ALL HATRED IS SELF HATRED

care for gaza - focuses on providing food and essential supplies. donate here or here.

connecting humanity - securing internet access via donations of virtual sim cards (esims). if you can't afford a whole plan yourself, crips for esims is a communal pool that will use your donation to purchase and maintain esims

gaza soup kitchen - provides food, medical care, and classes for children. also has a gofundme

glia gaza medical support initiative - provides medical care through field clinics and tents at hospitals. donations can also be sent through their website.

ele elna elak - provides clean water, food, clothing, and shelter. they also have a gofundme

life for gaza - raising money for the gaza municipality to repair water and waste management infrastructure

taawon - partners with local civil organizations to provide food, water, medical care, shelter, and basic supplies

the sameer project - running various initiatives providing tents, medical care, and necessities. they have their own encampment project focused on sheltering families with children, sick and disabled members, or members in need of perinatal care

islamic relief worldwide's gaza emergency appeal - provides food, water, hygiene kits, medical supplies, and psychological support

baitulmaal - provides a variety of necessities, including food, water, shelter, and medical supplies

gaza mutual aid fund - distributes food, hygiene products, water, and other essential supplies, including financial support. run by @/el-shab-hussein's amazing friend Mona. updates can be found on her instagram.

hygiene kits for gaza - provides hygiene supplies including menstrual products, wipes, and toothbrushes/toothpaste

anera - provides a variety of necessities, including food, water, hygiene supplies, medicine, blankets and mattresses, and psychological care

palestine children's relief fund - provides supplies and support with a focus on children. also has an initiative for lebanon

dahnoun mutual aid - provides water, food, tents, baby supplies, financial support, and other necessities. updates can be found through their instagram

Cambridge gave a village in northern India a bunch of drones and spy cams to watch wild life. And surprise, surprise: men immediately used it to film women using the bathroom in the forest and sharing it online. They buzz them with the drones while they're gathering lumber and food and it intimidates them out of singing and communicating. This leaves them more vulnerable to animal attack and is literally getting these women killed.

There's no neutral item that can't be turned into a weapon when men have hate in their hearts.

It doesnt

Fucking

Stop

‘Buddhist meditation is about stopping, not creating. It’s not about changing who we are - the trying to do that is actually the root of our problem - it’s about being who we are, simply and directly.’

HEAVY TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of rape, violence, abuse, sadism, masochism, torture and more. Reader discretion is advised.

Porn Culture and The Industry

There are over 68 million daily searches for pornography in the United States. Thats 25% of all daily searches (IFR, 2006).

The sex industry is largest and most profitable industry in the world. “It includes street prostitution, brothels, ‘massage parlors’, strip clubs, human trafficking for sexual purposes, phone sex, child and adult pornography, mail order brides and sex tourism – just to mention a few of the most common examples.” (Andersson et al, 2013)

Pornhub receives over 1.68 million visits per hour. (Pornhub, 2013)

Globally, teen is the most searched term. A Google Trends analysis indicates that searches for “Teen Porn” have more than tripled between 2005-2013, and teen porn was the fastest-growing genre over this period. Total searches for teen-related porn reached an estimated 500,000 daily in March 2013, far larger than other genres, representing approximately one-third of total daily searches for pornographic web sites. (Dines, 2013)

Internet porn in the UK receives more traffic than social networks, shopping, news and media, email, finance, gaming and travel. (Arthur, 2013)

Several recent studies have found that teenagers around the world report using porn to gain information about real life sex (Lauzus et al, 2007) (Wade et al, 2005) (Flood, 2009) ( Giordano & Ross, 2012)

Across the board it has been found women watch less porn than men.

17% of women admit to struggling with pornography addiction (Internet Filter Review, 2006)

Condoms are only utilized in 10.9% of top rated scenes (Bridges and Wosnitzer, 2007)

Every 39 minutes a new porn film is created in the United States.

20% of American men admit they access pornography at work.

13% of women admit to accessing pornography at work (Internet Filter Review, 2006)

70% of all Internet porn traffic occurs during workdays (9am – 5pm) (Sex Tracker, 2012)

The porn industry makes more money than Hollywood. (US Statistics)

The porn industry makes more money than The National Football League, The National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball combined and more than NBC, CBS, and ABC combined. (IFR, 2006).

The porn industry has larger revenues than the top technology companies (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix) combined (IFR, 2006).

13,000 adult videos are produced annually, amassing over $13 billion dollars in profit. By comparison, Hollywood released 507 movies and made only 8.8 billion (Bridges and Wosnitzer, 2007).

Free websites comprise between 70-80% of the adult material online, typically used as “bait” for pay websites, guiding viewers to premium pay services.

90% of free porn websites and nearly 100% of pay porn websites buy their material rather than create it themselves.

Porn, Youth and Child Abuse

Children as young as 11 years old are regularly accessing hardcore gonzo pornography (IFR, 2006). Following first exposure, the largest consumer group of internet pornography is boys between the ages of 12-17.Approximately 20% of all internet pornography is child sexual abuse. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2013).

A recent study found that seven out of ten youth have been unwillingly exposed to pornography in the United States (Carroll et al, 2008).

The fastest growing demand in commercial websites for child abuse is for images depicting the worst type of abuse, including penetrative sexual activity involving children and adults and sadism or penetration by an animal (Internet Watch Foundation. Annual Report, 2008).

In a study of arrested child pornography possessors, 40 percent had both sexually victimized children and were in possession of child pornography.

Child pornography has become a $3 billion annual industry (Top Ten Reviews, 2005).

69% of all victims in child abuse images are between the ages of 0 and 10 years old. (IWF, 2008)

A New Zealand Internal Affairs study suggests that there is an association between viewing child pornography and committing child sexual abuse (New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs. Internet Traders of Child Pornography: Profiling Research. By Caroline Sullivan. October 2005. January 10, 2006).

Approximately 55% of street girls engage in formal prostitution (Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. Accessed October 31, 2007).

Child prostitutes serve between two and thirty clients per week, leading to a shocking estimated base of anywhere between 100 to 1500 clients per year, per child. Younger children, many below the age of 10, have been increasingly drawn into serving tourists (Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. Accessed October 31, 2007).

Youth who look at violent x-rated material are six times more likely to report forcing someone to do something sexual online or in-person versus youth not exposed to x-rated material.

