Category Archives: Pornography

Child abuse hotline reports rise in calls from men viewing illegal content

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Growing use of adult pornography in lockdown may lead to more people seeking out images of under-18s, experts say

Child abuse experts have reported a rise in the number of men contacting a specialist helpline for people who are watching or considering watching online child sexual abuse material.

The Stop It Now! helpline had its busiest year in 2020, handling more than 12,500 calls, emails and live chats – up from 10,700 in 2019. More than 3,500 individuals asked for help because they were worried about their own or someone else’s online sexual behaviour towards children.

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My porn life: what my years as a sex writer taught me about my desires

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Tracy Clark-Flory spent years as a reporter embedded in the porn world. Here, she shares how it shaped her own sexuality

I was in a warehouse in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley, anxiously scribbling in my reporter’s notebook while waiting for a porn shoot to begin.

Charles Dera, a performer with jet-black hair and a well-groomed beard to match, crouched in front of me, stretching his calves. Tommy Gunn, a performer named after his biceps, sat on the floor flipping through a release form. He hopped to a stand and asked to borrow my pen.

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Pleasure review – bold, explicit and ambitious LA porn drama

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In Swedish film-maker Ninja Thyberg’s strong debut, a young woman discovers a difficult, male-dominated industry as she strives for agency

The observational eye of Pleasure, an ambitious Sundance debut by the Swedish film-maker Ninja Thyberg, is so transactional, at once unsparing and recessive, that one might mistake the first 10 minutes of this drama on the American adult film business for a documentary. “Business or pleasure?” the customs agent asks 19-year-old Swedish visitor Bella Cherry as she enters the country with a dream to become a porn star. She answers, vacantly, “Pleasure,” but the film’s opening moments are all business: a full frontal, zoomed-in shot of Bella’s delicate balancing act in the shower as she shaves her vulva for a shoot; Bella affirming her birthdate (1999), agreed-upon pay ($900 for playing innocent virgin in girl-guy porn), and consent to perform a sexually explicit act for a contract; the bright lighting of professional shoots; crew-members’ playful teasing when Bella, a first-time performer, is confused by the use of a douche.

Related: Judas and the Black Messiah review – electric Black Panthers drama

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Online incest porn is ‘normalising child abuse’, say charities

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Experts voice concern over growth of ‘deviant’ videos, including foster-child abuse fantasies, on Pornhub and other mainstream sites

Groups working on the frontline in the fight against child abuse in the UK have warned that an increase in abuse-themed pornography is “normalising” child abuse.

Children’s charity Barnado’s said it is working with vulnerable children who are being put at risk by “deviant” pornography that fetishises fantasies of sex with children.

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How extreme porn has become a gateway drug into child abuse

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Mainstream pornography sites are ‘changing what is normal’, warns child abuse expert Michael Sheath

Michael Sheath has been counselling people with what he describes as “deviant sexual interests” for a long time.

“I have been working with men who abuse children for 33 years. For the first 15 years I worked with child molesters and I still do that, but now I also work with downloaders of child abuse imagery and online groomers.”

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Pornhub: Mastercard and Visa to block use of cards on site after child abuse allegations

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Companies respond as investigation finds videos of rape and revenge pornography

Mastercard and Visa said on Thursday they would block their customers from using the credit cards to make purchases on Pornhub following accusations the pornographic website showed videos of child abuse and rape.

They reacted following an investigation by the opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times that also alleged the site depicts revenge pornography and video taken without the consent of participants. Pornhub has denied the allegations.

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Pornhub to ban unverified uploads after child abuse content claims

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Site – visited 100m times a day – to make changes following allegations it was hosting abusive and non-consensual material

Pornhub, one of the largest adult content sites in the world, has announced it will be banning unverified video uploads after allegations that it has been hosting child abuse videos.

An investigation by the New York Times last week claimed Pornhub was hosting non-consensual and child abuse content on its website. Activists have long called for changes to Pornhub’s business model, claiming it was not carrying out sufficient checks to ensure videos were consensual.

