Morality in Media

365 Days: This Day is a 2022 Poland romance by Barbara Bialowas, Tomasz Mandes
Starring Kamil Lemieszewski, Oliwia Babuska and Nikola Bogucka

Laura and Massimo are back and stronger than ever. But Massimo's family ties and a mysterious man bidding for Laura's heart complicate the lovers' lives.

Morality in Media (which now likes to call itself the National Center on Sexual Exploitation) has written a glowing write up of Netflix's latest sexy offering. The campaigners write:

Netflix is in the business of hosting and producing shows that overtly glorify sexual violence. A prime example of this is the film 365 Days and its recently released sequel, 365 Days: This Day . 365 Days was widely criticized for glamorizing sexual violence. But rather than removing the film Netflix produced a sequel, 365 Days: This Day, which was released on the platform on April 27, 2022, and rapidly became the 5th most watched movie in the US on Netflix that week.

The plotline of 365 Days is as follows: A handsome, powerful man name Massimo kidnaps a woman named Laura whom he desires. Massimo tells Laura that he will hold her captive for 365 days, and if she doesn't fall in love with him by the end of that timeframe, she will be free to leave. Although Massimo promises Laura that he will not touch her without her consent, he repeatedly gropes her during her captivity, even in the very act of making that promise. He also handcuffs her to the bed and forces her to watch while he performs sexual acts with another woman. When Laura tries to escape, Massimo threatens to hurt her family. Nonetheless, Laura does eventually fall in love with Massimo and the two go on to have a steamy, glamorous relationship. This progression of events romanticizes and implicitly condones all of Massimo's abuse, painting it as merely the rising action in a glorious love story.

Following the release of 365 Days in 2020, a petition was launched by influencer and survivor Mikayla Zazon, calling on Netflix to remove this incredibly harmful movie from its platform. The petition garnered almost 100,000 signatures. The singer-songwriter Duffy also urged Netflix to remove the film through an open letter in which she bravely sharing her experience of surviving being sex-trafficked and raped. Duffy writes:

365 Days: This Day picks up with Laura and Massimo getting happily married, again whitewashing all the abuse that led to their relationship. Massimo continues to be depicted in romanticized terms. For example, in the ending scene he swoops in to rescue Laura from other captors who are holding her at gunpoint -- a supposedly grand romantic gesture which conveniently ignores that Massimo himself was the first person to kidnap Laura and hold her captive against her will.

Unlike the first movie, 365 Days: This Day is a Netflix original, produced by Netflix itself. This means that Netflix not only failed to condemn and remove 365 Days from its platform, but it actively decided to take even further responsibility for its abhorrent messages by producing its follow-ups.

The US campaign group, Morality in Media now refers to itself as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE). The group publishes an annual whinge list of the most immoral organisations on the planet, and then it asks its members to boycott them. This year the group wrote:

NCOSE has revealed that technology companies Meta, Google Search, Discord, and Twitter, and more, are among its 2022 Dirty Dozen List of mainstream contributors to sexual exploitation.

Big Tech holds incredible influence over society, so it's especially egregious when tech companies normalize, enable, and even profit from sexually exploitative practices, policies, and products. There is no other industry that has the capacity to help billions of people by prioritizing user protection and safety like Big Tech.

Other companies named to the Dirty Dozen List include Visa, which allows the exploitative commercial sex industry to prosper; Etsy, which enables sex dolls and pornographic content to be sold; and Netflix, which normalizes the sexualization of children and whitewashes the violence and exploitation in prostitution.

The 2022 Dirty Dozen List includes:

Discord -- Discord consistently fails to address the extensive sexually graphic, violent, and exploitative content on its thousands of private and public channels. Inadequate age verification and moderation mean millions of children and teen users are left with near-unmitigated exposure to child sexual abuse material, nonconsensual pornography trading, and the predatory grooming rampant on its platform.

Etsy -- Global marketplace Etsy is in the business of selling pornographic merchandise, misogynistic and dehumanizing apparel, and sex dolls -- including ones resembling children and young teens. Customers equate unwanted exposure to pornography and sexually explicit content to sexual harassment.

Google Search -- Google Search buttresses the pornography industry by facilitating access to graphic images and videos of sexual abuse -- depicted and real -- including sex trafficking, child sexual abuse, and rape.