Internet pornography was blamed for a 20 percent increase in sexual attacks by children over three years.

Nearly 80 percent of unwanted exposure to pornography is taking place in the home (79 percent occurs in the home; 9 percent occurs at school; 7 percent other/unknown; 5 percent at a friend’s home).

Kids experience unwanted exposure to sexual material via: - A link came up as a result of an innocent word search (40 %) - Clicking on a link in another site (17 %) - A pop-up (14 %) - Other (13 %) - Misspelled web address (12 %) - Don’t know (4 %) - Pictures involving animals or other strange things (10 %)

American children begin consuming hardcore pronography at an average age of 11

Four out of five 16 year-olds regularly access pornography online

In 2008, more than 560 college student responded to an online survey: - 93% of boys and 62% of girls were exposed to pornography before 18 - 14% of boys and 9% of girls were exposed to pornography before 13 - 69% of boys and 23% of girls have spent at least 30 consecutive minutes viewing Internet pornography on at least one occasion - 63% of boys have done so more than once, and 35% of boys have done so on more than 10 occasions. - 83% of boys and 57% of girls have seen group sex online - 69% of boys and 55% of girls have seen same-sex intercourse online - 39% of boys and 23% of girls have seen sexual bondage online - 32% of boys and 18% of girls have seen bestiality online - 18% of boys and 10% of girls have seen rape or sexual violence online - 15% of boys and 9% of girls have seen child pornography

When a child or adolescent is directly exposed to pornography the following effects have been documented: - Lasting negative or traumatic emotional responses. - The belief that superior sexual satisfaction is attainable without having affection for one’s partner, thereby reinforcing the commoditization of sex and the objectification of humans. - The belief that being married or having a family are unattractive prospects. - Increased risk for developing sexual compulsions and addictive behavior. - Increased risk of exposure to incorrect information about human sexuality long before a minor is able to contextualize this information in ways an adult brain could. - Overestimating the prevalence of less common practices (e.g., group sex, bestiality, or sadomasochistic activity)

Porn and its Psychological Effects

In 1982 and 1984, Dr. Dolf Zillmann and Dr. Jennings Bryant conducted an experiment with 80 male and 80 female college-age participants.101 These were divided into three subgroups, and each group was shown 4 hours and 48 minutes of media over a six-week period: (1) the “Massive Exposure Group” was shown 36 non-violent pornographic film clips; (2) the “Intermediate Exposure Group” was exposed to 18 pornographic film clips and 18 regular films; and (3) the “No Exposure” control group was shown 36 non-pornographic film clips. - A direct correlation was noticed between the amount of pornography one viewed and one’s overall sexual satisfaction. Participants from the Massive Exposure Group reported less satisfaction with their intimate partner, such as their partner’s physical appearance, affection, and sexual performance. Researchers concluded, “consumers eventually compare appearance and performance of pornographic models with that of their intimate partners, and this comparison rarely favors their intimate partners.” - Those exposed to more pornography attached more value to casual sex (i.e. sex without emotional involvement). - When asked if minors should be protecting from seeing pornography, 84% of the No Exposure Group, 54% of the Intermediate Exposure Group, and 37% of the Massive Exposure Group said yes. - Porn seemed to condition participants to trivialize rape. Participants were asked to read about a legal case where a man raped a female hitchhiker and then recommend a length for the rapist’s prison sentence. Males in the No Exposure Group said 94 months; the Massive Exposure Group said 50 months (nearly half that of the No Exposure Group). - Participants were asked to rate their overall support for women’s rights. Both men and women who were in the Massive Exposure Group showed significant drops in support compared to the No Exposure Group. There was 71% male support in the No Exposure Group compared to 25% in the Massive Exposure Group and 82% female support in the No Exposure Group compared to 52% in the Massive Exposure Group. - When asked how common or popular certain sexual activities were in the general population — activities like anal sex, group sex, sadomasochism, and bestiality — the percentages given by the Massive Exposure Group were two to three times higher than the No Exposure Group. - The Massive Exposure Group was far more likely to believe women fit the stereotype of the women they see in pornographic films — that is, “socially non-discriminating, as hysterically euphoric in response to just about any sexual or pseudosexual stimulation,and as eager to accommodate seemingly any and every sexual request.” - Additionally, two weeks after they stopped seeing videos, all participants were given an assortment of pornographic and non-pornographic films to watch in private. Those who were exposed to more pornography were significantly more likely to want to watch hardcore porn.

In a 2002 study, 71 male undergraduate students were divided into 3 groups. Each group watched 10-11-minute video segments: a sexually-explicit and degrading film, a sexually-explicit educational film, and a non-sexual film. Later the men were placed side-by-side with a woman in a seemingly unrelated social experiment. - Viewers of the sexually-explicit film displayed more dominance and anxiety, ignored contributions of their partner more often, touched their partner for longer periods of time, and averted their partner’s gaze more compared to viewers of the non-sexual film. - Viewers of the sexually-explicit and degrading film spent longer periods of time averting their partner’s touch and gazing at their partner’s face, interrupted their partner more, advanced to touch their partner more, and made more sexual references compared to viewers of the sexually-explicit film.

In 2005, a study of youth between the ages of 10 and 17 concluded that there is a significant relationship between frequent porn use and feelings of loneliness and major depression.

Gary R. Brooks, Ph.D., describes what he observes as a “pervasive disorder” linked to the consumption of soft- core pornography like Playboy. He mentions five main symptoms of this: Voyeurism: An obsession with looking at women rather than interacting with them. This can apply to far more than pornography, including any consumption of the “sexuality-on-tap” culture in which we live; media glorifies and objectifies women’s bodies, thus promoting unreal images of women, feeding male obsession with visual stimulation and trivializing other mature features of a healthy sexual relationship. Objectification: An attitude in which women are objects rated by size, shape and harmony of body parts. Sexual fantasy leads to emotional unavailability and dissatisfaction. Validation: The need to validate masculinity through beautiful women. Women who meet centerfold standards only retain their power as long as they maintain “perfect” bodies and the lure of unavailability; it is very common for a man’s fantasy sexual encounter to include a feeling of manly validation; it is also common for men to feel invalidated by their wives if they have trained their minds and bodies to respond only to the fantasy advances of their dream girl. Trophyism: The idea that beautiful women are collectibles who show the world who a man is. Pornography reinforces the women’s-bodies-as-trophies mentality. Fear of True Intimacy: Inability to relate to women in an honest and intimate way despite deep loneliness. Pornography exalts a man’s sexual needs over his need for sensuality and intimacy; some men develop a preoccupation with sexuality, which powerfully handicaps their capacity for emotionally intimate relationships.

