Ending Sexploitation Podcast (Episode 83)

Dani Pinter and Haley McNamara talk about the latest developments in a case in Nevada involving sex trafficking and the 13th amendment. Dani explains how the 13th amendment’s language about slavery applies in this case as well as the realities of survivors being bullied and shamed when they are bold enough to speak up. Learn more about the Nevada lawsuit and the next steps of appealing the pseudonym ruling below.  

Haley McNamara and Dani Pinter sit down with Melinda Tankard Reist, Co-Founder and Movement Director of Collective Shout, for a discussion around the recent successful campaign to remove a sexually violent game called “No Mercy” from Steam. Melinda describes how the game allows players to sexually assault your family members and rewards you for doing so. In less than a week, this campaign garnered over 70,000 signatures and over 3,000 emails sent to the CEO of Valve to remove this game. Despite the backlash and threats, Melinda and the team at Collective Shout continue their work to protect women and children from objectification and sexualization.

Melinda is an author, speaker, media commentator and campaigner. She is best known for her work addressing sexualization, objectification, harms of pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence against women. Melinda is author/editor of seven books (no. 8 on boundary-setting for girls forthcoming 2025). She co-founded Collective Shout for a world free of sexploitation 15 years ago, and is Movement Director. Melinda is an Ambassador for World Vision Australia, Compassion Australia, Hagar NZ and the youth mentoring body the Raise Foundation. She is also Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Culture and Ethics, Notre Dame University, Sydney and named in the Who’s Who of Australian Women and the World Who’s Who of Women. In 2024 she was the recipient of the ‘Global Impact Award’ presented at the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation [CESE] Global Summit in Washington DC. 

What goes on in the mind of a sex buyer? People who buy sex are driving the market for prostitution and sex trafficking but we don’t know enough about them.

This question will be answered by Peter Qualliotine Co-Founder/Director, Men’s Accountability, Organization for Prostitution Survivors who has both worked with sex buyers and reviewed online forums where sex buyers discuss their ‘hobby” with one another.

This presentation was given at the 2018 Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Global Summit hosted by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

Resources:

EndExploitationSummit.com

seattleops.org

https://traffickcam.com/

Haley Halverson, Vice President of Advocacy and Outreach at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, provides an update on research, survivor testimonies, and legal battles regarding legal brothels in Nevada.

This episode discusses how:

1) Even legal prostitution cannot get rid of sexual violence or sex trafficking within the regulated sex trade.

2) Dennis Hof and Harvey Weinstein have similar worldviews based on sexual entitlement.

3) One county had a failed attempt to overturn legal brothels in their county, but now another legislator might be taking action to roll back legalized prostitution at the state level.

Resources:

Learn more about the harms of prostitution, here: endsexualexploitation.org/prostitution

Find resources for survivors seeking to exit the sex trade, here: https://www.sextradesurvivorresources.com/

Research article showing that sex trafficking increases when prostitution is legalized can be found here.

The full story of the female who survived two legal brothels in Nevada can be found here.

Special guest Josh McDowell, an author, apologist, and founder of Josh McDowell Ministry, joins this podcast episode to address the current climate in the church regarding pornography.

He provides advice for individuals, pastors, and churches about recovery from pornography. He weighs in on the debate about if church leaders should be fired when they confess an addiction to pornography.

McDowell also addresses the positive efforts going on in diverse faith communities to address the harms of pornography.

Call to Action:

To learn more about Josh McDowell and his ministries visit: www.josh.org

To join NCOSE's interfaith prayer team visit: endsexualexploitation.org/prayer

Special guest, Dr. Gail Dines analyzes the big business behind porn.

Dr. Gail Dines is a professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies at Wheelock College, where she is also chair of the American Studies department. Having researched and written about the porn industry for over twenty years, Dr. Dines is internationally acclaimed as the leading expert on how pornography shapes our identities, culture, and sexuality. She is a consultant to government agencies in the US and abroad, including the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Canada.

