Transitioning into or becoming a john does not happen without reason or thoughtlessly. People deliberately ignore sexual exploitation and actively seek sex for sale. While pleasure or boredom are frequently cited reasons for repeated visits to prostitutes, it is among other things that pornography induces people to become johns. Both the prostitution system and the pornography industry are characterised by exploitation and human trafficking.
However, those who are no longer satisfied with the pornographic material on the internet look for other ways of satisfying their needs.
THE COMBINATION PORNOGRAPHY AND PROSTITUTION
It is no longer new information that the behavior, when consuming pornographic material, has changed. With the rise of the internet, but also of the smartphone, access to pornography became significantly easier. Therefore, the average age of a porn consumer is falling steadily and an entry age of 12 is part of the new status quo. Minors who immerse themselves in the world of pornography at an early age can develop a misunderstanding of sex and the importance of consensual behavior in sexual acts. What happens as soon as the video material no longer provides the right kick is something that police officers experience more and more in the fight against prostitution and human trafficking. The increasingly younger customers want to experience the scenes of the porn in reality. They buy sex with women who have no choice and who must submit to the wishes of their suitors. From individual files to the complete copy of a pornographic script - it is no longer new territory for prostitutes when clients incorporate pornography into the sex they buy.
PORNOGRAPHY: UNCONTROLLED AND UNEXPLORED
Stimulation, satisfaction, boredom or an interest in learning more about sexuality - watching porn is justified for a variety of reasons. However, the fact that there are often worlds between pornographic material and reality can be difficult to see, especially for young people. Nonetheless, interest in pornographic content does not decline due to misrepresentation or a lack of information. On the contrary : with around 68 million search requests per day and double-digit sales in the millions, the internet porn industry is seeing increasing demand. This is accompanied by a growing number of legal, but also illegal porn content. Child pornography, physical and psychological abuse and other criminal content can therefore be found more and more often on porn platforms. HOPE FOR THE FUTURE is networked with the Safersurfing association, which raises awareness for and educates about internet pornography and its effects. Among other things, they deal with the problem that younger people in particular cannot distinguish reality from fiction when it comes to pornography.
Pornographic content that is characterised by sexual exploitation is freely accessible on the internet, which is why minors also encounter such representations without having received proper information.
EXPLOITATION IN PORN AND PROSTITUTION
Pornography and prostitution have one thing in common: both systems include victims of exploitation and human trafficking. With promises of big money, the ‘loverboy’ method or other forms of recruitment, people are recruited and then forced into pornography or prostitution. These dependencies and compulsions are hardly noticed by suitors, but also by people who watch porn. The participation of those affected in the porn industry and prostitution branch is seen as voluntary. The clients have the mentality that prostitution is fine because they are paying for it. In doing so, they try to relativise and justify their own demand for sex for sale. What is forgotten, however, is that a relationship of domination dominates prostitution.
The client receives the power of disposal over the prostitute's body for a limited time in return for payment. Re-enacting porn or fulfilling other sexual fantasies forces the sex worker to give up her sexual self-determination and to submit to the demands of the suitors.
EFFECTS OF THE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN PORNOGRAPHY
In the age of digitisation, pornographic content can be found with just a few clicks. Platforms like Redtube, YouPorn or Pornhub offer a variety of videos without taking a closer look at their content. That is precisely why it can happen, that porn which shows abuse or rape is uncontrollably available on the porn portals. On Pornhub, porn videos by the company ‘Girls Do Porn’, which forced the actresses to shoot, were only removed from the platform after complaints, media attention and public protests. The portrayal of women and the presence of sexual exploitation and human trafficking in pornography affects the prostitution system. On the one hand, the prostitution industry is being promoted with new suitors who have developed a demand for prostitution through pornography. On the other hand, the sex workers, on whom the clients can live out their fantasies based on sex for sale, are assigned a lower priority. Those affected, who are already victims of human trafficking and exploitation, are traumatised with further abuse and additional violence.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE helps and supports those affected with a new beginning in dignity and freedom.