“Prolonged exposure to pornography, it must be remembered, results in both a loss of respect for female sexual autonomy and the disinhibition of men in the expression of aggression against women.” - Dr. James B. Weaver.

Porn and Addiction

10% of adults admit to having an addiction to online pornography (IFR, 2006).

In a survey of 63 wives of self-identified sex addicts: - 70% met most criteria for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. - 75% discovered evidence of compulsive or addictive sexual behaviors themselves (as opposed to a planned disclosure on the part of a husband). - 71% demonstrated a severe level of functional impairment in major areas of their lives. - Length of marriage at disclosure and number of prior traumatic event exposures were the best predictors increased trauma symptoms.

“[M]odern science allows us to understand that the underlying nature of an addiction to pornography is chemically nearly identical to a heroin addiction.” - Dr. Jeffrey Satinovet

“Pornography triggers a myriad of endogenous, internal, natural drugs that mimic the ‘high’ from a street drug. Addiction to pornography is addiction to what I dub erototoxins—mind altering drugs produced by the viewer’s own brain.” - Dr. Judith Reisman

Porn, Violence and Rape

88.2% of top rated porn scenes contain aggressive acts principally spanking, gagging, and slapping, while 48.7% of scenes contained verbal aggression, primarily name-calling. - In 70% of occurrences, a man is perpetrator of the aggression; 94% of the time the act is directed towards a woman. - Only 9.9% of the top selling scenes analyzed contained behaviors such as kissing, laughing, caressing, or verbal compliments. - Open-hand slapping occurs in 41.1% of scenes. - Sex depicted in porn movies generally focuses on men’s sexual pleasure and orgasm, rather than equally that of women’s (Bridges and Wosnitzer, 2007)

Porn scenes have sexist and racist themes through out. Websites often contain menus where users can select genres of women’s ethnicities, body types, and ages. There are also choices such as “amateur,” “interracial”, and the ever popular “teen” category. Men and women who are anything other than white are represented in stereotypical and demeaning ways.

Studies show that after viewing pornography men are more likely to: - report decreased empathy for rape victims - have increasingly aggressive behavioral tendencies - report believing that a woman who dresses provocatively deserves to be raped - report anger at women who flirt but then refuse to have sex - report decreased sexual interest in their girlfriends or wives - report increased interest in coercing partners into unwanted sex acts (Bridges, 2006) (Yang, Gahyun, 2012).

In a meta-analysis of 46 studies published from 1962 to 1995, comprising a total sample of 12,323 people, researchers concluded pornographic material puts one at increased risk of: - developing sexually deviant tendencies (31% increase in risk) - committing sexual offenses (22% increase in risk) - accepting rape myths (31% increase in risk)

Among perpetrators of sex crimes, adolescent exposure to pornography is a significant predictor of elevated violence and victim humiliation.

In a study of 30 college fraternity members on a small liberal arts campus, the displayed images of women (in posters, screensavers, calendars, pin-ups, and advertisements) were analyzed for their frequency and degrading nature. There was a significant association between the average degradation ratings of the images and the student’s rape-supportive attitude scale (RSA)

In a study of 187 female university students, researchers concluded early exposure to pornography was related to subsequent “rape fantasies” and attitudes supportive of sexual violence against women. Researchers believe pornography consumed at a young age contributes to women being socialized to accept sexual aggression as a sexual/romantic event.

In 2004 data was collected from interviews with 271 women participating in a battered women’s program. Pornography use by their partner significantly increased the odds of women being sexually abused by their abusers. When their abuser used both alcohol and pornography, the odds of sexual abuse increase by a factor of 3.2.

Arrested prostitution clients are twice as likely to report having watched pornographic movies over the past year than a national sample.

Japanese males were divided into three groups and each exposed to different types of home video pornography: a positive rape film (where the female expressed pleasure), a negative rape film (where the female expressed pain), or a consenting sex film. Those who viewed the positive rape film were significantly more likely to state that women could enjoy rape and higher percentages of rape cases are invented by victims.

In a study of 804 Italian adolescents, ages 14 to 19 years old, viewing pornography was correlated to both active and passive sexual violence and unwanted sex.

“Women are represented as passive and as slavishly dependent upon men. The role of female characters is limited to the provision of sexual services to men. To the extent that women’s sexual pleasure is represented at all, it is subordinated to that of men and is never an end in itself as is the sexual pleasure of men. What pleases women is the use of their bodies to satisfy male desires. While the sexual objectification of women is common to all pornography, women are the recipients of even worse treatment in violent pornography, in which women characters are killed, tortured, gang-raped, mutilated, bound, and otherwise abused, as a means of providing sexual stimulation or pleasure to the male characters.” - Helen Longino

Research indicates that 25% to 30% of male college students in the United States and Canada admit that there is some likelihood they would rape a woman if they could get away with it. (Briere and Malamuth, 1983)

In a study of high school males, 50% of those interviewed believed it acceptable “for a guy to hold a girl down and force her to have sexual intercourse in instances such as when ‘she gets him sexually excited’ or ‘she says she’s going to have sex with him and then changes her mind’” (Goodchilds and Zellman, 1984)

“I went to a porno bookstore, put a quarter in a slot, and saw this porn movie. It was just a guy coming up from behind a girl and attacking her and raping her. That’s when I started having rape fantasies. When I saw that movie, it was like somebody lit a fuse from my childhood on up… I just went for it, went out and raped.” Rapist interviewed by Beneke, 1982

