Early exposition to pornography leads to more demand for prostitution

On Thursday 1 June, a group of organisations working against the exploitation of women attended the first screening in France of Buying Her, by Exodus Cry. A poignant film about men who buy sexual services, and the links between pornography, prostitution and trafficking.

In the presence of around fifty participants, Helen Taylor, Exodus Cry’s Vice-President of Impact, introduced the evening and congratulated France on being one of only eight countries in the world to penalise clients of prostitution.

Alongside Thérèse Hargot (therapist, sexologist and lecturer), Amandine Mansoni (member of the Alliance de l'Espérance and social expert at the Ministry of the Interior) and Benjamin Nolot (producer and director of the documentary), Franck Meyer (President of the Protestant Committee for Human Dignity), spoke about the 2016 law penalising the clients of prostitution, its advances and its limitations.

The 2016 law represents a complete change of perspective, since prostituted women are no longer considered as criminals but as victims. This means that these women can be taken care of as part of the process of leaving prostitution, as Amandine Mansoni explained, even if the law is not applied uniformly across the country.

The CPDH has been working for many years to highlight the links between the consumption of pornography, the purchase of prostitution and human trafficking, as demonstrated by the film Buying Her. In 2020, the evangelical group took part in a campaign against major pornographic sites that feature victims of human trafficking.

In the light of the testimonies of these male clients of prostitution, Thérèse Hargot stressed the trauma of early exposure to pornography.

On the same day that a study by Arcom was published showing that a third of under-18s consult at least one porn site every month, a concern was expressed about the phenomenon of prostitution of minors, caused by access to pornography. The CPDH has already issued an alert to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in December 2022.

As producer and director Benjamin Nolot pointed out, in line with the OSCE’s recommendations, there is an urgent need to act on the demand for sexual services to combat violence, exploitation and human trafficking. Together, men and women, can change the culture that exploits women’s bodies and holds humanity hostage to this violence, he said.