to honestly discuss all aspects of sex and relationships, not shielded from them or alienated by a narrow prescriptive version of sexuality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Hodsdon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Blocking porn for under-18s will only make things worse for young people left without adequate sex education.Rosie Hodsdon, PhD Candidate in Law and Sexuality, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/689542016-12-12T03:41:07Z2016-12-12T03:41:07ZTrump trolls, Pirate Parties and the Italian Five Star Movement: The internet meets politics<p>We blame the internet for a lot of things, and now the list has grown to include our politics. In a turbulent year marked by the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump, some have started to wonder to what extent the recent events have to do with the technology that most defines our age.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of Trump’s victory, commentators accused Facebook of being <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2016/11/17/facebook-with-great-power-comes-great-responsibility/#380f552d6e7d">indirectly responsible</a> for his election. Specifically, they point to the role of social media in spreading virulent political propaganda and fake news. The internet has been increasingly presented as a possible cause for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-post-truth-election-clicks-trump-facts-67274">post-truth culture</a> that allegedly characterizes contemporary democracies.</p>
<p>These reactions are a reminder that new technologies often stimulate <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/13688804.2014.898904">both hopes and fears</a> about their impact on society and culture. The internet has been seen as both the harbinger of political participation and the main culprit for the decline of democracy. The network of networks is now more than a mere vehicle of political communication: It has become a powerful rhetorical symbol people are using to achieve political goals. </p>
<p>This is currently visible in Europe, where movements such as the <a href="http://piratar.is/en/">Pirate Parties</a> and the Italian <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-italys-five-star-movement-69596">Five Star Movement</a>, which we have <a href="http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/36/1/105.abstract">studied</a>, build their political messages around the internet. To them, the internet is a catalyst for radical and democratic change that channels growing dissatisfaction with traditional political parties.</p>
<h2>Web utopias and dystopias</h2>
<p>The emergence of political enthusiasm for the internet owes much to U.S. culture in the 1990s. Internet connectivity was spreading from universities and corporations to an increasingly large portion of the population. During the Clinton administration, Vice President Al Gore made the “<a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/icky/speech2.html">Information Superhighway</a>” a flagship concept. He linked the development of a high-speed digital telecommunication network to a new era of enlightened market democracy. </p>
<p>The enthusiasm for information technology and free-market economics spread from Silicon Valley and was dubbed <a href="http://www.imaginaryfutures.net/2007/04/17/the-californian-ideology-2">Californian Ideology</a>. It inspired a generation of digital entrepreneurs, technologists, politicians and activists in Silicon Valley and beyond. The <a href="http://time.com/3741681/2000-dotcom-stock-bust/">2000 dot-com crash</a> only temporarily curbed the hype.</p>
<p>In the 2000s, the rise of sharing platforms and social media – often labeled as “<a href="http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html">Web 2.0</a>” – supported the idea of a new era of increased participation of common citizens in the production of cultural content, software development and even political revolutions against authoritarian regimes.</p>
<p>The promise of the unrestrained flow of information also engendered deep fears. In 1990s, the web was already seen by critics as a vehicle for poor-quality information, hate speech and extreme pornography. We knew then that the Information Superhighway’s dark side was worryingly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/15/business/limiting-medium-without-boundaries-you-let-good-fish-through-net-while-blocking.html">difficult to regulate</a>.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, the promise of decentralization has resulted in few massive advertising empires like Facebook and Google, employing sophisticated <a href="https://theconversation.com/western-democracys-new-maxim-surveillance-and-soft-despotism-48879">mass surveillance techniques</a>. Web-based companies like Uber and Airbnb bring new efficient services to millions of customers, but are also seen as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-uber-opens-cities-only-to-close-them-59067">potential monopolists</a> that threaten local economies and squeeze profits out of impoverished communities.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://techliberation.com/2011/01/31/the-case-for-internet-optimism-part-1-saving-the-net-from-its-detractors/">public’s views</a> on digital media are rapidly shifting. In less than 10 years, the stories we tell about the internet have moved from praising its democratic potential to imagining it as a dangerous source of extreme politics, polarized echo chambers and a hive of misogynist and racist trolls.</p>
<h2>Cyber-optimism in Europe</h2>
<p>While cyber-utopian views have lost appeal in the U.S., the idea of the internet as a promise of radical reorganization of society has survived. In fact, it has become a defining element of political movements that thrive in Western Europe.</p>
<p>In Italy, an anti-establishment party know as the Five Star Movement became the second most-voted for party in Italy in the 2013 national elections. According to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-politics-5star-idUSKCN0ZM130">some polls</a>, it might soon even win general elections in Italy.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/36/1/105.abstract">our research</a>, we analyzed how the Italian Five Star Movement uses a mythical idea of the internet as a catalyst for its political message. In the party’s rhetoric, declining and corrupt mainstream parties are allied with newspapers and television. By contrast, the movement claims to harness the power of the web to “kill” old politics and bring about direct democracy, efficiency and transparency in governance.</p>
<p>Similarly in Iceland, the Pirate Party is now poised to lead a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pirate-party-may-step-in-as-iceland-hits-election-stalemate-a7435971.html">coalition government</a>. Throughout the few last years, other Pirate Parties have emerged and have been at times quite successful in other European countries, including <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/137305/rise-fall-pirate-party">Germany</a> and <a href="http://pol.sagepub.com/content/31/3/121?patientinform-links=yes&legid=sppol;31/3/121">Sweden</a>. While they differ in many ways from the Five Star Movement, their leaders also insist that the internet will help enable new forms of democratic participation. Their success was made possible by the powerful vision of a new direct democracy facilitated by online technologies. </p>
<h2>A vision of change</h2>
<p>Many politicians all over the world run campaigns on the promise of change, communicating a positive message to potential voters. The rise of forces such as the Five Star Movement and the Pirate Parties in Europe is an example of how the rhetoric of political change and the rhetoric of the digital revolution can interact with each other, merging into a unique, coherent discourse.</p>
<p>In thinking about the impact of the internet in politics, we usually consider how social media, websites and other online resources are used as a vehicle of political communication. Yet, its impact as a symbol and a powerful narrative is equally strong.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the US is reeling from rampant fake online news, political movements in Europe are using the internet as a powerful democratic symbol to win elections. Will cyber-optimism or pessimism win?Andrea Ballatore, Lecturer in Geographic Information Science, Birkbeck, University of LondonSimone Natale, Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/693742016-11-24T14:20:15Z2016-11-24T14:20:15ZThe UK government wants to control porn viewing habits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147403/original/image-20161124-15362-1w8cxt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The British government has already won the power to record everything we access on the internet. Now it wants to have a say over what we are and aren’t allowed to look at online.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/censor-non-conventional-sex-acts-online-internet-pornography">The Digital Economy Bill</a> currently moving through Parliament will require commercial pornographic websites (including advertising-supported “free” sites) to check the age of users, effectively creating a pornography register. This issue isn’t new: the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-uk-passed-the-most-invasive-surveillance-law-in-democratic-history-69247">recently passed Investigatory Powers Bill</a> already means it will soon be impossible to visit a porn site (or any website) without someone having a record of it.</p>
<p>But the latest bill raises another issue because it would also ban online access to imagery of many forms of “unconventional” sexual activity. It threatens not only our right to privacy but also our right to view legal and consensual but less mainstream sexual acts. And the test for what acts we would be allowed to watch would be based on a law dating back to 1959.</p>
<p>The aim of the bill is ostensibly to prevent children from accessing pornography. Age verification may be defendable if it could be done without submitting sensitive information. But it seems likely that it will involve registering a credit card with pornography platforms, increasing the number of sources holding information about our online viewing habits. This would create another point of weakness that could easily be <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/porn-site-brazzers-hacked-spilling-8781572">exploited by hackers</a> to capture credit card details or to blackmail those registered to porn platforms.</p>
