Q&A with Jefferson Bethke

For starters, we are being exploited by advertisers and people behind the websites who make billions off our addiction, which in my opinion is immoral in itself (similar to drug dealers making money by supplying people with something that ruins their lives). But our generation is also exploiting each other all the way down the ranks through sexting, exchanging nude photos and perpetuating the culture and need that leads others to do things like trafficking and illegal exploitation

It does seem to make a difference. One thing the Millennial generation hates is hypocrisy. And there isn’t anything much more hypocritical than fighting trafficking while porn grows as one of the biggest consumer industries in the world. It’s simple supply and demand. The demand that traffickers supply starts with pornography.

I think the problem behind the problem to almost all brokenness in the world is commodification of another human. We use, abuse and exploit other humans for the thing we want—money, power, satisfaction, whatever. The minute a human becomes a stepping stone to something else, that’s the minute you turn the most glorious thing in the world, another human, into a product or commodity. I think the problem of porn starts there. I read a quote somewhere that said something like, “Success happens when a guy looks away from porn not because of shame, but when he has such a high view of women that it’s nearly impossible to get aroused from their exploitation.”

One thing I found discouraging is that most people don’t seem to realize porn is eroding the sacredness of sexuality and creating a low view of sex. But the encouraging thing is to see just how many people struggle with it. I think that information can be powerful for people because it seems to be a thing that thrives in darkness and isolation. But when other guys see they aren’t alone, there is a lot of healing power.