PLEASE! Magazine - The LA Issue

THE RETURN OF PAMELA

We meet the unofficial symbol of California, the very lovely Pamela Anderson. Long gone are the days of running on the beach in a red bathing suit: Pamela is making her come-back into the film world, and the result is more than unexpected. We chat about image, social media, and posing for the last ever nude Playboy cover.

Photography: OLIVIA MALONE || Creative direction and styling: SOKI MAK || Words: FLEUR BURLET |

“The most fun I ever have is when I look nothing like myself.” This statement is coming out of the mouth of a 5ft6, baby-blonde, soft-spoken bombshell and international icon, perched barefoot on a chair eating a kale salad. Around her, a busy team is preparing for the Please fashion shoot, set in the stunning Goldstein Residence in Beverly Hills. Pamela Anderson, fully made-up and waiting to be called on set, is wearing a spectacular wig crafted by hairstylist Sami Knight. “Sometimes when you’re well known people think you’re showing a different side of yourself in a movie or a photoshoot. But I always explain that no, this is a character, it has nothing to do with who I am really. It’s a complete departure—just like this!” she laughs as she gently tugs at her wig. “I look nothing like this!”

Pamela Denise Anderson, born in Canada,shot to fame when she was cast as one of the lifeguards in Malibu-based TV series Baywatch, broadcasting her image as the stunning beach babe with larger-than life breasts all through the world and the generations. A true American icon, she has posed for more than 15 Playboy covers, and made cameo appearances in countless US movies. In real life, Pamela—Pammy for her entourage—is warm, polite and surprisingly loquacious, delivering a constant stream of chatter in a girly, slightly breathless, distinctively Californian voice. As Frenchies, we couldn’t not mention her collaboration with accessories designer Amélie Pichard, our own little national treasure, that launched in Paris at the beginning of the year. Shot by David LaChapelle, the campaign for the Amélie Pichard x Pamela Anderson shoe collection—a subtle mix of sexy classics with an American twist—features the actress in all her glory, shot against cinematic backdrops in that typical LaChapelle saturated style.  “Amélie is so talented!” she gushes. “She’s an incredible young artist, and such a savvy business woman. I wanted to invest in her and see what would happen.”

The line is 100% vegan made, a particularly important factor to Pamela: a fierce animal rights activist (we all remember her particularly striking, and unclothed, campaigns for PETA—“I’d rather go naked than wear fur”), she launched her own line of vegan-made UGG-style boots, which she created when she learnt with horror about the way the original shoes were made. She doesn’t understand the public’s reluctancy to buy into the vegan way of life: “Maybe it’s ahead of time,” she shrugs. “People have this conception that vegan is not luxurious, when actually it’s even more luxurious because it’s even harder to put together. Then again, there aren’t many glamorous vegan shoes out there, except Stella McCartney. And now Amélie!”

“WE’RE ALL TRYING TO FIND MEANING IN OUR LIVES.”

Fashion isn’t the only area Pamela is willing to explore. May this year marked her return on screens : she starred in a short film by budding film director Luke Gilford, a striking departure from the roles we’ve been used to see her in. “I’ve learned that I like to play characters other than myself,” Pamela says. “I get so many offers to do cameos in films, it was always easy to do and convenient because I had young kids and didn’t want to be away from home long, but it wasn’t really that satisfying. I haven’t applied myself theatrically to anything before, because I was just running around in a bathing suit, then having kids, and one day I thought, this is the time. Let’s do this, let’s get really raw and start from there. Luke had to really fight for me, because no one believed I could do it.”

“I haven’t applied myself theatrically to anything before, because I was just running around in a bathing suit, then having kids, and one day I thought, this is the time.”

In Connected, Gilford’s 10min-long short film, Pamela plays Jackie, a spin instructor and strict follower of the “green way of life” (complete with excessive yoga, juices, supplements and meditation), trying to give her life a new meaning. She joins an eerie cult like convention in order to get connected to the rest of the world. Aside from the plot line, the most striking element of the film is Pamela herself—her character is pictured as startingly vulnerable, brutally exposed in an almost clinical way. In one powerful scene, Jackie studies herself in the mirror, scrutinizing every particule of skin, hunting for wrinkles and any other sign of ageing. “The film is a metaphor for how women are treated after a certain age,” Luke Gilford explained to W Magazine after the film’s release. “Of course, it’s larger and more universal than just women, but it speaks specifically to women and beauty—and how after a certain age, they are just kind of discarded.” A strong issue to tackle, and a brave step for Pamela. She remembers catching a glimpse of herself in the monitor, after shooting the mirror scene in which she is lit with ultraviolet light. “I saw a little flash that was stuck on the screen, and I was kind of shocked,” she laughs. “It was actually eerily kind of cool looking, if you can take yourself away from the fact that you’re the one in the picture. It’s a really bizarre image, but it was good to do.” She brushes away the topic of ageing, insisting that the real core of the film is evolving as a woman: “We come to a certain point in our lives when our children have grown up, possibly our marriage has ended, and we’re trying to find meaning in our lives. So we want to be connected to other people, but also want to meet somebody, to have a relationship, because you’re watching your kids grow and feeling very alone in a world where social media means you don’t really need to be alone anymore. I think we’re all kind of struggling with that.”