The following statements were made by women testifying at the Hearings on Pornography in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1993 (Russell, 1993a). - Ms. M testified that, “I agree to act out in private a lot of the scenarios that my husband read to me. These depicted bondage and different sexual acts that I found humiliating to do…He read the pornography like a textbook, like a journal. When he finally convinced me to be bound, he read in the magazine how to tie the knots and bind me in a way that I couldn’t escape. Most of the scenes where I had to dress up or go through different fantasies were the exact same scenes that he has read in the magazines.” - Ms. O described a case in which a man ‘brought pornographic magazines, books, and paraphernalia into the bedroom with him and told her that if she did not perform the sexual acts in the “dirty” books and magazines, he would beat her and kill her’ - Ms. S testified about the experience of a group of women prostitutes who, she said, ‘were forced constantly to enact specific scenes that men had witnessed in pornography…These men… would set up scenarios, usually with more than one woman, to copy scenes that they had seen portrayed in magazines and books. [For example, Ms. S quoted a woman in her group as saying:] “He held up a porn magazine with a picture of a beaten woman and said, ‘I want you to look like that. I want you to hurt.’ He then began beating me. When I did not cry fast enough, he lit a cigarette and held it right above my breast for a long time before he burned me.” - Ms. S. also described what three men did to a nude woman prostitute whom they had tied up while she was seated on a chair: “They burned her with cigarettes and attached nipple clips to her breasts. They had many S and M magazines with them and showed her many pictures of women appearing to consent, enjoy, and encourage this abuse. She was held for twelve hours while she was continuously raped and beaten.” - Another example cited by Ms. S: “They (several Johns) forced the women to act simultaneously with the movie. In the movie at this point, a group of men were urinating on a naked woman. All the men in the room were able to perform this task, so they all started urinating on the woman who was now naked.”

Non-violent heterosexual porn often becomes ‘too boring’ and leads (commonly) men to seek out more ‘interesting’ and ‘exciting’ types of pornography: often including abuse and rape. (Zillman and Bryant) (Briere and Malamuth)

Porn and Relationships

[At] a gathering of the nation’s divorce lawyers, attendees revealed that 58% of their divorces were a result of a spouse looking at excessive amounts of pornography online.

According to the Journal of Adolescent Health, prolonged exposure to pornography leads to: - An exaggerated perception of sexual activity in society - Diminished trust between intimate couples - The abandonment of the hope of sexual monogamy - Belief that promiscuity is the natural state - Belief that abstinence and sexual inactivity are unhealthy - Cynicism about love or the need for affection between sexual partners - Belief that marriage is sexually confining - Lack of attraction to family and child-raising

According to sociologist Jill Manning, the research indicates pornography consumption is associated with the following six trends, among others: 1. Increased marital distress, and risk of separation and divorce 2. Decreased marital intimacy and sexual satisfaction 3. Infidelity 4. Increased appetite for more graphic types of pornography and sexual activity associated with abusive, illegal or unsafe practices 5. Devaluation of monogamy, marriage and child rearing 6. An increasing number of people struggling with compulsive and addictive sexual behavior

In a survey of women (and some men) who experienced serious adverse consequences from their partner’s cybersex involvement: - In 68% of the couples, one or both lost interest in relational sex: 52% of showed a decreased interest, as did 34% of partners. - Partners commonly reported feeling hurt, betrayed, rejected, abandoned, lonely, isolated, humiliated, jealous, and angry. - Partners often compared themselves unfavorably to online images. - Partners overwhelmingly felt that cyber affairs were as emotionally painful as offline affairs.

Porn and Sexual Dysfunction

“I have also seen in my clinical experience that pornography damages the sexual performance of the viewers. Pornography viewers tend to have problems with premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. Having spent so much time in unnatural sexual experiences with paper, celluloid and cyberspace, they seem to find it difficult to have sex with a real human being. Pornography is raising their expectation and demand for types and amounts of sexual experiences; at the same time it is reducing their ability to experience sex.” – Dr. MaryAnne Layden

Porn and Sex Trafficking / Sexual Slavery

There are [an estimated] 12.3 million people in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, and sexual servitude at any given time; other estimates range from 4 million to 27 million (Trafficking in Persons Report. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, 2006).

Each year sexual traffickers lure, coerce, trick, drug, kidnap, and sell millions of vulnerable women and children into the multi-billion dollar sex trade. In their daily lives victims of sexual trafficking endure unspeakable acts of physical brutality, violence and degradation including rape by so-called customers and pimps; undergo forced abortions; acquire drug and alcohol dependencies; live in fear of their lives and in fear for the lives of their family and friends; suffer acute psychological reactions as a result of their extreme physical and emotional trauma; and contract sexually transmitted diseases which all too often bring life-long illness or hasten death. If they survive, the physical, psychological and spiritual impacts of these experiences on victims are devastating and enduring (Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking, Accessed October 31, 2007).

UNICEF reports that across the world, there are over one million children entering the sex trade every year and that approximately 30 million children have lost their childhood through sexual exploitation over the past 30 years (Commercial sexual exploitation position statement. UNICEF UK. 2004, January 28)

From fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2005, the Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney’s Offices filed 91 trafficking cases, a 405% increase over the number of trafficking cases filed from fiscal years 1996 through 2000. (U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. 2006, February).

$19 Billion generated annually on the street from human trafficking (Christine Dolan, The Global Coalition to End Human Trafficking NOW).

Porn, Prostitution and Health Risks

Foremost among the health risks of prostitution is premature death… by far the most common causes of death were homicide, suicide, drug and alcohol related problems, HIV infection and accidents - in that order. (Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2004, July 24).

The Average Life Expectancy of a Porn Star is 36.2 years

Chlamydia and Gonorrhea among performers is 10x greater than that of LA County 20-24 year olds.

66% - 99% porn stars have Herpes, a non-curable diseases

Porn performers experience higher rates of infection (20%) than general public (2.4%)

Only 17% of performers use condoms in heterosexual adult films.

In 2004, only two of 200 adult film companies required the use of condoms.