<h2>What’s unconventional?</h2>
<p>The bill would also give the power to decide what pornographic content we can and can’t watch to the <a href="http://www.wikiwand.com/en/British_Board_of_Film_Classification#/Current_concerns">notoriously straight laced</a> British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). This body, which sets the age certificates for films, would be able to investigate, fine – <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2016-2017/0087/17087.pdf">up to £250,000 or 5% of turnover</a> – and potentially block websites that allow access to images and videos deemed obscene. This would have the effect of preventing adults from viewing sexual acts that are otherwise legal to engage in.</p>
<p>The BBFC’s current pornographic R18 category is reserved for explicit works that contain consensual sex or more extreme fetish material involving adults. This sounds broad but the body’s <a href="http://www.bbfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202014_5.pdf">list of unacceptable content</a> includes material where adults role-play as non-adults, acts that could cause pain whether real or simulated, and strong verbal abuse, even if consensual. </p>
<p>The most consternation comes from the fact that the BBFC’s decisions are based in part on what is judged obscene under the Obscene Publications Act 1959. This act is well-recognised as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jul/01/obscenity-law-darryn-walker">out-of-date</a> and <a href="https://www.criminallawandjustice.co.uk/features/What-Constitutes-Publication-Obscene-Article">difficult to interpret</a>. Prosecutions under the act have demonstrated that the public conception of what amounts to obscene behaviour is notoriously difficult to pin down. When the Crown Prosecution Service confidently prosecuted Michael Peacock in 2012 for producing DVDs featuring urination, fisting and sadomasochism, the jury found him not <a href="https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2012/01/09/making-a-fist-of-it-the-law-and-obscenity/">guilty</a> – effectively finding that these acts were not obscene.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147405/original/image-20161124-15344-d79yfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147405/original/image-20161124-15344-d79yfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147405/original/image-20161124-15344-d79yfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147405/original/image-20161124-15344-d79yfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147405/original/image-20161124-15344-d79yfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147405/original/image-20161124-15344-d79yfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147405/original/image-20161124-15344-d79yfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Access denied.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Yet the CPS <a href="http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/obscene_publications/">list of acts</a> that may be suitable for prosecution still include sadomasochistic material which results in more than minor injury, bondage, perversion or degradation (including drinking urine and coprophilia) and fisting. For prosecutions under the Obscene Publications Act it would be for a jury to use their own common sense to determine whether the materials were obscene. Yet now it seems this guidance will be used to decide what pornographic materials would be accessible in the first place. </p>
<p>Unless they cause actual bodily harm, sexual acts such as fisting, bondage or other forms of “perversion” are perfectly legal for consensual adults to engage in. So why should we be prevented from viewing them performed by other people in the privacy of our own homes? Why should the moral judgements of the BBFC based on a law from the 1950s echo across the internet?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/human-rights/what-are-human-rights/human-rights-act/article-10-freedom-expression">Article 10 of the Human Rights Act</a> guarantees the right of freedom of expression and any interference with it must be justified and proportionate. The government believes the overarching aim of protecting children from viewing these materials can be used to defend age verification. But it won’t prevent web-savvy teenagers from accessing pornographic material. And it cannot justify preventing adults from watching less mainstream forms of porn. </p>
<p>This bill has been poorly thought out and intrudes too far on the rights of adults to consume images of perfectly legal sexual acts. Couching it in the rhetoric of child protection may give it social credence but this is yet another step too far in monitoring our online life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Pegg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Digital Economy Bill would effectively create a hackable register of pornography users and block ‘unconventional’ material.Samantha Pegg, Senior Lecturer, Criminal Law, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/676282016-11-07T23:19:03Z2016-11-07T23:19:03ZKids who watch porn won’t necessarily turn into sex offenders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144526/original/image-20161104-25353-1s79xd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do we need to panic about young people watching online porn?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/dl2_lim.mhtml?src=jk20nxDQic2CUQMy0R2n1w-1-1&id=87532477&size=medium_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent media campaigns have linked children watching <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/generation-sext-who-is-to-blame-for-our-kids-sexting-scourge/news-story/2b8c8f6907573514feaaad9e1bbb2f76">online pornography</a> to an increase in the number of school children committing <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/rendezview/porn-crackdown-its-not-an-invasion-of-privacy-its-parenting/news-story/400c0a3b612a7fab9445fa1dd7f14d22">sexual assault</a>.</p>
<p>One article linked school students sexually assaulting <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/studentonstudent-sexual-assault-in-nsw-schools-doubles-as-experts-blame-online-porn/news-story/dd2a02131d577dbe005bfeee7f2fd7b4">each other</a> to the rise in online porn.</p>
<p>But is there evidence children watching online porn is linked to an increase in sexual offending?</p>
<p>We know the public is concerned about the potential harm to young people watching online pornography, with a <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Onlineaccesstoporn45">Senate inquiry</a> on the matter due to report towards the end of November 2016.</p>
<p>We also know how easy it is for children to watch online porn, not only on the computers in their bedrooms but on their smartphones.</p>
<p>Most children come across online pornography <a href="http://www.mdx.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/48545/BasicallyporniseverywhereReport.pdf">accidentally</a>. Most girls report feeling sick, shocked, embarrassed and repulsed by it but boys say they are sexually <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/10261/chapter/1">excited</a>.</p>
<p>Of course, many young people search for it. In an Australian study of 200 young people, 38% of 16 and 17-year-old boys and 2% of girls said they <a href="http://jos.sagepub.com/content/43/1/45.short">searched for pornography</a>.</p>
<p>Another Australian study <a href="http://yas.sagepub.com/content/38/2/135.abstract">reported</a> 93% of boys and 61% of girls aged 13-16 years old had seen pornography. Another <a href="http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2011/2/">study</a> reported 44% had seen online pornography. For both of these studies we don’t know if this was by accident or on purpose.</p>
<p>It is true the number of young sex offenders is increasing in Australia, as are <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4519.02014-15?OpenDocument">adult</a> sexual offenders.</p>
<p>But can this rise in young sex offenders be attributed to watching more online pornography?</p>
<h2>What do we know?</h2>
<p>We know children who watch pornography are more likely to be either physically or verbally <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcom.12201/abstract">sexually aggressive</a>, especially if the pornography is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ab.20367/abstract">violent</a>. Behaviours range from verbal sexual harassment and unwanted kissing to sexual assault. We also know that popular porn is becoming <a href="http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/publications/basically-porn-everywhere-rapid-evidence-assessment-effects-access-and-exposure">more violent</a>.</p>
<p>But has there been a corresponding increase in young people watching violent pornography to match the rise in sexual offending? </p>
<p>We don’t know.</p>
<p>It is tempting to assume young Australians’ easier access to more violent pornography explains the increase in sexual offending from 2011 to 2015. But we don’t have any current data on that in Australia.</p>
<p>In the US, watching violent pornography is relatively uncommon and watching non-violent pornography is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ab.20367/abstract">unrelated</a> to sexual aggression. </p>
<p>We also don’t know if watching violent pornography is the only factor in young people carrying out sexual assault. They could have been abused; be using alcohol and drugs; have witnessed domestic violence; or be acting out from what they see on the internet or from what they see at home.</p>
<p>As one eminent author on porn <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pornography-Sexual-Representation-Reference-American/dp/0313315213">says</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Some pornography under some circumstances may affect some people in some ways some of the time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is not to say children watching pornography is not harmful. It is. </p>
<p>Children being exposed to pornography leads them to believe women are <a href="http://crx.sagepub.com/content/33/2/178.short">sex objects</a> as women are <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vBSQAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA307&dq=effects+of+sex+in+the+media&ots=JdA-ItZwyh&sig=zwcA0LpoSGoXsbzUrL0P8ZAON68#v=onepage&q=effects%20of%20sex%20in%20the%20media&f=false">devalued and degraded</a> by pornography. Young girls who seek porn show more <a href="https://calio.dspacedirect.org/handle/11212/2201">liberal attitudes</a> to sex and believe it is <a href="http://men.sagepub.com/content/15/1/57.short">fine</a> to have sex without affection or love.</p>
