Victory Declared as Hotels Refuse to Host Porn Expo
Washington, DC – The TEXXXAS pornography expo will now take place in a local Houston strip club, rather than a mainstream hotel. The Hilton Houston Galleria Area Hotel, and the independently owned Holiday Inn Southwest hotel opted to cancel contracts with the TEXXXAS event. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation declares this development a victory for the movement to end sexual exploitation.
“The TEXXXAS pornography expo has been pushed out of the mainstream,” said Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “In less than two weeks, two hotels chose to break contracts with the TEXXXAS porn event. Organizers must now resort to holding the event at local strip club. It’s significant that socially responsible corporations are refusing to do business with this expo in light of the many harms associated with pornography.“
“Among those concerns was the potential for an uptick in sex trafficking and prostitution. We know this is likely, because Dallas police have reported that a similar pornography expo held there was directly linked to several arrests of men seeking to buy sex. Additionally, pornography expos are built around an industry that glorifies sexual violence against women, and the perpetuation of rape myths, and are therefore incompatible with any mainstream venue. I applaud the local Hilton and Holiday Inn hotels for recognizing that this event exemplified the exact opposite of their brand standards for guest safety and anti-sex trafficking initiatives.”
“John Gray, the TEXXXAS event’s creator, claims the event will be PG,” Hawkins stated. “I ask Mr. Gray, if his event is PG why did he attempt to assure the public with promises that the windows would be blacked out? And why would attendees have to be 18 years old to enter? The answers to these questions make it obvious that Mr. Gray’s event is right where it belongs: in a seedy strip club where the purpose of the expo—which is to leer at and sexually exploit women—cannot be denied or given a veneer of sophistication.”
“Anyone who is interested in joining the larger movement opposing sexual exploitation in all of its forms is welcome to attend our Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation (CESE) Summit in Houston, TX, this Sept. 29 – Oct. 1,” Hawkins added. “This event will be the exact opposite of the TEXXXAS expo. At the CESE Summit you can learn more about the harms of pornography, sex trafficking, child sexual abuse and other topics, in addition to learning ways you can get involved and make a difference in your community.”
Below is a sampling of peer-reviewed research revealing the harms of pornography.
- Women as Sex Objects: Internet pornography is shown to normalize the notion that women are sex objects among both adolescent boys and girls.[i]
- Committing Sexual Offenses and Accepting Rape Myths: A meta-analysis of 46 studies reported that the effects of exposure to pornographic material are “clear and consistent,” and puts one at increased risk for committing sexual offenses and accepting rape myths.[ii]
- Increased Verbal and Physical Aggression: A 2015 meta-analysis of 22 studies from seven countries found that internationally the consumption of pornography was significantly associated with increases in verbal and physical aggression, among males and females alike.[iii]
- Fuels Demand for Sexual Exploitation: An analysis of 101 sex buyers compared to 100 men who did not buy sex found that sex buyers masturbate to pornography more often than non-sex buyers, masturbate to more types of pornography, and reported that their sexual preferences changed so that they sought more sadomasochistic and anal sex.[iv] Other research also demonstrates an association between purchase of commercial sex acts and pornography use.[v]
- Pornography Use Shrinks Brain: A 2014 study found that increased pornography use is linked to decreased brain matter in the areas of the brain associated with motivation and decision-making, and contributed to impaired impulse control and desensitization to sexual reward.[vi]
[i] Jochen Peter and Patti Valkenburg, “Adolescent’s Exposure to a Sexualized Media Environment and Their Notions of Women as Sex Objects,” Sex Roles 56 (2007): 381-395; Jane D. Brown and Kelly L. L’Engle, “X-Rated: Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors Associated with U.S. Early Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Media,” Communication Research 36, no. 1 (February 2009): 129-151.
[ii] Elizabeth Paolucci-Oddone, Mark Genuis, and Claudio Violato, “A Meta-Analysis of the Published Research on the Effects of Pornography,” The Changing Family and Child Development, ed. Claudio Violato, Elizabeth Paolucci, and Mark Genuis (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2000), 48–59.
[iii] Paul J. Wright, Robert S. Tokunaga, and Ashley Kraus, “A Meta-Analysis of Pornography Consumption and Actual Acts of Sexual Aggression in General Population Studies,” Journal of Communication 66, no. 1 (February 2016): 183–205.
[iv] Melissa Farley, Emily Schuckman, Jacqueline M. Golding, Kristen Houser, Laura Jarrett, Peter Qualliotine, Michele Decker, “Comparing Sex Buyers with Men Who Don’t Buy Sex: ‘You can have a good time with the servitude’ vs. ‘You’re supporting a system of degradation.’” Paper presented at Psychologists for Social Responsibility Annual Meeting July 15, 2011, Boston, MA. San Francisco: Prostitution Research & Education (2011).
[v] Steven Stack, Ira Wasserman, and Roger Kern, “Adult Social Bonds and Use of Internet Pornography,” Social Science Quarterly 85 (2004): 75–88; Martin A. Monto and Nick McRee, “A Comparison of the Male Customers of Female Street Prostitutes With National Samples of Men,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 49, no. 5 (2005): 505–529; Martin A. Monto, “Summary Report for National Institute of Justice Grant #97-IJ-CX-0033 ‘Focusing on the Clients of Street Prostitutes: A Creative Approach to Reducing Violence Against Women’” (October 30, 1999).
[vi] Simone Kühn and Jürgen Gallinat, “Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated with Pornography Consumption,” JAMA Psychiatry 71, no. 7 (2014): 827–834.