Group 3: Keith, Ka, Ally, Matthew, Natalia

Introduction
The internet has provided a more efficient medium of information exchange and consequently has resulted in an increase of sexual exploitation. Pornographic material that was available only in print form a few decades ago is now readily available to anyone with access to a computer. Not far behind the pornography industry was the child pornography industry. The creation and distribution of child pornography is almost completely facilitated by the internet. Before the inception of the internet, child pornography was easily traceable and therefore far less prevalent. Contributing to the explosion of child pornography was the privacy and anonymity the internet provided. The resulting privacy and anonymity of the internet has also caused an influx in sexual predation. 90% of first contact made between predators and victims occurs on the internet in either a chat room, or a social networking site such as facebook and myspace. The internet has desensitized society and culture to accept things that would previously be unacceptable. This is evident in the outrageous number of people that have either seen or heard of a video of two girls ingesting each other’s bodily wastes. It is also evident in websites devoted entirely to matching up married people to cheat on their spouses. Sexual exploitation due to the internet is an accessible gateway to harmful ideas that can illicit inappropriate action and demoralizes society’s perceptions of sexual boundaries.

Brief History of Pornography
Pornography is defined by Webster’s dictionary as the Creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire. Pornography has always been apparent in society although its origins were related to art. It was first noted in ancient cave paintings, openly portrayed in sculptures and pottery in the Greek and Roman eras, painted by famous artists as Titian and Picasso, discussed by renowned authors like D.H.Lawrence. Yet all were regarded as erotica, or a form of art, not pornography. As time progressed, the distribution of sexual works of art increased with the development of visual and written material, this explosion came about in the 20th century. However since the VCR increased accessibility during the 1970’s and 1980’s more people have been able to view pornography in the comfort of their own home. Since the 1990's, the pornography industry is pushing the envelope by introducing new ideas and features into pornographic works. The propensity of the pornography developers is to produce new things in what many in the industry say to be "unique, and exciting."

Pornography on the internet comes in many different genres

 * • Visual forms such as: pictures, videos etcetera


 * • Homosexual Pornography (people of the same gender engaging in sexual activity)


 * • Heterosexual Pornography (people of different genders engaging in sexual activity)


 * • Group sex Pornography (three members or more involved)


 * • Masturbation Pornography (a single individual pleasures themselves sexually)


 * • Anal (Penetration of the anus for sexual means)


 * • Bondage (Involves one submissive partner and one dominant partner (also known as a dominatrix) sometimes with whips, chains and other instruments)


 * • Ethnic (Differing races partaking in the above activities)

Statistics

 * - Approx. $3,000 is being spent on pornography every second


 * - Approx. 28,000 Internet users are viewing pornography every second


 * - Approx. 370 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines every second


 * - Every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is being created in the U.S. alone


 * - 11 yrs old – average age of first pornography viewing exposure


 * - Largest Consumer age group of Internet pornography is 35-49yrs old

2006 Internet Search Engine Requests

 * 96% of users that searched pornography on a search engine were male.


 * 97% of users that searched free pornography were male.


 * 64% of users that searched adult sex were female.


 * 4.2 million pornographic websites 1.5 billion or 35% of all downloads are pornographic – (per month)


 * 72 million worldwide users visit pornographic sites (per month)


 * 68 million or 25% of total search engine requests are for pornography (daily)


 * 9.4 million women visit adult websites (monthly)

Top Video Pornography Producers

 * The United States ranked first with companies such as Vivid Entertainment, Hustler, Playboy among many others, whereas Canada came in ninth place.


 * In the U.S.A. Adult video sales and rentals went up from 1992’s 405 million distributed to 2006’s 957 million. In 1988 the number of Hardcore Pornography titles released was 1,300 and risen to 13,588 in 2005.

Child Pornography
The Internet has given way to a new wave of child pornography. The easy accessibility and distribution of child pornography on the Internet had many countries tackling a problem they thought was already solved. This forced many countries to update their former laws or for some, to come up with new ones, showing the powerful, yet devastating effect the Internet has.