<p>Young people who seek out online porn also tend to engage in unsafe sex and are more likely to be pressured by their <a href="http://heb.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/05/20/1090198110385775">peers</a> into sexual activity.</p>
<p>However, watching porn doesn’t always result in sexual aggression and pornography may not be the only factor in child sexual offending.</p>
<h2>Better ways to learn about sex</h2>
<p>The main message from a media campaign to parents and teachers shouldn’t be one of fear of children sexually abusing others but that watching porn is not a good place for children to learn about sex.</p>
<p>The difficulty is that in Queensland, for instance, schools are not required to teach sex education even though it is in the <a href="http://consultation.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Static/docs/HPE/F-10Curriculum.pdf">national curriculum</a> with the choice to do so left up to the school and its community.</p>
<p>Also many parents are too embarrassed to talk to their children about sex let alone pornography. </p>
<p>Parents, especially fathers, need to explain that pornography is staged; it is fiction. Most people do not look like porn “stars” and most people do not behave as they do. Pornography is not a sex manual. But if young people cannot find out about the mechanics of sex within a caring relationship, they may access pornography to find out what to do and model their sexual life on it.</p>
<p>Parents, teachers and the media all need to talk to young people about pornography but not to give the message that if children do watch pornography they will sexually assault others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67628/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marilyn Campbell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s no evidence that the increase in children committing sexual offences is because they watch online porn.Marilyn Campbell, Professor Faculty of Education, School of Cultural and Professional Learning, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/643092016-08-29T06:59:35Z2016-08-29T06:59:35ZFactCheck Q&A: what has the Children’s eSafety Commissioner done in its first year to tackle cyberbullying?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135450/original/image-20160825-30231-oh4g1a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Minister for Communications and Arts, Mitch Fifield, speaking on Q&A on August 23, 2016. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Q&A</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9.35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/conversationEDU">Twitter</a> using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a> or by <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">email</a>.</strong></p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from Q&A, August 23, 2016.</span></figcaption>
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<blockquote>
<p>[The Children’s eSafety Commissioner] also is a cop on the beat when it comes to cyberbullying and they’ve investigated about 11,000 cases of cyberbullying. The eSafety Commissioner has the power to direct a social media organisation to take down offensive material and if they don’t, there are penalties of up to $17,000 per day for the social media organisation. <strong>– Minister for Communications and Arts, Mitch Fifield, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4499755.htm">speaking on Q&A</a>, August 23, 2016.</strong> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Revelations that boys have been <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/police-investigate-pornographic-website-targeting-nsw-schoolgirls-20160817-gquo0f.html">sharing pornographic pictures of underage girls online</a> have refocused attention on how best to tackle online harassment, bullying and abuse.</p>
<p>When asked about the issue on Q&A, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said that the <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-the-office/role-of-the-office">Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner</a> had investigated about 11,000 cases of cyberbullying and can order social media organisations to take down offensive material – or face fines of up to $17,000 per day. </p>
<p>Is that correct?</p>
<h2>Checking the source</h2>
<p>When asked for a source to support his statement, a spokeswoman for the minister pointed to the commissioner’s <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/12-month-report/12-month-report-alternative">12-month report</a> and gave more detail on the agency’s capacity to issue penalties.</p>
<p>The spokesperson’s full response can be read <a href="http://theconversation.com/full-response-from-a-spokesperson-for-mitch-fifield-64439">here</a>. </p>
<p>When The Conversation asked the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner how many fines had been issued since the passage of its enabling legislation, a spokesperson for the commissioner said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Office of the children’s eSafety Commissioner handled over 11,000 complaints across its investigation functions, which include prohibited online content and cyberbullying. For more information on this please see our <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-the-office/newsroom/media-releases/child-sex-abuse-images-mainly-primary-schoolers">media release</a> issued at our 12-month mark. To date we have issued no penalty notices as we have worked collaboratively with our social media partners in getting material removed, without the need for formal powers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The commissioner’s website notes that in the 12 months to July 2016, there were 186 complaints of “serious cyberbullying” affecting under 18s, with 71% of these cases targeting girls. 15-year-olds are the primary targets of reported cyberbullying material.</p>
<p>The agency <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/12-month-report/12-month-report-alternative">said</a> that reports involved factors such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>73% Nasty comments and/or serious name calling</li>
<li>26% Offensive or upsetting pictures or videos</li>
<li>21% Threats of violence</li>
<li>21% Fake and/or impersonator accounts</li>
<li>7% Hacking of social media accounts</li>
<li>7% Unwanted contact</li>
<li>3% Hate pages</li>
</ul>
<p>In its 12-month report card, the agency <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/12-month-report/12-month-report-alternative">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We conducted 11,121 online content investigations and worked with our global partners to remove 7,465 URLs of child sexual abuse material. All items actioned in one to two days.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Of the child sexual abuse material, 95% of the victims were girls and 5% boys.</p>
<p>So Mitch Fifield’s figures are correct, but he mistakenly conflated the term “cyberbullying” with the Children’s eSafety Commissioner’s full range of investigative responsibilities. </p>
<p>The Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner looked at about 11,000 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Locator">URLs</a> (more commonly known as web addresses) in the last year and removed 7,465 URLs of child sexual abuse material.</p>
<p>It’s inaccurate to describe such cases as “cyberbullying”. In fact, there were 186 complaints of “serious cyberbullying” affecting under 18s in the 12-month period to July 2016.</p>
<h2>Penalties</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015A00024/Controls/">legislation</a> that led to the creation of the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner notes that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A person must comply with a requirement under a social media service notice to the extent that the person is capable of doing so. Civil penalty: 100 penalty units.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is true that the agency has the power to direct social media organisations to take offensive material down and <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015A00024/Controls/">issue daily penalties</a> until they do. </p>
<p>That said, Fifield’s figure of up to $17,000 per day is out of date. This figure was accurate when the bill was proposed, but <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5464">a change to the Crimes Act 1914</a> has since increased Commonwealth penalty units from $170 to $180. </p>
<p>The maximum daily penalty is now $18,000. The agency has said it is yet to actually issue any penalties. </p>
<p>Lastly, it is worth noting that Mitch Fifield’s comments on Q&A were in response to a question from the audience about what could be done to afford Australian women more protection from online harassment.</p>
<p>Whilst the questioner asked about adult women, the minister’s response relates to the Children’s eSafety Commissioner, whose powers of investigation are constrained to cases involving young people under the age of 18. </p>
<h2>The scale of cyberbullying and online harassment</h2>
<p>It can be challenging to get a sense of how pervasive cyberbullying or online harassment are, because these terms are quite broad. It encapsulates everything from name-calling to stalking and threats of sexual assault.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/publications/publications/research-youth-exposure-and-management-cyber-bullying-incidents-australia-synthesis-report-june-2014">2014 study</a> prepared for the Department of Communications estimated that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the prevalence for being cyberbullied ‘over a 12-month period’ would be in the vicinity of 20% of young Australians aged 8–17.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/10/22/online-harassment/">Pew Internet survey</a> of 2,489 internet users in the United States revealed that 40% of respondents had experienced a form of online harassment. This ranged from offensive name-calling to threats of harm, stalking, sustained and/or sexual harassment. This survey found that young women, in particular, experience severe forms of harassment at disproportionately high levels.</p>
<h2>The Children’s eSafety Commissioner’s supporting roles</h2>
<p>The Office of the eSafety Commissioner provides useful tools, support, and education for people who have been targeted by cyberbullies and online harassers. These resources are helpful and approachable, although they lack the level of