Porn Performers and Abuse

“[Porn actresses] have high rates of substance abuse, typically alcohol and cocaine… [many] have to be drunk, high or dissociated in order to go to work.” – Dr. MaryAnne Layden

“ [Porn actresses] have high rates of… depression and borderline personality disorder.” – Dr. MaryAnne Layden

“The drugs we binged on were Ecstasy, Cocaine, Marijuana, Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and alcohol.” - Porn actress Erin Moore

“Guys are punching you in the face. You get ripped. Your insides can come out of you. It’s never ending. You’re viewed as an object — not as a human with a spirit. People do drugs because they can’t deal with the way they’re being treated.”  - Tanya Burleson, formerly known as Jersey Jaxin,

“( In pornography) our bodies are being stripped, exposed, and contorted for the purpose of ridicule to bolster that “masculine esteem” which gets its kick and sense of power from viewing females as anonymous, panting playthings, adult toys, dehumanized objects to be used, abused, broken and discarded.”  - Susan Brownmiller, 1975

“In one case, a man who said he had participated in over a hundred pornographic movies testified at the Commission hearings in Los Angeles as follows: “I, myself, have been on a couple of sets where the young ladies have been forced to do even anal sex scenes with a guy which [sic] is rather large and I have seen them crying in pain” (Diana Russel, ‘Pornography as a Cause of Rape’)

“Women and young girls were tortured and suffered permanent physical injuries to answer publisher demands for photographs depicting sadomasochistic abuse. When the torturer/photographer inquired of the publisher as to the types of depictions that would sell, the torturer/photographer was instructed to get similar existing publications and use the depictions therein for instruction. The torturer/photographer followed the publisher’s instructions, tortured women and girls accordingly, and then sold the photographs to the publisher. The photographs were included in magazines sold nationally in pornographic outlets”  (Diana Russel, ‘Pornography as a Cause of Rape’)

“This industry is full of people that hate - literally HATE women.” - Julie Meadows, former porn star

“I got the shit kicked out of me. I was told before the video - and they said this very proudly, mind you - that in this line most of the girls start crying because they’re hurting so bad … I couldn’t breathe. I was being hit and choked. I was really upset, and they didn’t stop. They kept filming. You can hear me say, ‘Turn the fucking camera off,’ and they kept going.” —Regan Starr, on the filming of “Rough Sex 2.”  Quoted in Martin Amis’ “A Rough Trade”

“Over the course of my porn career I have been belittled and treated like a piece of trash more than I could have ever imagined in a lifetime I would. I wasn’t a woman in any of these directors eyes, I was nothing to them. The male talent at times were nice, but sometimes, they were horrible. I’ve had men choke me, slap me, thrust me so hard until I couldn’t walk and this would happen even after I would tell them to stop. They have no respect for women.” - Erin Moore

“My first scene was one of the worst experiences of my life. It was very scary. It was a very rough scene. My agent didn’t let me know ahead of time… I did it and I was crying and they didn’t stop. It was really violent. He was hitting me.” - Sierra Sinn

“My pussy was so swollen, it was unbelievable. And the next day, I was obligated to work for Cherry Boxxx. And that f—ed me up even more. Working three scenes after having been so injured f—– me up. For a good six months, I wasn’t normal. My pussy wasn’t normal until a couple of months ago. It just sucks.“ - Eva Angelina

“I love the money, the glamor. I like being recognized. I like the attention. What I don’t like is not being able to shit right. You are constantly doing enemas and you’re fasting and you’re taking all these different pills, ex lax, and it screws up your internal system.” - Kami Andrews

“It was torture for seven years. I was miserable, I was lonely. I eventually turned to drugs and alcohol, and attempted suicide. I knew I wanted out, but I didn’t know how to get out.” - Jenna Presley

“ I experienced rough sex scenes and have been hit by male talent and told them to stop but they wouldn’t stop until I started to cry and ruined the scene. During one specific scene called “Bukkake” I was really high and the producers knew it and they told me to use a Douche to pretend I was urinating on another performer but I had an accident and instead I defecated on the performer. I was so humiliated and wanted to die. They told me it was okay and not to worry that they weren’t going to make a big deal about it and the next thing I know they blasted the scene all over the web. I felt totally degraded.“ - Michelle Avanti

“Well, I grew up in a small town in Ohio , and when I was 10 years old, I was raped by a high school boy that was about 16. And from there, my mother had an older boyfriend that molested me, so my entire childhood was really shaped by these really traumatic sexual experiences, which ultimately led me to the streets of Hollywood and to porn.” - Traci Lords

“After a year or so of that so-called “glamorous” life, I sadly discovered that drugs and drinking were a part of the lifestyle. I began to drink and party out of control! Cocaine, alcohol and ecstasy were my favorites. Before long, I turned into a person I did not want to be. After doing so many hardcore scenes I couldn’t do it anymore. I just remember being in horrible situations and experiencing extreme depression and being alone and sad.” - Andi Anderson

“I shot scenes where I had to pretend to be dead and let someone rape my dead body. I came home bruised and sometimes a little bloody from the rough scenes. I shot deep throat scenes where they slapped me and spit on me and called me horrible things. I threw up, and had to keep shooting.. I couldn’t breathe because of the vomit in my nose and the genitals in my mouth.” - Emily Eve

“Most girls get their first experience in gonzo films – in which they’re taken to a crappy studio apartment in Mission Hills and penetrated in every hole possible by some abusive asshole who thinks her name is Bitch. And these girls, some of whom have the potential to become major stars in the industry, go home afterward and pledge never to do it again because it was such a terrible experience.” - Jenna Jameson

”So what porn gave me was debt, diseases and people who think I’m a used up whore.“ - Anita Remby

“I like to hide — hide everything, you know?… And I’m not happy… I don’t like myself at all… My whole entire body feels it when I’m doing it and… I feel so — so gross.” - Belladonna

“When I arrived to the set I expected to do a vaginal girl boy scene. But during the scene with a male porn star, he forced himself anally into me and would not stop. I yelled at him to stop and screamed ‘No’ over and over but he would not stop. The pain became too much and I was in shock and my body went limp.” - Corina Taylor

“My initiation into prostitution was a gang rape by five men, arranged by Mr. Traynor. It was the turning point in my life. He threatened to shoot me with the pistol if I didn’t go through with it. I had never experienced anal sex before and it ripped me apart. They treated me like an inflatable plastic doll, picking me up and moving me here and there. They spread my legs this way and that, shoving their things at me and into me, they were playing musical chairs with parts of my body. I have never been so frightened and disgraced and humiliated in my life. I felt like garbage. I engaged in sex acts for pornography against my will to avoid being killed. The lives of my family were threatened.” - Linda Lovelace

“I honestly felt that if I had to have another strange man in my face, his hands (God knows where they’ve been all over me) him calling me his baby and having to exude some sort of forged passion for the world to see, I probably would have exploded. And what would have been stuck to the walls would have probably been nothing, just pieces of skin, bone, the brain of a robot, and what would have been left of what would have existed once as a huge and warm heart.“ - Ashlyn Brooke

