PROGRESS: Age Verification Proposed in 2 More US States!

Progress towards protecting children from pornography exposure continues! 

Two more U.S. states, Arkansas and Utah, are considering bills that would require internet pornography sites to verify the age of their users, therefore preventing children from accessing their content. Louisiana was the first U.S. state to pass this kind of age verification legislation (their law went into effect on January 1st, 2023). 

Age verification for internet pornography is a common-sense measure. Although pornography vendors are required to ask for ID of anyone purchasing a pornographic magazine or DVD, any child could access hardcore pornography online that depicts violent and discriminatory acts.  

This contradiction between pornography regulation in the online and offline worlds is a baffling and unacceptable gap in U.S. law–and we are thrilled to see Arkansas, Utah, and Louisiana working to solve it!

Read more about age verification and how it works (including how current methods are adept at protecting privacy) in this blog, which was published when the Louisiana law went into effect. 

Washington Post: Teen girls ‘engulfed’ in violence and trauma, CDC finds 

Teen girls across the United States are “engulfed in a growing wave of violence and trauma,” according to federal researchers who released data Monday showing increases in rape and sexual violence, as well as record levels of feeling sad or hopeless. 

Nearly 1 in 3 high school girls reported in 2021 that they seriously considered suicide — up nearly 60 percent from a decade ago — according to new findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost 15 percent of teen girls said they were forced to have sex, an increase of 27 percent over two years and the first increase since the CDC began tracking it. 

“If you think about every 10 teen girls that you know, at least one and possibly more has been raped, and that is the highest level we’ve ever seen,” said Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, who said the rise of sexual violence almost certainly contributed to the glaring spike of depressive symptoms. “We are really alarmed,” she said. 

2022 Gratitude Report Spotlight: How Pornhub is Falling

Our campaign against Pornhub, and its parent company MindGeek, is perhaps the most successful in NCOSE’s 60-year history. Since its launch in 2020:

• All major credit card companies cut ties with Pornhub, and those connected to its parent company MindGeek. The only form of payment available is cryptocurrency. 
• Roku, Comcast, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube announced they will no longer serve as distribution partners of Pornhub.
• NCOSE moved all mainstream corporations, including Kraft-Heinz, Unilever, and Wish, to stop running ads on Pornhub, significantly hurting MindGeek’s revenue.
• NCOSE filed a class action lawsuit against Pornhub and MindGeek, which continues to move forward in the courts. Nearly a dozen more lawsuits have been filed!

And so much more! Read more victories like these, which YOU have made possible, in the NCOSE's 2022 Gratitude Report.

The Long Racism of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation Marketplace

The commercial sexual exploitation marketplace is a haven for racial violence in this country. It violates the most basic human rights of women and girls of color, largely with impunity, as it has for centuries.

Those sold in prostitution are disproportionately women and girls of color and those buying prostituted people are disproportionately white men. The pornography industry traffics in racist themes, including racial stereotypes and verbal abuse directed at black women, on top of the violence that is already present in pornography.  

When racism is labeled “sex,” it apparently becomes politically invisible. 

Read more about the centuries-long racism in the commercial sexual exploitation market here. 

How Does Pornography Use Impact Romantic/Sexual Relationships? 

👉Did you know that research shows pornography consumption is associated with poorer relationship and sexual satisfaction?

👉Did you know that robust longitudinal evidence suggests that consuming pornography leads to doubled divorce and breakup rates?

👉Did you know that pornography consumers are significantly more likely to cheat on their partners, compared to non-pornography consumers?

👉Did you know that pornography consumption is associated with the development of sexual dysfunctions, where the consumer becomes incapable of engaging in partnered intimacy? 

Read this blog to learn more about the research on how pornography negatively impacts romantic and sexual relationships!

Sincerely,

Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser