Pornography

Politician, Senator Eileen Flynn, introduced a bill to substitute the words “child pornography” with “child sexual exploitation material” in all legislation. She claims that this more accurately reflects the nature of the abuse. The phrase “child pornography” does not truly reflect the crime or abuse. She further states that language is powerful as it shapes and defines our understanding. It is not child pornography, it is child abuse.

Legislators have the privilege and the responsibility to look out for the most vulnerable and consider all the ways in which society can protect and help them.

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Pornography

UK – No age checks is a dangerous weapon lying around

Members of Parliament are calling for tougher checks to protect children from the damaging effects of online pornography and a more robust approach to safeguarding children from harmful material on websites and social media platforms. Their concern is that incidents of self-harm and depression in young people, have all got worse. A poll conducted by Christian Action, Research, and Education (CARE) of more than 2,000 adults found that 80% were in favour of age verification access to porn sites. A report, published in the British Journal of Criminology, found 8,000 titles describing physical aggression or forced sex acts on the homepages of the three biggest porn sites – many of which were free to view with no age restrictions. British Journal of Criminology, Reporting article.

USA – Real Experience in The Porn Industry: A Panel Discussion (VIDEO)

The porn industry is often considered a champion of sexual expression, empowerment, and harmless entertainment in today’s culture, but that is not the experience of many on the other side of the screen. Survivors from the porn and commercial sex industries share what their real experiences were like, how they saw these industries foster exploitation, and why they eventually left. This panel discussion is hosted by Fight the New Drug, a non-religious and non-legislative organization that exists to provide individuals with the opportunity to make an informed decision regarding pornography by raising awareness on its harmful effects using only science, facts, and personal accounts. Panel Discussion

USA – School board to resign over sexually titillating writing assignments

The mayor of Hudson in Ohio is calling for the resignation of the entire Board of Education. Mayor Shubert stated that it has come to his attention that educators are distributing what is essentially child pornography in the classroom. The assignment that sparked the mayor’s strong reaction was a book titled “642 Things to Write About” that was given to seniors taking a college credit course at Hudson High School. The book contains prompts such as, “write a sermon for a beloved preacher who has been caught in a sex scandal,” “describe your favourite part of a man’s body using only verbs,” “choose how you will die,” and “write an X-rated Disney scenario. Other prompts asked students to “write a sex scene you wouldn’t show your mom.” The principal said the school is in the process of collecting the book from students. More

USA – Parents Group Demands Child Pornography Investigation

Though Netflix’s animated series, “Big Mouth,” bills itself as TV-MA and is ostensibly intended for adults, it features 12- and 13-year-old characters engaging in sex acts and includes animated nudity according to a parents group demanding Netflix be investigated over the show. A new report from the Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) argues that, despite being a cartoon, “Big Mouth’s” sexually explicit content is meant to depict minors and therefore qualifies as child pornography. The group is calling on law enforcement to investigate the distributor, Netflix. More

Ireland – New Sexual Offences Set To Become Law

Several new sexual offences, including up-skirting, down-blousing and adults masquerading as children online, are set to become law following the introduction of the second stage of legislation by Justice Minister, Naomi Long. Long said: “The Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill has the protection of victims at its heart. She is determined to do everything she can to ensure victims are heard and that they feel confident in the criminal justice system. Services for victims of trafficking and exploitation will also be enhanced as a result of this legislation. Other provisions within the Bill include the exclusion of the public from all serious sexual offence hearings and the introduction of anonymity for defendants. More

Pornography

USA – Porn sites crumble

Since MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub and XTube, faces increasing scrutiny over apparent sex trafficking and rapes streaming on its platforms, the sister site XTube has announced they will disable video and photo uploads, and by Sept. 5, the site will close down. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) told The Daily Wire via email that the XTube closure is evidence that the “pornography industry is collapsing.” We look forward to the day we can announce that Pornhub and additional MindGeek-owned pornography sites are ending,” the CEO added. This means justice for the victims of trafficking and abuse who re-live these experiences while their videos remain on the platform. More

