An Industry of Exploitation
The dangerous ramifications of porn addiction and how the industry exploits young women
By Sarah Kirsch, Culture Staff Writer
TW: Rape and sexual assault
The pornographic industry is a controversial and touchy subject. Although it’s a conversation many don’t want to engage in, porn is more relevant than we realize. The United States makes up $12 billion of the $97 billion global industry, and that’s before a worldwide pandemic (Things Are Looking Up in America’s Porn Industry, 2015). While many Americans view porn websites and about 200,000 are classified as porn addicts, the dangerous ramifications are constantly ignored (Internet Pornography by the Numbers; A Significant Threat to Society, n.d.).
Although most side effects are easily hidden, overusing porn can create negative mental and physical effects, such as social isolation, mood disorders and sexual dysfunction (Mental Effects of Porn, n.d.). Viewers can become more self-centered, private and irritable by continuously viewing it. More importantly, porn affects more than just the user. Porn can cause neglected relationships with family, friends and intimate partners. (Internet Pornography by the Numbers; A Significant Threat to Society, n.d.). It can severely distort a person’s idea of healthy sex, and many young people receive their sex education from porn instead of school (How Porn Can Distort Consumers’ Understanding of Healthy Sex, n.d.). Not only does this create unrealistic and possibly toxic expectations about sex, but it can harm the actual experience.
In terms of physical effects, porn addiction can disrupt everyday life. It negatively affects sleep and concentration, which can hurt a person’s social, academic and personal life. Addiction fuels the brain’s dopamine reward system and can have further negative effects, such as depression, if that system isn’t continuously fulfilled (Mental Effects of Porn, n.d.). Porn addiction is a dangerous, taxing cycle that is hard to leave.
One of the most dangerous ramifications of the pornographic industry is the sexual objectification of people, especially women. This is regularly seen in the titles of videos on popular porn websites. People consume content that actively shapes how they perceive others; a title using violent, degrading language normalizes sexual violence and objectification (Taylor, 2021). Many titles about women, specifically found on PornHub, dehumanize them and promote rape culture. An example of this is a PornHub video titled ‘Passed out slut letting me f— her brains out;’ even worse titles exist as well. Titles like these are severely harmful to women, and they promote misogyny and unhealthy sexual relationships. By normalizing women as objects for sex and referring to them with inappropriate names, porn sets the stage for sexual violence (Gervais and Eagan, 2017).
The dangers of the porn industry have been recently revealed by one of PornHub’s previously highly-ranked actresses, Mia Khalifa. Although she was only in the industry for three months, Khalifa has since spoken out against pornographic corporations. “(Porn) corporations prey on callow young women and trap them legally into contracts when they’re vulnerable,” said Khalifa in an interview (Mia Khalifa: Porn contracts ‘prey on vulnerable girls,’ 2019). Since Khalifa left the industry in 2015 and opened up about her negative experience, she has remained highly ranked on PornHub. This is an unfortunate experience for many actresses who have left the industry.
The exploitation of young women in the porn industry is recognized but overlooked. Many cases have been seen in lawsuits all around the U.S. The lawsuit against the adult porn website called Girls Do Porn is an example of how some companies manipulate and exploit women for money (Hundreds Of Women Who Agreed To Model Swimsuits Were Forced To Perform In Porn, Lawsuit Alleges, 2019). In 2019, 22 women sued the website for coercion and exploitation. The website posted Craigslist advertisements for swimsuit models, but in reality, they coerced hundreds of women to film sex videos for and with them. Many women, whose names haven’t been revealed, have come forward with their traumatic experience with the site (Hundreds Of Women Who Agreed To Model Swimsuits Were Forced To Perform In Porn, Lawsuit Alleges, 2019).
Jane Doe #18 of the case shared her story in an exclusive interview (‘I didn’t Know If They’d Kill Me’: What Happened When This Jane Doe Was Trafficked by GirlsDoPorn, 2021). She saw a job opening for a fitness model on Craigslist and contacted the company about it. She was offered $5,000 to be flown to San Diego for modeling. When Jane Doe arrived, she realized it was drastically different from what was offered. She was stuck in an apartment with two intimidating men, forced to take nude photos, taken to a hotel and eventually forced into signing a contract. The men refused to fly her home unless she did everything they said. Not only did the men pay Jane Doe less than they originally offered, but they forced her to smoke marijuana, drink alcohol and have sex for hours longer than promised.