“A female porn star that’d been in the industry for a while had excessive anal intercourse and a piece of her muscle from her anus fell out on set while she was filming. Some females damaged their reproductive systems which left them unable to have children. A male porn star broke the muscle in his penis because he was having abnormal and outrageous rough sex… Both male and female porn stars were committing suicide. A lot of the porn stars were known to go overseas and do bestiality in porn. (Sleeping with animals.) Shortly after that, a numerous amount of people starting turning up with diseases, Herpes to be exact. - Danielle Williams

“Donkey Punch was the most brutal, depressing, scary scene that I have ever done. I have tried to block it out from my memory due to the severe abuse I recieved during the filming. The guy, Steve French has a natural hatred towards women in the sense that he has always been known to be more brutal than EVER needed. I agreed to do the scene thinking it was less beating, except the ‘punch’ in the head. If you noticed, steve had worn his solid gold ring the entire time, and continued to punch me with it. I actually stopped the scene while it was being filmed because I was in too much pain.“  - Alex Devine

“I went through more heartbreaks and became suicidal. I was taken to the hospital for panic attacks. I tried to overdose on xanax, strangle myself, and cut my wrists but not nearly deep enough. I was too scared of the pain. I prayed God would just take me away! I felt helpless.“ - Crissy Moran

“I tried porn a year-and-a-half ago for three weeks. They [my agent DK] booked me for everything I didn’t want to do. I was in the hospital three times. Allergic to lube. Being pounded too hard. My cervix closed up. My ass got torn up.“ - Tiana Lynn

“Being in the world of adult modeling I see A LOT of pain… A LOT of heart break. SO many lost girls get into this business just for some extra money… to help pay for school… to help support themselves or even their children as single moms. “It’s just temporary”. They are only going to do this for a while…just a few shoots. I too started out to make some extra money to help me finish school. Almost ALL of the time It doesn’t end where you think it will…..the path goes on… the hole gets deeper… and the road gets darker. MOST of the time the girls don’t even realize it. One day you see this bright beautiful girl shooting tame nudes… the next they are signing on the dotted line of a hard-core porn company. Lost. Broken. Alone.“ - Erica Campbell

”As I continued to make harder and grosser porn, I transformed from victim into abuser. In my professional life, I began to act out like a man and abuse women on camera. With a strapped on dildo, I did to women exactly what men had done to me. I even knew how to selfishly stroke myself like a man. All those years in prostitution watching male pigs paid off. The men in porn were even worse pigs, ejaculating themselves on any weak woman on any sacred place on her body. I acted out in revenge the very thing I hated: a male pig.“ - Foxy Roxy

“Like most porn performers I perpetuated this lie. One of my favorite things to say when asked if I liked doing a particular scene was, “I only do what I like! I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it!” (I would say this with a big fake smile and giggle.) What a total lie! I did what I had to do to get “work” in porn. I did what I knew would help me gain “fame” in the industry.“ - Alexa Cruz

“I did gonzo porn to start out and it was the most degrading, embarrassing, horrible thing ever! I had to shoot an interactive DVD which takes hours and hours of shooting time with a 104 degree fever! I was crying and wanted to leave but my agent wouldn’t let me he said he couldn’t let me flake on it. I also did a scene where I was put with male talent that was on my no list. I wanted to please them so I did it. He put his foot on my head and stepped on it while he was doing me from behind. I freaked out and started balling; they stopped filming and sent me home with reduced pay since they got some shot but not the whole scene.” - Jessi Summers

“My worst day was when I was forced to use a sponge to do a scene because it was already booked and my monthly came early I had never did anything like this. The sponge was pushed so far and got stuck that I had to be taken into the hospital because I had caught a infection and they had to open me up to remove the sponge. I wasn’t able to work for a few weeks and the agent stole two of my checks to replace the money he didn’t get from me leaving me broke and without food.” - Mahlia Milian

“I didn’t want to feel the pain of penetration from an over average sized man, being told to freeze in a position until the camera man was happy with his shots was very painful. I had peoples body fluids forced on my face or anywhere else the producer pleased and I had to accept it or else no pay. Sometimes you would get to a gig and the producer would change what the scene was supposed to be to something more intense and again if you didn’t like it, too bad, you did it or no pay.” - Elizabeth Rollings

“I had bodily fluids all over my face that had to stay on my face for ten minutes. The abuse and degradation was rough. I sweated and was in deep pain. On top of the horrifying experience, my whole body ached, and I was irritable the whole day. The director didn’t really care how I felt; he only wanted to finish the video.” - Genevieve

“My first movie I was treated very rough by 3 guys. They pounded on me, gagged me with their penises, and tossed me around like I was a ball! I was sore, hurting and could barely walk. My insides burned and hurt so badly. I could barely pee and to try to have a bowel movement was out of the question. I was hurting so bad from the physical abuse from these 3 male porn stars!” - Alexa Milano

“I was sexually abused the first time by my step grandfather on my dad’s side and the second time by my actual stepdad so my sexuality was messed up from the beginning. I created another personality that was in complete control and didn’t have those things happen and didn’t have to deal with the pain. The industry is not a real accomplishment.  It’s just a false sense of accomplishment.  It covers everything up for what it is.” - Stephanie Swift

“People in the porn industry are numb to real life and are like zombies walking around. The abuse that goes on in this industry is completely ridiculous. The way these young ladies are treated is totally sick and brainwashing. I left due to the trauma I experienced even though I was there only a short time.” - Jessie Jewels

“I hung out with a lot of people in the Adult industry, everybody from contract girls to gonzo actresses. Everybody has the same problems. Everybody is on drugs. It’s an empty lifestyle trying to fill up a void… I became horribly addicted to heroin and crack. I overdosed at least 3 times, had tricks pull knives on me, have been beaten half to death- the only reason I am still here is God.” - Becca Brat

Disturbing Quotes by Pornographers

“Amateurs come across better on screen. Our customers feel that. Especially by women you can see it. They still feel strong pain.”   – Carlo Scalisi, owner of 21 Sexury Video

“Where else but in porn can you see a guy who just met a girl that day crack her around, choke her out.” - Brandon Iron

“I’m not here to apologize. I’m just here to say, ‘We make entertainment and let’s see how far we can take it.’” - Max Hardcore