England – Popular Porn Sites Feature Sexual Violence, Study Finds

The largest study of online pornography to date was recently published in The British Journal of Criminology. It raises urgent questions about the extent of sexually violent, non-consensual, and even criminal material easily and freely available on mainstream porn websites. Fiona Vera-Gray, a legal research fellow and co-author of the study, told the BBC that sexually violent material “eroticized non-consent” and distorted “the boundary between sexual pleasure and sexual violence.” The implications of these findings on both an individual and societal level are significant. Over a six-month period, researchers analyzed the homepages of the three most popular porn websites—Pornhub, XVideos, and XHamster. The study concluded that 1 in 8 video titles alone shown to first-time users on the homepages are labelled with text describing sexually violent acts.

The descriptions and titles of the videos, match what the World Health Organization defines as sexual violence. The most frequent form of sexual violence in the sample—8,421 titles—was related to sexual activity between family members. “Teen” was the most frequently occurring word in both the entire data sample and in the sexual assault category.

The word “black” occurred in the top twenty most frequent words for the physical aggression and sexual assault category, but not for others—suggesting a connection between scripts of sexual violence and racialized descriptions of black performers. Terms that implied an inability to consent like “very young,” “schoolgirl,” “drugged,” and “unconscious” dominated the sample—with 2,698 titles coded as coercive and exploitative. More.

US – iPhones to be monitored for Evidence of Child Porn

Smartphones already act like tracking devices broadcasting the whereabouts of their owners, but Apple is about to open the door to far more advanced forms of smartphone-based voluntary surveillance by launching a new program designed to detect and report iPhone users who are found to have child pornography – known by the academic-speak acronym CSAM – which stands for Child Sexual Abuse Materials. There are concerns that the tool being used to unearth child pornography could one day be abused by authoritarian governments and once Apple has committed to using this type of surveillance, governments will demand it from everyone. More

Czech Republic – Youth activist on pornography

Jeronym Kristof, a Czech republic 19-year-old wrote his final school thesis on the negative effects of pornography. He conducted a survey with 437 adolescents in his region and the results were: Pornography viewing is widespread among adolescents, they have little knowledge about the risks and social problems associated with pornography viewing, pornography viewing affects the sexual expectations of the respondents, teens often come into contact with porn without searching for it, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is even worse. The 19-year-old initiated a petition against porn in which he summarised the facts, and demands the content on the porn websites of WGCZ Holding be checked for illegal porn activity, and withdrawn. Based on Jeronym’s petition the investigative research of the Denik N began. His decision to do all this stemmed from the multiple cases of sexual exploitation against Pornhub. This investigation that started due to his petition have caused more than 10 articles to be published to this day and have attracted interest from the Police of the Czech Republic. This report was from NCOSE’s 2021 Virtual Summit / More details of Jeronym’s research is attached below.

US – Does Porn Fuel Rape Culture and Sexual Assault On College Campuses?

What does sexual assault have to do with pornography? Well, turns out they are more closely linked than people think. In September of 2015, The New York Times reported that a survey commissioned by the Association of American Universities (AAU) showed more than about 23% of female college undergrads at leading universities reported being sexually assaulted by force or when they were incapacitated. This included everything from unwanted touching to rape. If you didn’t know before, college students watch a lot of porn.  One survey polled about 2,500 university students from across the UK, half of whom were between the ages of 16 and 19, and found that 80% of men and 45% of women admitted to regularly watching porn.

One 2020 study entailed a large-scale content analysis and coding of a sample of 7,430 pornographic videos taken from the two most popular free porn sites, Pornhub and Xvideos. The study found physical aggression against women present in 44.3% of Pornhub and 33.9% of Xvideos scenes. In fact, the study found that physical aggression was substantially more common in online pornographic videos than verbal aggression.

Specifically, women were the target of nearly 97% of all physically aggressive acts in the samples from both sites. Violence in porn isn’t an exception, it embodies entire genres on porn sites.  Of course, not all porn material features physical violence, but even non-violent porn has been shown to have effects on consumers.

The vast majority of porn—violent or not—portrays men as powerful and in charge; while women are submissive and obedient. Watching scene after scene of dehumanizing submission makes it start to seem normal. Study after study has shown that consumers of violent and nonviolent porn are more likely to use verbal coercion, drugs, and alcohol to coerce individuals into sex. 

Multiple studies have found that exposure to both violent and nonviolent porn increases aggressive behaviour, including both having violent fantasies and actually committing violent assaults. If we’re really going to tackle the issue of sexual abuse as a society, we need to be aware of all the places where this harmful behaviour is normalized, and even promoted. The same kind of behaviour that many college sexual assault and rape survivors endured is easily accessible for anyone with internet to watch. This is precisely why many are beginning to speak out and shining a light on the connection between porn and making fantasy out of abusive situations. More

Pornography

USA – Over half of sex trafficking recruitment cases occurred on Facebook

According to the Human Trafficking Institute’s 2020 Federal Human Trafficking Report, the majority of online recruitment (65%) in active sex trafficking cases in the U.S. occurred on Facebook. Data from the last two decades showed that 30% of all victims, identified in federal sex trafficking cases since 2000, were recruited online. Instagram and Snapchat were the most frequently cited platforms after Facebook for recruiting child victims in 2020. For adult victims, the next-most cited were WeChat and Instagram. The majority of victims in active sex trafficking cases in 2020 were targeted with a fraudulent job offer, the report notes, followed by feigned romance. The data is based on 602 victims. More

India – Multiple Child Pornography cases on Twitter Registered in India

The Delhi Police has registered a case against Twitter on a complaint by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for allegedly allowing access to child sexual abuse material on the social media platform. Keswani alleged that Twitter, “through a conspiracy”, distorted the country’s identity and hurt their sentiments. Keswani initiate legal action against the social media giant for putting up this distortion. Notably, the platform has lost its legal shield in India, becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content. The government has confronted the US digital giant over deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country’s new IT rules, despite repeated reminders. More

USA – Cognitive Processes Related to Problematic Pornography Use

A study published in Science Direct explained the consequences of problematic pornography use (PPU). Excessive time and effort spent on watching and searching for pornography, impaired self-control over pornography use, failure to fulfil family, social, or work responsibilities, persistence in these sexual behaviours regardless of consequences all characterizes PPU. Twenty-one experimental studies and from six countries were included in this review. The study reported:

Findings from all five studies which tested for “attentional bias” showed that individuals with PPU or greater pornography consumption are more likely to show attentional bias toward sexual stimuli. This is significant because attentional bias is a known indicator of addiction. PPU relates to impaired “inhibitory control” which plays a “central role” in regulating human behaviour. It is especially critical in managing what we call “self-control”. Article, Study.

Germany – Germany Is About to Block One of the Biggest Porn Sites

German Child Protection Regulators are on the verge of blocking one of the world’s largest pornographic websites, xHamster, because they refuse to introduce age checks. Legislators around the world—including in Canada, France, the UK, and some US states—are looking to introduce more measures aimed at stopping children from accessing adult material online. Germany is also on the verge of taking legal action against three other sites, YouPorn, Pornhub, and MyDirtyHobby, for the same reason. All these sites are owned by MindGeek. In reality this means issuing a blocking order to Germany’s biggest web providers—including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, O2, and 1&1—demanding that they block the website for people trying to access it in Germany. More

Philippines – Activists are trying to change law that 12-year-olds can consent to sex

Child sexual abuse is rampant in the Philippines, which activists say is partly driven by the country’s law regarding the age at which girls can legally consent to sex, at just 12 years old. Opponents of the law say children that age are incapable of giving consent. The law protects predators, because they can claim victims consented. The low age of consent contributes to what international rights organizations have described as high levels of sex trafficking and teenage pregnancy in the Philippines. Raising the age is just one step. The bill includes more provisions to strengthen enforcement, improve the investigation and legal process, and provide more support and confidentiality for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. More

