Statement by Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE
Washington, DC – The pornographic website, Pornhub, is now offering a $25,000 college scholarship, which requires both an essay and video submission. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) publicly denounces this blatant attempt to exploit economically vulnerable young people, and to further normalize the porn industry, which causes neurological and psychological harms to both its “performers” and viewers.
“Pornography is by nature sexual exploitation. If Pornhub truly cared about disadvantaged youth, they could give away scholarship money without exploiting thousands of teenagers,” said Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE. “Pornhub is clearly using this so-called scholarship opportunity to fuel their own industry, where the #1 search term in porn is ‘teen.’ While the application rules for this scholarship do not specifically prescribe that the video submission be pornographic, the fact that applicants must be 18 years of age makes Pornhub’s motives quite obvious. This company is built upon a legacy of exploitation, and it is no more charitable in mind than a tobacco company that offers a scholarship to whichever teen can smoke the most of its brand-name cigarettes.”
NCOSE calls on Pornhub to remove this phony scholarship, which is luring teens to send in pornographic videos simply so PornHub can increase their profits.
NCOSE also calls on the Department of Justice to investigate Pornhub. Pornhub is playing with fire as it is impossible for them to discern whether participants in a video are above 18, and federal law requires that records be kept detailing the ages of each individual in the film.
If you would like to schedule an interview please contact Haley Halverson at (202) 393-7245 or haley@ncose.com.
