Pornography: what a Senate report denounces

Europe 1 with AFP 5:30 p.m., September 28, 2022

"Systemic violence", "exploited" women, minors too easily exposed to traumatic content: the government must lead the charge against the excesses of the porn industry, plead the authors of a senatorial report unveiled on Tuesday.

The fight against this violence must become a "priority of public and criminal policy", plead the four senators Annick Billon (UDI), Alexandra Borchio Fontimp (LR), Laurence Cohen (PCF) and Laurence Rossignol (PS) in this report entitled " Porn: The Hell of a Set", and adopted by the Senate Women's Rights Delegation.

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 nor consideration for the conditions under which this content is produced", denounce the authors.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 euros to delete a video

"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 criminal repression against those responsible for this industry, by "favoring the emergence of complaints from victims", and by requiring platforms to remove free of charge videos when women request them, advocate the elected officials.

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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, "ten times more than the remuneration obtained for the scene shot", points out the report.

The senators also make several proposals to prevent minors from accessing porn on the Internet, a precaution which is imposed in theory on broadcasters but which, in practice, is not applied.

Deterrent fines 

Arcom (ex-CSA) must see its powers strengthened to impose "dissuasive" fines on porn sites accessible to minors, and the government must impose the "development of age verification devices" and "conduct 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 establishments schools, as part of education sessions on sexual and affective life.

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This parliamentary report comes as the so-called "amateur" French porn community has been shaken for two years by several legal investigations, one targeting "Jacquie and Michel", and the other the "French Bukkake" platform.

Three actors and a director were taken into custody on Tuesday in this latest investigation, for aggravated human trafficking, gang rape or aggravated pimping.

"Beware of amalgams" 

"These legal proceedings bring to light the barbarism, violence, sexist and racist hatred of the French pornographic industry", commented in a press release a collective of feminist associations, which welcomed the "fundamental report" of the Senate.

For Grégory Dorcel, boss of the porn giant of the same name, the necessary defense of victims should not lead to "abusive generalization" or "caricature".

“Victims must be believed and heard, and justice must do its job. warns against "abolitionist" positions and suggests thinking about the creation of the profession of "agent" for porn actors.

"Everyone must work together to get things done", for example through the establishment of ethical charters or mechanisms to facilitate the reporting of violence, maintains this official.