Pornography

World – Controversial Sexuality Education Rejected at World Health Assembly

Multiple UN Member States have recently rejected a paragraph calling for highly controversial “Comprehensive Sexuality Education” (CSE) at a World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution on ending violence against children. This means that UN documents will no longer accept CSE moving forward. CSE goes far beyond sex education and is one of the most controversial terms at the UN, never having achieved consensus because of its radical content. CSE sexualizes children and mainstreams diverse sexual and gender identities among other things, and used by sexual rights activists to change the sexual and gender norms of society forcing them to embrace abortion, promiscuity, and transgenderism.  More

USA – Pornography producer sentenced to 20 years for sex trafficking

A pornography producer for GirlsDoPorn, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for “Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion” along with four others who run the company together. Advocates for sex trafficking survivors applauded the judge in the case for listening to the GirlsDoPorn survivors who courageously spoke at the sentencing hearing. The entire pornography industry – that is built on abuse, exploitation, and coercion – is hereby put on notice that exploitation will not stand. GirlsDoPorn placed ads for “modelling jobs” that would pay $5,000 but instead pressured women into signing documents without a chance to read them thoroughly, and were threatened with legal action or “outing” if they did not “perform” in a sex video. More

UK – Porn fuelling sexual harassment in schools

Children’s easy access to violent online pornography is fuelling sexual harassment in schools, and shaping pupils’ expectations of relationships and ‘normal’ behaviour. Sexual harassment of girls has become normalised in schools, and boys collect nude images of them like a card game Dame Rachel de Souza urged the Government to introduce age-verification checks on websites to prevent children from accessing pornography. She amended that in the real world, adults wouldn’t leave something dangerous or inappropriate lying around for children to stumble upon – why should the internet be different?” Former Sunday Times editorial director Eleanor Mills highlighted that the issue became worse in lockdown and we now have a generation of traumatised young women and emotionally deadened young men. More

Texas – Lawmaker Call for Investigation into Pornhub for Child Pornography

State Rep. Matt Krause has called for Texas attorney general and Department of Public Safety (DPS) to investigate Pornhub and MindGeek for potential involvement in sex crimes and to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Krause did this to protect vulnerable and victimized adults and children from this predatory industry that is fuelling deadly and dangerous human trafficking. MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub, is currently the subject of several lawsuits, by women who claim it profits from videos of rape, underage sex, trafficking, and other non-consensual content. MindGeek is the most dominant online pornography company and the largest human trafficking ventures in the world, as claimed by one of the complainants. More

Pornography

USA – Sexually violent acts prevalent on Pornhub and other major porn sites

Sexually violent pornography scripts are commonly promoted on the main pages of Pornhub and other widely accessed porn sites. The British Journal of Criminology published an article  titled “Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography,” which analyses the presence of sexually violent material on major pornography sites. Fiona Vera-Gray, an assistant professor at the Department of Sociology of Durham University in the United Kingdom who specializes in the subject of sexual violence, was the lead author. They found that one in eight titles shown to first-time users on the first page of mainstream porn sites describe sexual activity that constitutes sexual violence. According to the analysis, the most common themes include incest and non-consensual actions, which include content where subjects are described as being “drugged,” unconscious or very young. Article in BJC, Reporting article

USA – Mastercard Adds New Rules to Confront Pornography Site Abuses 

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) commended Mastercard for instituting new rules on banks that process payments for pornography tube sites. Banks will need to certify that the seller of adult content has effective controls in place to monitor, block and, where necessary, take down all illegal content. Mastercard will also require the pornography websites to document the age and identity of anyone depicted in or uploading the content. Pornhub have come under fire for profiting from videos depicting child rape, sexual assault, incest, and non-consensually shared content. NCOSE founded in 1962, is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation. More

Germany – Authorities Bust Major International Child Porn Site

German authorities, in conjunction with Europol and law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, the United States and Canada, busted a child porn platform on the dark net with over 400,000 registered members. “Boystown,” as the platform is called, was used by pedophiles and could only be accessed through special software. The site is designed to allow pedophiles to view and upload images of child sexual abuse without being detected by law enforcement. Three administrators of the site were charged. As part of the services they offered, they helped users evade detection from law enforcement. Most of the images on the platform were of young boys, including what authorities described as images of most severe sexual abuse of toddlers. More