technical detail provided by resources like <a href="https://onlinesafety.feministfrequency.com/en/">Speak Up & Stay Safe(r)</a>, and <a href="http://www.crashoverridenetwork.com/resources.html">Crash Override Network</a>.</p>
<p>The Office has also delivered a range of teaching programs to young people and school teachers, as well as establishing advice and support portals with their <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/iparent">iParent</a> and <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/women">eSafetyWomen</a> initiatives. </p>
<p>While the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner provides some resources for adults, <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/complaints-and-reporting/offensive-and-illegal-content-complaints/what-we-cant-investigate">they do not investigate reports relating to adults</a>. Adults are advised to report to another government initiative, the <a href="https://www.acorn.gov.au">Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN)</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, the commissioner is also charged with the <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/complaints-and-reporting/offensive-and-illegal-content-complaints/what-we-can-investigate">removal of offensive and illegal content</a>, including child sexual abuse material, or gratuitous, exploitative and offensive depictions of violence or sexual violence.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Mitch Fifield’s statement that the Children’s eSafety Commissioner “investigated about 11,000 cases of cyberbullying” is not accurate. The minister has mistakenly conflated the term “cyberbullying” with the Children’s eSafety Commissioner’s full range of investigative responsibilities. </p>
<p>In fact, the agency conducted 11,121 <em>online content investigations</em> and removed 7,465 URLs of child sexual abuse material. There were 186 complaints of “serious cyberbullying” affecting under 18s in the 12-month period to July 2016.</p>
<p>The minister’s statement that “The eSafety Commissioner has the power to direct a social media organisation to take down offensive material”, and impose fines of up to $17,000 per day for non-cooperation is essentially true, but the figure is outdated. As of <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5464">July 2015</a>, the commissioner can impose fines of up to $18,000 per day. </p>
<p>In practice, the agency is yet to impose any penalties. Organisations have opted to collaborate with the commissioner’s office to take down prohibited content. <strong>– Andrew Quodling</strong> </p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>The minister is wrong to say there were investigations into 11,000 examples of cyberbullying. In fact, according to the commissioner’s own <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/12-month-report/12-month-report-alternative">website</a>, they helped to resolve 186 complaints of serious cyberbullying for under 18s.</p>
<p>And although the commissioner’s office now <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/women">provides advice for women</a> as well as children, it only investigates complaints concerning children. </p>
<p>The commissioner’s report <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/12-month-report/12-month-report-alternative">says</a> it conducted 11,121 online content investigations and removed 7,465 URLs of child sexual abuse material. This sounds like a lot of investigations, but remember that a single site can house many URLs. </p>
<p>And while the office of the eSafety Commissioner and the minister’s spokesperson both say the agency handled over 11,000 <em>complaints</em>, in fact that does not line up with the language used in the Commissioner’s 12-month report card. </p>
<p>It says it conducted 11,121 content <em>investigations</em>. It is possible that all of these investigations originated as complaints from the public, but it’s also possible some or many were initiated by the office of the commissioner itself or its overseas partners. </p>
<p>The fact that the commissioner’s office received only 186 complaints of cyberbullying means either people don’t realise they can report the bullying to the office, or it’s not as widespread as might be suggested.</p>
<p>I helped conduct a <a href="http://www.criminologyresearchcouncil.gov.au/reports/1516/53-1112-FinalReport.pdf">large research project</a> on sexting and young people in Australia. There were two key findings that might be of interest here - and I do caution that sexting is very different to cyberbullying, but that an image that has been “sexted” can become a tool of a cyberbully. </p>
<p>The first is that sexting is widespread among young people; around 40-50% of 13 to 15 year olds have sent a nude or semi-nude selfie. But most happens consensually and only a small proportion of children who ever receive an image send it to a third party for whom it was not intended. </p>
<p>Also, few participants report being pressured to send an image, although there is a serious gendered double standard in the way girls who send images are treated (and shamed) compared with boys. This is not the way sexting is generally reported but dealing with these facts is important for minimising harm. </p>
<p>Without trying to understate the level of damage that sexting gone wrong (or cyberbullying) can have on young lives, we must stick to the facts and not overcook the danger, nature or prevalence of either. <strong>– Murray Lee</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Murray Lee receives funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology and local government funding.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Quodling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Communications Minister Mitch Fifield told Q&A that the Children’s eSafety Commissioner has investigated 11,000 cases of cyberbullying and can fine social media firms $17,000 a day. Is that true?Andrew Quodling, PhD candidate researching governance of social media platforms, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/641202016-08-24T05:20:15Z2016-08-24T05:20:15ZIs that porn your child is watching online? How do you know?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134579/original/image-20160818-12318-ufn79g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children can easily be exposed to porn online.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/bikeriderlondon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Adult sexual content and culture has woven itself seamlessly into the fabric of the internet. Some of it is subtle, and some not so subtle, but there is now a wealth of dedicated porn websites available and <a href="http://thenextweb.com/market-intelligence/2015/03/24/who-are-the-biggest-consumers-of-online-porn/">plenty of demand</a> to view the content. </p>
<p>One of the most popular is Pornhub, and according to its <a href="http://www.pornhub.com/insights/pornhub-2015-year-in-review">2015 year in review</a>, visitors to the website watched more than 4.3 billion hours of porn. </p>
<p>Pornhub is just one of thousands of porn websites so these figures help us to gain some idea of just how much porn is available online. </p>
<p>So what are the chances of young children viewing porn online? <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/500701/Report_of_DCMS_Expert_Panel__Autumn_2015__FINAL_.pdf">Research from the UK</a> last year shows about 6% of school-aged children actually seek out pornography online, including almost 3% of primary school children.</p>
<p>But most young children who view sexual images or sexual activity online come across it by accident. One US study back in 2007 found <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/2/247">two-thirds of 10- to 17-years-olds viewing porn</a> had “unwanted exposure”, and the figure was rising. This is a big issue!</p>
<h2>Accidental viewing of porn</h2>
<p>Game website or movie streaming websites for kids sometimes include a sidebar or pop up ads that contain advertising material of a sexual nature. </p>
<p>My own online search for the kid’s movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2277860/">Finding Dory</a> brought up a <a href="http://123movies.to/film/finding-nemo-5189/">streaming website</a> whose sponsored content included semi-nude girls in highly sexual positions with links to more explicit content.</p>
<p>Children can also view nudity and no-holds-barred simulated sex on popular television series such as Game of Thrones or video games such as Grand Theft Auto. </p>
<p>Of course these programs are not produced for a child audience. But a lack of regulation online means children can easily access them. Sex <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBeoWBXmgw8">segments</a> of these games and series are also easily found on YouTube. </p>
<p>My own research shows children are making greater independent use of the internet at younger ages, therefore it’s not uncommon for a child under five years old to be playing online without an adult beside them.</p>
<p>The likelihood of a young child being exposed to sexual imagery is therefore high. And given that many of these images are developed for shock value, the content is increasingly explicit. </p>
<p>I recently watched a six-year-old boy play a children’s game on a free website and his screen was dominated by ads of a sexual nature. The actual game was very small in size in comparison to the ads surrounding it, and the boy had to crouch towards the screen so he could focus on his game play.</p>
<p>When I asked the boy about it he said that he didn’t like the ads but they were always there. He said he tried not to look at them, but he kept going back to the site because he liked the game.</p>
<p>Children’s potential engagement with pornography is worrying. The most <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/act-schools-caught-in-pornography-ring-20160817-gqudxu.html">recent news</a> about a school pornography ring is evidence of our intolerance of it and our concern about it. But kids’ accidental viewing of pornography seems to be going under the radar. </p>
<h2>The messages porn gives a young child</h2>
<p>What are the implications for this generation of children who are accidentally exposed to pornography from a very early age? Given that much of their internet use is independent, young children are often left to formulate their own ideas and impressions of this.</p>
