Category Archives: PCP

Child Abuse, Grooming, Image-Based Culture, Legislation, Literature, Media, PCP, Playboy, Stats, United States

How has Playboy infiltrated children’s entertainment?

Playboy is arguably one the best-known brands of the sex industry worldwide. In sixty years, its founder and CEO, Hugh Hefner, has managed to transform a magazine with centerfolds of naked models into a global success, its reach extending far beyond the pages of Playboy Magazine. It has infiltrated political movements (the sexual revolution), curbed legislation (United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, 529 U.S. 803), lined the racks of clothing stores (for children, too), and can be found in virtually every entertainment medium, including video games (Playboy: The Mansion), DVDs (Playboy Playmates), reality shows (The Girls Next Door), and theatrically-released Hollywood films (The House Bunny). The brand, and its iconic logo – a silhouette of a rabbit wearing a bow tie – are everywhere.

It is reasonable to assert that when most adults see the Playboy logo, whether it’s on jewelry, carved into a truck’s mud flap, inscribed on a shot glass, or on a teenager’s sweatpants, they accept it. Such is the power of ubiquity: Playboy has emerged as a popular symbol that adults and children alike can adorn without question.

In 2011, Playboy managed to reach children in a whole new way: by targeting the audience of a mainstream Hollywood children’s film called Hop.

Hop, a feature-length animated movie, features as its main characters several animated rabbits. In the film, the Easter Bunny wants his teenage son, EB, to succeed him as the next Easter Bunny. EB, however, would rather pursue his dreams, and so he runs off to Hollywood to become a star.

When E.B. arrives, the first place he visits is the Playboy Mansion, hoping for a place to stay. Knowing that the “Playboy mansion has been home to many sexy bunnies,” he speaks with Hefner himself (providing his actual voice), and insists that he is “incredibly sexy.” Once Hefner takes a look at EB (through a camera!), EB is rejected, ostensibly because he does not fit the Playboy mold of “sexy bunny.” Disappointed, EB leaves the mansion.

The dialogue of the scene is as follows:

Voice at Playboy Mansion: [through an intercom] Listen, this is the Playboy Mansion, not a hotel.

E.B.: [looking into a map] I know, but it says ‘Since 1971 the Playboy Mansion has been home to many sexy bunnies.’

Voice at Playboy Mansion: I can’t even see you. Step closer.

E.B.: I’m just saying, I am a bunny and am incredibly sexy.

Voice at Playboy Mansion: I don’t have time for this.

E.B.: Hello? Hello? Ugh, this must be the rags part of my rags-to-riches story.

The lasting impression of the scene is that the Playboy Mansion is exclusive and consequently desirable. Were EB just a bit sexier, perhaps he’d be able to join all of the sexy bunnies in the Mansion. In another version of the story, perhaps EB would learn how Playboy and Hefner himself have been long documented as having supported the sex trafficking of women and children, have depicted children sexually in their magazines, have literally promoted the “hate raping” of conservative women (“So Right, It’s Wrong” campaign), and have contributed to the average early death of 36 for all Playboy Playmates.

Hop was a large box office success, earning more than $180 million at the global box office and spawning licensed video games, books, candy, clothing, stuffed animals, and exclusive Burger King kids meal toys. It wasn’t received well by critics (it has a 25% rating on the film review aggregate site, Rotten Tomatoes), but the failures of the movie were attributed to bad but “harmless” writing. Alas, such is the power of ubiquity.

Hop is, of course, just one example of many ways in which Hefner has tried to reach children as a target demographic with Playboy. There have been other attempts, and there will be more. After all, this is the same man who is quoted as saying, “I don’t care if a baby holds up a Playboy bunny rattle.” Are we surprised? Are we even capable of recognizing it when we see it?

The history of Playboy, Playboy Magazine, Playboy Enterprises, Hugh Hefner, the Playmates, and their impact on our world will continue to be explored in scope throughout Pornography FAQ.

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Child Abuse, PCP, Profit, PTSD, Stats

What are the most common female roles in pornography?

In an in-depth study of 10,000 female porn performers, it was found that they were most commonly cast as “teenagers” in pornographic films.

