Podcast: The Campaign to Remove a R*pe Game from Steam

NCOSE Senior Vice Presidents, Haley McNamara and Dani Pinter, sit down with Melinda Tankard Reist, Co-Founder and Movement Director of Collective Shout, for a discussion around the recent successful campaign to remove a sexually violent game called “No Mercy” from Steam.

Melinda describes how the game allows players to sexually assault your family members and rewards you for doing so.

In less than a week, this campaign garnered over 70,000 signatures and over 3,000 emails sent to the CEO of Valve to remove this game. Despite the backlash and threats, Melinda and the team at Collective Shout continue their work to protect women and children from objectification and sexualization. 

 Fake Love, Real Harm: How AI Girlfriends Pose Risks of Sexual Exploitation

By: Clara Grace Cowden

“From witty conversationalists to compassionate listens, discover the perfect companion tailored to your desires”

“Select and connect: Your AI soul-mate”

“Here, you will enjoy the feeling of being loved… They will accompany you… You can also change them… You will be the most perfect soulmate”

“Chat with no limits”

“Express yourself authentically without judgment”

Each of these is taken from app descriptions for AI Girlfriend and Companion apps. 

These apps promise authenticity, desire, hand-crafted companionship, and a “Custom Girl.” While some of these things may seem positive, the more I read, the more disturbed I became.

Many of the apps were marketed with sexualized images of women, and many of them promised role-play and had screenshots with messages such as “What do you think about making me your teacher? A strict teacher.” Some apps were marketed more explicitly than others (i.e., “Sexy AI Girlfriend, Spicy Chat”) while others were tamer, but, in all of this, there were several fundamental problems which leapt out at me...

📣ACTION: Urge Apple and Google to have better policies for A.I. apps!

Section 230 Enabled Persistent Child Sexual Abuse Material on Reddit

At 16-years-old, Jane discovered her ex-boyfriend had shared sexually explicit images and videos of her on Reddit, without her consent. 

She frantically reported the content to Reddit, seeking its removal. But for days, it remained on the website, despite the fact that it amounted to illegal child sexual abuse material (CSAM) since Jane was a minor. Eventually, the content was removed and Jane could breathe a sigh of relief... 

...But not for long. 

To her dismay, the CSAM was uploaded to Reddit again. Every time she reported it and it was taken down, it was posted again. Jane got Reddit to ban her ex-boyfriend’s account, but he was relentless. He created a new account and continued to repost the CSAM again and again.  

Jane felt hopeless. Seeking some justice, she filed suit against Reddit for failing to take adequate measures to prevent CSAM from spreading on its site. Enter Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act: case dismissed. 

The court ruled that Section 230 gave Reddit immunity from liability, despite their lethargic approach to content moderation. Reddit was knowingly profiting from advertising on subreddits that were known for spreading CSAM. Yet the court said this just meant Reddit “turned a blind eye” to sex trafficking, and could not be sued for benefiting from it.  

Survivors are regularly robbed of justice due to Section 230. It's time to repeal this dangerous law. 

📣ACTION: Urge Congress to Remove Section 230 Immunity to Stop Online Sexual Exploitation!

The i Paper: Harvey Weinstein is back in court - but the 'manosphere' now looms over MeToo

Harvey Weinstein, the infamous sex offender who was sentenced to 23 years in prison, is now having a retrial.The iPaper reports that Weinstein's lawyers 'feel that the environment has changed and, eight years after the MeToo movement went viral and helped to bring Weinstein down, they are more hopeful he will be acquitted."

NCOSE Senior Legal Counsel, Dani Pinter, was featured in this story, offering insight on the state of the world so many years after MeToo.

"'If the accused speaks loudly into the megaphone of public opinion they can say just about anything, like accuse the victims of being liars,' she said. 'That’s extremely effective and devastating for victims of sexual assault and exploitation"...

The public still don’t have an understanding of the ways powerful people can exert influence and control either, Pinter said.

“It’s not always violent, it’s usually not violent, there are emotional and psychological means of coercing people. That a lot of people don’t understand about coercive control, why didn’t she leave and so on. We still need to educate people about that.”

Sincerely,