“Degradation drives the business. … There are things going on right now that are way over the line.” - Khan Tusion

“Even the mildest pornography is shocking to the average person. I’m surprised it’s legal.” - Paul Thomas

“The girls get torn up like usual.” - Vince Vouyer

“I find myself not that much unlike the slaves and slave traders of some 400 years ago. I participate in the most heinous of ALL trades- THE BUYING AND SELLING OF HUMAN FLESH. I trade my own flesh for monetary compensation and I sell the flesh of others for the same.” - Lexington Steele

“I was the first to shoot Rocco. Together we evolved toward rougher stuff. He started to spit on girls. A strong male-dominant thing, with women being pushed to their limit. It looks like violence but it’s not. I mean, pleasure and pain are the same thing, right?” - John Stagliano

“I can like a rape scene if I really like the girl and it’s done well…I’m all about the sex and pretty girls and appreciating them.” —Pornographer John Stagliano, quoted in Robert Jensen’s Getting Off

“It’s like a dog marking its territory. You know, why do dogs pee on fire hydrants and trees? I don’t know. It’s just like a man will leave his mark on a woman. You see something beautiful, you’ve got to let them know you were there.” –Pornographer Brandon Iron, explaining why men like to ejaculate onto women’s faces

“Essentially, it comes from every man who’s unhappily married, and he looks at his wife who just nagged at him about this or that or whatnot, and he says, “I’d like to fuck you in the ass.” He’s angry at her, right? And he can’t, so he would rather watch some girl taking it up the ass and fantasize at that point he’s doing whatever girl happened to be mean to him that particular day, and that is the attraction, because when people watch anal, nobody wants to watch a girl enjoying anal” —Paul Hesky of Multimedia Pictures, as quoted by Robert Jensen in Getting Off.

“I’d like to really show what I believe the men want to see: violence against women. I firmly believe that we serve a purpose by showing that. The most violent we can get is the cum shot in the face. Men get off behind that, because they get even with the women they can’t have. We try to inundate the world with orgasms in the face.” – Ex-porn actor and Free Speech Coalition board member Bill Margold, quoted by Stoller and Levine. 

“My whole reason for being in this Industry is to satisfy the desire of the men in the world who basically don’t much care for women and want to see the men in my Industry getting even with the women they couldn’t have when they were growing up. I strongly believe this… so we come on a woman’s face or somewhat brutalize her sexually: we’re getting even for their lost dreams. I believe this. I’ve heard audiences cheer me when I do something foul on screen. When I’ve strangled a person or sodomized a person, or brutalized a person, the audience is cheering my action, and then when I’ve fulfilled my warped desire, the audience applauds.” - Bill Margold, porn industry veteran and Free Speech Coalition board member.

“When I shot that trailer for Thanksgiving, I really thought there was no problem with anything - it just shows you how genuinely out of touch I am! I was like…a full frontal labial shot, to camera, of a girl landing on a knife seemed like no problem to me. It’s an exploitation movie. It’s my job to exploit. If I don’t exploit this girl, I have failed as a director.” -From an interview with Eli Roth found on filmjerk.com

“Every whore gets the swirlies treatment. Fuck her, then flush her.” —Promotional copy for Swirlies, a series where women’s heads are put into toilets and flushed, by JM Productions

“There’s nothing I love more than when a girl insists to me that she won’t take a cock in her ass, because — oh yes she will!“ -Max Hardcore, interviewed in Hustler (June 1995).

“Women are here to serve men. Look at them, they got to squat to piss. Hell, that proves it.” — Larry Flynt, Hustler’s publisher, quoted on The Anti-porn Resource Center

“T.T. reflects exactly what that sort of porno is about where you screw the hell out of the woman and come all over her face. He throws girls around. He pile-drives till they protest…He’s just aggression.” In an interview in the April 1995 issue of Hustler Erotic Video Guide, T.T. Boy had this to say: “I was a shy little kid when I started, and now I’m just a guy who wants to fuck the shit out of all these girls. Just fuck ‘em to death.” — Bud Swope and T. T. Boy, quoted in Susan Faludi’s ‘Stiffed’.

“There are those who say illogic is the native tongue of anything with tits…(women) speak not from the heart but from the gash, and chances are that at least once a month your chick will stop you dead in your tracks with a masterpiece of cunt rhetoric…the one surefire way to stop those feminine lips from driving you crazy is to put something between them — like your cock, for instance.” — Hustler Magazine, quoted on The Anti-porn Resource Center (oneangrygirl.net/antiporn.html).

“We do a series called ‘Cocktails’ — it’s pretty repugnant. Girls have sex by a couple guys, and the guys and the girl, they have sex with her, and she’s giving fellatio and she’s hacking up boogies in a bowl. And they’re spitting in the bowl. And then she’ll think she’s vomiting in the bowl, and at the end they come in the bowl. And then she drinks it all down. That’s pretty repugnant. (Laughs) Sometimes we do a fellatio line, where the girl’s giving fellatio, and she’s gagging so much she vomits. … It’s repugnant. It is, Yes. We’ve got tons of stuff they technically could arrest us for. And when this happened, I put on our website — I made a big speech: ‘I welcome the LAPD to come on down.’ I said, ‘Come and get me,’ I said, “Because we won’t go down without a fight. We will fight this. Regardless of the cost, we will fight it. We will take it to the airwaves.” —Rob Black, Extreme Associates (Source: pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/porn/interviews/black.html).

“Women were born with three holes for one purpose: To cram a cock deep inside every cuddly cavity! Like true cock sockets, our whores subject their beautiful bodies to the nastiest 4-way debauchery ever lensed. We capture five starry-eyed sluts getting wild and testing the limits of carnal cock-consumption. They redefine raunchy and stretch the limits of ass, mouth, and pussy penetration.” — Promotional copy for Zero Tolerance - No Holes Barred.

“Max fucks chicks he finds the way you like to — getting cute cunts on his couch. Using their tight holes to pleasure his stiff cock. Max turns ordinary teens and mother’s [sic] alike into piss and cum-splattered sluts before your eyes… Max wastes no time, gagging girls on his cock and pissing down their throats before he even learns their email addresses! Max is the originator of rectal-boring action — gaping assholes, and fisting cunts… Max also uses speculums to pry-open their fuck-holes so you can look deep inside. He’ll spray his cum and piss into the gaping tunnels, even making them drink it out of their ass! Whether its [sic] naïve teen or classy broad, Max delivers the same ruthless treatment.” — Excerpt of “Max Hardcore Biography”, Max Hardcore official website (Source: maxhardcore.com/whoismax/index.htm).