Kanakuk Kamps -- Thousands of families have entrusted their children to Kanakuk Kamps--one of the largest Christian sports camps. Tragically, that trust was broken as years of child sexual abuse at Kanakuk Kamps have been swept under the rug.

Kik -- Kik boasts that a third of American teens use the free messaging app to chat with friends and strangers alike. It's also among the most dangerous online spaces for children.

Meta (formerly known as Facebook) -- Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp: all of which are consistently under fire as primary places for grooming, sextortion, child sexual abuse materials, sex trafficking, and a host of other crimes. The tech giant has the potential to lead the industry in online safety standards. Instead, Meta is prioritizing new projects like the metaverse and pursuing sweeping encryption despite international law enforcement warnings about the lack of sufficient provisions for child online safety.

Netflix -- Netflix is a staple of at-home entertainment, with over 200 million subscribers streaming their content worldwide. Yet mixed in with the fun and entertainment is rampant sexual objectification and glamorization of abuse. Sociologists have identified a marked increase in graphic sex scenes and gratuitous nudity permeating Netflix shows. Further, Netflix continues a trend of normalizing the sexualization of children while also whitewashing the violence and exploitation in prostitution.

OnlyFans -- OnlyFans exploded in notoriety and profit during COVID-19, as the subscription-based platform known for pornography preyed on widespread financial insecurities and capitalized on youth spending more time online. Sex buyers and pimps maximize buying and selling people behind the security of a paywall.

Reddit -- Referred to as the front page of the Internet, Reddit hosts more than two million user-created communities covering nearly as many topics. Among them are countless nonconsensually shared sexually explicit images and videos, child sexual abuse material, hardcore pornography, and prostitution advertisements.

Twitter -- Pedophiles and other predators go to Twitter to trade in criminal content such as child sexual abuse and nonconsensual pornography. The platform is rampant with accounts and posts functioning as advertisements for commercial sex.

Verisign -- Verisign provides Internet infrastructure and services and has exclusive management over the .com and .net generic top-level domains. 82% of all websites containing child sexual abuse material in 2020 were registered on .com and .net domains.

Visa -- Visa rightly cut ties with Pornhub in 2020 after public outcry regarding the rampant sex trafficking and child sexual abuse material hosted on the pornography site -- but has since re-initiated a relationship with Pornhub's parent company, MindGeek.

The US anti-porn campaigners Morality in Media (who now misleadingly name themselves as the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation) have been calling on international payment companies to censor the adult tube sites, most notably Pornhub. The group has set up an international branch and recruited a few unknown morality campaign groups from around the world. Haley McNamara, director of the international branch writes in a letter to major payment companies:

Major credit card companies continue to provide infrastructure to the exploitative pornography industry. As international anti-exploitation leaders, we urgently call on these financial institutions to cease processing payments and thereby refuse to aid human rights violations

We believe this decision would be in line with your corporate ethical commitment to processing legal purchases, and that it will advance your reputation by refusing profits from sexual violence, incest, sex trafficking, child sexual abuse material, and other exploitation.

The pornography industry does not judge or verify consent in any videos on their sites, let alone live webcam videos. Tragically, this has resulted in worldwide cases of rape, child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and non-consensually shared pornography (or 'revenge porn') being uploaded onto mainstream pornography websites.

Further, we know that mainstream pornography is promoting themes of incest, rape, racism, sex with youth, and sexual violence against women, which warps many users' sexual and neurological development. It is time for mainstream companies to stop propping up an industry that is inherently built on sexual exploitation.

Offsite Comment: Wake up and smell the coffee

See article from girlonthenet.com

Blogger Girl on the Net has written a interesting allegorical explainer suggesting that the called for action is likely to hit the wrong target.

The US campaign group Morality in Media, which now calls itself the National Center for Sexual Exploitation as if it was some sort of state institution,  has whinged at the video games distribution platform, Steam.

The group complains that Steam allows multiple games on the platform portraying sexual violence, including Mirror, Love Vibe: Aria, My Servant and the Stranger Astensia, and House Party.

The platform made a June 2018 decision to minimise censorship and allow all types of games except for ones that are illegal, or straight up trolling.

