VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Qatar-based news agency Al Jazeera published an op-ed today by a Canadian SWERF activist condemning all pornography as sexually exploitative and claiming that it is a leading cause of domestic violence against women.
In “There is nothing ethical about profiting from sexual exploitation,” Laurel McBride — a member of Vancouver Rape Relief, a notoriously anti-trans crisis center and women’s shelter — claims that as part of her work she frequently speaks to women “who have been harmed by pornography’s ubiquity and infringement into their lives.”
“Women call us seeking support and advice after experiencing pornography-related male violence,” she writes, comparing that vaguely-worded category to “rape, battery or sexual harassment.”
The focus of McBride’s Al Jazeera column — subtitled, “The only way of fixing the porn industry is to divest from it” — is the recent purchase of MindGeek by the private equity group Ethical Capital Partners (ECP).
Criticizing ECP partner Solomon Friedman’s statement that the new investors “realized that an opportunity to correct misconceptions is really at the heart of what this business needs,” McBride retorts, “If one is interested in correcting misconceptions, consider the misconception that pornography is a value-adding industry that celebrates creative and sexual expression.”
McBride goes on to make unsupported claims about a causal link between pornography and domestic violence.
Women, she claims, “are pressured into sexual acts by a male partner that she feels are degrading but because he has seen it in pornography, he wants to try it out on her. Such unwanted sexual acts, performed with little regard for the woman’s bodily integrity, can leave her with physical injuries.”
She concludes by calling out ECP directly, urging the company to stop participating in the “sexual exploitation of women and girls” by undoing its recent purchase of MindGeek.
“ECP declared that they will speak with victim advocacy groups,” she writes. “Well, ECP, as someone who supports those victimized by pornography, I urge you to reconsider your investment in MindGeek, a company that reaps its profits from reinforcing the degradation of women.”
McBride’s nonprofit, Vancouver Rape Relief, was condemned as transphobic and stripped of its city funding in 2019 for turning away trans women in crisis, the National Post newspaper reported at the time.
Vancouver City Councillor Christine Boyle tweeted on that occasion, “Trans women are women and sex work is work. Trans women & sex workers deserve care & protection. I can’t support orgs who exclude them, so I won’t be supporting city funding for Vancouver Rape Relief.”
In response, the organization claimed “discrimination against women in the name of inclusion” and refused to change its policy of denying service to trans women.