Fifty Shades of Grey, Facebook and Backpage.com among top sexual exploiters
National Center on Sexual Exploitation and Morality in Media (MIM) announce the 2015 Dirty Dozen List, a compilation of leading contributors to sexual exploitation in America. The 2015 Dirty Dozen List highlights offenders with an explanation of how each contributes to sexual exploitation. The list offers actions that the public can take to persuade the Dirty Dozen to change policies and practices.
“The Dirty Dozen List has led to sweeping policy changes for past targets, including Google, Verizon, and Department of Defense.” said Dawn Hawkins, executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and MIM. “Despite the incontrovertible evidence of harm, many companies and organizations still choose to engage in sexual exploitation to make a profit or push an agenda,” Hawkins said.
Among others, the latest List includes Backpage.com, which garners 80 percent of all prostitution advertising dollars, CKE Restaurants for its sexualized hamburger commercials and print ads for its Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s chains, and Fifty Shades of Grey for its glamorization of sexual violence. American Apparel is on the list, as they deserve to be, because of their ads depicting young women engaged in sexual acts. While we have indications that they are ready to change, pornographic ads are still posted on the company’s website.
Topping the list is the Department of Justice, which continues to disregard federal laws prohibiting distribution of hardcore pornography. “Hardcore pornography is fueling the demand for trafficked women and children and for child sexual abuse. To not uphold federal obscenity laws is to ignore what has now become a public health crisis in our nation,” said Hawkins.
The full, updated list includes:
U.S. Department of Justice – The DOJ refuses to enforce existing federal obscenity laws against pornography despite the fact that these laws have been upheld by U.S. Courts and previously enforced. Pornography is a public health crisis and DOJ must not be on the side of pornographers.
Verizon – Verizon profits from sexual exploitation by pushing it into homes through multiple ways, including pay-per-view movies on their FIOS TV, as an Internet Service Provider and as a wireless carrier. They’ve even defended child themed porn as a benefit to their consumers. It’s time Verizon had a change in policy.
Fifty Shades of Grey– This bestselling series and film glamorize and legitimate violence against women through sexual violence, abuse of power, female inequality, and coercion. Help us inform mainstream pop culture and news outlets that are promoting the material and the abusive lifestyle it promotes.
Backpage.com – Backpage.com is the leading U.S. website for prostitution advertising, generating nearly 80 percent of all the online prostitution advertising revenue. Law enforcement officials say trafficked children and women are sold on Backpage daily and the site is even actively opposing laws that make it a felony to advertise sexual services of children.
Hilton Hotels – This top hotel chain provides hardcore pornography movie choices with themes that include: children, incest, rape, sexual slavery, and extreme violence. Other popular hotels, such as Marriott and Omni, refuse to profit from this exploitation.
American Library Association – For years, ALA has encouraged public libraries to keep all computers unfiltered and to allow patrons, including children, access to pornography. As a result, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, exhibitionism, stalking and other lewd behavior takes place in libraries across the country.
American Apparel– American Apparel’s advertising strategy is to normalize the objectification of women. To sell products, the company regularly features nude or provocatively posed young girls with an emphasis on women’s breasts and buttocks.
Sex Week – University campuses are overwhelmed with reports of sexual violence, yet many of these schools welcome so-called “sex week” celebrations where pornography, violent sexual practices and the hook-up culture are promoted as harmless fun.
Facebook – In recent years, Facebook has taken measures to curb exploitation, but they have a long way to go as the world’s most popular social networking site. It has become a top place to trade pornography and child pornography, as well as a place of prostitution and sex trafficking.
CKE Restaurants – Owner of over 3,300 Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s locations, CKE Restaurants utilizes sexual suggestions and explicit images of the female body in commercials and print ads to sell hamburgers.
YouTube – Google has worked to curb exploitation in other tools they offer yet they still allow hundreds of hours of porn videos to be uploaded to YouTube each day. Google does little to enforce their policies prohibiting such content and the SafeSearch feature is far from reliable.
Cosmopolitan Magazine – The staple of the supermarket checkout line is a porn magazine. Cosmo glamorizes things like public, anal or violent sex in nearly all of their issues. It’s time that Cosmo be sold to adults only and have the cover wrapped like all other porn mags in retail shops.
