The Popularity of Hentai Requires A Call to Action Against the Porn Industry

Pornhub’s Year in Review 2022 showed that “hentai” is the most popular search term on the site. Hentai — pornographic cartoons in the style of Japanese anime — depicts child-like characters being sexually abused. In almost every instance, this often extreme violence targets female characters. Studies show that a large percentage of children are introduced to pornography via hentai. It is also argued that hentai encourages adults to see minors — especially girls — as legitimate targets of sexual violence.

In a recent article published by “Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence,” Culture Reframed’s Dr. Gail Dines and Dr. Amanda Sanchez discuss the dangers of hentai and the pornification of childhood. In describing hentai, Dr. Dines and Dr. Sanchez say, “At first glance, hentai looks like it might have been plucked from the Cartoon Network. But the genre is rife with graphic sexual violence…The sexual violence in hentai is so extreme that in real life, it would result in the bloody harm and death of the women and children so victimized.”

Coinciding with Pornhub’s Year in Review, a study by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) examined cartoons and animations depicting the sexual abuse of child-like characters. According to the study, “children aged 6-12 are disproportionately exposed to pornography sites specializing in non-photographic content.” Hentai is an ideal example. In January 2023, Pornhub hosted more than 109,000 hentai videos, some drawing more than five million views. It’s also worth noting that at the end of 2022, Pornhub was the 13th most-trafficked website worldwide, ahead of Netflix, receiving 2.7 billion visits in November alone.

Dr. Dines and Dr. Sanchez identify four key reasons why hentai is especially concerning:

• It grooms men into seeing children as legitimate sexual targets.
• It puts young people at risk for harm to their mental, sexual, and physical health.
• Hentai seemingly grooms children into becoming adult consumers of porn.
• Much of the content on Pornhub and other major pornography websites depicts legally defined criminal acts of sexual violence, much of which is targeted at women.

Additionally, in light of the popularity of hentai and the BBFC study, they present three imperative steps that must be taken to protect women and children from the harms of the pornography industry:

• Age verification legislation: Porn sites should be legally required to block access to users who do not demonstrate through age assurance and verification that they have reached the age of legal majority. Currently, none of the major porn sites are safely hidden behind paywalls and age gates. They are fully accessible to minors.
• Civil lawsuits: A concerted effort is needed to harness the civil court system to find large porn entities liable for making harmful products available. In the U.S., a new law in Louisiana, effective January 1, 2023, provides “a civil remedy for damages against commercial entities who distribute material harmful to minors.” This type of legislation can be effectively used against pornographic producers and distributors. Our only caveat is that effective laws must cover not just children, but also women harmed by porn.
• Sex education through a porn-critical lens: Sex education is almost entirely ignored in some schools in the U.S. Without it, young people turn to the internet for answers to the questions they have. Online porn becomes their sex education. The teaching of comprehensive, age-appropriate, and accurate sex education at all levels of the educational system must be legally mandated. The curricula must be fully inclusive of all children and cover not only health and safety but an in-depth analysis of the harms of pornography.

Read the full article here: Hentai and the Pornification of Childhood: How the Porn Industry Just Made the Case for Regulation