“Systemic violence”, women “exploited”, minors too easily exposed to traumatic content: the senatorial report unveiled on Tuesday on the excesses of the porn industry is overwhelming. The fight against this violence must become a “priority of public and penal policy”plead the four senators Annick Billon (UDI), Alexandra Borchio Fontimp (LR), Laurence Cohen (PCF) and Laurence Rossignol (PS), authors of this report entitled “Porn: the hell of the decor”.
Since the appearance, in the mid-2000s, of major internet platforms such as Pornhub or Xvideos, the distribution of porn has become massive, which has “contributed to the resurgence of increasingly ‘trash’ and violent content, without any control or consideration for the conditions under which this content is produced”, denounce the senators. “Producers are not afraid to exploit the economic and psychological vulnerability of young, even very young women, and to shoot in deplorable conditions”they add.
Faced with productions “which reach the paroxysm of violence”, society must react by strengthening the criminal repression against those responsible for this industryin “promoting the emergence of complaints from victims”, and by requiring platforms to delete videos for free when women request it, advocate the elected officials. Currently, when an abused woman requests the deletion of a video in which she appears, the producers would claim between 3,000 and 5,000 euros, “that is ten times more than the remuneration obtained for the scene shot”, point to the report.
Prevent minors from accessing sites
The senators also make several proposals for prevent minors from accessing internet porna precaution which is imposed in theory on broadcasters but which, in practice, is not applied.
Arcom (ex-CSA) must see its powers reinforced to impose “dissuasive” fines to porn sites accessible to minors, and the government must impose the “development of age verification devices” and “carry out a communication campaign around parental control devices”.
While two thirds of young people under 15 have already had access to porn images, the fight must also go through education, believe the parliamentarians, for whom the “commodification of bodies” and pornography should be addressed in schoolsas part of education sessions on sexual and affective life.