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Seven new charges brought against adult film star Ron Jeremy

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He has now been accused by 23 alleged victims and faces a total of 11 counts of rape, eight of sexual battery and 16 other sexual offenses

Porn star Ron Jeremy was charged on Wednesday with an additional seven counts of rape and sexual assault, bringing to 23 the number of his alleged victims, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said.

Jeremy, 67, one of the biggest names in the adult film industry, was initially charged in June with raping three women and sexually assaulting a fourth, but more women have come forward to police since then.

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Urgent action needed as rise in porn site traffic raises abuse fears, say MPs

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Pornhub is using coronavirus lockdowns to promote and drive traffic to its site – but campaigners raise alarm over criminal and non-consensual videos

MPs and campaigners are calling for urgent action to stop videos of rape, revenge porn and child abuse being posted on Pornhub as traffic to the site booms amid a worldwide Covid-19 lockdown.

Worldwide Pornhub’s traffic is up a record 12% this March compared to February as millions of people across the world are told to stay in their homes.

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Pornhub needs to change – or shut down

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A petition is calling on the site to prevent non-consensual videos being posted – and highlights the lack of industry regulation

The news that 350,000 people – and counting – have signed a petition calling on Pornhub – the world’s most popular porn site – to stop posting non-consensual videos and marketing them as “pornography” is not surprising to me.

Pornhub’s argument that “extremists” are lobbying to shut them down is ridiculous. I’m non-religious, liberal and sex positive and in no way “anti-porn”.

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World’s biggest porn site under fire over rape and abuse videos

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Petition highlighting failure of Pornhub to protect rape and revenge porn victims has attracted over 350,000 signatures

An online petition accusing Pornhub, the UK’s biggest open access porn site, from profiting from videos of rape and sexual abuse has reached over 350,000 signatures.

Pornhub is the world’s biggest porn site and was visited 42bn times last year. It is free to access, with no age restrictions, and raises revenue through advertising and paid-for promotions by porn producers.

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Porn site to pay $12.7m to women who didn’t know videos would be posted

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GirlsDoPorn was sued by women who claimed they were coerced into making videos without knowing footage would be online

A US judge has awarded $13m in damages to 22 women who were defrauded by the owners of GirlsDoPorn, a website specialising in “amateur”-style pornography.

Related: Group of US women sue 'amateur' porn producer over 'coercion and lies'

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UK’s porn age-verification system faces indefinite delay

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Change due on 15 July likely to be postponed over legal issues with European commission

The UK’s age-verification system for online pornography is expected to be delayed indefinitely, just weeks before it is due to be launched.

The policy, which will require all adult internet users wanting to watch legal pornography to prove they are over 18 by providing some form of identification, was due to come into force on 15 July.

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Alternative London porn festival changes location after protests

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Three-day event makes late move to secret location in wake of row between LGBT and feminist groups

A pornography festival in London this weekend has been forced to relocate after protests.

Faced with the prospect of a picket, organisers of the London porn film festival, which describes itself as “celebrating queer, feminist, radical and experimental porn”, pulled screenings from the Horse Hospital, an arts venue in Bloomsbury. The three-day event will instead be held at a new location disclosed only to ticket holders.

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Bedroom confidential: what sex therapists hear from the couch

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Sex counsellors have a unique insight into our shared concerns and insecurities. Where once they focused on physical issues, now they are tackling psychological ones

Denise Knowles, a sex and relationship therapist with the charity Relate, says patients often say to her: “There are so many options, I don’t know where to start.” Thirty years ago, Knowles was mostly approached with physical problems: erectile dysfunction, painful intercourse, issues with ejaculation. Now she describes the scope of her work as “bio-psycho-social”. That is to say, everything has got a lot more complicated.

“I think it has gone from being very much: ‘This is the problem; this is how we resolve it,’ to: ‘How do we approach sex? What does it mean to you? How does it fit into the relationship, and how have you got to this place?’” She laughs. “Then we can start to deal with it.”

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