How P*rnhub Fuels Human Trafficking | Laila Mickelwait | EP 83

This episode was recorded on July 5th, 2023.
Laila Mickelwait, the Founder and CEO of the Justice Defense Fund and the visionary behind the Traffickinghub movement, boasts over 15 years of dedicated research and activism against sex trafficking, establishing herself as a leading expert in the field. As the driving force behind Traffickinghub, a global initiative targeting Pornhub, the world's largest pornography website, Mickelwait has garnered immense support, with over 2.3 million people signing a petition to shut down Pornhub. Her social media efforts, attracting over 300 million views, and collaboration with 600 organizations have sparked extensive media coverage globally, drawing attention to the platform's alleged facilitation and profiting from child abuse, sex trafficking, rape, and criminal exploitation. Mickelwait's academic background includes a Master of Public Diplomacy degree from the University of Southern California, and her impactful work has been featured in numerous prestigious news outlets worldwide.
Find more from Laila:
#Traffickinghub petition: traffickinghubpetition.com
Justice Defence Fund: justicedefensefund.org/
Connect with me:
Instagram: / tammy.m.peterson
Facebook: / tammypetersonpodcast
TikTok: / tammypetersonpodcast
Twitter: / tammy1peterson
Rumble: rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPod...
- Chapters -
00:00 - Coming Up
00:56 - Laila Mickelwait: Activism Against Pornhub and Personal Motivations
02:14 - Exploring the Depth of Sex Trafficking and Pornhub's Role
06:24 - The Unseen Impact of Internet Pornography and User-Generated Content
10:22 - Personal Stories: The Impact of Financial and Online Exploitation
18:03 - Corporate Accountability: Fighting Against the Enablers of Exploitation
25:07 - The Global Movement: Trafffickinghub and the Fight to Shut Down Pornhub
36:05 - Legal Strategies and International Efforts to Combat Trafficking
45:09 - The Role of Narrative and Community in Addressing Trauma and Accountability
55:23 - Healing and Support: Addressing the Aftermath of Online Exploitation

[@tdexter4959]

I'd like to note here publicly what I assume both of these good women would affirm as well: *There is no light side of porn.*

[@rondihoover5605]

It’s not just the money it is also the demand of the users. If there were no users there would be no pornhub.

[@farrellhuff3889]

DA ?

[@LoriMooreThompson]

Tammy, thank you for bringing this conversation to the forefront, including how very harmful the diminishing of Motherhood and children is. Bless your journey with the Lord and walking the path He's laid out before you.

[@JackD89]

Nobody wants to believe this stuff because the average person is addicted. I've been an outspoken critic of this industry since 2015 and lost most of my friends over it. Now their kids are getting hooked on it too, and the parents dont care. "They're gonna see that stuff at some point, it's not harmful you prude" is a typical response I've received. I'm just lost at this point if parents dont care about the sexualisation of kids. What can I do?

[@RCGWho]

They don't care, or they're naive, or they're tools helping normalize it. Gen x was mostly willfully ignorant and handed their 7 year olds devices. Millennials know what's up. They've been exposed from birth. They're completely tech savvy. But they're at a crossroads: embrace the normalization and perpetuate it or get radical like homeschooling and going screen free until their children are 18. There are phone services that are basically dumb phones with texting only. Fight for your own conscience and soul and for your children.

[@barra6709]

Absolutely. I'm desperately trying to stay away from it. It crosses my thoughts multiple times a day. It definitely does harm. It completely alters the chemistry of your brain and burns out your dopamine and causes anxiety, ED and depression. That's excluding the unreal expectations men.

[@icemanire5467]

Yep. I struggle to keep away from it. It truly is an evil industry.

[@autopsychograph]

Thank you both. This "industry" makes my stomach turn. Deplorable. I don't see it getting better... there are so many sadists being cultivated "groomed" across all cultures in the world and too many systems in place to enable them.

[@winskypinsky]

I’ve recently turned 60. When I was 19 years old I watched the documentary Not A Love Story which was a first hand story of a stripper from Canada and the sex trade she grew up in. I tried to push other girls at the time to tell others of this documentary and try to organize and stop this. Only faced with laughter. So here we are 40 years later and the hungry dog has turned into a beast. What are we gonna do about this ladies? Sign me up. 🙏🏻 God bless you both.

