NCOSE Says Pornography Websites Can Never be “Safe Enough” and Must be Investigated
Washington, DC (April 6, 2021) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) said that pornography websites such as Pornhub and XVideos must be prosecuted for illegal activities, given further evidence of criminal activity in a new analysis published in the British Journal of Criminology.
The study, “Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography,” found that of 131,738 titles on the homepages of Pornhub, XHamster and XVideos, one in eight titles delivered to first-time visitors showed sexual violence. Among the sexually violent titles, the study identified common themes including incest and non-consensual acts, including where the subjects were described as drugged, unconscious or “very young.” The study concluded that Pornhub, XHamster, XVideos are “bombarding users with sexually violent material depicting rape, upskirting and other abuse,” and “raises urgent questions about the role and extent of the criminal law, self-regulation and corporate accountability.”
“This study – the largest research sample of online pornography titles ever analyzed – ultimately reveals that online pornography companies like Pornhub and XVideos cannot ever be ‘safe’ enough. These websites cannot do enough to prevent sexually violent, non-consensual pornography, or child sexual abuse material from being on their sites and they cannot halt the negative impact normalizing sexual violent acts has on the sexual scripts and attitudes of users,” said Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“It is impossible to know how many of the videos on Pornhub, XVideos, or XHamster are real-life rape or abuse given recent revelations of sex trafficked, rape, and child sexual abuse material on these sites. The only real solution is for pornography companies like Pornhub, XVideos, and XHamster to be prosecuted, and ultimately, to be shut down,” Hawkins said. “The videos on these sites violate U.S. sex trafficking, child pornography, obscenity, and other laws.”
NCOSE has filed a joint class action lawsuit against Pornhub’s parent company, MindGeek, on behalf of two survivors of childhood sex trafficking. NCOSE has also filed a joint class action lawsuit against XVideos on behalf of a childhood survivor of sex trafficking.
In recent weeks, 70 members of the Canadian Parliament called for a criminal investigation of Pornhub/MindGeek, and a collective of 104 survivors of sexual exploitation and 525 NGOs from 65 countries sent a letter to the Canadian Parliament urging an investigation into MindGeek.
On April 8, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation will hold an online briefing for U.S. congressional staff that will present evidence of MindGeek-owned Pornhub’s abuse. To attend the free briefing, please register at: https://endsexualexploitation.org/pornhub.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.