Morality in Media particularly points out:

• Mirror that depicts rape scenes and even has a meter to measure the amount of pain and discomfort being inflicted by the player,
• My Servant and the Stranger Astensia that promotes rape scenes and sexual harassment, and
• House Party that contains nudity, sex via intoxication, blackmail and deception. Steam has reportedly updated House Party to censor nudity, MiM added.

Executive Director of MiM Dawn Hawkins said in a statement:

Parents need to know that these games normalize the sexual use, and often abuse, of others. When video games include sexually graphic and degrading themes, the user is not only a voyeur but an active participant in staging the scene. Steam should immediately change its policies to stop hosting such sexually explicit material,

To make matters worse, since Steam implemented an 'anything goes' policy with few exceptions, sexually exploitative games on Steam have skyrocketed, going from just over 700 games tagged for the keyword nudity in 2017 to now 3,911 in 2020.

Netflix has hundreds of TV shows and movies to choose from. That selection also includes many titles that contain extreme graphic sexual content, requiring no automatic barrier to access them.

Furthermore, Netflix has a flimsy ratings system at best, only very recently adding content ratings to the opening screens of any selection. The lack of descriptive content warnings employed by cable television and other streaming services means that movie rated "TV-MA" could have anything from a few swear words to gratuitous and explicit sex scenes.

Due to the nature of streaming, many of Netflix's titles do not have the industry-standard MPAA ratings such as PG or R. Instead, many programs fall under the umbrella of TV-MA, meaning "Mature Audiences". Again, Netflix does not require any other content warnings to be included besides this vague description. Netflix currently has several films that fall under the category of TV-MA, and some are even rated NC-17. Many of the films rated TV-MA were originally released as NC-17 or otherwise have extremely graphic sexual content.

The only way to block this content is for parental controls to be turned on, requiring a PIN for either specific titles or ratings such as TV-MA. Read more about Netflix parental controls here .

If movie theaters don't allow those under 17 to see NC-17 (or even R) rated movies, then why is Netflix making these films available to anyone regardless of age?

Below is a list of films currently offered on Netflix that have either a NC-17 or TV-MA rating for graphic sexual content:

• Love
• Nymphomaniac I and II
• Lust Stories
• Blue is the Warmest Color
• Y Tu Mama Tambíen
• Sex and Lucía
• Below Her Mouth
• Sex Doll
• Fragments of Love
• Love Steaks
• The Little Death
• Immoral Tales
• Desire
• Newness

Morality in Media (now calling themselves the National Center on Sexual Exploitation) writes:

This Friday, Netflix will begin streaming a new show, Baby .

Based loosely on the account of the Baby Squillo scandal, the show portrays a group of teenagers entering into prostitution as a glamorized coming-of-age story. Under international and U.S. federal law, anyone engaged in commercial sex who is under 18 years old is by definition a sex trafficking victim. In the real-life scandal that Baby is based on, the mother of one of the teenagers was arrested for sex trafficking.

In January, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, along with 55 other survivors of sex trafficking and/or subject matter experts, social service providers, and advocates for the abolition of sexual exploitation sent a letter to Netflix executives to express their deep concern regarding Netflix's forthcoming Italian drama, Baby, which normalizes child sexual abuse and the sex trafficking of minors as prostitution.

Despite being at ground zero of the #MeToo movement, Netflix appears to have gone completely tone-deaf on the realities of sexual exploitation, said Dawn Hawkins, executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. Despite the outcry from survivors of sex trafficking, subject matter experts, and social service providers, Netflix promotes sex trafficking by insisting on streaming Baby. Clearly, Netflix is prioritizing profits over victims of abuse.

Erik Barmack, VP of International Originals at Netflix, has previously described the new show as edgy.

There is absolutely nothing edgy about the sexual exploitation of minors. This show glamorizes sexual abuse and trivializes the experience of countless underage women and men who have suffered through sex trafficking.

Show Dogs is a 2018 USA comedy by Raja Gosnell.
Starring Stanley Tucci, Natasha Lyonne and Will Arnett.

Max, a macho, solitary Rottweiler police dog is ordered to go undercover as a primped show dog in a prestigious Dog Show, along with his human partner, to avert a disaster from happening.

The studio behind new family comedy Show Dogs has agreed to a last-minute edit in response to morality groups and bloggers claiming that the film might suggest to children that sexual molestation is something that should be silently endured.

