“Clean Hotels” Initiative

We are pleased to publish this announcement at the request of Chuck Derry from the Gender Violence Institute:

“Clean Hotels” Initiative

The Minnesota Men’s Action Network: Alliance to Prevent Sexual and Domestic Violence has posted the “Clean Hotels” Initiative on their website. This initiative is a collaboration between the Men’s Action Network and the MN Department of Health’s Sexual Violence Prevention Program. This effort is part of a growing primary prevention plan to curb the degree to which sexually violent and degrading material is increasingly more accessible and mainstreamed into our social environment.

The Clean Hotels Initiative encourages business, public/private organizations, and municipalities to modify their meeting facility policy to clarify that meetings and conferences will be held in facilities that do not offer in-room adult pay-per-view pornography, and that travel policies be amended to reimburse employees’ lodging costs only when staying at hotels that do not offer in-room adult pay-per-view pornography. We have created several documents that can assist you in the development of policies at your state and local levels of government, as well as private businesses, organizations, and agencies.

We imagine a society where every individual can grow to their full potential. The social environment can support that growth. We are joining others in their historical efforts to create and nurture communities that are safe, just, and equitable.

Chuck Derry
Gender Violence Institute
MN Men’s Action Network
15510 Huber Avenue NW
Clearwater, MN 55320
320-558-4510 – office
gvi@frontiernet.net

See also:

CleanHotels.com: A network of lodging facilities that do not offer in-room, ‘adult’, pay-per-view movies

Truth About LodgeNet: “Titles of LodgeNet™ pay per view movies” (explicit language)

2005: “No more hotel porn for Swedish government officials”
On 4/6/05, The Local, “Sweden’s News in English”, announced that Swedish civil servants, soldiers and politicians would be required to choose porn-free hotels whenever possible.

“In the military, we have been working to curb attitudes that are degrading to women, which in no way can be accepted,” [Major General Åke Jansson] said.

The initiative stemmed from discussions with Swedish women’s organization ROKS, which claims that x-rated movies lead to increased abuse of women and widespread degrading attitudes towards them.

“We talk to a lot of abused women, and in many cases it turns out that men’s interest in porn is linked to the abuse,” head of the ROKS campaign Tina Olby told AFP…

…the military will not stop at just hotels in its drive to wipe out “unacceptable” attitudes towards women, [Jansson] said.

“We have also decided to halt the sales of so-called men’s magazines in all stores” on military bases, he said.
Omni Hotels Drops Porn, Reaps Rewards
“Every day mail gets hoarded into this office. It’s almost like Christmas,” says Strebel of the more than 50,000 letters of encouragement the hotel has received since banning the video pornography…

Major Corporations Profit from Porn
The profits from porn movies and phone sex flow through several “blue-chip” American corporations. These include Holiday Inn, Marriott, AOL Time Warner, Comcast, EchoStar Communications, DirecTV, Adelphia, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems and AT&T. If you own shares in these companies, you might consider discussing the matter with their shareholder relations departments, or simply selling their shares.

Press Release: Action Network to use RNC and Minnesota State Fair to Bring Attention to Problem of Sex Trafficking
Using the Republican National Convention and the Minnesota State Fair as a backdrop the Action Network to End Sexual Exploitation in Minnesota (ANESEM) announced today the launch of a public awareness campaign to draw attention to the devastating effects of sex trafficking and prostitution. The Action Network, a grassroots coalition of survivors, community activists, state government and non-profit agencies committed to ending sexual exploitation in Minnesota, hopes to confront the unique atmosphere of these large events that often increases the rate of sexual exploitation.