At the beginning of each year, our friends at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) release their annual “Dirty Dozen List,” a who’s who compilation of leading contributors to sexual exploitation in America. The list highlights major companies and other organizations that are directly choosing to profit off of pornography and/or are contributing to sexual exploitation in society.
Each year, the list pressures companies to remove sexual exploitation from their bottom line. The Washington D.C.-based nonprofit gives an explanation of how these major companies fuel sexual exploitation, and then lists actions that the public can take in order to persuade the “Dirty Dozen” to change their policies and practices. Past successes from this list include Hilton Hotels removing porn from their hotel rooms, getting blinders put on Cosmopolitan magazines in grocery stores, Overstock.com removing pornography from their website, and Facebook making stronger policies to block and restrict child porn as well as sex trafficking.
One of the biggest successes in the history of the “Dirty Dozen” was in the summer of 2014 when Google met with the NCOSE and responded to being on the list by making the huge decision of no longer allowing porn sites to advertise using Google AdWords. Cool, right?
The 2018 “Dirty Dozen” list includes some organizations that have been on the page for several years and have yet to make changes. Curious to see who is on the list this year? Here are a few of the heavy hitters who are contributing to sexual exploitation in our country right now:
Snap Inc.
Arguably one of the more popular smartphone app used by millennials and teens, Snapchat is frequently used for sexting and sharing child sexual abuse images (i.e. child pornography). Snapchat’s Discovery section is a feature which includes public content from media outlets like Cosmopolitan, frequently containing sexually graphic material that cannot be easily blocked by users. Additionally, its “SnapCash” feature enables users to easily monetize and profit from the exchange of sexual content.
Steam
Steam is the Walmart of online video game distribution, with over 35 million users who are minors. Steam offers categories of “nudity” and “sexual content” video games, which include over 780 video games with explicit content, featuring only mild warnings. These games—for example, House Party, Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya, Super Star, Porno Studio Tycoon and more—promote the dangerous misconception that sexually exploiting others is harmless and fun.
Backpage.com
Backpage.com brings the seedy street corners of America’s red-light districts to home computers. As a classified advertising website known as “the hub” for prostitution advertising, Backpage.com serves as a virtual auction block where sex buyers can shop for human beings for sex from the privacy of their home, office, hotel room, or cell phone. Many of those bought and sold via the website are sexually trafficked women and children. The website facilitates this activity by allegedly editing ads to conceal the illegality of underlying criminal activity and remains immune from prosecution due to the Communications Decency Act Section 230.
The Poster Boys of #MeToo
This year, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation broke with its tradition of placing only mainstream companies or organizations on the Dirty Dozen List, to include four “Poster Boys” of the #MeToo culture of sexual assault and harassment: Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Woody Allen, and James Franco.
Related: The Weinstein Effect: Selective Hearing When It Comes To Sexual Exploitation
These four men aren’t the only ones, unfortunately, who have used their power to both harass and abuse others, in addition to shaping America’s cultural acceptance of sexual exploitation through their professions. There are dozens more.
For the full Dirty Dozen List, visit the NCOSE’s official website.
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Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
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