Global Road Entertainment have now confirmed they would be cutting two scenes that some have deemed not appropriate for children. The scenes in question are thought to involve Max, a police rottweiler who has his genitals groped by cop Will Arnett as part of his training to go undercover at dog shows. Initially, Max is upset by the intrusion, but is instructed to go to a zen place. Global Road said:

The company takes these matters very seriously and remains committed to providing quality entertainment for the intended audiences based on the film's rating. We apologise to anybody who feels the original version of Show Dogs sent an inappropriate message. The revised version of the film will be available for viewing nationwide starting this weekend.

In the US, Morality in the Media, now going by the name National Center on Sexual Exploitation, flagged the film for the similarity of tactics used with Max and abusers grooming children, telling them to pretend they are somewhere else and that they will get a reward for withstanding the discomfort.

In the UK, the film was seen by the BBFC some weeks ago and was passed PG uncut. The UK and Irish distributors intend to stick with the BBFC/IFCO approved uncut version. A spokesman for Entertainment One said:

We are taking the BBFC/IFCO guidance on this matter in the UK and Ireland and will be releasing the original version that has been censored and reviewed.

The BBFC said in a statement that:

The scenes in question are entirely innocent and non-sexual and occur within the clear context of preparation for and judging in a dog show. We regard the comments made about the film as suggesting 'grooming' as a misinterpretation of the scenes in question.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, Chief Censor David Shanks made the unusual decision to call the film in for review following a number of complaints. Normally, films rated G or PG arrive in New Zealand without requiring a localised classification. Shanks said in a statement:

We understand the film's distributors are currently re-editing this film in response to public concern. We can confirm that the version distributed in New Zealand will be classified, regardless of any edits made prior to release, the office said in a statement.

Update: Resubmitted to the MPAA

30th May 2018. See  article from  strangethingsarehappening.com

In the latest rating bulletin, the MPAA have confirmed that the film has been resubmitted after cuts.

It has again been PG rated for suggestive and rude humor, language and some action.

Update: Collective Shout recommends Show Dogs and kindly details the US cuts

5th June 2018. See  article from melindatankardreist.com

Open Letter to Australian Cinemas: Don't screen Show Dogs movie

We are writing to you in regards to the children's film Show Dogs, due for release 5 July. Upon its release in the US, it attracted substantial criticism from parents and child advocates over concerns of grooming children for sexual abuse.

The film tells the story of a police dog going undercover at a dog show. There are reportedly several scenes in which the dog, Max, has to have his genitals inspected. When he is uncomfortable and wants to stop he is told to go to a zen place. When he submits and allows his genitals to be touched, he is rewarded by advancing to the next level of the show.

In response to the global backlash, the production company withdrew the film, promising to re-cut it to remove the scenes in question. The film has been re-released, however the scenes remain, with only the encouragement to go to a zen place (essentially, to dissociate) being removed. The meaning remains intact, that unwanted sexual touching is to be endured and may be rewarded.

The film sends a disturbing and dangerous message to children about sexual touching. In Australia, one in five children are thought to be victims of sexual abuse. This film undermines efforts in prevention and education to address the scourge of child sexual abuse.

Collective Shout: for a world free from sexploitation is calling on Australian cinemas to take a stand against child sexual abuse and refuse to screen the film. We hope that cinemas will be prepared to take a role of leadership in the community, to stand up for the rights of children and refuse to profit from this film.

According to the moralist campaigners of Morality in Meda, Walmart has removed copies of Cosmopolitan magazine from check out aisles. Morality in Media crows:

That's are over 6,000 stores where families and individuals will no longer be automatically exposed to Cosmo's hypersexualized and degrading article titles that regularly promote pornography, sexting, BDSM, group sex, anal sex, and more, all while marketing toward young teens with Disney star cover models.

We at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation have been working behind the scenes with Walmart for months regarding this policy improvement, and applaud Walmart for making their checkout aisles family-friendly and sexploitation-free.

The US moralist campaign Morality in Media, which now likes to call itself The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, is recommending the Steam games distribution website for its selection of sexy games. The group spouts:

Steam is a popular distribution platform, owned by Valve Corporation, which sells thousands of video games for PC, Mac, Linux box, mobile device, or even televisions, in addition to connecting gamers with community forums on its website.

