“90% of pornographic scenes involve violence.”
This is the finding made in a damning report on the pornography industry, to which
Le Monde
,
AFP and
France
Info
.
This 140-page document, presented by four senators - Alexandra Borchio-Fontimp (LR), Laurence Cohen (PC), Laurence Rossignol (PS) and Annick Billon (UCI) - Wednesday September 28, required six months of work and ten hours of hearings with players in the sector.
It follows in particular the “French Bukkake” case, in which a dozen people have been the subject of legal proceedings since 2020, for aggravated human trafficking, gang rape and aggravated pimping.
"Complément d'Enquête" is also preparing to broadcast, this Thursday, September 29 at 11 p.m., a program devoted to the ravages of this environment, in which actresses will testify in particular.
Read alsoFeminist porn: alternative porn or vast scam?
An "electroshock"
The objective of the four elected?
“Provoke an electric shock”, and allow everyone “to finally open their eyes to this system of violence”, declared Laurence Rossignol in the columns of
Le Monde
.
“Sexual, physical and verbal violence is massively widespread in porn, taking on a systemic nature, write in particular the senators of the delegation for women’s rights.
They are not simulated but very real for the women filmed.
They thus denounce the rapes, the forced practices, or even pimping, which take place in this environment.
According to the rapporteurs, "producers are not afraid to exploit the economic and psychological vulnerability of young, even very young women, and to carry out filming in deplorable conditions".
To the point that a victim would, in particular, be seen forced to "eat the dog's food", relates
Public Sénat
.
In video, a New Zealand ad features two naked actors to educate parents about the dangers of pornography
“Systemic violence”
The authors of the senatorial report, entitled
Porno: the hell of the decor
, thus rose up against these productions “which reach the paroxysm of violence
”.
They made 23 recommendations to combat abuses in this sector.
The quartet first draws up an alarming observation: since the mid-2000s, porn consumption has exploded, even as this industry “generates systemic violence against women”.
The text enjoins informing consumers of the “conditions in which most pornographic filming takes place”, and “the sordid undersides of this predatory industry”.
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The Me Too of pornography
During their hearings, the senators confirmed that recruiters in the community target young, precarious and psychologically fragile women, and often force them to sign non-regulatory employment contracts.
Not to mention the practices to which they sometimes have to submit.
“The modus operandi is always the same: it consists in raping the first time to submit the victims”, argued lawyer Lorraine Questiaux, heard by the delegation.
Senator Annick Billon thus insisted on the fact that "everyone" had to "integrate" the existence of "rape in porn".
The Senate wants the current cases to give rise to a Me Too of pornography, to encourage other victims to file complaints.
The report also recommends training the police in collecting these complaints and setting up the follow-up of their file through a single contact.
He asks to grant more means to investigators and magistrates, and to "make sexual violence committed in a context of pornography an offense of incitement to a criminal offense".
The “right to be forgotten”
The senators also deplore the difficulty for porn actresses to exercise their "right to be forgotten".
When a woman who has suffered violence asks for the deletion of a video in which she appears, the producers would claim between 3000 and 5000 euros, "that is ten times more than the remuneration obtained for the scene shot", can we read in the document.
It is therefore a question, for the authors, of “imposing on broadcasters (…) fines for any dissemination of illegal content”.
They also want the authorities to create a “sexual violence” category in Pharos reports (created to point to illegal online content and behavior) “in order to facilitate and better account for them”.
Children overexposed
The report also deplores the fact that children and adolescents are so exposed to pornography.
According to the text, “two thirds of children under 15 and a third of children under 12 have already had access to pornographic images”, some from primary school.
An exposure whose consequences are multiple: trauma, sleep disorders, eating… The Senate therefore intends to allow the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom, ex-CSA) to administratively sanction accessible porn sites to minors.
The importance of prevention
It also offers to verify the age of Internet users, and that parental control be activated by default when a minor takes out a new telephone subscription.
Finally, the senators recommend focusing on prevention at school.
According to their report, the three annual sessions of education in affective and sexual life, provided for by law since 2001, are not applied.
It would thus be a question of establishing an annual evaluation of the application of the law in each academy.
The report states that “subjects relating to the commodification of bodies and pornography” should be addressed during these interventions.
Hence the need, according to the authors, to recruit trained health professionals.
According to the document, parents should also be made aware of this subject by conducting an information campaign.
For its part, the organization Osez le Féminisme!, a civil party to the upcoming trials, announces the launch of a broad coalition of feminist associations and support and defense for women victims.