[@POLYLIVING]

I grew up in the scary strip club industry in Ontario. I never heard of this film thanks

[@winskypinsky]

@@POLYLIVING The movie was made by the NFB. It features Lindalee Tracey who was a popular stripper in Montreal. She also wrote a book, Growing up Naked. It’s actually very well written and what I would regard as an anthropological study. As a young stripper, she was between the two worlds of ‘the art of striptease’ which was considered old and dated, and the ushering in of The Grind--when the Montreal Mafia bought up the strip clubs. She talks about the beautiful woman who is told by the club manager she just ‘can’t pull it off’ anymore because her age is showing, and the time she and another stripper were snuck into a men’s jail to perform and a riot broke out and they just escaped.

[@POLYLIVING]

@@winskypinsky Wow! I know the feeling! I was in MTL training for a trucking opportunity in July so I hit up all the clubs. I was told at one of them that I’m “too old”. I told the manager him & the owner were pathetic losers looking to control little girls and that I knew the only reason they denied adult women is because our experience, standards and expectation was a discomfort to their precious egos😂I look forward to the read! Thanks so much!

[@talyamollman]

Thank you Tammy for bringing this unfortunate topic to light. We must keep working to shut down these companies

[@kellyblanton6969]

Tammy I grew up in the 60s and 70s got married in 86 am 62 yrs. Old 3 children 3 grandchildren under the age of 7 all girls.the sweetest kindest vulnerable little angels. My dad was a police officer when I was groing up and we lived in the north bay area between Santa cruz and Oakland. He was a csi guy and one day I think I was 9..I went snooping around as kids do and I found a file of pictures he had brought home from work to study durring a case he was on. All rape murder vicvictims in a feild. He always hid that part of his job from us pretty well. That day was the day I saw and felt real fear and evil. When I had my 1rst child my dad was still on the force I had a girl. He said if we were ever outside don't for 5 seconds ever turn my head from my daughter that she could literally be taken and sold or sacrificed etc...not once growing up as a girl did my dad ever show that truety of what he knee. But he always had his eyes on us kids. He's 92 as sharp as the day he was born. Prays daily for his 19 grandchildren 11 great grandchildren for God's protection and wisdom for their parents. I remember growing up my dad was the church choir director as well as a cop he would go out on calls that involved my freinds family members from church. Evil is nothing new but the power of the evil one seems so much more in our face! Thank you for putting this out here.❤

[@TheSWCantina]

It does. Horrible stuff and whole generations of men are hooked to it.

[@SerendipitousSynchronicity]

Ladies, thank you for fighting the good fight.

[@agapologia]

Thank you for continuing to host such important discussions on your platform. I am certain you are doing mother Mary proud.

[@Earthmuffin78]

This story needs to be told so thank you ladies for sharing

[@MrDeworDie]

I came across an interview on KZbin of a woman who was lured into doing a "video" against her will. Basically she was kidnapped and r*ped on video. And the "company" that was responsible edited it to look like she signed up for it. This happened to many women over a long period of time. After watching this interview i was obviously disgusted at these people, and also myslef for even viewing p*rn in the past. Listening to her recount her story was gut wrenching and infuriating. But after that i havent struggled with p*rn. I know its sad that it had to come to that to wake me up. The name of the interview is "I was s*x trafficked by GirlsDoP*rn part 1."

[@carissavisscher9648]

A necessary conversation. The title implies there is another side to porn other than “dark” and there clearly isn’t.

[@Kevin-ts7hf]

Thank you Laila and Tammy 🙏🏼

[@guygeorgesvoet4177]

57:14 Dear Tammy, You and Jordan alike You have very Big good hearts that You expose t o the evil that is in the world, and this in a public manner to nest out it's perverse logic. This is hard and dangerous. But I am sure that we, SO many, sure that You both made us love You, well, i'm sure many pray for your hearts to keep strong for all humanity to see, feel and heal together with You and Jordan. Peace and, strenghth and joy to your hearts. And endless thanks. From Nazareth, Belgium

[@guygeorgesvoet4177]

Laila, your mourningprocess about your father was exemplary succesful. I mean, You may still hurt and ache to talk to him and SEE him and the like. But He is You now. He lives not only in You but through You.Your father could not be more proud with such a daughter. Whatever he might have blamed himself for in life -and who doesn't, right, objective the issue or not - You have vindicated for him that this great man, your father, is fully honorable and worthy in all senses of the Word. Why? Well, simple, we only have to look at his daughter to know that with certainty. Bless You woman.

