Kristen Jenson, founder of Defend Young Minds, shares about the necessity of teaching children “Digital Defense Skills” for online safety and preventing/defending against exposure to online pornography.
Kristen speaks to the necessity of talking to kids about the harms of viewing pornography early, and educates on strategies to do so in a comfortable and age appropriate way. Kristen has developed popular resources for talking to children as young as 3 years old, such as the book Good Pictures Bad Pictures Junior. We encourage you to see Kristen Jensen’s valuable resources here.
Some resources specifically mentioned on this episode include:
Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, joins the Ending Sexploitation podcast to discuss the history of the organization and its vision for the future. The discussion includes the need for a bipartisan and diverse movement that addresses the full spectrum of sexual abuse and exploitation issues. Dawn Hawkins emphasizes the need to address not only sex trafficking and child sexual abuse, but also more controversial issues like pornography and prostitution which are sexually exploitive in and of themselves and which feed into more kinds of harm. She addresses the cultural confusion about if prostitution and pornography can be considered legitimate jobs, and if systems can be set up which ensure they are ethical, or if they are inherently harmful.
TAKE ACTION:
EndSexualExploitation.org | DirtyDozenList.com | SexploitationLawsuits.com
In this interview, Haley McNamara (VP at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation) speaks with Julie Inman Grant who shares about the genesis of the Australian eSafety Commission, and the importance of corporate and technological accountability for safety online.
She also discusses Safety By Design principles, and the importance of pursuing age verification for consumers of pornography. She also lays out helpful advice to advocates looking to expand these concepts in their own countries.
Get Involved:
You can learn more about the Australian eSafety Commission here: https://www.esafety.gov.au/
If you or someone you know has been a victim of non-consensually shared intimate materials, reach out to support networks:
Alvin W. Amadu has over 18 years of working on anti-exploitation in Africa. He’s currently the Program Manager at the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) Liberia. He is a 2019/2020 Humphrey Fullbright Fellow sponsored by the United States Department of State – and he also worked as a Fellow with us in Washington DC at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation at that time.
In this podcast, Alvin shares about the cultural and economic contexts in Liberia that increase children’s vulnerability to sexual abuse or sex trafficking. He also shares how child marriage is a global problem, and why it must be recognized as a form of sexual abuse. In the end he shares key principles of prevention that people around the world can apply in order to better safeguard children.
Learn more about Alvin's organization here: http://www.anppcan.org/
Dr. Stephany Powell joins the podcast to share about her unique insight into the world of sexual exploitation and trafficking gained through her thirty years with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), coupled with her time serving survivors and advocating for vital policy reforms.
She addresses law enforcement perspectives on identifying and investigating sex trafficking cases, and misunderstandings that can hinder them. Dr. Powell recently contributed to a book titled “Teaching Beautiful Brilliant Black Girls.” Her chapter addressed myths around the commercial sexual exploitation of African American girls, and she elaborates on these themes in her podcast.
Child sexual abuse materials (or CSAM, aka child pornography) has surged over 106% during COVID according to the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children. And tragically, CSAM isn't only happening on the Dark Web - it's also flourishing on mainstream social media platforms like Twitter.
Survivor John Doe was only 16 when he discovered exploitative child sexual abuse materials of himself at age 13 were posted on Twitter. The video managed to accrue over 160,000 views before Twitter finally took it down—despite multiple reports from both John Doe and his mother verifying his status as a minor.
Lisa Habba, Esq. and Peter Gentala, Esq. joined this episode of the Ending Sexploitation podcast to share the story of John Doe, and another male survivor, who are suing Twitter for facilitating their child sexual abuse materials.
The discussion includes the legal challenges of the case and why Twitter assumes it should be immune from any liability, despite fostering an environment that appears to allow child sexual abuse materials to flourish.
Take Action:
If you or someone you know has been harmed by sexual exploitation via Twitter please contact the Haba Law Firm and the NCOSE Law Center.
Learn more about this case and help spread the word on how Twitter is complicit with the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM.)
Since the 2007 movie Lars and the Real Girl, sex dolls have become increasingly popular and normalized. In fact, mainstream companies like Amazon, Etsy, and the Wish shopping app have sold sex dolls, including ones that looked child-like.
During this episode of the Ending Sexploitation podcast, Haley McNamara interviews Caitlin Roper, PhD candidate, and Campaigns Manager at Collective Shout.
They discuss the rising trends of sex dolls being made to look like children or people the buyer knows in real life, and the way sex dolls are not an answer to loneliness or pedophilia. In fact, they discuss research that shows how child sex abuse dolls normalize and encourage sexual interest in children.
Take Action:
Connect with Collective Shout and engage in their campaigns: https://www.collectiveshout.org/
Follow Caitlin Roper on Twitter: https://twitter.com/caitlin_roper
Contact Etsy on Twitter and tell them to stop selling sex dolls: https://twitter.com/Etsy
Did you know that mainstream companies you interact with every day may be facilitating sexual exploitation, or leaving children vulnerable to abuse or graphic content?
During this episode of the Ending Sexploitation podcast, Haley McNamara interviews Lina Nealon, Director of Corporate and Strategic Initiatives at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
They discuss mainstream corporations that are facilitating sexual exploitation and abuse, including problems with Google Chrombooks that leave children vulnerable during online learning, how Amazon facilitates incest-themed merchandise, how the Wish Shopping app sells exploitive merchandise and buys ads on pornography websites, the rise of the OnlyFans sexual exploitation marketplace, and more.
Take Action
Learn more and contact companies facilitating sexual exploitation at dirtydozenlist.com
You can specifically take action on Google Chromebooks here: https://endsexualexploitation.org/chromebooks
You can specifically take action on Amazon here: https://endsexualexploitation.org/amazon
You can specifically take action on Wish here: https://endsexualexploitation.org/wish
You can specifically take action on OnlyFans here: https://endsexualexploitation.org/onlyfans
The Dirty Dozen List is an annual campaign calling out twelve mainstream entities for facilitating or profiting from sexual abuse and exploitation. Since its inception in 2013, the Dirty Dozen List has galvanized thousands of individuals like YOU to call on corporations, government agencies, and organizations to change specific policies to instead promote human dignity. This campaign has yielded major victories, including significant changes at Google, Netflix, TikTok, Hilton Worldwide, Verizon, Walmart, US Department of Defense, and many more.