It was necessary to “to shock consciences”in order to “break down this wall of indifference” surrounding the sordid reality of the pornographic world, assumes Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette, president of the High Council for Equality between Women and Men (HCE). With its report “Pornocriminality. Let’s put an end to the impunity of the pornography industry”, the objective has been achieved. This shock work, which must be officially handed over on Wednesday September 27 to Bérangère Couillard, the minister responsible for gender equality, provides a terrifying overview.
For more than a year, the HCE’s “violence against women” commission looked into videos offered to Internet users who are porn fans. She organized numerous hearings, identified existing literature and conducted a study, in March, on four pornographic platforms (PornHub, Xhamster, Xvideos, Xnxx). More than 230 pages reproduce these investigations, accompanied by a cry of alarm from the HCE, which hears “warning of serious attacks on human dignity and the serious consequences of the unlimited and illegal dissemination of this sexual content”.
Physical violence, verbal attacks and, in many cases, acts of torture and barbarity… The content offered is full of images that are not only shocking and demeaning for women (the vast majority) but are also punishable by criminal sanctions under the law. French legislation, denounces the HCE.
The consultative body, responsible for guiding the government’s policy on equality, echoes the comments of Laure Beccuau, public prosecutor of Paris. Heard by the Senate, which had devoted, in September 2022, the first parliamentary report, entitled “Behind the scenes”, on this subject, the magistrate considered that “90% of pornographic content contains physical or verbal violence, and is therefore criminally reprehensible”. “Our report is intended to deepen and extend that of the Senate”specifies Mme Pierre-Brossolette.
“Women tortured, asphyxiated”
By carrying out a search on four sites distributing such content in France, the HCE counted 70,118 videos under the keyword ” surprise “13,898 below that of ” torture “. At least 1.4 million videos containing sadistic practices have been identified. We find there “women tortured by electrocution, women asphyxiated in plastic bags, women screaming in pain”. However, in these videos accessible in just a few clicks, the actions are not simulated. It’s a “frightening reality: a significant part of the pornographic videos broadcast are videos of filmed rapes, “revenge porn”, or they were obtained by coercion in sexual exploitation networksunderlines the report. The suffering is perfectly visible and at the same time eroticized”.
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