Link Search Menu Expand Document
Publications
  1. Harms of the Existence of Pornography

Harms of the Existence of Pornography

Finally, we consider the fifth of harm of pornography, harms of existence. Although this is an unfamiliar harm of pornography, the category refers to the phenomenon whereby commercial or non-commercial pornography is produced in one way or another, but not released or disseminated, but, because of its continuing existence in the hands of someone, causes a victim harm. This harm spreads through digital or webbased means, and is fundamentally different from the harms that arise with pornography’s production and dissemination. When pornography existed mostly as a physical, concrete product, it was relatively easy to destroy. However, in the twenty-first century, the proliferation of digital media now allows for limitless reproduction of the materials, and their unfettered dissemination. They come into the possession of multitudes of people. This new situation underpins our definition of the ‘harms of existence’ category of pornography, which must be recognized as encompassing a phenomenon uniquely arising with the quantum shift in technology. As we will see, this category of pornography’s harms requires specially tailored legal responses. It can be broken down into two subcategories:

  1. Mental harms in which victims of some aspect of pornography’s production harm (for example, coerced filming or spy-cam filming) continue to feel fear, disgrace, and humiliation because pornography produced through such harmful practices of production remains an object of personal consumption in someone’s hands; and
  1. There are further, more direct harms in cases where an individual is threatened or harassed by a person (above all, an ill-intentioned person) who keeps their sexual photos or footage, whether these materials were produced through harms of pornography production, or not.

Taking the example of the coerced filming of pornography through assault, threat, or fraud, this directly inflicts harm on the person who is the object of filming. This is a form of pornography’s “production” harms.” When this footage is sold as commercial rape porn, or disseminated through the Internet, a form of “circulation harms” additionally results. Even when not circulated, though, as long as the footage stays in the hands of an offender or consumer, the victim continues to feel fear and humiliation. She experiences mental distress at the thought the materials will be circulated at some time in the future or have already been circulated without her knowledge. This is the case just as child pornography, even if not circulating, continues to cause victims’ harm merely through existing as entertainment in the hands of consumers. Pornography produced through assault, fraud, or other violating acts, as with child pornography, keeps producing mental harm through its existence and possession (Tankard Reist&Bray, 2011).

The harms of (2), above, are different from the harms of (1) at the point that someone who retains sexual photos or footage of an identified person directly approaches, with malicious intent, the victim or their family. That someone (for example, an exlover, ex-husband, or a third party with ill-will) may blackmail and extort in relation to such materials, and this can take the form of direct demands for cash, or for sexual relations, or other forms of harassment. There are many instances of such crimes in Japan where photos and footage are used as a means of extortion. A man aged in his 30s arrested in December 2019 was suspected of nude filming a woman he met on an Internet dating site, and afterwards threatening to publicly release the footage. Using this tactic, he had previously extorted around $2600 from two women. During investigation of his crime, police found naked footage of over 100 women in his possession, and the man is now suspected of having perpetrated other crimes (FNN, 2019).

Table of Contents