Jane Doe’s experience was unfortunately similar to the other victims of the Girls Do Porn lawsuit. After she returned home, the company released a nearly hour-long video of Jane on PornHub that included her full legal name. To make matters worse, Jane Doe’s family and friends thought she was “doing it for attention.” The company changed their contact information so that Jane Doe couldn’t reach them, leaving her alone to deal with the aftermath. The 22 women that filed the lawsuit won and most of the main offenders were arrested. The Girls Do Porn site was taken down, but Jane Doe’s video remained on the internet along with many other exploited women’s videos (‘I didn’t Know If They’d Kill Me’: What Happened When This Jane Doe Was Trafficked by GirlsDoPorn, 2021).
Although the women’s identities were rightfully never released, it begs the question of who’s the primary target of exploitation. R.Kelly’s child pornography trial in 2008 highlighted how Black women, girls and nonbinary people are typically targeted and treated unfairly in the justice system. A juror on R.Kelly’s case said he didn’t believe testimony from a Black woman because of the “way she dressed and acted” (Finoh et al., 2019). Not only is this blatantly ignorant and racist, but it could prevent women and minorities from speaking out about their trauma and cases.
There are countless cases that show how Black women and other minorities are more likely to be exploited and less likely to get justice than white women. For example, Alex Martin, a biracial 15-year-old girl, was tried as an adult for the death of her exploiter who had forced her into the drug and sex trade. She was sentenced to 21 years in 2015, even though she wasn’t even in the room when her exploiter was killed (Minoh et al., 2019). That case received a lot of backlash, and Martin has since been released from prison with over ten more years of parole (Contrera, 2021).
Pornography sites can remove exploited videos, but it will never fully make up for the trauma it causes these women. In 2020, PornHub removed millions of videos and limited posting rights to verified users, but the posting limits don’t ensure exploitation or non-consensual sex isn’t happening (Cox, 2020). PornHub and other sites should prioritize verifying that all posts are non-exploiting and consensual. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) has a page dedicated to resources on how to be an ally to those exploited, which can be found on their website. The government can do more than simply give exploited women money from winning lawsuits, and we all can do more to support them.
Along with supporting victims of exploitation, there are many alternative options when it comes to porn sites. Several female-owned and operated porn sites have a more conscious viewpoint and aim to help women, such as Bellesa, Split and Make Love Not Porn. Bellesa, a women-friendly porn provider, focuses on content that doesn’t objectify women and promotes their desires. The site also provides a community for more than just porn, with space for stories, discussions and more. Split has ethically developed content that focuses on queer porn and creates a consensual, equitable and intersectional feminist space for anyone to enjoy. Make Love Not Porn is dedicated to showcasing real sex between couples who choose to submit videos (Weiss and Gonzalez, 2021). Porn sites like these are safer, alternative options instead of the traditional, potentially harmful sites.
The porn industry has the potential to be an empowering and less harmful industry for its viewers and actors. With the right resources and intentions, it could be a positive space for those who choose to enter or view it. To help you decide which porn website to support, consider their ethics and look at the company’s content and goals. Approaching porn with a healthy mindset and thorough research can prevent addiction and promote support for those exploited.
Sources:
Things Are Looking Up in America’s Porn Industry. (2015, January 20). NBC News.
Internet Pornography by the Numbers; A Significant Threat to Society. (n.d.). Webroot.
Mental Effects of Porn. (n.d.). Reward Foundation.
How Porn Can Distort Consumers’ Understanding of Healthy Sex. (n.d.). Fight The New Drug.
Taylor, J. (2021, October 29). How Pop Culture and Porn Culture Both Glorify and Normalize the Abuse of Women. Fight The New Drug.
Gervais, S.J. and Eagan, S. (2017). Sexual objectification: The common thread connecting myriad forms of sexual violence against women. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 87, 226-232.
Mia Khalifa: Porn contracts ‘prey on vulnerable girls.’ (2019, August 13). BBC News.
Hundreds Of Women Who Agreed To Model Swimsuits Were Forced To Perform In Porn, Lawsuit Alleges. (2019, September 30). Fight The New Drug.
‘I didn’t Know If They’d Kill Me’: What Happened When This Jane Doe Was Trafficked by GirlsDoPorn. (2021, July 30). Fight The New Drug.
Finoh, M. et al. (2019, January 28). The Legal System Has Failed Black Girls, Women, and Non-Binary Survivors of Violence. ACLU.
Contrera, J. (2021, June 1). The state of Ohio vs. a sex-trafficked teenager. The Washington Post.
Cox, K. (2020, December 14). Millions of videos purged from Pornhub amid crackdown on user content. ARS Technica.
Weiss, S. and Gonzalez, I. (2021, July 3). Porn for Women: 15 Feminist Porn Sites You’ll Really, Really Enjoy. Glamour.