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Expert In Child Abuse Prevention Discusses Online Child Sexual Exploitation, Pornhub Issue, And More


Child pornography has emerged as one of the major issues in the past few years. Given the dramatic rise of the internet, it has become easier for people to access such illegal content whenever and wherever they want. Although Laws have been implemented across the world to curb the accessibility of child porn, this illegal content involving young children continues to flourish on many porn sites.

After the lockdown was implemented last year to curb the spread of coronavirus, a report by an NGO, India Child Protection Fund (ICPF), revealed that consumption of child pornography spiked by a whopping 95% in India. ICPF Data provided by online data monitoring sites showed that there was a surge in searches for terms like “child porn,” “sexy child” and “teen sex videos”. The report cited data from pornography website Pornhub, a popular Canadian-owned internet pornography website and it proves just how big and serious of a problem child porn is.

Speaking of Pornhub, the site has come under the scanner for a slew of issues in the past (including the alleged perpetration of sex trafficking) and the recent one involves child pornography. Pornhub faced heavy scrutiny after the New York Times published a detailed report on how the website shows videos of rape and child abuse. Many leading credit card companies (Mastercard and Visa) took action against the company by blocking all payments to the site. Given the backlash, Pornhub also removed a large chunk of its explicit videos that had been uploaded by unverified users on its platform.

Since child pornography is a pressing problem, Mashable India interviewed Dr Mary L. Pulido, Executive Director of The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC), the U.S.’s first child protection agency, who gave us insights into an increase in internet crimes, steps parents can take to keep their children safe, and more.

Internet crimes are on the rise and children have become the new target. What measures do you think parents can take to ensure their children stay safe both online and in the real world?

“Child sexual abuse exploitation, or child pornography, is the fastest-growing type of child abuse. Online and in the “real world”, parents should be on the lookout for any suspicious activities that their children may be engaged in with older adults. Our culture seems to promote that “anything goes” regarding self-expression, but there needs to be a discussion about what constitutes appropriate behaviour and what actions could have damaging or harmful repercussions. Parents should talk regularly with their children about internet safety and all the different forms of social media and set reasonable expectations for online presences.

Children under the age of six should be closely monitored and shouldn’t be exposed to social media content without parental controls, as developmentally, they are not ready to comprehend what may pop up, particularly violent or pornographic images. You can’t 'unsee' something; once they view it, it is in their brain forever”.

Why do you think it's important that parents have conversations with their kids around child sexual abuse, healthy human sexuality and pornography? What ages should these conversations take place?

"The NYSPCC advises parents to discuss this issue with their children. Though seemingly uncomfortable, even young children have shown the capability to grasp concepts of sexual abuse and body safety if the age-appropriate language is used. Frame the discussion around 'body health and safety' rather than 'abuse', which might be less scary, and discuss 'private parts'.

Discuss the two kinds of touches, safe and not safe, using these terms instead of 'good/bad' to make it clearer for the child. For example, sometimes a good touch - vaccination in the doctor’s office - can feel bad and a bad touch - inappropriate tickling/fondling - can feel good. Focus the conversation on the fact that they must tell a trusted adult right away if this ever happens to them. What’s important is that the child feels comfortable speaking up.

Address the issue of secrecy or threat that some perpetrators use with children to keep them quiet. Reinforce with the child that it’s never their fault if they were touched or photographed in an unsafe way".

'The Children of Pornhub" column by the NY Times is a great eye-opener on how the porn industry is profiting off child rape and sexual abuse videos. What are some of the few tell-tale signs for parents that something like this is happening with their kids, or other children. How do they spot these signs of trouble?

"That article was an impressive overview of how these heinous crimes are committed, on unfortunately a very regular basis. Here is a list of some possible indicators of child sexual abuse exploitation from the Practice Guidelines of American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC, 2013) regarding commercial sexual exploitation.

The child appears fearful, withdrawn, depressed or has developed a submissive affect. shows distrust of adults, has signs of physical abuse and substance abuse, may start running away from home, may develop a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Other signs - child has tattoos, evidence of branding or gang insignia, child has large amounts of cash or expensive gifts (jewelry, clothing, electronics), starts to do poorly in school or misses school on a regular basis".

If parents find out that their kid is in trouble or has become a victim of online child sexual exploitation, what steps should they take to protect their kids?

"Parents need to be aware that due to schools closing across the United States and other parts of the world, most children are glued to their computers and phones, where predators lurk. Predators make casual contact with a child, gain their trust and eventually introduce sexual content into the conversation. They could also send them sexually explicit photos or videos and ask the child to send them photos or videos of themselves. The predator then can use these to continue the exploitation. If a parent realizes that their child has been victimized, they should immediately contact law enforcement or whatever system is set up in their respective country to deal with crimes such as these".

Can you share your views on the NY Times column regarding Pornhub?

"As a child protection advocate and head of The United States’ first child protection agency, I know of the irreparable harm done to these innocent children. The author of the article, Nicholas Kristof, did an outstanding job of exposing and explaining how the 'dark side' of internet sites that host child pornography operate. His reporting emphasized blatant facts: sex with children is a crime, and so is taking photos or videos of them as they are raped, sodomized or tortured, and then selling them through the internet.

Child sexual abuse exploitation is the fastest growing type of child abuse and actions on several levels need to be taken immediately to stop or slow it. Kristof’s article set off alarms and consequently, some actions have already been taken to thwart this crime.

Though much more needs to be done, this type of media coverage fuels change that is desperately needed to save innocent children".