2023 Year in Review

Addressing the Issue of Pornography and Its Impact on Young People

Since its inception in 2015, Culture Reframed has been working to address the issue of pornography and its impact on young people with a holistic and forward-thinking approach. The pornography crisis has been unfolding for many years, but it is only recently that we have begun to see a substantial shift in society’s perception. This year has been filled with remarkable accomplishments and recognition of the power of our work.

The ease of access to pornography has widespread consequences for young people’s safety, mental health, and relationships, and society is beginning to take notice. Our work is making a difference.

In January of 2023, to kick off a pivotal year, Culture Reframed Founder & President Dr. Gail Dines was recognized among the 10 most influential women in sociology. In the months that followed, our team traveled around the world to participate in more than 20 conferences where we shared research, learned from others, and developed incredible partnerships to help build our movement to protect young people from the harms of pornography.

Our team was featured in a number of publications on topics ranging from Dr. Dines’ role in the rollout of U.S. age verification porn laws to the degradation of OnlyFans and how to talk to children about pornography. This was in addition to a variety of content authored by our team of experts — from news articles to opinion pieces to detailed scientific reports.

With our website relaunch in the summer of 2023, we reintroduced the first-of-its-kind online Academic Library. This unique and invaluable resource is designed for researchers, academics, and policymakers worldwide. It is the only centralized digital resource with over 500 peer-reviewed articles since the early 2000s about the harms of pornography.

Here, we reflect on the culmination of our work this year and highlight four major themes that were represented in our efforts to stop the emotional, behavioral, and sexual harms of pornography to children and youth.

Educating Parents and Caregivers

It’s not a question of whether kids will see porn but when. Advancements in technology help ensure this unfortunate fact. We make it our mission to educate parents and caregivers about how the pornography industry actually targets kids, the consequences it can have for young people, and how to help them build resilience and resistance to pornography. Here are a few key ways we did this in 2023:

• We presented at events like the Safe Parenting Summit to inform parents and caregivers about the dangers of hypersexualized online content, raise awareness about how young people spend their time online, and highlight the dangers of social media, gaming, and artificial intelligence.
• Dr. Dines and Dr. Mandy Sanchez authored a rigorous analysis of “Hentai and the Pornification of Childhood” that was published in Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence. They exposed the dangers of this extremely popular, overly sexualized anime and called for age verification legislation to protect young people.
• Our staff members were guests on six podcasts:
  • Dr. Dines joined I Am My Passion Project for a conversation on pornified culture and the pressures society puts on girls and women.
  • Hold Me Back featured Dr. Dines in a conversation about how the ease of access to explicit pornography is affecting tween and teen psychological development and Gen Z’s attitude towards sex and intimacy.
  • Dr. Sanchez joined The Heartful Parent podcast to share the shocking truth about the connection between social media, the gaming world, and the porn industry.
  • On Healthy Screen Habits, Dr. Dines shared parenting tips on how to talk about pornography with children and resources to combat this public health crisis.
  • Dr. Sanchez joined The Turning Point to talk about pornography, sexual abuse, prostitution, and more.
  • As a guest on Subject to Power, Dr. Dines took listeners through the evolution of porn — from Hugh Hefner to Girls Gone Wild to OnlyFans and how society can build resistance to the pornification of our lives.
• We partnered with the parental control app Canopy to offer parents and educators an internet safety tool we believe will have a significant impact on reducing youth porn exposure. Through this partnership, we also co-created content to promote digital wellness.
• Additionally, we partnered with Digital4Good to amplify one another’s work. Their mission aligns with ours — we both stand strong in our commitment to expanding digital citizenship education (training to educators and students worldwide), promoting digital literacy, and ensuring a safe and positive online environment for youth. We recognize the critical need for digital safety and wellness for young people, especially to protect them from the harms of hypersexualized media and pornography.

Protecting Women and Girls from Violence and Human Trafficking

Pornography creates a culture of violence and exploitation of women and girls. Most pornographic content is degrading and objectifying — 88% of porn scenes contain violent images and the violence is almost always directed at women.

Throughout 2023, our team presented at several conferences on human trafficking to expose its link to pornography, including the Ottawa Coalition to End Human Trafficking Conference, U.S. Sisters Against Human Trafficking, Mohave County Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence Coalition Conference, the Rotary Club Community Action Against Human Trafficking, and the Net Anti-Trafficking Organization Conference.

Notable presentations include:

• In March, Dr. Dines and Dr. Sanchez presented at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) event in New York City. In “Pornography and/as Misogyny: How Pornography Drives Violence Against Women,” they explored how the normalization of pornography leads to an unprecedented increase in sexual violence.
• Dr. Dines presented “Growing up in a Porn Culture: Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Effects and a Public Health Solution” at the Thames Valley Police Violence Against Women and Girls Conference in May in Reading, UK. The event featured presentations from policing and partner agencies who shared how they can work together to protect women and girls.
• Dr. Dines was also one of several experts presenting at the International Human Trafficking & Social Justice Conference in an effort to lay the groundwork for future collaborative research, advocacy, and program development.

Supporting Porn-Critical Sex Education

With only three states in the U.S. requiring that schools teach age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education, porn has become the de facto sex ed for young people. This year, we were proud to launch our porn-critical sex education curriculum to address the need for comprehensive, developmentally appropriate sex education in schools. The curriculum is designed for educators and other professionals who teach sex education to young people, specifically ages 13 and up.

Today’s sex education generally ignores the reality that most young people are exposed to pornography and that their attitudes and behaviors are shaped by the messages in porn. Our porn-critical sex education curriculum helps ensure kids develop healthy, respectful, and egalitarian views of sex and intimacy throughout their lives.

In December, Dr. Sanchez attended the National Sex Ed Conference in Washington, D.C., to meet others supporting and fighting for proper sex education for young people.

Supporting Medical Professionals and Caregivers

In November, we hosted a virtual conference, “The Impact of Pornography on Young People: Research, Practice & Solutions.” Nearly 400 individuals from all over the world attended. The conference featured doctors, psychologists, and front-line child protection professionals who shared emerging research and first-hand experience identifying pornography consumption as a driver of child sexual abuse.

The idea for the conference was borne of our work this year with Children’s Advocacy Centers (CAC) across the U.S. In collaboration with Dr. Amelia Siders of the Western Regional CAC and the Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital, we formed a multidisciplinary task force comprising 25+ front-line child protection professionals from CAC Multidisciplinary Teams, the national and international SANE Nurses and Forensic Nurses Associations, and allied healthcare professions.

Heidi Olson, MSN, RN, CPH, SANE-P, a national expert on pornography’s role in child sexual assault, is co-leading this initiative together with Dr. Sanchez. Olson, recently introduced as Culture Reframed’s first clinical consultant, has led groundbreaking work in sounding the alarm about pornography’s influence on child-on-child sexual assault cases. With vast knowledge and decades of experience, her skill set enables us to build a more robust understanding of the needs of frontline professionals.

Looking Ahead to 2024

In 2024 we will continue forging important collaborations to advance alternative cultural messages that protect children from the social, emotional, cognitive, and sexual harms of porn. Together with our partners, we will develop new materials, resources, and best practices to equip those who care for children with the tools they need to respond to pornography’s ubiquitous presence. We look forward to a safe digital world for children, where the harms of hypersexualized media and pornography no longer threaten their well-being.

Our team of experts works tirelessly to eradicate the public health crisis of young people’s exposure to pornography. Thanks to the generosity of donors, we can continue to create renowned programs and resources for parents and educators that are made free and available to all. Please consider making a donation to support our work.