<p>An Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) inquiry looked into the issue of children and access to online pornography.</p>
<p>Its <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/submissions/inquiry-harm-being-done-australian-children-through-access-pornography-internet">report published earlier this year</a> said this was a “relatively new phenomenon” but there was evidence that viewing pornography impacted on the attitudes of children about gender roles and the belief that women are sex objects, that men should be dominant and women be submissive.</p>
<p>The inquiry also noted other studies said there was “limited empirical evidence” that viewing pornography caused children to engage in coercive, aggressive or violent sexual behaviour.</p>
<p>So what to do? Banning young children from using the internet is not the answer because the horse has bolted.</p>
<p>Children are growing up in a technological world and there are many wonderful learning benefits that children gain from it, but this murky side is also manifesting. We need to deal with both sides.</p>
<h2>Action starts in the home</h2>
<p>Much of the sexual content children come across stems from their social uses of the internet (as opposed to use at school). This means that action needs to start in the home. </p>
<p>Ensuring appropriate safety settings and ad-blockers are in place on devices will help to prevent some of the exposure. But young children are becoming adept with technology, therefore responding to this issue requires more than removing or blocking such material. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/submissions/inquiry-harm-being-done-australian-children-through-access-pornography-internet#_Toc445720182">AHRC report</a> said our primary objective should be education.</p>
<p>This means starting the difficult conversations early so children can learn to identify, process and critique pornographic content when they come across it. Such conversations can start from the time a parent sees these images on their child’s screen. </p>
<p>Part of these conversations should be about staying safe online. But they must also importantly be age-appropriate talks about sex and healthy and respectful relationships. This will help to minimise the impact this content has on them.</p>
<p>Highly sexual images inform children’s view of sex long before they experience it. Explain that what they are seeing is people acting, and that images are not about real, loving relationships. Have these talks intermittently over time, continually adjusting them to a child’s stage of development.</p>
<p>As a parent it is also a good idea to regularly go online together with your child. If sexual images are displayed while you’re playing a game or searching, then use that as an opportunity to talk about why they’re there and what your child should do if she or he sees them. Suggest that they look away, not click on pop up ads, or go to a website they know doesn’t have those kinds of ads. </p>
<p>Many may argue it is a loss of innocence to talk about this issue, but leaving children to understand these images on their own could potentially have much more disastrous implications for their view of themselves and the role of others in their life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64120/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne Orlando does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Online porn is big business and has plenty of adults viewing the content. But young children can also be exposed to porn, and much of that comes from accidental or unwanted exposure.Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Technology and Learning, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/548482016-02-17T15:25:26Z2016-02-17T15:25:26ZA grown-up conversation about children and porn online starts here<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111692/original/image-20160216-24635-1w5xfa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Subbotina Anna/shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Conservative government has launched the latest salvo in its <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto">manifesto pledge</a> to prevent children from accessing pornography online, proposing that pornography websites would have to require age verification – for example a credit card check or some form of <a>electronic identity backed by official ID</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/child-safety-online-age-verification-for-pornography">public consultation</a> from the Department for Culture Media and Sport is asking for responses to these proposals, drawn from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/500701/Report_of_DCMS_Expert_Panel__Autumn_2015__FINAL_.pdf">our expert panel’s report</a> on how children access pornography online. As part of the same pledge, the government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/action-to-protect-children-from-viewing-age-inappropriate-music-videos-online">introduced age-rating for music videos online</a>, implemented by YouTube and Vevo, and since 2014 internet service providers, ISPs, have been expected to prompt their customers to decide whether or not they want to have family filtering applied to their internet connection.</p>
<p>Putting aside debates about whether pornography is harmful, or whether the chances of children viewing pornography online are sufficient to warrant major legislation, we do know that <a href="https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/Basically_porn_is_everywhere.pdf">in study after study</a> lots of under-18s do report seeing sexual content online or on their phones. It’s hard to determine precise numbers, or whether the content viewed is pornography or more mainstream content (think Game of Thrones nude scenes, or a Rihanna video), but <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/media%40lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20II%20(2009-11)/EUKidsOnlineIIReports/D4FullFindings.pdf">there is evidence</a> that they’re upset by what they see.</p>
<p>Clearly age, content and intent matter a great deal here. There’s a world of difference between a nine-year-old accidentally stumbling on an explicit video, and a 15-year-old seeking out content that helps them understand their sexual feelings or identity. As might be expected, many under-18s tell researchers they have seen sexual content <a href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/395/1/UKCGOsurveyreport.pdf">accidentally rather than from seeking it out</a>. Studies of older teens and those in their twenties reveal that they are often shown porn by others – perhaps for laughs, perhaps to shock, or perhaps as part of a relationship. Not all sharing is well-intentioned, and there are gender differences in how such experiences are interpreted.</p>
<p>Other recent studies in Britain, for example a 2012 <a href="https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/research-reports/qualitative-study-children-young-people-sexting-report.pdf">NSPCC-commissioned report</a>, reveal the extent to which teenage girls in particular can feel threatened by “technology-mediated sexual pressure from their peers”. </p>
<h2>More than just a technical challenge</h2>
<p>It’s worth noting the sheer range of routes through which pornography is accessible. The <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20III/Reports/NCGMUKReportfinal.pdf">Net Children Go Mobile Study 2014</a> reported that children aged between nine and 16 have seen sexual images most commonly in magazines, television and films (which may or may not be streamed via the internet), as well as on video and photo sharing apps or websites. Others included pop-up ads, social networks and through instant messaging. </p>
<p>It’s quite simply impossible to shut down all of these routes. As <a href="http://www.toad.com/gnu/">John Gilmore</a>, one of the internet’s most famous civil libertarians once put it: “The internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” Just as data packets crossing the internet will find a way around network obstacles, people will copy, re-post and share content to bypass restrictions.</p>
<p>While measures such as family-friendly internet filtering are an important, if imperfect, tools for parents, we mustn’t forget that most pornography (apart from the most extreme forms) is legal for adults to view in the UK. An outright ban or blocking at the ISP level would be significant censorship. So, there’s a technical challenge in allowing adults access to pornography while keeping it away from children, but it presents a challenge to society too.</p>
<p>In terms of controlling the market, it’s currently illegal for companies based in the UK to sell or distribute pornography to anyone under 18, and <a href="http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/r18">pornographic material rated R18</a> (generally films) can only be sold through licensed sex shops. But applying this policy to the internet is difficult. There are many means of online access, and age-verification systems (such as using credit card details or checking against online databases) are not always used by websites, often because of their costs (and because they are not required) or because they may deter customers who can get the same content without checks elsewhere.</p>
<p>Jurisdiction also matters. Analysis by <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/international/21666114-internet-blew-porn-industrys-business-model-apart-its-response-holds-lessons">The Economist</a> suggests that there were 700m to 800m pages of porn online, three-fifths of which were hosted in the US. The most obvious sources are the major “tube” sites that offer free content, often directing users towards paid-for sites with which they maintain a symbiotic relationship. But it’s so easy to create, copy and exchange content that pornographic material can be easily found and downloaded using BitTorrent software, or even through social networking – not all of which forbid explicit material.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111693/original/image-20160216-19266-1pgir3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111693/original/image-20160216-19266-1pgir3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111693/original/image-20160216-19266-1pgir3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111693/original/image-20160216-19266-1pgir3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111693/original/image-20160216-19266-1pgir3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111693/original/image-20160216-19266-1pgir3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111693/original/image-20160216-19266-1pgir3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s not child’s play, for kids or us.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">B Calkins/shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As demonstrated by the Facebook groups that were recently found <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35521068">to contain child abuse images</a>, policing huge private networks for illegal material is fraught with difficulty. Formulating a way of managing access to material across the internet (or at least the web) when it is legal for adults is harder still. Requiring all commercial pornography providers whose content is served in the UK to implement age verification is a big ask – early indications are that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35581860">some are on board already</a> – but it’s a really important first step.</p>