Despite hosting approximately 35 million users who are minors, Steam also facilitates video games that promote themes of sexual violence, exhibitionism, and rape.

When videogames include sexually graphic and degrading themes the user is not only a voyeur but an active participant in staging the scene. As our society suffers from the consequences of campus sexual assault, military sexual assault, and rising child-on-child sexual abuse, we see that normalizing the sexual use (and often abuse) of others in videogames is irresponsible on the corporate and social level.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation urges Steam® and its parent company Valve® to do the following:

1. Remove the game House Party due to its singularly degrading and exploitive themes.
2. Create an 18+ category on its website where all games with any amount of nudity or sexual content are stored. All accounts should have this 18+ category disabled by default, and require an extensive opt-in to view it so that children are no longer automatically exposed to this content.
3. Institute a more robust policy enforcement against selling games that normalize or glamorize sexual exploitation in the future, no matter the age of the user.

Morality campaigners from Morality in Media (or the National Center on Sexual Exploitation as they like to be called now) are gushing with praise for a new cable TV programme from HBO. The campaign group writes:

HBO's television series The Deuce continues the premium cable television network's onslaught of programs that glorify and normalize harmful sexual behaviors, particularly acts of sexual exploitation that degrade women. The show's main themes -- the pornography industry and prostitution -- tee up its producers for gratuitous pornographic scenes and disturbing, graphic sexual content.

Notable incidents:

• Scene where pimps are hanging out on the street getting shoe shines; two little boys are hanging out with them looking at Playboy;
• Franco's character is walking down the street, sees a man in a phone booth getting a blow job from a prostitute, you see the man's penis in the scene;
• Graphic sex scene between a student and her professor, she's topless throughout;
• Franco's character makes the women at the restaurant he manages start wearing black leotards as their "uniform" in order to attract customers;
• A group of male teenagers come to Times Square by car to treat their friend (it's his birthday -- presumably his 18 th ) to sex. They are all pooling their funds so that he can have sex.
• In another scene, another prostitute appears to be viciously attacked. As she is unlocking the door to her room, a man follows, passes by, but then comes back as she enters the room. He grabs her head and shoves her in the room, throws her on the bed, slaps her across the face and starts undoing his pants. She's trying to kick him off. It's clear he's going to rape her. The scene ends. Later the show returns to the scene after the attack. He is sitting naked in a chair, she's on the sitting on the bed, breasts exposed. It becomes clear that the "rape" was a fetishized act that he paid for. Because he was really rough with her, he pays more. He gets up from the chair to get dressed, and his penis is clearly seen. Also full rear nudity;
• Near the end, we see Franco having sex with a woman who works with him from the restaurant. Full rear nudity of Franco. It's a very pornographic scene. When they finish you see the woman's breasts;

AT&T developed a product for spying on all its customers and made millions selling it to warrantless cops

AT&T's secret Hemisphere product is a database of calls and call-records on all its customers, tracking their location, movements, and interactions -- this data was then sold in secret to American police forces for investigating crimes big and small (even Medicare fraud), on the condition that they never reveal the program's existence.

The gag order that came with the data likely incentivized police officers to lie about their investigations at trial -- something we saw happen repeatedly in the case of Stingrays, whose use was also bound by secrecy demands from their manufacturers. Because the data was sold by AT&T and not compelled by government, all of the Hemisphere surveillance was undertaken without a warrant or judicial review (indeed, it's likely judges were never told the true story of where the data being entered into evidence by the police really came from -- again, something that routinely happened before the existence of Stingray surveillance was revealed).

The millions given to AT&T for its customers' data came from the federal government under the granting program that also allowed city and town police forces to buy military equipment for civilian policing needs. Cities paid up to a million dollars a year for access to AT&T's customer records.

A statement of work from 2014 shows how hush-hush AT&T wants to keep Hemisphere:

The Government agency agrees not to use the data as evidence in any judicial or administrative proceedings unless there is no other available and admissible probative evidence.

But those charged with a crime are entitled to know the evidence against them come trial. Adam Schwartz, staff attorney for activist group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that means AT&T may leave investigators no choice but to construct a false investigative narrative to hide how they use Hemisphere if they plan to prosecute anyone.

EFF is suing the US government to reveal DoJ records on the use of Hemisphere data.

