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Fight the New Drug

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Fight the New Drug
Formation2009; 15 years ago (2009)
Legal status501(c)(3) organization[1]
PurposeNonpartisan, secular, non-legislative, and nonprofit anti-pornography & anti-sexual-exploitation organization.
HeadquartersSalt Lake City, Utah, United States
Websitefightthenewdrug.org

Fight the New Drug (FTND) is a nonprofit, secular, and non-legislative anti-pornography organization that is based in Utah.[2][3][4] The group was founded in Utah in 2009.[5][6] FTND describes pornography as analogous to a drug and argues that it is a public health crisis.[7][8][9] It describes itself as asking people to "consider before consuming", rather than advocating anti-pornography legislation.[10]

Activities

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The group works with people aged 18 to 24 through presentations and video campaigns,[11] and through student outreach activities in public school districts within Utah.[12] In a 2015 campaign, FTND posted 100 billboards in the San Francisco Bay Area stating "Porn Kills Love".[7] In March 2018 the Kansas City Royals held a FTND anti-pornography seminar for players during their spring training,[13] and in November of that year FTND released a three-part documentary film entitled Brain, Heart, World.[14] In addition, the group promotes its campaign via a social media presence, branded merchandise, such as T-shirts, and marketing kits.[3][4]

Support

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A number of public figures have endorsed the group: these include Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff;[6] sports personalities Terry Crews[15] and Lamar Odom;[16] actress Marisol Nichols;[17] and YouTuber Chaz Smith.[18]

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a non-profit devoted to ending sexual assault and child sex abuse, is also supportive of the FTND organization. The NCSE highlights a mission of theirs being "exposing the public-health crisis of pornography."[19]

FTND also promotes awareness for sexual health and sexual exploitation. On their YouTube channel, there are numerous videos and documentaries of people speaking about their experiences within the porn industry.[20] They also have a website for others to share their stories.[21] One notable story on their channel is of the most successful male porn star speaking out against the harm he experienced and witnessed in the porn industry.[22][original research?]

Criticism

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FTND has been criticized as holding an "openly ideology-driven strategy"[3] and the group's message, in particular its categorizing of porn as a drug, as pseudoscience, contradictory to neuroscience research.[23][24] The group have been alleged to be an example of continued influence by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over social issues. An example is their use of billboards in San Francisco intentionally to target a socially progressive region.[7] In a Salt Lake Tribune op-ed, a group of sex therapists said that FTND's leaders and presenters were not mental health or sexuality professionals, and were promoting false information and failing to educate children about either sexuality and human development, or the positive, as well as the negative, aspects of porn.[12]

Emily F. Rothman, Professor of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, stated in 2021 that "the professional public health community is not behind the recent push to declare pornography a public health crisis".[25]

References

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  1. ^ "Nonprofit Explorer – Fight the New Drug Inc". ProPublica. May 9, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  2. ^ LaPlante, Matthew (February 17, 2018). "In Utah, the fight against porn is increasingly being framed as a public health crisis". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Hablin, James (April 14, 2016). "Inside the Movement to Declare Pornography a 'Health Crisis'". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on July 7, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Dickson, EJ (May 7, 2014). "Can a non-religious Web-savvy campaign against pornography work?". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on June 19, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  5. ^ "About Fight The New Drug - Who We Are and What Our Mission Is". Fight the New Drug. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Group is fighting against 'the new drug' — pornography". Deseret News. January 26, 2010. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c Allen, Samantha (October 20, 2015). "'Porn Kills Love': Mormons' Anti-Smut Crusade". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on June 18, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  8. ^ Ley, David J. (July 25, 2013). "Your Brain on Porn – It's NOT Addictive". Psychology Today. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  9. ^ Fight the New Drug: A Movement For Love on YouTube
  10. ^ "Who is Fight the New Drug?". Fight the New Drug. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  11. ^ Funaro, Vincent (July 30, 2014). "Is Porn Addiction A Public Health Issue? 'Fight the New Drug' Warns About the Dangers of Pornography". The Christian Post.
  12. ^ a b Parker, Natasha Helfer; Hodson, Kristin; Bennion, Kristin Marie; Hickman, Shannon (October 2, 2016). "Op-ed: Utah students need real sex ed, not 'Fight the New Drug'". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  13. ^ Gleeson, Scott (March 18, 2018). "Royals hold anti-pornography seminar for players at spring training". USA Today. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  14. ^ West, Perry (November 25, 2018). "New documentary shows individual, societal threat of pornography". Catholic News Agency.
  15. ^ Stecklow, Sam (February 24, 2016). "Terry Crews Has Been Posting Intense Anti-Masturbation, Anti-Internet Videos on His Facebook Page for Two Weeks". New York Magazine. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  16. ^ "Lamar Odom 'got saved' Sunday, credits Jesus for keeping him alive after near-death incident". FOX 5 DC. November 1, 2019. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  17. ^ "Episodes". Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  18. ^ Goins-Phillips, Tré (August 7, 2019). "YouTube Star Shares His Own Experience With Pornography, Why He's Now Fighting It". Faithwire. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  19. ^ "About". NCOSE. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  20. ^ "Fight the New Drug - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on April 28, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  21. ^ "Share Your Story". Fight the New Drug. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  22. ^ Most Successful Male Porn Star Of All Time Speaks Out On Porn, June 18, 2015, retrieved April 19, 2023
  23. ^ Parker et al. 2016, "False and fear-based information exacerbates problems."
  24. ^ Watson, Brian (2020). "The New Censorship: Anti-sexuality Groups and Library Freedom". Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy. 4 (4): 19–28. doi:10.5860/jifp.v4i4.7177. hdl:2022/25773. S2CID 238069109.
  25. ^ Rothman, Emily F. (2021). Pornography and Public Health. Oxford University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-19-007549-1. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved May 31, 2022. The professional public health community is not behind the recent push to declare pornography a public health crisis.
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