LOS ANGELES — In 2015, the religious conservative anti-pornography organization Morality in Media changed its name to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. Since their rebranding, with no discernible change to their background, membership, funding sources or mission, they’ve become go-to experts for the mainstream press on a variety of subjects such as sex trafficking, child sex exploitation and the dangers of decriminalizing prostitution.
Did you catch that?
If you keep up on news regarding pornography, sex trafficking or decriminalization of sex work, you’ve likely seen references to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) peppered throughout the stories.
Their name appears in dozens of mainstream press stories, often quoted or referenced as a legitimate source of information regarding the alleged damage that pornography and sex work causes society. “National Center on Sexual Exploitation” sounds like a name designed so that no one could possibly be against it — who, after all, would want to be seen as “pro-sexual exploitation”?
Even NCOSE’s custom website URL, endsexualexploitation.org, is designed to seem like you’re visiting the kind of organization that no one could possibly want to criticize.
Here they are referenced in an ESPN story on human trafficking during the 2017 Super Bowl; here, they’re referenced in a Washington Times story about child sex robot legislation; here’s a USA Today story about Walmart removing Cosmopolitan Magazine from its checkout lines.
Here's a CNET story about FOSTA; and a Huffington Post column about pornography in sex education; and a Salt Lake Tribune column about the movie "Fifty Shades Freed"; and a Washington Post story about sexual assault allegations in the adult industry.
All reference NCOSE and/or quote their representatives. And there are more. A lot more.
None of those stories, all published by mainstream news organizations, go into NCOSE’s background or credentials. Aside from the Washington Post calling them “conservative,” and a sole mention by USA Today of their former incarnation as Morality in Media, there isn’t a hint anywhere of their history or their religiously motivated political agenda.
And nowhere, anywhere, in any of these stories, is there any justification as to why they'd be quoted or referenced as "experts" on the issues being discussed, besides the fact that they call themselves "the National Center on Sexual Exploitation."
So what is this organization that the mainstream media is happy to legitimize and use as a source on important issues related to pornography and sex work?
From “Morality” to “Sexual Exploitation”
NCOSE was born as "Operation Yorkville" in 1962, formed by a group of clergymen in New York City. Aligned with traditionalist Catholics (this was the era of the Vatican Council II reforms), the group was presented as interfaith, with early press making sure to note that a rabbi had also been included in its inception.
“Operation Yorkville” sounds like a John Wayne movie and soon changed to the more Goldwater-esque “Morality in Media,” the first instance of the group's rebranding to more effectively mainstream their fringe message.
On the NCOSE website, the group describes their Morality in Media days as being “the beacon of hope and light for those concerned about the insidious trend toward normalization of sexual exploitation in American culture.” Morality in Media “is perhaps the nation’s loudest voice against adult pornography,” a 2014 ThinkProgress article published, “with a coalition that reads like a Who’s Who of conservative Christian organizations.”
That 2014 date is important, because in 2015 Morality in Media rebranded itself as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. According to the NCOSE website, the change was made “to better describe our scope and mission to expose the seamless connection between all forms of sexual exploitation.”
But a perusal of their press archives paints a very different picture of their motivation. Before rebranding, Morality in Media was cited by such conservative Christian publications as Lifesite News and The Christian Post, and right-wing websites like Breitbart. The odd time that they were mentioned by the mainstream press, such as this New York Times story from 2013, they were referred to as what they actually were — and still are — an “anti-pornography advocacy group.”
“Cosmo Harms Minors”
Since the organization’s rebranding as NCOSE, they continue to feature heavily in right-wing and conservative Christian media. But when mentioned by the mainstream press, they are rarely referred to as an “anti-pornography advocacy group.”
The newly-christened org is now described as an "anti-abuse and anti-exploitation organization" (Time Magazine), "experts" on human trafficking (Time Warner Cable News), or a group "which works to combat pornography, sex trafficking and sexual violence" (Chicago Tribune). Often, they were simply quoted or referenced as authorities on sexual exploitation with no explanation at all of who they are, what their background is or what special interest they represent, other than that implied by their name (CNN, CNBC, The Today Show, The New York Times).
One of the first campaigns run by NCOSE after their rebranding was "'Cosmo' Harms Minors," a push, in consultation with Hearst publishing heiress and noted patron of censors Victoria Hearst, to have Cosmopolitan magazines wrapped in sleeves or covers to prevent minors from seeing "salacious content" (New York Times).