<p>The lack of a perfect technical or market-level fix makes the challenge for society that much harder. As a nation, British people are not great at having sensible conversations about sex. A cultural history of Carry On films and tittering at pantomimes is accompanied by a state education system where there still isn’t statutory sex and relationship education in all secondary schools. Given that it’s practically impossible to ensure children don’t encounter pornography, surely it’s time we spent more time talking about this – at home, in schools, and as a society in general? </p>
<p>Pornography is fiction: a media product, not an objective depiction of real-life relationships, yet it may be the source of our children’s sexual education, with expectations adjusted accordingly. It’s also part of a wider, increasingly sexualised culture in which mainstream films, television, music videos and video-games can contain graphic and even violent sexual scenes. This should be the start, not the end, of the conversation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Nash receives funding from the ESRC. My department was also paid for the time I spent working on this DCMS report.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cicely Marston received funding from the ESRC for work that informed this article, and from DCMS for work on the report.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna R Adler receives funding from the NSPCC, OCC and BBFC for an ongoing research project in a related area. My department was also paid for the time I spent working on this DCMS report.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sonia Livingstone has received funding from the ESRC 2003-2005 and from the European Commission from 2006 to 2014 for research on children's online experiences.</span></em></p>The debate around around children and online porn is more than just requiring sites ask their age.Victoria Nash, Deputy Director and Policy and Research Fellow, University of OxfordCicely Marston, Senior Lecturer in Social Science, London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineJoanna R Adler, Professor of Forensic Psychology, Middlesex UniversitySonia Livingstone, Professor of Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/494182015-10-22T09:51:40Z2015-10-22T09:51:40ZWhy your father’s Playboy can’t compete in today’s world of hard-core porn<p>Last week Playboy offered the latest example of how much times are changing in the digital age.</p>
<p>The pioneer of soft-core porn <a href="http://www.playboy.com/articles/no-nudity-announcement?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=social&utm_content=sexculture&utm_campaign=launchpost">announced</a> that it is no longer going to publish images of naked women, beginning in March. Before we all celebrate this as a feminist victory, we need to ask why Playboy has now decided to rebrand itself as a lifestyle magazine for young men, much like Vice and FHM, or, put another way, Cosmopolitan for men. </p>
<p>Playboy successfully launched porn as a viable mainstream industry, but ironically, it is now a victim of the competition it spawned. The industry has evolved from soft-core magazines to hard-core internet platforms, and Playboy’s old advertising-based business model became obsolete. Playboy simply cannot compete in the world of contemporary porn because its pin-up style pictures look boring, bland and, yes, antiquated, next to the hard-core and cruel images that are now mainstream on the internet. </p>
<p>Playboy is your father’s porn, with young, naked, mostly white, airbrushed women smiling coyly at the camera as they frolic on a beach or a meadow. Today’s average porn user – typically male – would most likely die of boredom before he got to the centerfold, given the intensity, violence and brutality of acts that he has become so accustomed to as he clicks his way through pornhub.com or youporn.com. </p>
<p>As academics, we have studied porn for many years as a cultural and business phenomenon that shapes our society in deep and insidious ways, with negative impacts on gender equality and public health. We’ve also brought our expertise to bear in <a href="http://www.culturereframed.org/">advocacy</a> and <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/08/01/a-rare-defeat-for-corporate-lobbyists/">legal struggles</a>. </p>
<p>Our analysis of the evolution of the porn industry suggests that Playboy’s move really represents the triumph of mainstream porn and not a victory for women.</p>
<h2>Winning the battle, losing the war?</h2>
<p>That the magazine opened the way for more hardcore porn is not lost on Playboy executives, who <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/business/media/nudes-are-old-news-at-playboy.html?_r=0">told The New York Times</a> that Playboy’s goal of making porn part of mainstream media culture is a “battle” that “has been fought and won.” Anyone familiar with this history of Playboy will know that using the word battle is not overkill. </p>
<p>Playboy had to fight many battles to survive. </p>
<p>First with the right wing, who wanted to shutter the magazine because of its supposed moral bankruptcy and threat to the heterosexual family. Also opposed to Playboy were feminists, who saw the images as sexist and degrading, and organized numerous protests against the magazine. However, the biggest challenge of all was the need to attract advertising dollars from big name companies who, in the conservative 1950s, were squeamish about placing ads for their products next to what was then considered scandalous pictures of semi-nude women. How quaint.</p>
<p>Playboy eventually won these battles and became one of the most successful and profitable magazines in the history of publishing. However, to stay that way, Playboy had to negotiate a very careful balancing act between the need to attract advertising from businesses and marketing agencies with clear policies proscribing explicit images, while simultaneously building circulation by keeping readers interested in the sexual content. </p>
<p>It was this built-in conflict that eventually led to Playboy’s downfall – and US$3 million in <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/life/a-pg-13-playboy-without-skin-the-big-bunny-may-bottom-out/">annual losses</a> – and explains why it has given up competing in the porn market, which has increasingly become something Hugh Hefner wouldn’t recognize when he founded the magazine in 1953. </p>
<h2>Selling a lifestyle (and nudes)</h2>
<p>Hefner was a brilliant businessman who understood that the only way to sell porn in the 1950s and also attract advertising dollars was to wrap the magazine in the cloak of upper middle-class respectability. In the first issue of Playboy, Hefner told his readers:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We like our apartment. We enjoy mixing up cocktails and an hors-d'oeuvre or two, putting a little mood music on the phonograph and inviting in a female acquaintance for a quiet discussion on Picasso, Nietzsche, Jazz, Sex.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The markers of upper-class life were an attempt to avoid the sleaze factor that had previously been associated with porn. The articles, interviews and stories were needed as a cover during the early days of Playboy because porn use was stigmatized as low-class. </p>
<p>Playboy spent much of its early years crafting a magazine that taught upwardly mobile white men what clothes to wear, what furniture to buy for the office, what food to cook and, most importantly, how this consumption would attract the real prize: lots of women, just like the ones in the centerfolds.</p>
<p>Playboy thus not only commodified sexuality, it also sexualized commodities. Hefner revealed this strategy of sexualizing consumption when <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hefner-Frank-Brady/dp/0345246624">he explained</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Playboy is a combination of sex … and status … the sex actually includes not only the Playmate and the cartoons and the jokes which describe boy-girl situations, but goes right down in all the service features.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hefner, by sexualizing consumption, provided an extremely hospitable environment for advertisers looking to expand in the post-war boom. By the end of 1955, advertisers <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Reaching_for_paradise.html?id=TBtlAAAAMAAJ">had overcome their initial fear of advertising</a> in a “men’s entertainment” magazine and were, according to author Thomas Weyr, “clamoring to buy.”</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99241/original/image-20151021-15430-73z1wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99241/original/image-20151021-15430-73z1wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99241/original/image-20151021-15430-73z1wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99241/original/image-20151021-15430-73z1wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99241/original/image-20151021-15430-73z1wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99241/original/image-20151021-15430-73z1wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99241/original/image-20151021-15430-73z1wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Playboy magazines are tame compared with the multitude of options available for hard-core porn, mostly for free.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Playboy covers via www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A rabbit hunter emerges</h2>
<p>Ironically, it was in 1969 that Playboy came up against its first real competitor, Penthouse, and in the struggle it learned lessons that help explain why it has been forced to rebrand today. </p>