Porn Search Trends

A Google search for ‘bestiality’ generated 2.7 million returns.

A Google Trends analysis indicates that searches for “Teen Porn” have more than tripled between 2005-2013.

35 of the top searched sexual interests account for 90% of all erotic searches—meaning that people’s search curiosities “are clustered together into a relatively small set of common interests.”

Videos & Documentaries (Graphic TW Reminder)

Shelley Lubben: Porn as a driver for prostitution and sex trafficking

Porn Actress Exposes Industry: Trafficking in the Porn Industry

Cindy Gallop: Make love, not porn [adult content]

“They call it fantasy,“ - Andrea Dworkin

Dr. Gail Dines: porn culture and rape culture’s intersecting roles in patriarchy

Ran Gavrieli: Why I Stopped Watching Porn [ a man’s perspective ]

Dr. Gail Dine’s lectures on pornography on youtube (1, 2, 3, 4)

Debate: Porn Wars (Does Porn Have A Place in Modern Society?) featuring anti-porn activists and former sex workers

“Demand” - by anti-sex trafficking organization Shared Hope International (18+)

“Harcdcore” - by director Stephen Walker (18+)

“Porn Shutdown” - This high impact and extremely informative documentary addresses the 2004 HIV outbreak in the pornography industry. (18+)

“Diary of a Porn Virgin” - This disturbing documentary follows the journey of two women through their start in the British pornography industry. (18+)

“Death of a Porn Star” - The tragic story of porn star Lolo Ferrari. (18+)

“Does Snuff Exist?” - This very graphic documentary examines the phenomenon of snuff films. (18+)

“Me and My Slaves” - This film follows the journey of a man who has practiced sadomasochism for many years who is choosing to stop. (18+)

“The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexualities, and Relationships.”This is the best current documentary on pornography (according to antipornography.org) (18+)

Hardcore Profits Pt 1 (18+)

Hardcore Profits Pt 1 at Wisevid (18+)

Hardcore Profits Pt 2 (18+)

American Porn (18+)

“Sex: The Annabel Chong Story” (Pt 1) (18+)

“Sex: The Annabel Chong Story” (Pt 2) (18+)

“Adult Entertainment: Disrobing An American Idol”

SNUFF: A Documentary About Killing on Camera (18+)

The Perfect Vagina - A documentary about how women are getting their labias altered with surgery to more resemble the “ideal” labia that men have been trained to desire by pornography.

Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (2011)

Hot Girls Wanted (2015) 

Articles

Pornography As a Cause of Rape (Book excerpt from Against Pornography:The Evidence of Harm) - Diana Russel

Exposure to Pornography As a Cause of Child Sexual Victimization - Diana Russel

What is Ethical Porn? What Does it Achieve?

Yale Journal of Law and Feminism: Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia (2006) written by Melissa Farley

Jenna Jameson’s 25 Good Reasons No One Would Ever Want to Become a Porn Star

Sources & Resources

Stop Porn Culture: Facts and Figures

Your Brain on Porn: Focusing on Addiction and Erectile Dysfunction caused by Porn

Porn Harms | Research

The Pink Cross

Live Internet Porn Statistics

Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality

Diana Russel: Porn as a Cause of Rape

http://gaildines.com

http://shelleylubben.com

http://thepinkcross.org

http://dianarussel.com

http://antipornfeminists.wordpress.com

http://antipornography.org & 101 ways you can help

http://stoppornculture.org

http://www.oneangrygirl.net/antiporn.html

ANYONE CAN VIEW IT

Cindy Gallop spoke to an audience in 2009 about the dangers of the porn industry on minors and women, explaining that a huge issue with men was their addiction and unrealistic expectations about what intimacy and sex is and often their beliefs were more all kinds of abuse, not to mention the fucked up world that is the porn industry.

She started a website that’s still up and running called Make Love Not Porn. You can join for free. And couples of all orientations and sexualities submit their own videos of them making love to their partners. It’s consensual. There are always awkward moments. There’s always laughter. These are real people who are celebrating their bodies and their safe, healthy, intimate relationships online in the most vulnerable of ways to try and revolutionize the porn industry by making it something that promotes safe and consensual sex. Showing people who are curious what sex is actually like, should they search for it.

It’s an amazing project with amazing people attached.

Great comments ^

Porn only exists because of the demand.

The law bans rape, so they watch others do it or roleplay it.

POLUDNITSA (LADY MIDDAY)

🌾 Poludnitsa (from: Polden or Poluden, ’half-day’ or ’midday’) is a mythical character common to the various Slavic countries of Eastern Europe. She is referred to as Południca in Polish, Полудница (Poludnitsa) in Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian, Polednice in Czech, Poludnica in Slovak, Připołdnica in Upper Sorbian, and Полознича (Poloznicha) in Komi, Chirtel Ma in Yiddish.

🌾 She is a noon demon in Slavic mythology. She can be referred to in English as “Lady Midday”, “Noonwraith” or “Noon Witch”. She was usually pictured as a young woman dressed in white that roamed field bounds. She assailed folk working at noon causing heatstrokes and aches in the neck, sometimes she even caused madness.

🌾 In some accounts, she symbolizes the midday star, thereby being the sister of Zarya-Zarenitsa (the morning star; also called Utrenica), Vechorka (the evening star; also called Wieczornica/Vechernitsa) and Kupalnitsa (the night star; also called Nocnica/Nochnitsa); Poludnitsa is the second youngest among the sisters, with Zarya-Zarenitsa being the youngest and Kupalnitsa being the oldest.

🌾 Poludnitsa, who makes herself evident in the middle of hot summer days, takes the form of whirling dust clouds and carries a scythe, sickle or shears; most likely the shears would be of an older style, not akin to modern scissors. She will stop people in the field to ask them difficult questions or engage them in conversation. If anyone fails to answer a question or tries to change the subject, she will cut off their head or strike them with illness. She may appear as an old hag, a beautiful woman, or a 12-year-old girl, and she was useful in scaring children away from valuable crops. She is only seen on the hottest part of the day and is a personification of a sun-stroke.