Morality in Media are gushing over a new HBO TV series Westworld based n the novel by Michael Chrichton. The campaign group writes:

HBO is building a legacy of rape culture entertainment. The new HBO series, Westworld , premiered Sunday night and wasted no time before building upon this new great tradition in television of commodifying and consuming the female body.

The first episode of HBO's latest series, Westworld , contains a reference to the raping of a corpse, uses brothels as a backdrop for full frontal nudity, and includes a disturbing rape scene.

Why does HBO insist on making sadistic themes of sexual violence against women the key ingredient in its entertainment formula? No corporation that so regularly promotes the degradation and abuse of the female body can respect women.

Actress Evan Rachel Wood spoke out about the violence against women in Westworld. She stated:

We don't actually show any violence against women, although it is implied...(Co-creator) Lisa (Joy) was very passionate about not showing gratuitous violence against women and I think the reason why it's in the show is to push us to take a look at ourselves and humanity and why this sort of thing is an epidemic that people get pleasure out of.

Of course, there is nothing implied about a scene in which a woman is brutally struck across the face--not once, but twice--and grabbed her by the back of her dress and literally dragged dozens of feet across the ground while she screams in terror. If being hit, a drug off screaming isn't violence against women I don't know what is.

While it's true that Westworld did not explicitly show the rape scene (making it marginally less offensive than Game of Thrones ) the makers of Westworld are kidding themselves if they believe they're providing social commentary on violence against women in the media. Rather than providing insightful, empathetic, narrative around these themes, Westworld uses them for the end of titillation and entertainment.

Game The campaign group Morality in Media now calls itself The National Center on Sexual Exploitation.  For some reason the group feels compelled to whinge about the incredibly popular TV sensation, Game of Thrones :

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) held a press conference calling on HBO executives to stop promoting pornified entertainment in the TV series Game of Thrones.  Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation said:

Game of Thrones has excelled in turning brutal sexual violence into mainstream entertainment,. Since 2011, HBO has relentlessly brought the ambiance of torture pornography into American living rooms through Game of Thrones' explicit depictions of rape, incest, prostitution, and sexual violence. This cocktail of pornography and twisted plot lines must be denounced as socially irresponsible, especially in an age when American society is struggling to combat the crises of sexual assault and rape culture.

While the 6th season premiere refrained from explicit sexually violent content due to backlash from the last season's gratuitous rape scenes, one episode does not constitute a trend -- the show runners must consistently work to prove that Game of Thrones is no longer dedicated to normalizing sexual violence, Hawkins continued. Some associated with the Game of Thrones franchise have claimed that scenes depicting sexual violence merely represent real-to-life, historic scenarios, but it is clear that the show's creators are fixated on producing unjustifiably sexually graphic scenes, Hawkins continued. In stark contrast, films like The Shawshank Redemption and The Color Purple manage to convey the gravity of rape in a plotline without exploiting it in a way that is salacious or dehumanizing. Game of Thrones, however, has consistently crossed the line of decency by grotesquely depicting rape, incest, prostitution, and sexual violence in a manner that turns viewers into vicarious participants. For its incessant themes of sexual violence, Game of Thrones would be more aptly named Shame of Thrones.

The US morality campaign group, Morality in Media, now calls itself the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. It has now published a couple or reports to be sent to the UN ludicrously claiming that prostitution and pornography are somehow forms of torture. The moralists write:

The United Nations must recognize that all individuals have an inherent right to be free from the sexual exploitation, objectification, and violence which are inherently found in prostitution and pornography.

The experiences of physical, mental, and verbal abuse commonly experienced in both pornography and prostitution are consistent with torture and should be addressed accordingly. This is why the National Center on Sexual Exploitation submitted two important reports to help inform the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, as he formulates a thematic report on gender perspectives on torture. These documents, The Gender-Based Torture Found in the Pornography Industry and On a Street Corner Near You: Pimps as Practitioners of Torture, addressed research and precedent in international codes that the UN ought to apply to a formal recognition of pornography and prostitution as forms of torture.

Due to the advent of the Internet, the problem of pornography has especially escalated to a pervasive and globe scale. An individual in Africa can watch the torture of an American woman, while someone in Germany can be downloading the digital evidence of sexual abuse that occurred in the Middle East.