<p>In the summer of 1969, full-page ads appeared in The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times showing the Playboy bunny caught in the <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/bunny-the-real-story-of-playboy/oclc/11574727?loc=">cross-hairs of a rifle</a>. The caption read, “We’re going rabbit hunting.” </p>
<p>Robert Guccione, editor-publisher of Penthouse magazine, aimed to compete with Playboy by emulating its format of having both a literary and service side, while making the pictorials more sexually explicit. He did this by foregoing advertising revenue in the short term, planning to draw in the advertisers after he had put Playboy out of business. In a March 1970 Newsweek article on Penthouse, Guccione is quoted as saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m not coming to America to be number No 2 … in five years, Playboy and Penthouse will be locked in a toe-to-toe competition.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At first Hefner ignored Penthouse, seeing it as a poor imitator of his magazine, but by the end of 1970, Penthouse’s circulation had reached 1.5 million, and Hefner decided that it was time to go to war by making his centerfolds more sexually explicit. </p>
<p>In August 1971, Penthouse carried its first full-frontal centerfold, and, in January 1972, Playboy did the same.</p>
<p>The change in policy was successful: by September 1972, Playboy’s circulation had risen to 7 million, but the magazine’s advertisers were beginning to complain about the explicit nature of the pictorials, and high-level executives had to fly to New York to placate them.</p>
<p>Eventually, due to the outside pressure of advertisers, internal battles with editors and the appearance of other competitors such as Gallery and Hustler, which captured the hard-core market, Hefner capitulated to Penthouse, sending a memo to all the department editors informing them that Playboy would cease to cater to “hard-core” readers. He would instead <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/bunny-the-real-story-of-playboy/oclc/11574727?loc=">return to its previous standards</a>.</p>
<p>Circulation figures from the nineties suggest that Hefner made the right decision. In 1995, Playboy had a monthly circulation of nearly 3.5 million while Penthouse reported just over 1 million. Playboy still had no real competitor as it successfully dominated the market for a respectable soft-core magazine. </p>
<p>Penthouse, on the other hand, positioned itself between soft-core Playboy and increasingly hard-core Hustler – not the best move from a competitive standpoint. It couldn’t attract the writers or interview subjects that provided Playboy with its markers of respectability and thus strong advertising revenues, nor could it risk offending the advertisers it already had by emulating the content of more hard-core magazines to grow subscribers.</p>
<p>Ironically, 20 years later this is exactly where Playboy now finds itself, in a world where internet porn has become far more violent and abusive than Penthouse and even Hustler. </p>
<p>To keep its image as a magazine for the well-heeled male, Playboy needs to continue to wrap itself in upper-class trappings, but were it to compete with mainstream internet porn, every advertiser would flee. </p>
<p>To give a sense of just how cruel and violent this porn has become, psychologist Ana Bridges and her team at the University of Arkansas <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20980228">found</a> that a majority of scenes from 50 of the top-rented porn movies contained both physical and verbal abuse targeted against the female performers. And 90% of scenes contained at least one aggressive act if both physical and verbal aggression were combined.</p>
<h2>Modern porn bids farewell to the girl next door</h2>
<p>And that’s why Playboy’s “girl next door” had to go, because it couldn’t compete with the growing misogyny and explicitness of modern mainstream porn, in which a so-called “bitch” or “slut” supposedly prefers being gagged with a penis to gazing at the camera provocatively as she picks flowers in the nude. </p>
<p>The new denuded Playboy is still aiming for the higher-end male, according to Scott Flanders, Playboy’s chief executive, who <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/business/media/nudes-are-old-news-at-playboy.html?_r=0">describes</a> how his target audience differs from other men’s lifestyle magazines by being “the guy with a job.” </p>
<p>Whether this rebranding will work remains to be seen. </p>
<p>That’s because as Playboy was working hard to keep its advertisers happy by staying soft core, another company came in and made a killing by vacuuming up the hardcore porn market. That little-known company has played a dramatic role in reshaping the entire business strategy of porn for the internet age. Originally called Manwin, this Luxembourg-based company (renamed MindGeek in 2013 after CEO Fabian Thylmann <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/fabian-thylman-arrested-pornhub-youporn-taxes_n_2276381.html">stepped down following his arrest</a> on charges of tax evasion) <a href="http://mindgeek.com/about">advertises itself</a> as driving “the state of technology forward, developing industry-leading solutions enabling faster, more efficient delivery of content every second to millions of customers worldwide.”</p>
<p>That bland description masks the fact that this company is the biggest distributor of porn in the world. However, according to an <a href="http://www.therichest.com/expensive-lifestyle/money/money-in-pornography-one-of-the-most-misunderstood-industries/%5D(http://www.therichest.com/expensive-lifestyle/money/money-in-pornography-one-of-the-most-misunderstood-industries/),%20MindGeek%20is%20%22hands%20down%22%20the%20world's%20top%20distributor%20of%20porn,%20owning%20most%20of%20the%20biggest%20players,%20from%20Reality%20Kings%20(38%20sites">article on the website therichest.com</a> to Brazzers (35 sites). </p>
<h2>Brave new world of porn</h2>
<p>MindGeek has revolutionized the business model and doesn’t have to worry about alienating advertisers. </p>
<p>Playboy will now try to compete more directly with other men’s lifestyle magazines and needs advertising related to content around fashion, health and gadgets. MindGeek, by contrast, makes money from a sophisticated system that relies on payment for click-throughs from free content with ads for webcams and “dating” services to subscription services.</p>
<p>The free porn sites have so much traffic – <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/10/mindgeek_porn_monopoly_its_dominance_is_a_cautionary_tale_for_other_industries.html">more than 100 million visitors a day</a> – that dominant companies can monetize the digital real estate without relying on conventional advertisers. MindGeek operates like a lead company in a global value chain, consolidating vast amounts of content produced by subcontractors and circulating users around its system of linked sites. </p>
<p>Feras Antoon, CEO of Brazzers, <a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/70985">told</a> New York Magazine that free porn sites have so “vastly enlarged the total universe of porn consumers that the number of those who pay has ballooned along with it.”</p>
<p>Clearly, Playboy is now too far behind the times to compete in this highly sophisticated internet world of business. Weighted down by the Hefner legacy that is so last century, it will struggle to find a niche as a men’s lifestyle magazine.</p>
<p>But whether Playboy’s move to remove nudes and reposition the brand succeeds or fails, it is far from a win for women – rather, it reflects the market and cultural triumph of mainstream hard-core porn.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49418/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gail Dines is co-founder and president of Culture Reframed, which seeks to recognize and address pornography as a` public health crisis of the digital age.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David L Levy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Playboy’s decision to drop nude women from its pages represents just how mainstream hard-core pornography has become.Gail Dines, Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies, Wheelock CollegeDavid L Levy, Professor of Management, Director of the Center for Sustainable Enterprise and Regional Competitiveness, UMass BostonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/461032015-08-19T13:31:11Z2015-08-19T13:31:11ZIWF’s efforts to remove child porn from the web won’t tackle paedophile networks – but it’s still important<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91797/original/image-20150813-21398-co5r69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">IWF moves will control only the most visible child abuse images online.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cybercrime by hamburg_berlin/shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the fight against the spread of child sexual abuse images on the web, the Internet Watch Foundation has announced that it is to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33844124">share its database of digital signatures</a> of images, known as <a href="https://www.iwf.org.uk/about-iwf/news/post/416-hash-list-could-be-game-changer-in-the-global-fight-against-child-sexual-abuse-images-online">the hash list</a>, with internet giants Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo. </p>
<p>This action follows David Cameron’s announcement of tougher measures to combat online child sexual abuse material at the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/weprotect-children-online-global-summit-prime-ministers-speech">#WePROTECT conference</a> in November 2014. </p>
<p>The big question is whether this will make any great difference and, if so, why hasn’t it happened sooner?</p>
<h2>The IWF and its critics</h2>
<p>The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is a charity founded in 1996 to receive and act upon reports of images depicting the sexual abuse of children (mislabelled as child pornography) and those images of adult content that are <a href="https://theconversation.com/rape-should-be-extreme-enough-for-english-porn-laws-15048">deemed illegal in the UK</a>. Funded by telecoms operators, software and hardware manufacturers and other organisations, the IWF’s role is officially outlined by a <a href="https://www.iwf.org.uk/assets/media/hotline/CPS%20ACPO%20S46%20MoU%202014%202.pdf">Memorandum of Understanding</a> between the Crown Prosecution Service and the Association of Chief Police Officers, which protects IWF staff from prosecution. The IWF operates a reporting hotline service and directs law enforcement to illegal images it has assessed so that take-down notices can be issued and investigators can follow-up.</p>
