Why is porn the exception?
We have talked many times about how poverty and lack of education are significant pillars for trafficking and exploitation. However, we also know from the SHE Rescue Home girls that pornography is another pillar that enables sexual abuse and is used to groom young girls into sexual exploitation (find out more here).
There are so many insidious and horrific sides to the pornography industry but today we want to highlight racism in pornography. Somehow racism is still acceptable in porn!
Asian girls are fetishised in pornography as ‘exotic’, ‘obedient’, ‘small and flexible’ and ‘desperate to be taken care. Asian women are also sexualised as ‘looking young’. There are instances of pedophiles excusing their abuse of children claiming ‘Asian women always look young - How was I to know how old they were?’ The sexual abuse of young girls in Cambodia is found in pornography websites in categories of Asian women because of the racist lie that all Asian women look underage. These fetishised stereotypes take away the complex humanity inherent in every woman and child filmed in pornography. When these women and girls are only viewed through a sexual lens and not one that acknowledges their humanity, the abuse they suffer is justified as entertainment.
When Asian women of ANY age are sexualised, they become objects available to purchase, use and abuse. There is a reason so many pedophiles, rapists and abusers travel to countries like Cambodia. They know that their abuse of women there will be swept under the rug as entertainment. Addressing these problematic and dangerous attitudes is important because prevention of exploitation goes hand in hand with creating a better society for survivors. When we change the way people think of exploitation and stop excusing it as a preference, we can start shifting the cultural narrative around abuse.
In many girls’ traumatic experiences of trafficking and exploitation, pornography is used as a tool of abuse and grooming. Girls are shown pornography from a very young age to normalise sexual behaviour and create the story in their mind that girls and women who look like them are only valuable as sex objects.
The work we do is an active stand against all that is involved in the pornography industry. No one should ever have to be treated in ways that this industry allows and encourages. The trauma and hurt from this abuse is why we are so committed to rescuing and restoring girls and fighting the culture and the roots of sexual crimes. Join us and donate today to help end sexual exploitation.