Canada and the United States were among the first countries to draft and pass child pornography laws. The Child Pornography Prevention Act, legislated in 1996, restricted everything encompassing child pornography; production, possession and distribution. In essence, the Act would punish any act that depicted children in a sexual manner, whether real or virtual. Five years later, members of the pornographic industry formed the Free Speech Coalition and went on to contest the Child Pornography Prevention Act. Their argument was that the Act seriously impeded their right to freedom of speech and that the government’s definition of virtual child pornography was inconsistent and could negatively affect their other activities. The Free Speech Coalition won the lawsuit, dealing severe blows to the Child Pornography Prevention Act. It was hard to discern whether virtual child pornography went hand in hand with real child pornography.

In Canada, similar laws were passed and the same results occurred. John Robin Sharpe was arrested in 1995 on counts of distributing and possessing child pornography. He carried pictures of 14-year old boys engaging in sexual activities and had prepared a whole collection of stories entitled Kiddie Kink Classics. Until 2000, Sharpe inveighed against the Supreme Court of Canada, arguing his pictures had artistic value. The Supreme Court were divided as three judges voted to keep the seven year-old law while the other four elected to abolish some or all parts of the law.

Many of these laws are still in their adolescent years and have already been overturned on many occasions. These laws are not enough and have no power due to the grey area caused by the Internet. There is no line defining what child pornography is and what is not; this is something that has been a stumbling block to convict child pornographers.

Sexual Predation

 * Sexual predation has become a banality in North America due to the internet. Chat rooms and other online locations are where 90% of first contacts are made between sexual predators and children. Unsurprisingly, about 90,000 sex offenders have been identified and removed from MySpace this year. This number was nearly double what had been estimated last year. More than 5,500 convicted sex offenders were removed from the world’s biggest social networking Web site, Facebook, between May 1,2008 and Jan.31, 2009. Unfortunately not all predators are caught in the initial stages of the online contact.

One notable case was the case of Roy Pompa. Roy Pompa was one of the largest traders of internet child pornography in the US. He succeeded in molesting his daughter’s girl friends by adding debilitating narcotics to their drinks while they were in his home for a sleepover with his daughter on September 15, 2008. Once the girls were all unconscious, he continued to molest them and record the events on film. Due to the narcotics issued by Pompa, the girls had no recollection of the aforementioned events.

Stages of sexual predation on the internet

 * Sexual predators begin by contacting unsuspecting children or young adults through online chat rooms or social networking websites. Predators usually pose as young adults or children themselves. The predators then attempt to build relationships with the young people through e-mail or online chat rooms. They might try to teach the young people how to avoid parental controls. As they maintain a stable relationship, the sexual predators will try to show the young people some adult materials and child pornography to make them become interested. Later on, the young people may be encouraged to take sexually explicit photos of themselves or perform sexual acts through web cam by the sexual predators. The last step is the offline contact. After engaging in internet contact for a short time, the potential sex offender will offer to have cell phone conversation with his or her intended victim. They then try to persuade the victims to have a face to face meeting which is considered the most dangerous phase of the process.

Internet Laws for Sexual Predation (USA)

 * The communications Decency Act (CDA): Passed in 1996, the CDA represents Congress’s first attempt to regulate children’s access to sexual explicit material on the Internet.


 * The Child Online Protection Act (COPA): In 1998, a narrower version of the CDA required commercial Web sites to verify proof of age before giving users access to sexually explicit material which considered obscene for minors.


 * The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA): It took effect in April 2001, requiring schools and libraries receiving federal technology funds to install pornography-blocking software on their computers.


 * Sexual Predator Laws: passed in April 2003, child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children.


 * All of these federal laws have been enacted to protect young children from people who lure or attempt to lure them into an offline meeting for the purpose of performing illegal sexual acts or forcing them to provide sexually explicit photos of themselves.

Some Statistics:

 * A U.S. study surveying a nationally representative sample of 1,501 children/youth aged 10-17 who regularly use the Internet found the following results regarding sexual solicitations and exposure to sexual materials.


 * 19% of the children/youth surveyed reported being approached for sex through Internet media at least once a year; 1 in 7 of these children reported that the Internet sex offenders also attempted to contact them by telephone or by mail.


 * 24% of all solicitations and 34% of all aggressive solicitations were made by adults aged 18 and older.


 * 25% of all aggressive threats were made by females.

Obscene Videos
Pornography and other sexual images have become ubiquitous on the internet. These sexual images are shared over the internet by means such as blogs and forums and are dispersed across the world. As a result, the overall human perception towards sexual information has changed over time. Due to this change people have started to accept an increasing amount of what they view on the internet. Subsequently, pornographic producers attempt to expose viewers to ideas and images that are new and revolutionary. This is why videos like the one viewable on www.2girls1cup.com exist.

