Scandinavian Hotel Bans Porn Channels, Opts for Art Instead

In the privacy of a hotel room, you can pretty much do whatever you want. Order room service, spend the entire day in a robe, engage in a casual affair, watch porn. Well, not in Scandinavia.

Scandinavian hotel chain Nordic Choice owner Petter Stordalen has decided to get rid of all pay-TV porn channels and replace them with contemporary art instead. That is of course the complete opposite move of other Scandinavian moguls, who went as far as to propose sex themed hotels.

Why the move to ban porn? It’s for humanitarian reasons.

Stordalen is making a statement against human trafficking and sexual exploitation, which has victimized 1.2 million children around the world. “The porn industry contributes to trafficking, so I see it as a natural part of having a social responsibility to send out a clear signal that Nordic Hotels doesn’t support or condone this,” Stordalen told The Guardian. Nordic Choice has been collaborating with UNICEF to improve the lives of children since 2008.

So instead of porn on demand, there will be art on demand, which makes sense for Stordalen who is a big art collector. He’s also Norway‘s sixth richest man, so his move could make waves. He compares his own porn ban to a smoking ban. “It may sound shocking or unusual [to remove pay-TV porn], but everyone said that about the ban on smoking. We were the first hotel chain in the world to ban smoking and people thought we were crazy. Now it’s totally normal for public spaces to be smoke-free.”

The Nordic Choice’s flagship hotel in Oslo was first on the list for the porn-art switch out, but other hotels are soon to join.

Lindsay Lohan investigates India’s child trafficking industry


So, after many differing reports on what Lindsay Lohan was doing in India (including ours, when we heard gossip that the whole thing was a liecation), the rumored BBC documentary previews, such as the above, are starting to appear.

Lohan indeed went to India in December 2009, allegedly to investigate both sides of the rampant child trafficking trade, from interviewing the parents in poverty with little choice but to sell their children and turn a blind eye to what happens to them to meeting survivors of the horrible industry, which regularly leads to physical and sexual abuse, as well as slavery.

According to a press release by the BBC:

As Delhi proudly prepares to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Lindsay meets young boys who work 16-hour days under the constant threat of beatings, for a fraction of an adult wage.

To find out why a parent would send their young child away to work, Lindsay travels to rural West Bengal, where the picturesque Sundarbans belie the abject poverty made worse by annual floods.

Lindsay meets a reformed trafficker who would make a quick buck luring young girls away from naïve parents with offers of gainful employment.

In Kolkata, Lindsay visits a shelter where young girls promised domestic work for India’s burgeoning middle classes were trafficked into brothels and forced into prostitution.

While we’re not sure Lindsay Lohan has the skills or qualifications for in-depth investigation, she’s definitely raising awareness about child trafficking, and for that we commend her. The topic is especially relevant now, as India is currently considering legalizing prostitution. If you’re interested in helping child and human trafficking survivors in India and around the world, visit madebysurvivors.com, where you can purchase goods which keep survivors employed, learn how to host your own home party or community event to raise awareness, sponsor a child, and more.