Investigating Sexual Violence - Porn's Influence on CSAM & Trafficking

Series Overview and Purpose

The Blank Children's STAR Center seeks to improve outcomes for child victims of abuse by providing educational opportunities for members of our professional community at no cost to attendees. The purpose of the Workshop Series is to impact the systemic coordination of services for children and families through increased professional knowledge and skills surrounding developmentally appropriate, child-focused interventions.

Intended Audience

The Workshop Series is intended for professionals involved in the child protection field including: Department of Human Services professionals, law enforcement, attorneys, victim advocates, medical and mental health providers, family service professionals, nurses, school-based professionals, and foster parents.

Morning session 8:30 AM-12:00 PM

Session Description: Investigating Sexual Violence - Porn's Influence on CSAM & Trafficking

*This session consists of the following two presentations: *

Mainstream Porn & Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) Description:

This presentation aims to break down the silos between two groups of researchers and frontline experts, those who are focused on preventing the harms of mainstream violent pornography depicting adults, and those working to stop the proliferation of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). The linkages that we explore in this session are the ways that mainstream porn sites sexualize children, and hence socialize consumers to see children as legitimate victims of sexual abuse. There has been an explosion in images of young looking female performers in mainstream porn sites, which also contributes to the normalization of child sexual abuse. Categories with ‘childified’ videos on the most traveled porn website in the world, Pornhub, have over half a million videos! There is an increasing amount of clinical experience and research evidence “accumulating to suggest that the Internet is not simply drawing attention to those with existing pedophilic interests, but is contributing to the crystallization of those interests in people with no explicit sexual interest in children.” (https://tinyurl.com/3a9397ea) This session will explore: (1) the representational similarities between images of children on mainstream porn websites and CSAM, (2) the changes in CSAM images on the dark web toward more violent acts and (3) the ways that mainstream porn is implicated in the increase in the production and consumption of CSAM and child sexual abuse.

Objectives:  

·     Develop an understanding of how the consumption of mainstream pornography can lead to production and consumption of CSAM. 

·     Understand the ways that the typology of CSAM maps on to the child images on mainstream porn sites such as Pornhub.  

·     Gain a nuanced understanding of the latest research on the ways porn-addiction is implicated in non-pedophile men seeking out CSAM.  

Pornography, Prostitution, & Trafficking Description:

While sex trafficking and porn have both been defined as forms of sexual violence, rooted in a system of gender inequality, what is often overlooked is the way these two industries are culturally and economically linked. In the first part of this presentation, we will explore how porn acts as both a method of recruitment into trafficking, and a major driver of demand. Drawing from empirical research and testimonies from porn performers, trafficked women, and sex buyers, we argue that as long as we have a multi-billion-dollar porn industry, we will always have sex trafficking. The hard-core nature of mainstream porn means that women performers can only tolerate the body-punishing sex for approximately three months, after which they are often trafficked into brothels by their "agents," who act as pimps. Once recruited into the brothels, these women are often forced into "porn sex" by sex buyers whose sexual template and masculine identity were shaped by porn. By unpacking this symbiotic relationship between porn and trafficking, we can develop a more nuanced theory and practice to abolish all forms of sexual violence.

In the second part of this presentation, we will highlight the most popular social media platforms accessed by young people today, exposing how social media has been hijacked by the porn industry. We will provide examples of how social media platforms are fueling sexual exploitation and prostitution, from the exchange of sexual currency in Live Streams to the grooming and recruitment of young people into prostitution and sex trafficking. The harmful and dangerous effects of the collusion of these industries will be discussed. Finally, we will conclude with how Culture Reframed, through a public health approach, assists parents and professionals who work with young people in navigating the treacherous terrain of social media, pornography, prostitution, and trafficking.

Objectives:  

·     Gain an understanding of how the pornography and sex trafficking industries are culturally and economically linked. 

·    Recognize how pornography acts as both a method of recruitment into trafficking, and a major driver of demand. 

·    Understand how social media platforms fuel sexual exploitation and prostitution and the harms this causes. 

CEUs (some CEUs are still pending):

This program is approved for 3.0 CEU hours for Special Populations by the Iowa Board of Certification.

This program is approved for 3.0 CLE hours by the Iowa Supreme Court Commission.

This program is approved for 3.0 hours of group foster parent training by DHHS. 

IBON Provider #31, UnityPoint Health - Des Moines, awards 3.0 contact hours for full attendance.