<p>Over the past 20 years the IWF has been at the forefront of policing child sexual abuse and other extreme imagery, overseeing development of content rating systems and encouraging the development of similar practices in other countries. During this time, the IWF’s workload and need for its services have increased – reports of child sexual abuse imagery have risen from <a href="https://www.iwf.org.uk/about-iwf/iwf-history/iwf-highlights">1,291 in 1996-7 to 74,199 in 2013-14</a>. </p>
<p>The IWF is not without its critics, however. It has been labelled as <a href="http://www.out-law.com/page-9653">government censorship by the back door</a>, while others suggest the images it deals with are harmless by themselves, and that they may even have a beneficial or preventative use for those with paedophilic sexual interests. These are minority views, however, and a more widely held fear is that viewing images of child sexual abuse may precipitate thoughts to into action and lead to real harm to real children. While such an argument seems logical, there is no conclusive evidence yet that this is the case as research findings often conflict. </p>
<p>But, what is a fact is that the demand for these images leads to more images being created – which perpetuates the abuse of children. The law is quite clear that possession of such imagery, even images that are computer generated but depict similar scenes, are illegal.</p>
<h2>Where should the focus be?</h2>
<p>The main criticism of the IWF’s move to share its hash list of abusive and extreme images is that it is not tackling the real problem. While Google, Facebook and other major internet firms could, equipped with the IWF’s hash list of known images, provide automatic scanning and blocking of some kind, this wouldn’t tackle the paedophile groups involved in the trade of such imagery. They do not use social media or the open web: they hide in the <a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/12/80-percent-dark-web-visits-relate-pedophilia-study-finds/">darker recesses of the internet</a> where the IWF does not go. Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that collections of imagery are used as <a href="http://www.popcenter.org/problems/child_pornography/print/">tokens for entry</a> to closed paedophile networks which are involved in the organisation of harmful activity towards children and underage young people, such as providing children for sex and then photographing or filming them.</p>
<p>But many of these more secretive networks are already the target of police operations and require a different type of policing. Significantly, this argument also detracts from the main issue being highlighted by the IWF, which is the importance of keeping these illegal images out of the public domain and preventing them from becoming normalised. It also encourages partnerships between a range of organisations and businesses that have hitherto been rather reluctant to accepting full responsibility for their role in facilitating the sharing of materials. Clearly, undesirable internet activity can only be prevented effectively by collective action.</p>
<p>IWF’s recent announcement sends the message that possession of child abuse imagery is wrong; it also keeps those undesirable images away from the more public side of the internet. As long as valuable police time is not tied up investigating minor infringements at the expense of actually shutting down paedophile networks, IWF’s decision is surely a good thing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46103/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David S. Wall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Internet Watch foundation is to share its database of abusive image digital signatures in a drive to clean up the internet.David S. Wall, Professor of Criminology, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/266112014-05-15T05:14:59Z2014-05-15T05:14:59ZBreaking the taboo: will we ever really be able to talk about child sexual abuse?<p>With the media once again full of stories of a celebrity facing accusations of committing historical child sexual abuse, it is important that we keep sight of the risks young people face today and of realistic ways in which we can play a part in preventing child sexual abuse. </p>
<p>Contact offending as it is differentiated from non-contact, often internet-mediated offences, remains a real risk to young people. A study in 2011, for example, found that one in every 20 young persons aged 11-17 had experienced “contact” sexual abuse. We also know however that internet communication brings new risks regarding the way in which sexual offences occur. For example, a very <a href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/33731/1/Risks%20and%20safety%20on%20the%20internet%28lsero%29.pdf">large-scale study</a> of data from 21 European Union member states found that across Europe 15% of 11-16 year-olds (22% of those aged 15 or 16) had received a sexual message online.</p>
<p>What is perhaps most notable is the way in which the internet blurs the lines between perpetrator and offenders. The <a href="http://ceop.police.uk/About-Us/">Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)</a> – now part of the National Crime Agency – estimates that at least 50,000 known individuals in the UK downloaded or produced child abuse images during 2012. But an emerging risk of cyber harm is the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/04/18/concerns-grow-over-children-sexting_n_1434211.html">sharp rise</a> in self-taken indecent or inappropriate images of young people that are posted by young people themselves, and then accessed by offenders. The Internet Watch Foundation for example, <a href="https://www.iwf.org.uk/about-iwf/news/post/363-self-generated-image-study---final-paper-published">reported</a> that 88% of indecent images in offenders’ collections have been taken from their original source (often websites for young people) and uploaded to pornographic websites.</p>
<p>So while child sexual abuse remains, rightly, a taboo subject, the fact is a lot of people are both inadvertently and consciously creating, sharing and accessing images online that would be considered child sexual abuse images – and, as such, are committing an offence. </p>
<h2>How to Stop It Now</h2>
<p>In this light we have to face up to a very difficult truth: that however abhorrent child sexual abuse is, the people who commit it appear often very normal. And we know from research I was involved in <a href="http://www.stopitnow-evaluation.co.uk/publications">published today</a> by a European consortium led by <a href="http://www.natcen.ac.uk">NatCen Social Research</a> that some perpetrators find themselves in a difficult situation, perhaps following a relationship breakdown or period of unemployment, whereby a sexual preoccupation with children becomes problematic. This fills them with shame, disgust and fear and is something they want to avoid not engage in. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.stopitnow.org.uk/#">Stop it Now!</a> is a campaign and linked helpline, based on the public health premise, that all adults can play a role in preventing child sexual abuse if they are properly aware of the risks and how to respond to them.</p>
<p>This includes people who are worried about their own sexual thoughts, behaviour and feelings, as well as family members, professionals and the public.</p>
<h2>Behaviour can change</h2>
<p>We interviewed 47 users of the service (in a combination of interviews and focus groups) and 112 also completed an online questionnaire about their experiences. What we found from the feedback received in the research is that for all of the user groups, being able to actually talk about their fears, thoughts and risks regarding sexual abuse, was a first step in learning how to address it. </p>
<p>And, with the advice of call handlers from Stop it Now! they could begin to realise that problematic behaviour such as accessing indecent images of children online, can be changed, if the triggers for it are understood and the individuals involved want to change their behaviour. </p>
<p>This realisation came from both partners of potential offenders, people worried about a child and people who may be at risk of committing an offence themselves (we found two thirds of this group who completed the questionnaire reported they had changed their behaviour and felt more able to manage their sexual behaviour following contact with Stop it Now!)</p>
<p>What does this tell us? First we have to face up to fact that “otherwise normal” people may commit child sexual abuse. And if we do that we also need to face up to the fact that as a community we need to be able to talk about it; it should be condemned of course and it is, rightly, a criminal offence. But if we talk about it openly, about how people with such an interest do not need to be doomed to this deviance but can, in many cases, do something about it to avoid offending, then we will feel more empowered to step in and prevent this risk, if we think it may be occurring, rather than be paralysed by the magnitude of the stigma attached to such accusations. </p>
<p>In my research I have been struck time and again by the long-term harmful impact abuse can have, not only on individuals, but also their families, friends and whole communities. We have to stop this harmful abuse occurring – and to do so, we have to start openly talking about how we can all play a role in doing that. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26611/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol McNaughton Nicholls receives funding from various grant giving and government organisations. The research on which this piece was based was co-funded with financial assistance from the Daphne 3 programme of the European Union. The article is the responsibility of the author, and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.</span></em></p>With the media once again full of stories of a celebrity facing accusations of committing historical child sexual abuse, it is important that we keep sight of the risks young people face today and of realistic…Carol McNaughton Nicholls, Senior Research Director, National Centre for Social ResearchLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.