Myths Info/Facts

COMMON MYTHS

MYTH: Looking at porn is harmless because it’s between consenting adults.
MYTH: Porn may be harmful for the performers, but it’s not harmful to me.
MYTH: Porn only affects the people that look at it. It’s doesn’t impact society.
MYTH: Only a small percentage of people look at child pornography.
MYTH: If someone is looking at child porn that’s already on the internet, they’re not hurting anyone.
MYTH: Minor sex trafficking isn’t really happening in the U.S.

MYTH: Looking at porn is harmless because it’s between consenting adults.  

FACTS:

• Many porn actresses admitted they’ve experienced sexual, physical, and verbal abuse and neglect by parents, which ultimately led them to the porn industry.¹
• 83% of adult film actors do not regularly use condoms, risking the transfer of sexually transmitted diseases to both performers.²
• There are no government regulations mandating STD testing in the porn industry.³
• STD tests are paid out of an actor’s pocket (HIV/Gonorrhea/Chlamydia tests cost $120 per test) and porn actors are paid a flat fee for their performances, and do not receive royalties for successful projects.⁴
• Very few adult film companies provide health insurance to their actors and actresses.⁵

MYTH: Porn may be harmful for the performers, but it’s not harmful to me.

FACTS:

• Viewers are also affected by porn. In a study of 932 sex addicts, 90% of the men and 77% of the women indicated that looking at pornography “played a significant role in their addiction.”⁶
• The average age one is first exposed to pornography is 11 years old, causing some men to become sexually numb because they’ve “seen it all.”^7 8
• Several studies have linked pornography use with violent and aggressive sexual behavior. In one study, 60% of men claimed they would rape a woman “if there were no chance of getting caught.”⁹
• Pornography can influence individuals’ attitudes toward women. Those who view pornography are more likely to think of women as “eager and willing to accommodate any and every sexual request.”¹⁰

 

MYTH: Porn only affects the people that look at it. It’s doesn’t impact society.

FACTS:

• Pornography is a 10 billion dollar annual industry.¹¹
• An estimated 11,000 hard core porn movies are produced in the United States annually.¹²
• Nearly 40 million U.S. adults regularly visit pornographic websites.
• $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography every second.¹³
• Over 28,000 internet users are viewing pornography every second.¹⁴
• Every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is being created in the United States.¹⁵

 

MYTH: Only a small percentage of people look at child pornography.  

FACTS:

• 1 out of 5 pornographic images is of a child.¹⁶
• 12 is the average age of entry into pornography.¹⁷
• The sale of child pornography has become a 3 billion dollar annual industry.¹⁸
• Gnutella receives 116,000 “child pornography” searches each day.¹⁹
• Over 100,000 websites offer child pornography.²⁰
• 55% of internet child pornography comes from the U.S.²¹

 

MYTH: If someone is looking at child porn that’s already on the internet, they’re not hurting anyone.

FACTS:

• To fuel demand, nearly 1 million children are forced to perform in pornography every year.²²
• Child porn often places minors, who are too young to consent, in danger, forcing them to perform a variety of sexual activities.²³
• 54% of all child abuse websites are hosted in the United States.²⁴
• The majority of child pornography consumers are 35-49 years old.²⁵
• 80% of child pornography purchasers are active child molesters.²⁶

 

MYTH: Minor sex trafficking isn’t really happening in the U.S.

FACTS:

• Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST), which is the commercial sexual abuse of children through buying, selling, or trading their sexual services, IS happening within our borders. Forms of DMST include prostitution, pornography, stripping, escort services and other sexual services.²⁷   

• 100,000 to 300,000 American children are at risk for sex trafficking each year.²⁸
• 30% of shelter youth and 70% of street youth are victims of commercial sexual exploitation.²⁹
• 75% of minors engaged in prostitution have a pimp.³⁰
• Pimps can earn up to $632,000 per year by selling four young women or children.³¹
• Human rights investigations by Shared Hope International discovered minors were sold were sold 10-15 times a day, 6 days a week, totaling between 9,360 and 14,040 sex acts in a year.

 

FAQ's

What is the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC)?

• CSEC encompasses the sexual abuse by adults and payment in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons. It is a fundamental violation of children’s rights, which as defined by the U.N. protocol constitutes Human Trafficking.
• CSEC is the slavery of children and consists of practices that are demeaning, degrading and often life-threatening to children. The child is treated as a commercial and sexual object. ¹
  

The Scope of the problem:

• The sale of child pornography has become a $3 billion annual industry.²
• More than 32 million individuals visit a porn site every month.²
• Of all porn sites—1 out of 5 pornographic images is of a child.³

What does the exploitation of American Children look like? How many and who are they?

• According to Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 2005, an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 adolescents are commercially sexually exploited annually in the U.S.
• The victims are American children, youth of all races and all different backgrounds, and range in age from infants to teens.
• 12 is the average age of entry into pornography and prostitution.⁴
• As many as 2.8 million children live on the streets, a third of whom are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.⁵
• Victims include kids running away from a broken home, pre-teen and teen girls looking for love, and innocent youth snatched off the streets or discovered and enticed on the Internet.

How are Traffickers and Users getting to our children?

• With the advent of Internet, chat rooms and online meeting places are treasure mines for predators. With a tolerated sexual industry such as explicit advertisement and pornography, the scope of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children continues to explode.
• William W. Mercer, a U.S. attorney for Montana, testified that the caseload of the child exploitation section had increased 445 percent in the last four years, adding that federal prosecutions of child pornography and abuse cases increased to more than 1,500 cases last year from 344 in 1995 ⁶
• One in five youth who regularly use the Internet has been sexually solicited or approached.⁷

Who are the Users and why do they do it?