One of the world's largest pornographic websites recently released an annual review that revealed statistics on porn consumption by country. By percentage of traffic, the United States was the primary consumer of the videos, followed by the U.K., India, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico. The violent and sexualized torture that is inherently part of the nature of pornography must be recognized on an international level.

The treatment experienced by female pornography performers and prostituted persons is often identical to the treatment of women who are recognized as torture victims. It is therefore time for the United Nations to take a stand, and to fight for the dignity of all.

Morality in Media seem to be the main organisers behind the campaign. You'd think the world has a few more pressing issues than worrying about people enjoying adult entertainment, but there you go. Morality in Media describe the campaign:

The National White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Week brings together hundreds of national, state and local groups, along with driven concerned citizens in a massive effort to educate the public on the harms from pornography and the many resources available to aid those affected. National WRAP Week always starts the last Sunday of October.

The US morality campaign group, Morality in Media (now misleading calling itself the National Center for Sexual Exploitation), is campaigning for US retailers to cover up the magazine. The group whinges:

Cosmopolitan Magazine glamorizes things like public, anal, group, or violent sex in nearly all of their issues. We are asking that Cosmo be sold to adults only and have the cover wrapped like all other porn magazines in retail shops.

This staple of the supermarket checkout line is as pornographic as Playboy magazine. While it may not have many nude pictures (though they have started throwing them into recent issues), this publication has steadily declined from a somewhat inspirational women's magazine to a verbally pornographic how-to sex guide. Cosmo is leading the way in further desensitizing young women and girls to accept and participate in the pornified and sexually violent culture around them.

Pornography desensitizes and entices the user to try harder and more deviant material. Cosmo, like Playboy, Hustler and other mainstream porn, is trying hard to keep up with this fact by writing even more provocative and explicit articles. Common themes of the last year include repeatedly inviting women to participate in anal, oral, public, and violent torture sex and each issue tauts that it has more and better sex tips than the previous issue.

In recent years, Cosmo has started to blatantly target young girls to expand their audience and increase profits. Many of their covers feature teen idols, meant to entice young girls into buying the magazine. They include feature stories from Disney stars and teen icons. A search of #MyCosmo or #CosmoGirl on social media yields pictures, tweets and comments from teen girls around the world gushing about trying Cosmo's tips and trying to be like women of Cosmo Magazine.

Join us in the fight to get supermarkets and other family-oriented stores to put wrappers on Cosmo Magazine and to stop selling it to children and teens.

In response a few US retailers agreed to cover up Cosmopolitan. All stores owned by Rite Aid and Delhaize America (Food Lion and Hannaford Stores) agreed to censor the latest issue of the magazine.

The campaign was initiated in April by Victoria Hearst, the born-again Christian granddaughter of the Hearst Corporation founder. The campaign aims to force all retailers to censor the publication, and also stop selling it to under 18s. And bizarrely Cosmopolitan is owned by the Hearst Corporation.

The christian morality campaign group, One Million Moms, gushes over a new TV sitcom:

It is almost impossible to describe the depth of depravity found in the new TV Land sitcom, Younger . It airs on Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET/9:00 CT.

This new program is horrendous. Younger is the new version of Desperate Housewives or Sex in the City , which doesn't come as a surprise since it is written, produced, and directed by Darren Star (Sex and the City).

TV Land network describes the show in these words:

Younger follows 40-year-old Liza, a suddenly single mother who tries to get back into the working world, only to find out it's nearly impossible to start at the bottom at her age. When a chance encounter with a 20-something guy at a bar convinces her she looks younger than she is, Liza tries to pass herself off as 26 not only to land her dream job but also to date a much younger guy.

Every scene is filled with sexual innuendos, implications, or encounters. It is impossible to list them all, so here are a few scenes from this TV-14 rated show:

• Pixelated nudity
• Woman is completely topless during lunch at outdoor café
• "Topless Tuesday" = a slogan for women's empowerment
• Gives vagina pep talks
• Graphic bedroom scenes
• Excessive alcohol consumption
• Homosexual attraction
• Main character helps friend remove feminine product stuck inside her

This comedy is anything but funny!

US morality campaigners, Morality in Media (Mim), have had a pop at Verizon over a video on demand system that offers hardcore programming.

