Statement by Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE
Washington, DC – Lisa Ann, a retired porn performer, has spoken out about the growing demand for violent and degrading porn and the damage it is causing female performers. She told The Guardian that the drugs and pressure for “extreme” porn often lead to unsafe situations. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) states that the porn industry is the most abusive industry for women in America.
“The porn industry is built on a formula of female pain and degradation for the pleasure of its viewers,” said Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “Lisa Ann was correct in her assessment that the growing popularity of violent and abusive porn is designed to ‘break you down as a woman.’ In fact, a recent study revealed that 88% of popular porn scenes contain some act of verbal or physical violence against the woman. While all pornography is inherently harmful for the performers and viewers alike, it is alarming that the torture of womens’ bodies is openly considered arousing and enjoyable.”
“Lisa Ann’s comments point to the porn industry’s long tradition of capitalizing off of abusing women,” Hawkins continued. “For example, the porn performer James Deen just recently received 33 nominations and two Adult Video News Awards despite being accused by nine women of rape and sexual assault. Harming women is what the porn industry does best, and what it rewards. No society that strives for gender equality or personal safety can tolerate an industry so willfully and woefully anti-woman.”
