Surgeon General Issues New Advisory About Effects Social Media Use Has on Youth Mental Health Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy Urges Action to Ensure Social Media Environments are Healthy and Safe, as Previously-Advised National Youth Mental Health Crisis Continues Today, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media […]
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation is pleased to present the Dignity Defense Award to Imgur, a popular image sharing website, for banning and removing all sexually explicit content and pornography from their platform. In a blog post detailing this decision, the company states, “Explicit and illegal content have historically posed a risk to Imgur’s community and its business, […]
I have to admit: when I was first asked to research Spotify as a potential Dirty Dozen List target, I may have rolled my eyes a little bit. Spotify is just for streaming music and podcasts, right? How bad could it be? . . . As it turns out, pretty bad. Pornography on Spotify To my shock, […]
What is the Dirty Dozen List? The Dirty Dozen List is an annual campaign calling out twelve mainstream entities for facilitating, enabling, and even 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 […]
Please take 30 SECONDS to contact your Members of Congress, urging them to Co-Sponsor the EARN IT Act! Grief claws at your heart as you tell the attorney your daughter’s story. It’s hard enough to explain how your 12-year-old daughter was raped by a boy in her class. It’s harder still to explain how a […]
As parents, when the topic of protecting our children from pornography comes up, we often go right to that overwhelmed, frustrated, and scared state of mind. Thoughts like: “How can I keep my child from seeing pornography?!? I can barely keep track of him, much less what is on his phone.” “I try and try […]
Last week, a friend asked me for advice on how she could keep pornography off digital devices used by her children. I was happy to help, which meant spending over an hour emailing step-by-step instructions, attaching numerous screenshots with scribbles directing “Click here –>” and “BAD –>”, “GOOD –>”, etc etc . . . all […]
Angelina’s story is a likely story, based on the findings of research. Angelina is not a real individual. When Angelina* first watched the Disney movie Frozen, she promptly became obsessed. For the next several months, little Angelina could constantly be found toddling about the house, singing “Let it gooooo” at the top of her lungs. […]
*Gabrielle’s story is a composite story, based on common experiences of black survivors which have been expressed to NCOSE and/or documented in research. The header image for this block is a stock image, not a picture of an actual survivor. It started with a band-aid. Gabrielle had tripped during recess and scraped up her knee. Crying, […]
The epidemic of sex trafficking is a global issue that impacts all kinds of people. But too often, some people are disproportionately targeted for this kind of exploitation, specifically, Black communities. It is reported that 40% of sex trafficking victims in the U.S. are Black, despite Black people making up only 13.6% of the U.S. population. This significant statistic points […]
A few weeks ago, the now-septuagenarian actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who appeared in 1968’s Romeo and Juliet as minors, filed a lawsuit against the film’s distributor, Paramount Pictures, for being forced to perform nude on camera at the ages of 15 and 16 years old. The lawsuit was filed in accordance with California law that has […]
On January 1st, history was made when the first law in the U.S. requiring pornography sites to verify the age of users, and therefore prevent children from being exposed to pornography, went into effect. House Bill 142 (now Act 440), passed in Louisiana, was sponsored by Rep. Laurie Schlegel with bipartisan support. Passage of HB 142 is […]
The Internet has opened up a Pandora’s Box of threats to our children. These threats include grooming by online predators for sexual abuse or to be sex trafficked; having sexually explicit images and videos shared online that will haunt our children for the rest of their lives; exposure to pornography; messages encouraging harmful sexual behavior […]
It only takes an instant for anyone to become a victim of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA). It can happen through hidden camera videos, deepfake/edited images, leaked photos, filmed child sexual abuse, rape, sex trafficking, and prostitution. These images can circulate fast and be posted to pornography websites, or shared without consent to other platforms, often […]
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) welcomes Teresa J. Helm to its team as the new Survivor Services Coordinator. Teresa will assist survivor clients seeking justice through civil litigation against major corporations who have profited from their abuse Teresa is a lived-experience expert who survived being sexually assaulted and trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and his network […]