UK – Dad takes legal action to protect sons from porn

Ioannis Dekas, 52, a father of four is taking legal action against the Government over its failure to implement promised age-verification checks on pornographic websites. Regulations to require pornographers to introduce strict age-verification checks online were approved under the Digital Economy Act 2017, but the plans were dropped in October 2019. The Government’s proposals for a replacement age verification system are significantly weaker, and there is currently no date set for the new Online Safety Bill. Children are being harmed by the lack of age-verification – a breach of the Government’s legal duty to protect them. Mr Dekas had noticed a “drastic” change in his son’s behaviour before he found out that their son had viewed porn due to peer pressure. He stressed that “porn is harming our young people”. More

UK – Government lays out plans to protect users online

Social media firms will have to remove harmful content quickly or potentially face multi-billion-pound fines under new legislation as stated in the Queen’s Speech. It is “especially” geared at keeping children safe. The draft legislation, previously known as the Online Harms Bill, has been two years in the making. It covers a huge range of content to which children might fall victim – including grooming, revenge porn, hate speech, images of child abuse and posts relating to suicide and eating disorders. But it goes much further, taking in terrorism, disinformation, racist abuse and pornography, too. More

Pornography

Utah – Utah considering law to block porn on phones

The governor of Utah is considering signing a bill that would make pornography filters mandatory and switched on by default on cell phones sold in Utah to prevent users from accessing or downloading material that is harmful to minors,” which includes pornography. Adults would be provided a passcode to deactivate the filters if they choose. The Utah law would take effect Jan. 1, 2022 if passed. Utah would be the first state to mandate pornography filters for minors if the bill passes. There are countless heart-breaking stories of the harm caused by children’s unhindered access to Internet devices—including the individual and familial trauma of pornography exposure and addiction and adult predators targeting and grooming kids online. More

Russia – Russia threatens to block Twitter in a month

Russian authorities said they would block Twitter if it doesn’t take steps to remove banned content. Russia’s state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, last week announced it was slowing down the speed of uploading photos and videos to Twitter over its alleged failure to remove content encouraging suicide among children and information about drugs and child pornography. Deputy chief of Roskomnadzor Vadim Subbotin argued Twitter has failed to remove more than 3,000 posts with banned content, including more than 2,500 posts encouraging suicide among minors. The platform responded by emphasizing its policy of zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation. Twitter doesn’t react to our requests appropriately, and if things go on like this, then it will be blocked, on an out-of-court basis. More

Canada – Lawmakers call for criminal investigation of MindGeek

More than 70 parliamentarians are calling for a full criminal investigation into Pornhub’s parent company following testimony from survivors. The demand, comes two weeks after a similar request by more than 100 victims of exploitive content they say was posted to websites owned by MindGeek. The lawmakers cite recent evidence by victims and child-protection organizations alleging the Montreal-based company regularly shared child pornography and sexual assault videos as well as content shot or posted without the consent of subjects. Even more alarming is evidence that MindGeek continues to make available material featuring child sexual abuse material and non-consensual acts. At least five lawsuits have been filed against the company in the U.S. and Canada over the past year on behalf of survivors of child abuse, sex trafficking and non-consensual image uploads. More

UK – Pornography causing disrespect for girls

Dandy Doherty, a woman who was sexually abused and raped as a child, speaks out on the website, Everyone’s Invited, about her experience. More than 14,000 allegations have now been made by school pupils on the website, which is gathering testimonies of sexual violence and abuse. General secretary of the National Education Union, Mary Bousted told Sky News the behaviour of schoolchildren has been “corrupted” and “gone back” due to social media and access to pornography. Teachers in our service argue that they were unsure about how to deal with it and if they stop to deal with it they would never get any teaching done. They need a national programme to help schools tackle this behaviour. More