Verizon have a fibre optic service called FiOS which bundles TV and internet access. It offers a wide range of films available on demand.

Morality In Media have noticed that a few titles that reference incest and teens, but of course are just playing acting, and feature only adults with proof of age documents strictly maintained on record.

MiM noted titles like I Banged My Stepdad, Mom, Daughter and Me , and Pigtail Teens Pounded that are featured on FiOS. Patrick A. Trueman, Morality in Media's president, wrote in a letter to Verizon:

Verizon should not be profiting from child sex fantasy videos. In fact Verizon should not profit from pornography at alld. America's children and families are suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography and since Verizon became a leading porn distributor, it is responsible for much of that harm.

In a letter to MIM, Verizon's Associate Director for Advertising and Content Standards John P. Artney defended the company's choice to provide the content, noting that consumers today have extraordinary choice in and control over the content available to them across these networks:

The explosion in choice is a tremendous benefit to consumers, but not all consumers want to have access to all content for themselves and their families all of the time. Not all content is desirable to or appropriate for all consumers, however, and Verizon is proud to provide our customers with myriad tools to control the types of content that they and their families have access to through our service.

Trueman was unsurprisingly unimpressed by Verizon's reply and responded:

Verizon needs to show some corporate responsibility. America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography and that harm falls particularly hard on children, he told FOX411. We are coordinating with the members of our coalition, numbering 146 groups across the U. S., to alert the public to Verizon's pornography distribution. We have notified the board of Verizon through letters of our position on Verizon's distribution of pornography. We will publish responses from the board and will continue to press and shame the board if no action is taken.

Morality in Media announces the 2014 Dirty Dozen List , a compilation of the leading facilitators of pornography in America.

Patrick A. Trueman, President of Morality in Media said:

Once again Attorney General Eric Holder tops our Dirty Dozen List for his support of pornographers over children and families. As the pandemic of harm from pornography grows, Holder gives criminal pornographers the green light to proceed by stopping all enforcement of federal obscenity laws.

Among others, the latest List includes the social networking site Tumblr for its embrace of pornographic offerings, PlayStation for it's live streamed pornography and sexually violent games, and Verizon for its FIOS TV porn offerings including many with child or teen themes, sexual slavery plots, and racial overtones.

The full list includes:

• Attorney General Eric Holder -- Mr. Holder refuses to enforce existing federal obscenity laws against hardcore adult pornography, despite the fact that these laws have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and effectively enforced by previous attorneys general.

• Verizon -- Verizon pushes porn into our homes now through hardcore pay-per-view movies on FIOS, smartphones, and tablets and as an Internet Service Provider with insufficient filtering options.

• Sex Week -- Yale and other colleges and universities repeatedly offer Sex Week on campus. Porn stars are routinely invited to lecture and pornography that glamourizes fantasy rape is screened.

• Playstation -- PlayStation's live-streaming abilities are filling thousands of homes with live porn and the PlayStation Store sells hundreds of pornographic and sexually violent games.

• Facebook -- Facebook has become a top place to trade pornography, child pornography and for sexual exploitation. Facebook's guidelines prohibit such behavior, but the company is doing little to enforce them.

• Barnes & Noble -- This Fortune 500 Company is a major supplier of adult pornography and child erotica. They regularly put pornography near the children's sections in their stores and provide free, unfiltered porn publications on their Nook e-reader.

• Hilton -- This hotel chain, like Hyatt, Starwood and many other top hotel chains, provides hardcore pornography movie choices. Porn channels are often the first advertisement on their in-room TVs.

• American Library Association -- The ALA encourages public libraries to keep their computers unfiltered and allow patrons, including children, to access pornography.

• Google -- Google's empire thrives on porn. Porn is easily available, even to children, through YouTube, GooglePlay, Google Images and Google Ads.

• Tumblr -- This popular social media blogging site bombards users with porn. Users must only be 13 and the filters do not work.

• 50 Shades of Gray -- This bestselling book series and upcoming movie are normalizing sexual violence, domination, and torture of women. Oprah Winfrey Network, Broadway and other mainstream outlets have even promoted this abusive lifestyle.

• Cosmopolitan Magazine -- The magazine is a full-on pornographic, how-to sex guide, encouraging women to accept the pornified culture around them. They specifically market this content to teen girls.