In descending order, women were then most frequently assigned the roles of “MILF” (“Mom I’d like to fuck”), “cheerleader,” “nurse,” “daughter,” “coed,” “girlfriend,” “cougar,” “sister,” “babysitter,” “sorority girl,” “schoolgirl,” “hitchhiker,” and “runaway.”

It is worth noting that around half of these roles explicitly sexualize girls under the age of 18 (daughter, schoolgirl, babysitter) and / or target women in need of some kind of support (hitchhiker, runaway).

In a way, the pornographers’ focus seems logical, if uncreative, when considering how they manage to have an endless supply of women. For instance, there are countless reports of the industry exploiting women into pornography by deception (fake modeling jobs), coercing girls (many of whom are survivors of sexual abuse) to surrender their boundaries and “loosen up,” intoxicate the susceptible, and exploit economic poverty with the promise of financial security. It’s hardly a surprise that these very roles are the ones that the pornography industry recycles back to the consumers in a vicious feedback loop that never ends. It makes sense: it’s how the pornographers get their victims, it’s what the men in porn have been consuming, and it’s where the girls in porn come from.

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Child Abuse, Childification, PCP, Pornhub, Stats, United States

What is “childification?”

“Childification” is the act of portraying adults as children or as pre-pubescent teenagers. Usually, smaller-framed, younger-seeming women are cast, dressed up in childhood clothes, adorned with props (lollipops, school uniforms, pigtails), given braces, and removed of all pubic hair. In pornography, and especially in the sub-genre, teen pornography, “children” are staged in scenarios where they have sex with a “grown up.” The grown up in these situations is almost always an older brother or father to the child.

The intent of childification in teen pornography is clear: to produce child pornography while operating within legal parameters. A common defense of teen pornography would be that children are not actually being exploited. However, childification legitimizes and normalizes the sexual exploitation of children. Empirical evidence from many studies tells us that pornography consumption absolutely plays a role in shaping the way people think; in the context of pornography that sexualizes children, it conditions consumers (primarily male) to believe that children are not off-limits and that it is okay to use  children for personal sexual pleasure.

It is beyond doubt that sexually abusing children has damaging ramifications on their lives, including lowered inhibitions, devalued self-worth, self-objectification, increased rates of drug & alcohol abuse, suicide, and so on. Children do not have the capacity to comprehend sexual intercourse, sexual curiosity, exploitation, and power imbalance on the same emotional and cognitive level as adults do. Comprehensive studies, research, and testimony outline clearly the consequences of perpetrating sexual acts against children and / or exposing children to sex. Beyond the scientific approach, there is also a matter of common sense: adults sexualizing and using children for sexual pleasure is wrong.

Yet, in pornography, adults sexualize and use children for sexual pleasure all the time by proxy via the act of childification. In 2016, PornHub (one of the internet’s most frequented pornography sites) revealed that “teen” was the fifth most searched term for the entire year (coming in at sixth was “step sister”). Some titles in Pornhub’s list of most viewed teen pornography videos of all time include, “BFFS – Step Dad Fucks Daughter And Her Friends,” “Mother helps Babysitter with her video project,” “ExxxtraSmall – Step Brother Takes advantage of Little Sister,” “Kimmy Granger Likes It Rough,” and “Mofos – Teen needs a dick to distract her.” As of writing, those five videos have a combined total of 206,801,857 views. Those are just five of 82,667 videos in the teen (pseudo-child pornography) section alone. With an average duration of 20 minutes per scene, scenes depicting the sexual abuse and rape of children comprise at least 1,653,340 minutes on Pornhub. The sheer amount of content sexualizing children would take more than 3 years of continuous watching to finish.

It is hardly surprising that consumption of teen pornography has been linked to an increased likelihood of watching child pornography and of sexually abusing children. Look at those titles. Adults are making them. Adults are using them to facilitate masturbation. And should laws make room to accommodate the sexual exploitation of actual children (though it should be noted here that child pornography is already ubiquitous and comprises upwards of 20% of all pornography presently online), it is logical and fair to assume that the same adults who consume teen pornography today would easily become perpetrators of children tomorrow.

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