The revitalized effort to crack down on the online adult industry follows a report submitted to the EP's Women’s Rights Committee that will be debated at a meeting in Strasbourg later this month. The report blames globalization for leading the boom in the sex industry, both offline and online.
The report struck a controversial cord in the EP and was narrowly voted onto the Strasbourg agenda. The report claims that 70 percent of European citizens surfing the web in 2001 visited porn websites, PA News reports. It calls for a ban on sexist advertising, the promotion of pornography and prostitution in hotels, and a ban on sex businesses being quoted on the stock exchange in any European Union country.
The study also claims that the sex industry makes more money than all of the military budgets combined globally.
“The most important thing is that the European Parliament addresses some of the very serious problems afflicting European society as a result of the recent enormous growth in the sex industry," said the study's author, Swedish Member of European Parliament (MEP) Marianne Eriksson.
“These include the exploitation of women and children, increasing numbers of sex slaves being trafficked into Europe, and the massive increase of unsolicited pornography that invades our daily communications systems.”
Eriksson is calling for an additional report that will examine men's sexual behavior.
“Pornography is often sexist, with stereotyped gender roles and a conservative, not to mention completely erroneous view of women’s and men’s sexuality,” says the report.