[@poetmaggie1]

It is still true that if a woman or child kills their abuser they go to jail for much longer than if the abuser kills his victim.

[@chilloften]

It’s so very sick. They HATE women & children.

[@AndrewCamb]

​@@chilloftenI love the gynocentric way you view at things. You do realize that there are disparities in sentencing outcomes, right. Women receive lighter sentences than men.

[@AndrewCamb]

Not to mention the unfairness of no-fault divorce lmao

[@GraceHarwood88]

Tammy, you air the best guests 🌹

[@thomasjsheridan1532]

Poetic justice: An arsonist (a victim or their parent) recently sent their warm regards to the multi-million dollar home in Montreal, being built for PH's founder.

[@rondihoover5605]

I have the same question. Why??? Children!!!!

[@andreabell5724]

Thanks for talking about this So important

[@AFringedGentian]

Happy Mother’s Day, dear Mrs. Peterson.

[@andreabell5724]

Genevieve Gluck carries much info on the darker sides Please interview her too

[@janeharrington1757]

She is a brilliant researcher.

[@user-gu1qm7yx5h]

Keep up the great work and GOD bless you both 🙏

[@hawkarae]

Thank you ❤ So much. This agonizes and motivates me daily.

[@user-dj8gt6ik7c]

This needs to be talked about more

[@chilloften]

No morals is snowballing.

[@kare5252]

Leila is incredible. I’ve followed her work and it’s amazing to see her interviewed by Tammy.

[@RCGWho]

I'm against money grubbing litigation in most cases, but this!!!! Sue them left, right, and center.

[@hawkarae]

Tammy. I feel your tears and cry them with you. We are going to fix this. We are...

[@farrellhuff3889]

its about time that everything in my head was made legal

[@elainenadon3834]

Merci de votre courage❤

[@mrs.huerta4659]

It’s extremely difficult to hear this as a mom. Going to go sign now

[@Veracityseeker7]

It's horrible. It's so hard to find a husband now because it seems like every man is addicted.

[@ejenkins4711]

It pains me when i think like this but they go for kids because they're cheaper

[@cultivateyourself]

There used to be a loop hole in youtube. They would say the name of a video and the date and nothing else. So it would say video from 12.3.20 for example. When you searched for videos like these types of videos it was all kids. The people that were into this stuff knew how to look for these videos. It was a whole subtext of culture.

[@DannyDanny-rn7ck]

Hammerhoff an Chomsky sitting in tree Same people make your children's an game designed phycology whoa is me

[@cultivateyourself]

@@DannyDanny-rn7ck ?

[@DannyDanny-rn7ck]

@@cultivateyourself don't understand your question and or comment

[@cultivateyourself]

@@DannyDanny-rn7ck I don't understand yours. What is your point?

[@DannyDanny-rn7ck]

Anyone using block chain an Jim Heckman equation cost offsets I can't take seriously period

[@themccarthyplan2020]

No God no hope. Know God know hope. Our children are our greatest achievement. These women don't fully understand what is going on our have any real solutions for the sake of the US or any nation of the world. I would love to speak them. They have great potential 🕊️💚🙏☘️

[@polarisjustdothework2258]

59:03 not to "move on" so much but to truly find enough recovery and healing to move forward with our lives. Moving on may be impossible, but moving forward in our lives is essential to our survival ❤

[@poetmaggie1]

Changing the name is a typical movement, keep going and add the new partners in Evil. Porn is an evil that will never be held accountable but depriving them of income is a way to slow them down.

[@LordBlk]

Wow....

[@ejenkins4711]

Its not breaking your heart Tammy its helping heal the flood from way back. 👀🔙⌚🍀🦍

[@annlau7095]

Sickening

[@jameshunt6414]

I was thinking, who is this woman with all of Jordan Peterson's affectations, then I saw the name. Just for the record I don't know whose affectations they were to begin with, but it is quite remarkable.

