Pornhub must close protesters
Dozens of protesters demanded the closure of the world's largest pornographic site Pornhub on the occasion of International Women's Day in Montreal on Sunday. They accuse its owner, MindGeek, of encouraging the sexual exploitation of women and adolescent girls.
"Pornhub, rape platform", "MindGeek, traffickers". With their placards, the demonstrators met around 1 p.m. Sunday in the Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, just outside the global headquarters of MindGeek, the company to which belongs to Pornhub.
"Close it, close it!" "Shame on you," shouted loudly the participants, mostly English-speaking,
encouraged by the horn of cars passing on boulevard Décarie.
Remember that Pornhub has been under fire from critics for several months. Several women, victims of spiteful pornography - known as " revenge porn " - denounced the publication of videos staging them on the website and criticized the fact that MindGeek never asked for
their consent before accepting the content on its website. platform.
More recently, a BBC article revealed that a video of the rape of a teenage girl was also found on the adult site.
A petition was posted online to demand the closure of the website. As of Sunday, it has already collected more than 384,000 signatures.
Sexual exploitation
For Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women's Shelter in Ontario and organizer of the rally in Montreal, Pornhub encourages child pornography and even trivializes violence against women, in order to generate profits.
“[This situation] leads to numerous cases of sexual exploitation, trafficking, torture and death every year. Should we remember that sexual exploitation and trafficking are illegal? "She denounced in front of protesters inflated with block.
"It is scandalous that Pornhub shared sexual videos involving girls of minor age," added independent senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, who was present at the rally. The senator is a member of the all-party parliamentary group to combat modern-day slavery and human trafficking.
If it does not seek to close Pornhub, it urges MindGeek to find solutions to better secure its site and prevent the online publication of child pornography. "In the era of the #MeAussi movement, obtaining the consent of each participant is essential,"
said Ms. Miville-Dechêne. Even if it takes time and is more complicated, it is MindGeek's responsibility. "
She said she was ready to examine with other parliamentarians the laws that currently exist to try to put an "end to this troubling reality".
For her part, Megan Walker directly urges the Canadian government to act to change the situation.
"There will be no gender equality, as long as sexual violence is considered normal," she added.
Pornhub is the most visited adult site in the world and bases its success on the free access of Internet users to its content. Each year,
6 million videos are put online and generate more than 42 billion views. Pornhub is often called "YouTube of pornography".
"Pornhub, rape platform", "MindGeek, traffickers". With their placards, the demonstrators met around 1 p.m. Sunday in the Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, just outside the global headquarters of MindGeek, the company to which belongs to Pornhub.
"Close it, close it!" "Shame on you," shouted loudly the participants, mostly English-speaking,
encouraged by the horn of cars passing on boulevard Décarie.
Remember that Pornhub has been under fire from critics for several months. Several women, victims of spiteful pornography - known as " revenge porn " - denounced the publication of videos staging them on the website and criticized the fact that MindGeek never asked for
their consent before accepting the content on its website. platform.
More recently, a BBC article revealed that a video of the rape of a teenage girl was also found on the adult site.
A petition was posted online to demand the closure of the website. As of Sunday, it has already collected more than 384,000 signatures.
Sexual exploitation
For Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women's Shelter in Ontario and organizer of the rally in Montreal, Pornhub encourages child pornography and even trivializes violence against women, in order to generate profits.
“[This situation] leads to numerous cases of sexual exploitation, trafficking, torture and death every year. Should we remember that sexual exploitation and trafficking are illegal? "She denounced in front of protesters inflated with block.
"It is scandalous that Pornhub shared sexual videos involving girls of minor age," added independent senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, who was present at the rally. The senator is a member of the all-party parliamentary group to combat modern-day slavery and human trafficking.
If it does not seek to close Pornhub, it urges MindGeek to find solutions to better secure its site and prevent the online publication of child pornography. "In the era of the #MeAussi movement, obtaining the consent of each participant is essential,"
said Ms. Miville-Dechêne. Even if it takes time and is more complicated, it is MindGeek's responsibility. "
She said she was ready to examine with other parliamentarians the laws that currently exist to try to put an "end to this troubling reality".
For her part, Megan Walker directly urges the Canadian government to act to change the situation.
"There will be no gender equality, as long as sexual violence is considered normal," she added.
Pornhub is the most visited adult site in the world and bases its success on the free access of Internet users to its content. Each year,
6 million videos are put online and generate more than 42 billion views. Pornhub is often called "YouTube of pornography".