On December 5, 2024, the webinar “Pornography: A Danger for Women and Children” was held. The event was organized by the NGO “Democracy Development Center”, the Ministry of Social Policy and the Public Council on Gender Issues (Ukraine). українською мовою
At the beginning of the discussion, the head of the Public Council on Gender Issues at the “Equal Opportunities” IFU, Larysa Kobelyanska, noted that about 1,000 people had registered for the event, and no topic had gathered such a large number of people before, because the topics chosen for the events of this year’s campaign against gender-based violence are extremely important and painful.
Experts were commenting the following topics to discuss:
- Tatiana Kotlyarenko, international expert, the US, former OSCE ODIHR Advisor on Anti-Human Trafficking Issues;
- Yurii Hanushchak, Police Colonel, Head of the 3rd Department (Coordination of Activities) of the Department of International Police Cooperation (DIPC), National Police of Ukraine;
- Anna Zobnina, European Network of Migrant Women;
- Olena Zaitseva, expert, lawyer in international law, Ukraine;
- “Pornography as torture”, Linda McDonald and Jeanne Searson, women’s rights activists, Canada
- “OnlyFans and its dangers”, Julie Bindel, journalist, the UK
- “Pornography is prostitution with a camera”, Melissa Farley, Ph.D., Executive Director, Prostitution Research & Education, US
The webinar was moderated by the gender expert of the NGO “Democracy Development Center”, Maria Dmytrieva. She thanked Tatiana Kotlyarenko, an international expert from the USA, former adviser to the OSCE ODIHR on issues of combating human trafficking, for her participation, because it was Ms. Tatiana who involved her colleagues – internationnal experts – to the events. In turn, Tatiana Kotlyarenko said that since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been a massive increase in online requests for videos of sexual aggression against Ukrainian women. This applies not only to pornographic videos of the occupied territories, where women suffer from the crimes of military occupation, but also pornographic content that involves Ukrainian refugee women, Ukrainian migrant women in the EU, as well as Ukrainian children. That is, the flood of war-affected women and children from Ukraine has become an area of interest for human traffickers, primarily for sexual exploitation and abuse.
The representative of the National Police of Ukraine, police colonel Yurii Hanushchak, noted that as long as the production and distribution of pornographic content is a crime under Ukrainian law, the police officers will fulfill their duties and prevent this activity. However, he noted that in Ukraine this area is not yet as dangerous as in other countries, although Ukraine is already not only the country of origin, of traffic, but also the destination of human trafficking. Also, when qualifying video content, private transmissions should be distinguished from commercial circulation of pornography involving minors, extreme actions, violence, etc. According to the representative of the National Police, this issue needs legislative regulation.
However, the audience saw a video by Ukrainian expert, international law lawyer Olena Zaytseva, in which she talked about attempts to legalize pornography in Ukraine and why similar laws lobbying for porn content are unacceptable. In particular, in November 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered a draft law on the legalization of the production and distribution of porn. It supposedly is for restrictions to protect minors, but in practice it is impossible to provide this protection. Instead, the spread of porn leads to an increase in aggressive attitudes towards women, the involvement of minors in prostitution, and the spread of criminal videos is uncontrolled.
Anna Zobnina, strategic and executive director of the European Network of Migrant Women, noted that she would never recognize any involvement in sexual exploitation as “a job”, noting also that it is difficult to find a Ukrainian refugee or migrant woman in a difficult situation who would not be offered prostitution or pornography by human traffickers. Also, according to her, traffickers in EU countries visit camps for migrant women posing as social workers, they offer transportation services to other countries, housing or other opportunities, and then these women disappear at all and they never return. Porn content always contains elements of violence, and it is a form of human prostitution – only filmed, and the connection between pornography and prostitution is undeniable. This is also stated in a special resolution of the European Parliament. Also, Anna Zobnina notes, the problem is not only with the large platforms of porn content, but with the mass of small platforms where porn content circulates. 80% of the videos are “home videos”, and it is important that many migrant women in a difficult situation are offered to make these videos by their abusive partners.
“Torture is never consent,” emphasized Canadian activists Linda MacDonald and Jeanne Searson. Journalist and feminist Julie Bindel (Great Britain) also spoke about the dangers of the “OnlyFans” platform.
“81% of women involved in porn suffer from PTSD. Pornography is scripted prostitution,” said Melissa Farley, an American feminist and executive director of “Prostitution Research & Education”.
Summing up the event, the moderator Maria Dmytrieva reminded that in Ukraine today no one talks about the impact of porn on the psyche of children, and expressed hope that seeing the international studies will influence the point of view of Ukrainian legislators and law enforcement officers.
Earlier it was reported that the NGO “Center for Democracy Development” implemented an information campaign “What is an Equality Model” (materials are available at links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).