Malaysia – Child abuse and the pandemic

Most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is the system of family and social relationships, and the change is not limited to distancing. Children who are forced to stay at home day in and day out are doubly hit. Reports confirm that the lockdowns and various forms of community quarantine have exacerbated the abuses that many children suffer. This happened despite several laws passed by previous Congresses and Presidents, all upholding the rights of children. The Department of Social Welfare and Development, which is chair of the Inter-Agency Council against Child Pornography, has urged its local counterparts in cities and towns all over the country to pull their resources and personnel together to mount a serious offensive against pornography on the internet, some materials of which involved children. More

Pornography

USA – Child sex abuse survivors sue Pornhub over abuse footage

Two people who were sexually abused as minors have filed suit against Pornhub and its owner, Mindgeek, over videos of their abuse being uploaded to the popular pornography website. According to the lawsuit, Pornhub profited from these and other child pornography videos, making it culpable in the sex trafficking of two underage individuals. The complaint went on to argue that “MindGeek completely fails to control the torrent of videos available on its sites depicting children being molested, rapes of children and adults, persons who are incapacitated and otherwise unwilling participants.” These individuals join others who have gone before them and as result got credit card companies to quit liaising with Pornhub as well as millions of videos removed from their database. More

USA – Mississippi lawmakers considering bill to outlaw ‘revenge porn’

The state of Mississippi could join 46 states in punishing people for “revenge porn.” The bill, Senate Bill 2121, that passed the Mississippi Senate has set penalties for people who share intimate visual material of another person without that person’s permission and with the intent to cause harm. The material could include pictures shared during a relationship that was only intended to be seen by the recipient. It could also include images of someone being molested. The bill defines the material as photos or videos of a person’s private body parts that are exposed or engaged in sexual conduct. More

New Delhi – TikTok faces Complaints in Europe for Failure to protect children

TikTok the popular Chinese short video app, faces complaints in Europe for failure to protect children from harmful content. The bigger concern though is children and teenage users being exposed to hidden advertising and potentially harmful content on the app. The processing of users’ personal data has also been termed misleading. The Madras High Court had imposed a temporary ban on Tiktok in 2019 as it found the app hosting content related to child pornography. TikTok had informed the Court that they are using technology to ensure that obscene content is not spread via the app. The Indian government also imposed a ban on the app. More

Philippines – ISPs can’t automatically block child porn on servers

Internet Service Providers can only block websites containing child sexual exploitation materials as soon as they are flagged, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) claims. Pornography cannot be detected automatically. Lawyer Omar Sana from DICT explained the limits of ISP capabilities, especially due to conflicting laws that prevent user monitoring as well. Sana said the blocking that ISPs can do is on a domain level. This means if involved agencies can identify the domain name and/or the IP address of the malicious content, the ISPs can proceed to block it. More

USA – Man downloaded child pornography images through file-sharing service

Neil A. MacDonald, 21 who downloaded hundreds of images and more than two hours of videos of child pornography through a file-sharing service, named Mega, was sentenced to 16 months in jail. Beck said it was part of an international investigation involving a cloud-based file sharing service called Mega. Around a quarter of the images showed real children. Upon his release, MacDonald must put his name on the sex offender registry where it will stay for 20 years. MacDonald is prohibited from contacting or being around anyone under the age of 16 years of age for five years and is not allowed to use any device that connects to the internet without permission from his probation officer. More

Pornography

Canada – To make tech giants pay for news

Canada’s government wants to follow Australia’s example of introducing a bill that address how social media companies should compensate Canadian news publishers. According to reports, Canada will be looking at creating a new federal regulator to oversee how Google and Big Tech companies deal with illegal content such as child pornography etc. Google responded by threatening to pull their services from the country and changing their content so that thousands of Australians see in the name of a media stunt. “they have actively used the monopoly control over information markets to try and influence Australian opinion. This reveals an entrenched disregard for community welfare and threatens to undermine Australia’s public decision-making processes.” More

North Macedonia – North Macedonia threatens to Block Telegram Over Pornography

Macedonian authorities threaten to block the messaging app Telegram over activities of a group consisting of more than 7,000 users who have been sharing and exchanging explicit pictures and videos of girls – some of whom are underage. Some users even wrote the names and locations of the girls. Others have shared photo shopped images taken from their Instagram profiles. If Telegram does not close the group called Public Room permanently, which was first discovered in January 2020, authorities will block Telegram without hesitation. Four people had already been arrested in connection with the revived group and a full-scale investigation has been launched. More

