By: Shane James O’Neill
3 min. read
Thailand Bans Pornhub
Thailand has officially banned Pornhub, along with 190 other porn sites!
Of course that’s a big deal. But why?
It’s a big deal for a lot of reasons, but mostly because Thailand is one of the prostitution capitals of the world. Thailand sex-tourism is a massive 6.4-billion-dollar industry! (And that figure is already five years old!)
Thousands upon thousands of people visit Thailand every year just to make use of their red-light district. And the connection between porn and prostitution is, well, it’s obvious.
Last year, Thai viewers spent more time on Pornhub than any other country.
Thailand is seeing the relationship between their prostitution market and porn viewership.
Not only does porn indoctrinate us to see human bodies as commodities to be exposed and consumed, but more and more instances of child porn, exploitation, and rape are being discovered on Pornhub.
Thailand, Porn, and Sex Trafficking
To be precise, the Internal Labour Organization performed a survey in 2012 and found that 4.5 million people (mostly “women and girls”) “are in forced sexual exploitation.”
(Imagine, if you’re able, the entire population of North Carolina as a sex trafficked individual. That’s what 4.5 million looks like. An entire state worth of sexually misused people.)
Related: The Links Between Porn and Sex Trafficking
And Pornhub has only seen an explosion in viewership over the years. 2020 alone has brought them greater growth than any previous year.
Specifically, Pornhub saw a spike in their viewership during the early COVID-19 months. Unfortunately, global isolation has equated to porn-binging.
Already, Pornhub is the 10th most visited website in the world (though, it’s projected to rise to 8th or 9th this year). Beyond major website industries such as Google and YouTube.
During the first month of COVID-19, some countries saw over a 100% increase of porn use!
Related: SEX TRAFFICKING AND PORNOGRAPHY: THE TIES THAT BIND
But, getting back to the topic at hand, how is Thailand responding to their porn being censored?
Thailand Reacts!
Of course, people are seriously unhappy. If you start to take away a pleasure as addictive and industrious as pornography, then people are going to react.
Already Thai citizens are protesting, in person and over the internet. Hashtags such as #SavePornHub and #HornyPower. (Probably one of those phrases that struggles when translated…?)
The reaction, at one level, is understandable considering the levels of censorship the Thai government has exercised upon their citizens in the past.
But mostly, this reaction is in connection to the industry built upon the selling of human bodies.
What’s the Take-Away??
The “take-away” of this article is rather simple. In fact let me quote God, who puts it best in Hosea: “My people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge.”
Porn devastates cultures and destroys societies — like termites festering and feeding upon a home.
In light of No Porn November, the direct take-away is to know what porn does in our own lives and in the lives those we care about. Though, honestly, I’m sure we’ve all seen porn eat away marriages and used as medication by those around us. We’re not blind idiots; though, considering how we’ve allowed porn to shape our lives, we may be slightly insane. (Considering, we turn to porn again and again, expecting a different result.)
The indirect take-away is to see how a society, shaped by porn (as we’re becoming), faces corruption throughout their entire infrastructure.
Pray for Thailand. Pray for their leaders and their prostitutes, alike. And stay informed about what is taking place in our world as we deny the soul and abuse the body.
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Shane James O’Neill is the Editorial Director for Proven Men Ministries. He is currently working on a graduate degree in apologetics at Liberty University’s Rawling School of Divinity.