FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, March 5
On International Women’s Day, March 8 from 1:00pm-3:00pm in Montreal, a demonstration will take place outside of the world headquarters of Mindgeek, the company that owns Pornhub, calling for the site to be shut down due to corroborated evidence that the company is aiding and profiting off of the sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children.
The protest, being attended by women and children’s advocacy NGOs, activists, and concerned citizens, aims to publicize the worldwide public outrage that has mounted as a massive Pornhub scandal has come to light in recent weeks. In an explosive op ed for the Washington Examiner on February 10, Laila Mickelwait an author, activist, and director of abolition for Exodus Cry, blew the whistle on the world’s largest and most popular porn website and the executives behind it. The article contained shocking evidence that Pornhub does not require verification of the age or consent of millions of people featured in hardcore sex acts on its site. Because of this, the site has numerous videos of women and underage girls being raped and trafficked.
The outcry from those horrified that women and children are being exploited and trafficked on the site for Pornhub’s profit, inspired the launch of a petition that has gained over 367,000 signatures as of March 5, and is growing by the minute.
The campaign to shut down Pornhub has gained the support of over 75 child protection, women’s rights and anti-trafficking organizations as well as the backing of experts on and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation.
Pornhub is described as a “super predator” with 42 billion visits per year that generate enormous profits for Mindgeek and its executives. PayPal recently pulled its services from the site amid evidence surfacing that over 118 instances of child sexual abuse were found on the site by the Internet Watch Foundation. These instances are seen as just the tip of the iceberg.
Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre in Ontario will be leading the demonstration. She says, “Pornhub is facilitating child pornography and normalizing men’s violence against women resulting in sexual exploitation, trafficking, torture and death. Sexual exploitation and trafficking are illegal. The government’s failure to take action pus the lives of all women and girls at risk.”
Canadian independent Senator Miville-Dechêne will be at the gathering: ``It is shameful that Pornhub has posted sexual videos involving underage girls. Pornhub should take all necessary measures to verify that children and women are not trafficked or sexually exploited before posting porn videos``. Senator Miville-Dechene is member of the All Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and member of the Canadian Association of Feminist Parliamentarians.
The demonstration will be held at 7777 Decarie Blvd, Montreal, Quebec H4P 2H2, Canada from 1:00PM-3:00PM
Go to Traffickinghub.com for the full story.
Read the official press release here.
Contacts:
Megan Walker
Executive Director, London Abused Women’s Centre
mwalker@lawc.on.ca
226-376-0781
(coordinator of the protest)
Julie Miville-Dechêne
Independent Senator for Quebec
Julie.Miville-Dechene@sen.parl.gc.ca
613-943-4780
(French speaking)
Laila Mickelwait
Director of Abolition, Exodus Cry
Traffickinghub@protonmail.com
213-986-5719