While popular Internet pornography today seems like it is being mass produced by thousands of companies, the reality is that there is a porn monopoly. Could this be good news?

Dr. Dines provides key insights into the corporate infrastructure behind pornography, and what might happen if the largest porn company in the world got shut down.

Call to Action:

Visit Culture Reframed: www.culturereframed.org

Read Dr. Dines' book: Pornland: How Porn Had Hijacked Our Sexuality

We live in an age where many consumers demand transparency from companies they trust. We want to know the working conditions of those who made our clothing, and if pesticides were used to grow our food.

Now, thanks to The Dirty Dozen List, we can see which well-known entities promote and profit from forms of sexual exploitation. 

No corporation should profit from or facilitate sexual exploitation.

Unfortunately, many well-established brands, companies, and organizations in America do just that. Since 2013, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has published an annual Dirty Dozen List to name and shame the bad corporate actors in America that perpetuate sexual exploitation—whether that be through pornography, prostitution, and sex trafficking.

The Dirty Dozen List is an activism tool that has instigated tremendous changes, leading to policy improvements at Google, Hilton Worldwide, Verizon, Walmart, and the Department of Defense.

This episode gives you a behind-the-scene look at the origin and accomplishments of the Dirty Dozen List.

Call to Action:

Learn more at dirtydozenlist.com.

Positive Thank You Action: Thank Apple TV for Keeping Pornography Off Its App Store and Apple TV

Email Action: Tell Comcast to Stop Selling Sexually Exploitive Content

Earlier this year, ESPLERP (Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project) filed suit in San Francisco District Court claiming that the state’s prostitution laws were unconstitutional. The District Court rightly rejected ESPLERP’s claims.

Now ESPLERP is appealing the decision.

Savanah Lawrence, NCOSE's Legal Fellow, shares about the amicus brief NCOSE submitted to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of ESPLERP v. Gascón, urging the court to recognize the harms of prostitution.

Because prostitution is inherently dehumanizing and harmful it is vital for the Ninth Circuit to uphold the lower court’s decision.

Studies characterize the violence that animates prostitution as brutal, extreme, common, stunning, normative, and ever-present. Indeed, physical and sexual violence across prostitution types is pervasive, whether one is prostituting in Chennai or Chicago, indoors or outdoors, for drugs or to pay the rent, on a street corner, in a car, back alley, brothel, massage parlor, or strip club. Both the threat of, as well as actual physical and sexual violence, permeate prostitution. Most of this violence is perpetrated by sex buyers and pimps.

Decriminalizing prostitution does not change this reality—it assents to it.

CALL TO ACTION:

Learn more about the harms of prostitution here: http://endsexualexploitation.org/prostitution

Free download booklet on violence in prostitution: http://bit.ly/2h04qb9

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The holidays are often thought of as the most wonderful time of the year. However, for victims of domestic violence, the holidays can be a very dark and scary time.

This kind of abuse (whether it’s physical or sexual) is often more likely to occur when stress levels are high, and unfortunately holiday seasons bring their fair share of stresses. Unrealistic expectations, financial strain, and alcohol can increase stress, and lower inhibitions to domestic violence. 

On Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day the National Domestic Violence Hotline reports a decrease in calls. Nearly 53 percent fewer. Whether survivors don’t want to disturb family cohesiveness on these days, or can’t find a private time to make a call for support, advocates say the decline isn’t necessarily an indication that violence ceases on these days, reporting that calls will often increase above normal levels the days and weeks following a holiday.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence - On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.

It can be very difficult to spot an abusive situation.

The majority of abusers are only violent with their current or past intimate partners. One study found 90% of abusers do not have criminal records and abusers are generally law-abiding outside the home. 

Some warning signs:

• Extreme jealousy,
• Possessiveness,
• Blaming the victim for anything bad that happens,
• Sabotage or obstruction of the victim's ability to work or attend school,
• Controls all the finances,
• Embarrassment or humiliation of the victim in front of others.