Hearst — an Evangelical Christian with a ministry in Colorado and who has no formal position with her family’s publishing empire, under which Cosmo is published — and NCOSE were eventually successful in getting Walmart to pull Cosmo from its checkout counters.
For years, NCOSE has also been fighting for a boycott of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and to have it pulled from such retail giants as Walgreens and Target. This year, that fight came to a head when, after years of decrying the amount of skin the swimsuit issues exposed on their covers, they denounced the magazine for featuring Muslim model Halima Aden in a burkini, which covered nearly every inch of her skin, except for her face and hands.
“Hijab and burkini model gimmicks notwithstanding,” NCOSE said in a statement, “the 2019 Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue carries on in its sexist and repugnant tradition of normalizing and profiting from the sexual objectification of women.”
Most recently, NCOSE has taken on a few causes related to the exploitation of women. One is the recent advent of “porn accountability” software like Covenant Eyes, which uses artificial intelligence to discern if someone is looking at pornography on their phone and then notifies friends, family and spiritual leaders chosen by the potential “victim of temptation” about it.
“A Largely Homogenous Student Body”
Both a Roll Call article published in the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Mail refer to a study cited by NCOSE that claims 93 percent of boys and 62 percent of girls are exposed to online porn during their adolescence.
However, neither publication verifies the claim in any way or discusses why NCOSE is an expert source on this information, let alone anything about the group’s background or history, choosing to let NCOSE’s name stand alone as its credential.
It turns out the study fed by NCOSE propagandists to mainstream reporters does exist.
It is called The Nature and Dynamics of Internet Pornography Exposure for Youth. It was conducted by three PhDs at the University of New Hampshire.
What NCOSE and the major media publications that cite the study consistently fail to mention is that the study had a tiny sample size — 192 male students, 371 female students — and in its conclusions states outright that “generalizations cannot be made from this convenience sample, which includes retrospective reports from students at one public university with a largely homogenous student body.”
It goes on to say that the purpose of the study was simply to demonstrate a methodology, and that “the impact of internet pornography exposure on young people has been subjected to little social scientific research.”
None of this stopped the NCOSE from citing the results of the study as proof of pornography being a public health crisis, nor did it stop major media organizations from amplifying those same results so as to make them seem like incontrovertible facts.
They've also been instrumental in writing so-called "model legislation" to fight pornography for state legislatures across the country, as covered by XBIZ.
“A Rabbit Hole of Videos”
Even supposedly progressive media outlets often fall for NCOSE’s devious self-branding as honest brokers of information.
In February, online news site Vox quoted NCOSE’s VP of Advocacy and Outreach Haley Halverson in a story entitled “YouTube has a pedophilia problem, and its advertisers are jumping ship.”
“Within two clicks,” Halverson’s statement claimed, “I was able to enter into a rabbit hole of videos where children are being eroticized by pedophiles and child abusers. The content became more flagrantly sexualized the more I clicked, as the YouTube recommendation algorithm fed me more and more videos with hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of views.”
“Despite YouTube’s claims to be cleaning up this content,” she added, “YouTube so far still continues to monetize videos that eroticize [minors] and that serve as hubs for pedophiles to network and trade information and links to more graphic child pornography.”
The story made no mention of NCOSE’s history, mission, or why Halverson should be considered an expert on this subject. It also makes no attempt to question how Halverson defines "videos where [minors] are being eroticized by pedophiles and child abusers" or point to a single video with this content that has "hundreds of thousands" or "millions of views."
Halverson is NCOSE’s de facto spokeswoman, and her Twitter page is full of tweets proclaiming herself to be an advocate for women and a fighter against sexual exploitation and sexual assault.
But she also has a column on self-described “No. 1 conservative website” TownHall.com.
Halverson’s affiliation with TownHall.com — an outlet known for pieces downplaying the infamous Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape and decrying the media’s quick response to allegations of sexual assault against the president — is problematic based on her own avowed standards.
Halverson penned a TownHall.com column earlier this month criticizing Heinz and Unilever for trying to run ads on Pornhub. "When mainstream companies normalize or partner with the pornography industry," she stated, "they tacitly endorse and fund the sexually exploitive content and messages that the pornography industry produces."
How would this be different than when a supposed “women’s advocate” partners up with a website like TownHall.com, which minimizes accusations of sexual assault against the President of the United States and, to use her word, “normalizes” blatantly sexist and predatory behavior? Would Halverson then accuse herself of tacitly endorsing “normalization and minimization” of this behavior?
XBIZ has reached out to Halverson at NCOSE for comment. As of publication, she has not responded.
For more XBIZ coverage on the War on Porn, click here.
