Fight the New Drug (FTND) is a nonprofit, secular, and non-legislative anti-pornography organization that is based in Utah.[2][3][4] The group was founded in Utah in 2009.[5][6] FTND describes pornography as analogous to a drug and argues that it is a public health crisis.[7][8][9] It describes itself as asking people to "consider before consuming", rather than advocating anti-pornography legislation.[10]
 | |
| Formation | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) organization[1] |
| Purpose | Nonpartisan, secular, non-legislative, and nonprofit anti-pornography & anti-sexual-exploitation organization. |
| Headquarters | Salt Lake City, Utah, United States |
| Website | fightthenewdrug |
Activities
The group works with people aged 18 to 24 through presentations and video campaigns,[11] and through student outreach activities in public school districts within Utah.[12] In a 2015 campaign, FTND posted 100 billboards in the San Francisco Bay Area stating "Porn Kills Love".[7] In March 2018 the Kansas City Royals held a FTND anti-pornography seminar for players during their spring training,[13] and in November of that year FTND released a three-part documentary film entitled Brain, Heart, World.[14] In addition, the group promotes its campaign via a social media presence, branded merchandise, such as T-shirts, and marketing kits.[3][4]
Support
A number of public figures have endorsed the group: these include Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff;[6] sports personalities Terry Crews[15] and Lamar Odom;[16] actress Marisol Nichols;[17] and YouTuber Chaz Smith.[18]
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a non-profit devoted to ending sexual assault and child sex abuse, is also supportive of the FTND organization. The NCSE highlights a mission of theirs being "exposing the public-health crisis of pornography."[19]
FTND also promotes awareness for sexual health and sexual exploitation. On their YouTube channel, there are numerous videos and documentaries of people speaking about their experiences within the porn industry.[20] They also have a website for others to share their stories.[21] One notable story on their channel is of the most successful male porn star speaking out against the harm he experienced and witnessed in the porn industry.[22]
Criticism
FTND has been criticized as holding an "openly ideology-driven strategy"[3] and the group's message, in particular its categorizing of porn as a drug, as pseudoscience, contradictory to neuroscience research.[23][24] The group have been alleged to be an example of continued influence by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over social issues. An example is their use of billboards in San Francisco intentionally to target a socially progressive region.[7] In a Salt Lake Tribune op-ed, a group of sex therapists said that FTND's leaders and presenters were not mental health or sexuality professionals, and were promoting false information and failing to educate children about either sexuality and human development, or the positive, as well as the negative, aspects of porn.[12]
Emily F. Rothman, Professor of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, stated in 2021 that "the professional public health community is not behind the recent push to declare pornography a public health crisis".[25]