Pornography's Link to Sex Trafficking, Laura Lederer at PornHarms.com Br...

http://PornHarms.com briefing. Laura Lederer, president of http://globalcenturion.org , is Founder of The Protection Project,http://protectionproject.org , a legal research institute at Johns Hopkins University devoted to combating trafficking in persons, and is a former Senior Advisor on Human Trafficking [to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs] at the U.S. Department of State. 

FOUR LINKS BETWEEN SEX TRAFFICKING AND ILLEGAL PORNOGRAPHY:

1. SOME TYPES OF PORNOGRAPHY ARE ACTUALLY SEX TRAFFICKING: 

Pornography industry insiders note that the production of pornography often matches the very definition of "severe forms of trafficking," -- force, fraud, or coercion are used to prompt the performance of those featured in pornography. For example, teen girls, boys, and women are being recruited into the pornography industry with fraudulent promises of
legitimate jobs at exaggerated pay rates. Once these victims are recruited and arrive at the trafficking destination, they are being held there by means of debt bondage, physical
force and psychological coercion. Their pay for work performed is given directly to their "agent" or trafficker and these debts are deducted before any money, if any remains, is given to the victim. The victims are given the "choice" to perform "privates", which is illegal prostitution, to pay off their debt. If the victims attempt to leave and/or speak out against the industry, they are physically and emotionally threatened to hold them captive and to keep them from seeking help from law enforcement agencies.

2. SOME MEN ARE TRAFFICKING AND/OR EXPLOITING WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND RECORDING THE ACTS THEY PERFORM.

In preliminary findings from an international case law database that Global Centurion is building, over 25% of child sex traffickers took pictures or video recordings of the rape, sodomy and sexual abuse they performed on the children. This figure is much higher if perpetrators who commit sex trafficking crimes and have pornography or child
pornography are counted, since law enforcement does not often bother to distinguish whether the photos taken are of the victims or other children from other criminal
activities. The figure is also a conservative one because often charges pressed may not include recording of sexual exploitation, or production, distribution, or possession of
child pornography.

3. PORNOGRAPHY IS USED IN SEX TRAFFICKING IN THE SEX INDUSTRY TO TRAIN WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHAT TO DO.

In a survey of 854 women & men in the sex industry in nine different countries, half of them reported that pornography was used to train them as to what to do in the sex
industry. In another survey in the U.K., 35% of trafficked women were exposed to pornography in the course of being trafficked, including being shown pornography to
'groom' them into prostitution. Supreme Court of Canada R v Sharpe found that there is "clear and uncontradicted" evidence that child pornography is used for grooming and seducing victims. In discussions with a former federal and state prosecutors, they indicated that in many of the cases prosecuted, the offenders utilized pornography to groom and train women and children for prostitution, commercial sexual
exploitation, and other illegal sex acts. In the process of grooming, the perpetrators used pornography to create the conditions which allowed them to abuse the woman or
children, and the victims were prepared gradually for the time when the offender engages in sexual molestation or rape. A new study now taking place, The European Online Grooming Project (2009-2011), is the first European research project that will study the characteristics, behavior & motivations of sexual offenders who have used the internet to groom young people. Researchers are conducting a retrospective study that will review online groomers case files, provide a report of the research & policy literature from each partner country, and interview strategic stakeholders concerned with the management & prevention of online grooming. 

4. PORNOGRAPHY CREATES AND PROVIDES RATIONALIZATIONS FOR EXPLOITERS AS TO HOW AND WHY THEIR SEXUALLY EXPLOITIVE BEHAVIORS ARE ACCEPTABLE:

The late Norma Hotaling, a survivor of child sex trafficking in the United States, and the founder of SAGE, believed that pornography and other sexually explicit materials normalize prostitution & commercial sexual exploitation of women & children, allowing men to more freely engage in these criminal activities. In the words of Dr. Mary Anne Layden, pornography creates "permission giving beliefs" that illegal and abhorrent sexual behavior is not harmful. Finally, my colleague, Dr. Gail Dines, has conducted more than 20 years of research on the harm of pornography to the performers used in its production, the users of the material, family systems they are part of & society as a whole.

FULL TEXT & REFERENCES AT: http://pornharms.com/Sex_Trafficking_...