Common suggestions for loved ones of those in abusive situations include:

• Don’t judge the victim (you are not in her situation).
• Don’t tell her that the abuser is a jerk, that you never liked him, etc. (That might drive her away or make her feel she has to defend him.)
• Listen and become a confidant – safe place, and affirming

RESOURCES:  

• If you are in immediate danger, call 9-1-1.
• For anonymous, confidential help available 24/7 call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE)
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline Blog on Safety Planning for the Holidays: http://www.thehotline.org/2015/12/safety-planning-for-the-holidays/
• Find domestic shelter near you: https://www.domesticshelters.org/
• If you’re a friend concerned about someone: http://ncadv.org/learn-more/friends-and-family
• List of 25 Ways to Help Those Experiencing Abuse.

Amnesty International has developed a policy document supporting full decriminalization of prostitution.  

Full decriminalization of prostitution is one of the world’s most disastrous approaches to the sex trade.

Decriminalized prostitution refers to the removal of laws criminalizing the sex trade. One form of decriminalization—commonly referred to as the Nordic model—targets only individuals involved in the selling of sex (i.e. prostituting persons); other forms of decriminalization may seek to decriminalize all parties involved in the provisioning, buying, and selling of sex.

Thus, “full” decriminalization refers to the repeal of laws pertaining to pimping, brothel keeping, and sex buyers, as well as those who sell sex.

It is a gift to pimps and sex buyers allowing them to carry out their activities as mere “sex business operators” and “customers,” and normalizes the sexual violence and exploitation inherent to prostitution as a form of “work.”

Why is Amnesty International advocating for this? Is it ignorance or something more sinister? Tune in to learn more.

To learn more research about the harms of prostitution visit http://endsexualexploitation.org/prostitution/ and http://prostitutionresearch.com/.

Action Alert: You can email leaders at Amnesty International and order postcards to send them here: http://endsexualexploitation.org/noamnesty/

The research shows that the sexting phenomenon is not something we can just ignore.

Some estimates of teen and young adult sexting rates run from as low as 4% to as high as 20%. Comparing the studies, it is safe to say 7-9% of older teens (14-17 years old) send sexts, while older age groups tend to be involved in sexting at higher percentages, perhaps 20% or even more. 

One survey released in 2016 found that 66% of teens and young adults have received a sexually explicit image, and 41% have sent one.

One study’s statistics show that 1 in 5 teens admit to sexting.

When 535 students from 18 schools in South West UK responded to a survey, 39% said at least one of their friends has “shared intimate pictures/videos” with a boyfriend or girlfriend. When the same students were asked how many incidents of sexting in the past year they were aware of, 50% said “one or two” incidents, 19% said “a few,” and 24% said it happens regularly or all the time (SW Grid for Learning).

Sexting makes you vulnerable to social problems, problems with school or work, and even extortion or blackmail.

Most sexting images are shared, and any image shared online or through text can be tracked down.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) estimates that 88% of self-made sexually explicit images are “stolen” from their original upload location such as laptop webcams or phones. 

Even if someone takes a picture without their face in it, they are still vulnerable, because every picture from a cell phone has metadata that can be traced.

Sexting doesn’t only make you vulnerable to later exploitation. The culture around sexting can actually groom both the requester and the sender in the dynamic of sexual exploitation—where the requester pressures, manipulates, and coerces in order to get the desired image.

61% of all sexters who have sent nude images admit that they were pressured to do it at least once.

CALL TO ACTION:

Anti-cyberbullying resources for you or your child: 

• https://www.webroot.com/us/en/home/resources/tips/cyberbullying-online-predators/safety-my-child-is-being-cyberbullied
• http://www.deletecyberbullying.org/what-to-do-if-youre-a-victim/

NCOSE Resource Center: 

• http://endsexualexploitation.org/resources-parents/

Further talking points:

• http://www.wcsap.org/sexting-talking-points-youth-focused
• http://www.whowillyouempower.com/craigsblog/2014/4/22/sexting-a-digital-topic-to-talk-about-with-your-teen
• http://www.childmind.org/en/posts/articles/2011-6-8-how-talk-your-kids-about-sexting