Two girls one cup
Two girls one cup is just one example of the sexual, viral videos that exist on the internet. This video encompasses two women excreting, and then ingesting fecal matter whilst nude. Many other videos of this nature exist such as two kids in a sandbox, two men and a horse, and four girls finger-paint. All of these videos involve sexual content with an exceedingly outlandish twist. Despite the controversial pornographic nature of these videos, the accessibility users have to the internet has caused this absurdity to be quickly exposed and shared around the world. One does not have to view the video to know about it. There are indirect methods of spreading knowledge that is facilitated by the internet such as communication programs such as MSN or Skype. With these programs, word of mouth is spread more efficiently and with ease. A survey of 100 students (age 18-25) at the University of Calgary was conducted to test whether students were aware of the video on www.2girls1cup.com.

The results indicate that 71 of the 100 people surveyed are aware of the video while a substantially lower number of people refused to reply and only six replied no. These numbers clearly illustrate the level of exposure students at the University of Calgary have towards intensely controversial videos posted over the internet such as the 2girls1cup video.

Sex Ads
Personal Ads and the Internet The internet has provided a new and more efficient medium for personal ads of all different genres. Before the internet, personal ads were limited to traditional forms of advertising such as newspapers and magazines. With the inception of the internet personal ads and online dating have become incredibly sophisticated, leading to a new age of anonymity. In the past people posting personal ads would be linked to the advertisement by either their name, phone number, address, or some other piece of distinguishing information. Now, an online personal ad can be created under a fake name, from a public computer, linked to an email address or account that is untraceable. Although an increase in personal privacy can be perceived as a movement towards increased personal security, it does also establish new issues. One such issue is the ease a person can post an exceedingly graphic or outlandish advertisement without having to be concerned with any repercussions. Advertisements of this nature can be found on many popular and banal websites, such as Craig’s List and Kajiji. The following are just some examples of sexual personal ads.

Examples

 * Curious BBW seeking first time with lady for casual encounter

Ad ID: 115944158  Visits: 103 Location: Calgary Date Listed: 25-Mar-09

''Hi. I am a 28 year old big and beautiful caucasian woman seeking another female for a discreet encounter. I am married w/ kids and have never done anything like this, but have fantasized about it. You must be open, have admirable qualities and think that chubby girls are sexy. I have nice facial features and a large chest. I am looking for a no strings attached encounter, preferably with dinner, drinks and hotel for the night sort of situation. May be willing to include a sexy man if he does not get in the way too much, no husbands or boyfriends. Have always been attracted to black men but must have the right tools to please two!''


 * Young woman want to teach virgin boy

Ad ID: 117548047  Visits: 8 Location: Calgary Date Listed: 31-Mar-09

I am a 23 year old woman lookin for a young virgin boy to teach how to please a woman


 * These ads pose a number of problems. These ads are not on exclusive websites for adults only, they are on websites popular to people of all ages. For a child to view these ads it would be as easy as clicking one button. Depending on one’s intuition and values, this could be either an enlightening experience or a corrupting event for a child. Another problem is people posting fake ads under other peoples names and contact information. It would be very upsetting to receive numerous phone calls and emails from a variety of people inquiring about an upcoming orgy or group sex event at one’s home that one had no knowledge of. The final major risk anonymous ads of this nature pose are the personal harm to the parties involved. The internet is a breeding ground for sexual predators and this provides the perfect opportunity for a predator to take advantage of anyone posting a sexual personal ad. 	Problems also arise when the involved parties are not single, resulting in problematic relationships, emotional suffering, and even divorce. There has been an influx in online dating websites catering to married people seeking an affair in North America. An example of one of these websites is AshleyMadison.com boasting the slogan “Life is short, have an affair.” This website offers complete confidentiality and therefore perfectly facilitates affairs for married people. Services like this were essentially non-existent or extremely difficult to maintain prior to the internet.

Conclusion
The internet is a very effective tool that has led to a more viable economy, a more efficient method of communication, an extensive data base containing a plethora of information, and unfortunately an increase in sexual exploitation. If the internet did not exist today, the pornography industry would be infinitesimal, child pornography would almost cease to exist, sexual predation would be reduced to 1/10 of what it is today, society would be less accepting of videos encompassing nude women indulging in human excrement, and far less spouses would suffer from their partners infidelity.