• 77% of online visitors to adult content sites are male. Their average age is 41 and they have an annual income of $60,000. 46% are married.⁸
• Over 70% of incarcerated sex offenders fueled their addiction by viewing child pornography.
• For every 10 men in church, 5 are struggling with pornography⁹
  
  1(http://www.ilo.org/public/english/comp/child/standards/resolution/stockholm.htm)
  2(www.protectkids.com)
  3(National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Internet Sex Crimes Against Minors: The Response of Law Enforcement)
  4(Estes, Richard J. and Neil Alan Weiner)
  5(National Runaway Switchboard, http://www.nrscrisisline.org/about_nrs/faq.html)
  6(http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40713FA3A540C748CDDAD0894DE404482)
  7(Center for Crimes Research, University of New Hampshire)
  8(Forrester Research Report, 2001)
  91(The Call to Biblical Manhood. Man in the Mirror, 6 July, 2004

Sexual Addiction

The experience of sexual arousal can be adrenalized and intense when viewing pornography, and like any ‘high’ your body will crave another hit. The result is a pattern of addiction and escalation. Soft-core pictures of women in lingerie will soon become boring and you will seek full nudity, and as that loses novelty you will look for something more enticing. Dr. Victor Cline, of the University of Utah, has studied this escalation and reports that it proceeds according to four steps.8

Addiction You keep coming back to porn. It becomes a regular part of your life. You’re hooked and can’t quit.

Escalation You start to look for more graphic pornography. You start using porn that disgusted you earlier, but is now enticing to you.

Desensitization You begin feeling numb towards the images you see. Even the most graphic porn is no longer arousing. You become desperate to feel the same thrill again, but you can’t find it.

Acting out sexually This is the point that you make a critical jump and start acting out the images you have seen and rehearsed in your mind.

Shame No matter how great the pleasure, the guilt quickly replaces the short-term adrenaline high with shame. In his book When Good Men Are Tempted, Bill Perkins says, “Like a deadly whirlpool that pulls its victims down, the addictive cycle can drag down the strongest man. Just ask Samson. Soon after boldly going to the house of the women he desired shame washed away the pleasure. Samson had entered the woman’s house boldly. He left under the cover of darkness, hoping nobody would see him.”

8Dr. Victor B. Cline, “Pornography’s Effect on Adults and Children,” Morality in Media, 2001 (12 December 2001).
9Patrick Carnes, Out of the shadows: Understanding sexual addiction, (Minneapolis: CompCare 1983)..
Bill Perkins, “When Good Men Are Tempted. Zondervan Publishing House 1997 p42-44

Government Action

U.S. Government Efforts to Address the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

1. Federal Bureau of Investigation: Innocence Lost

As part of an ongoing federal effort to eradicate the trafficking and prostitution of children, The Innocence Lost National Initiative has been expanded from 13 to 31 cities with a high reported incidence of children forced into prostitution.

The investigations are intensive, intelligence-driven, and rely on sophisticated techniques as well as developing informants and witnesses. Overall, as of January 2007, the initiative has led to more than 697 arrests, 145 indictments, and 135 convictions. Prosecution at the federal level has resulted in the dismantling of 20 criminal organizations engaged in the prostitution of children.

Click here to read more about the FBI Innocence Lost Initiative.

2. Department of Justice: Project Safe Childhood

The Department of Justice developed “Project Safe Childhood” to address the growing threat of sexual exploitation crimes committed against children through the Internet. As technology advances, and as the Internet becomes more accessible, the number of computer-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes committed against children — including child pornography offenses and enticement crimes — will only continue to grow. The goal of Project Safe Childhood is to enhance the national response to this growing threat to America’s youth.

In fiscal year 2005, federal prosecutors charged 1,447 child exploitation cases involving child pornography, coercion, and enticement offenses against 1,503 defendants. This year, the Department of Justice will award more than $14 million to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces funded by the Department’s Office of Justice Programs. The ICACs are key partners in Project Safe Childhood.

Click here to read more about Project Safe Childhood

3. Department of Homeland Security, ICE: Operation Predator

Operation Predator is an initiative developed to protect children worldwide. The program identifies and deports foreign child predators, identifies children depicted in child pornography and helps rescue them, and assists in prosecuting the people responsible for making and distributing the images. They also work with foreign governments in international investigations.

As of October 2005, there have been over 6,500 arrests under Operation Predator. Over 1,000 of those arrests occurred within the first three months of the operation. More than half of their arrests have been against foreign nationals, who are deported from the United States after they serve their time. They have also made arrests against human smugglers and child pornographers. Operation Predator has become the main force behind President Bush’s PROTECT Act, which makes it illegal for Americans to travel abroad in order to have sex with a minor.

4. The World Congress on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) and the U.S. Mid-Term Review

The World Congress on CSEC was first called in 1996 to be held every five years in order to address the issue of CSEC internationally. Between each congress, each participating country is asked to host a Mid-Term Review to evaluate best practices, gaps in current efforts, and challenges faced within that country. Shared Hope International was approached by the U.S. State Department to co-host the U.S. Mid-Term Review on CSEC in 2006. The Mid-Term Review consisted of a collection of surveys from three government agencies and 35 NGOs across the United States.

The Mid-Term Review conference was held in Washington, D.C., April 3-4, 2006, which brought together over 120 government agency representatives, law enforcement officials, academics, private industry representatives, and Non-Governmental Organization leaders in a structured discussion of the trafficking, prostitution, pornography, sex tourism, and supply and demand of children in the U.S.

The information gathered through the surveys and conference is currently being summarized and analyzed and will be compiled into a final document to be presented to the 3rd World Congress on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in 2008 on behalf of the United States.

Click here to read more about the U.S. Mid-Term Review

Copyright © 2008 Shared Hope International: THE DEFENDERS USA. All Rights Reserved.