[@ejenkins4711]

Dont forget the possibility if the internet just industrialised it

[@cultivateyourself]

Who makes it? Who consumers it? Why is it o.k to distribute it? Who benefits from people watching it? What are the effects of warching it? What are the effects of performing it? The old model of Porn was once an expensive exercise.This kept a lot people out. Tristan Tate spoke about this. He said that when he looked into the recent porn industry, he found all these guys abusing females on camcorders in sheds.

[@DannyDanny-rn7ck]

No block chain

[@tuacakellymusic]

Devastating and demonic.

[@ejenkins4711]

Thats how to figure out fight flight freeze and flow you cant stop a crime unless the time being says so 🦍⌚🌊🍀

[@ExOskeletal1988]

Stormy - must be a calm belt in the apple-core of a hurricane My mind is aside with 55 of working hours -Fifty Five Very complicating - With New-Generations There-are New-Times for the Same-Old ruin

[@TinkerersMind]

🙏

[@mornelindeque864]

There's a light side?

[@GraceHarwood88]

5:39 And women became props.

[@ejenkins4711]

Haha that was mine to If you take you cant take it all but if you give you find all 2s

[@em-dy3hn]

Odd tag. Is there a light side to the pornography industry?

[@STAR-RADIANCE]

“Dark side of porn”? Is there a bright side?

[@WorkoutintoThe5D]

Not any more. Years ago porn had 'normal' sex - so to speak -, videos on there. If you open pornhub today.. ALL the videos popping up are about fcking her up the a*s. All of them... 🥺 sad what young people are being normalised into ... 😥

[@POLYLIVING]

Tammy are you the actress on Practical Magic? This is all news to me. I had no idea

[@YobboLivesMatter]

Now that the A.I. technology has evolved to practical standards, what the Justice Defence Fund could do to efficaciously achieve its primary goal would be to contract a tiny little team of AI experts to develop a software program (sic) that could create true-to-life pornographic cartoons, which look like actual real actors, but are not real actors. Then they could market the software to porn creators at the lowest kind of not-for-profit prices, so that Pornhub could stay in business, along with the professional contributors, but using AI actors rather than real life victims. So no one gets hurt, but sneaky boys can still explore their sexual fantasies, or other people's if they have underdeveloped imaginations. After all the purpose of porn is to assist people to manage their sexual fantasies, and not real life sex. So porn does not actually require real life actors now that AI has evolved so far.

[@IntrospectiveHousewife]

I think this would actually work, but there would be an increase in addicts, the level of addiction, and hermits. This is sad for typical single modern men because they are probably not going to marry or breed from this addiction, but it's the married and marriageable men who worry me. This stuff bends the mind and has long-lasting side effects, especially with niche or sadist videos. I'm disturbed by how young the viewers are nowadays. It's not good for them to view even the fake stuff. The parents are failing them, so we're at the point where we need to consider protecting them against their parents' wishes. Ideally, none of this content should be available so easily. The old school stuff was difficult to find pre-Playboy. It was better that way. People have their own imaginations if they need to self-relieve their itch. Other than that, marriage is the best option for love and sexual passion. At worst, there are adult sex workers for men that are undesirable or perverse. Maybe it should be legal and regulated or licensed (as funny as that sounds). Underage and abusive content should not exist for moral and ethical reasons. We need to discourage and punish the craving for children and adolescent children. Too many people are indifferent or in denial of human trafficking.

[@YobboLivesMatter]

@@IntrospectiveHousewife Thanks for your detailed reply. I was waiting for Laila to cross onto the subject of viewer victimhood but as far as I remember watching, she seemed to remain focussed on examples of underaged actors and victims of production. Then there are the viewing victims, as you mentioned, They're another matter but I have to gix a tap washer now so no time to reply at the moment. Thank you for your reply.

[@DannyDanny-rn7ck]

If you didn't pitch children as data commodity Maybe people wouldnt think they could bleep them

[@DannyDanny-rn7ck]

Turning into a debt slave on a double entry accounting ledger is dehumanization 1 billion of them perpetually

[@erinlong9541]

Pornhub isn't the only porn site on the internet so what about the rest of them out there?

[@ejenkins4711]

I AM BI (before internet) U are AI (after internet) CGJ

[@ejenkins4711]

And just in time for crypto

[@OperationsAndSmoothProductions]

And the "light" side of Porn would be?

[@ahmadradwan5914]

Very beautiful eyes ❤

[@Tribune123]

Oh, go away.