USA – The Truth about Teen Boys Addiction to Pornography

Michael Rubino, Ph.D, MFT, is a psychotherapist and has been licensed and practicing since 1997. He also has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and is licensed as a Marriage, Family and Child Therapist. Dr Rubino specializes in treating children and teenagers. He has appeared on several television and radio shows discussing teenage and parenting issues. He also works with high risk teens and children such as run always, children with Bipolar, Autism, teens who are suicidal and abusing drugs just to name a few.

The old stereo type of what it takes to “be a man” has had a negative impact on teenage boys according to current research data, writes Dr Rubino. It has lead boys to becoming sexually active in middle school, isolation, and being lead to believe that they should handle life like a grown man. However, they are not fully mature nor are they prepared to handle everything on their own. This stereotype has made them feel like they cannot ask for help or to share their concerns with their friends, and they feel like failures at 16 years old. Some teenage boys have self-reported going to porn sites five to 10 times a day. Therefore, while the DSM V does not list porn addiction as a formal diagnosis, many researchers and clinicians believe that people especially teenage boys can become addicted to pornography.

In his article Dr Rubino advises fathers that if they notice a change in their teenage son and they see that the teen spends a lot more time in his room since quarantine, then talk to him about pornography. Do it calmly and gently. Explain that pornography is a fantasy and not reality, and how it can give a boy the wrong idea about how to treat a woman. Don’t be afraid to ask if your son is having problems with pornography and reassure them that if they are, you will not get mad and you will help them find help for the issue. Be there as their father to eliminate the lonely, isolated feeling and help them on the road to recovery.  More

Singapore – Watching porn, getting addicted

An addiction recovery center reports that the number of people seeking help for compulsive sexual behaviour in 2020 has doubled which includes excessive viewing of pornography. Cases include highly educated professionals who cannot go through the day without watching porn. Experts said the rise could be due to boredom, having poor coping strategies to stress and increased screen time during the coronavirus pandemic. Stuck indoors with nowhere to go, more people have gone online in search of entertainment during this time. More

Philippines – NTC asks 47 internet providers to explain failure to block child porn

47 internet service providers (ISPs) has been ordered by The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to explain their failure to block child pornography. The Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 requires ISPs to inform the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) within 7 days of obtaining facts regarding child pornography engagement on their servers. ISPs are also compelled to preserve evidence for purposes of investigation and prosecution, and to furnish details of users involved in the child abuse. Despite the law being 11 years old, the ISP companies continue to disregard their duties. President Rodrigo Duterte approved the imposition of sanctions on the ISPs for their failure to comply. More

USA – Utah’s revenge porn law cleared by Utah House

Utah House of Representatives approve HB147, a bill inspired by the killing of Utah University student Lauren McCluskey. The bill would clarify that sharing of intimate images of someone without his or her consent is outlawed, regardless of whether a victim is alive to suffer emotional distress. More than two years ago, Lauren shared intimate photos with a university police officer to aid in the investigation of her eventual killer, who was blackmailing her with the photos. The officer showed the pictures to others on at least four occasions. Utah laws provide no avenue to prosecute the officer because it currently requires victims to suffer “actual emotional distress”. Charges could not be filed because Lauren was already dead by the time the officer shared the photos. More

USA – Utah privacy protection efforts hits a wall again

Twice in four months, proposals to compel makers of cellphones, tablets and computers to have porn filtering software installed and switched on for all sales in Utah wasn’t able to breach the wall of legislative approval. Supporters of the proposal praise the effective new tool because it keeps explicit internet content out of reach of children. Opponents whose only concern is constitutional issues and the potential for downstream business harm, have lambasted the proposal. They argue that parents must take responsibility for what they place in the hands of their children. Not the manufacturer. Chris McKenna, founder of internet safety advocacy group Protect Young Eyes, said this tool is to help, but not replace, parenting duties. More