THE LAST PLAYGIRL

The topic of social media comes up a couple of times during our interview. Pamela admits to regularly submitting to digital detoxes, leaving her computer and phone alone for several months in order to “reconnect”. She has her own personal Instagram account, but only follows her sons. As a mother of two millenials, Brandon, 20, and Dylan, 18, the growing importance of image is something Pamela is very concerned about. “It’s a really strange time. Sometimes girls will come over to our home, and my kids will go, They look nothing like their pictures! And I’m like, Of course they don’t! These 17 or 18-year-olds are manipulating their images, putting out how they want to be seen. Where do you go from there? What are they going to be at our age?” We come to the topic of Playboy, and the magazine’s choice to no longer feature any nude pictures, in response to the mass-availability of similar pictures on the Internet. “People are getting so desensitized,” despairs Pamela. “Everyone is taking pictures of themselves, retouching them and putting them out there, and no one knows who you’re really seeing. How do people even know how to make love anymore? It’s taking more and more for people to be aroused, it seems as though all this is disappearing, and it’s very scary. Everything is so visual now, it’s all about the Internet.” She remains attached to the magazine’s ideals: “Playboy wasn’t sleazy. It was fun, sexy, and innocent too. I’m only just realizing that time might be over. It’s so sad.” Pamela, a frequent visitor of the Mansion, was called in to pose on the cover of the last ever “traditional” Playboy, released in January 2016. She had posed 15 times for the magazine throughout her career—more than anyone in the magazine’s nude history—and never thought she’d be at it again. Until the day she gets the call from “Hef”, who remains a good friend. “I was standing next to my son Brandon, and he goes, You have to do it! Of all the things you get offered, this one you HAVE to do, Mom! So I say, Ok Hef, my son says I can do it.” And just like that, history was made. Connected will be made into a feature film later this year. Watch the short version on vimeo.com/lukegilford

“How do people even know how to make love anymore? Everything is so visual now, it’s all about the Internet. It’s taking more and more for people to be aroused.”

Please! Magazine 20 - The L.A. Issue

Video killed the RADIO star ....

Talking Porn With Pamela Anderson and Rabbi Shmuley

The co-authors of a viral op-ed go deep about the dangers of pornography addiction

By Ken Kurson

If Zelig’s gift was to be in the right place at the right time, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has developed a knack for being in a strange place at a strange time. Right now, that place is a taping of the Dr. Oz Show on the Upper West Side, just a few hours after Donald Trump made news by revealing his medical records to the television physician.

America’s Rabbi is visiting America’s Physician, accompanied by former Baywatch beauty Pamela Anderson. The rabbi and the actress have formed an alliance to address the harm being caused by the ubiquitous availability of porn. It’s everywhere, it’s free and it’s ruining families and even minds. In an Op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal that ran just after Anthony Wiener humiliated himself and his wife for what will hopefully be the last time, the prolific rabbi and the woman who might just be the most universally known sex symbol since Marilyn Monroe attacked the culture of porn. In calling for a “sensual revolution,” the duo blamed porn for “a public hazard of unprecedented seriousness given how freely available, anonymously accessible and easily disseminated pornography is nowadays.”

Their joint story went viral, with many readers commenting on the obvious dissonance of someone so well known for having appeared in a sex tape with her former husband, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee— a tape that was stolen from the couple, and from which she derived no material benefit, she is quick to point out—chastising others for viewing pornography. Indeed, of the hundreds of comments on the Journal’s site, many were sarcastic or expressed dubiousness about her sincerity, and some nastily attributed her viewpoint to aging out of being desirable herself.

Well, that last part is just ridiculous. The Canadian-born Anderson remains, at 49, a “total smoke show,” in the admiring words of the fellow who served as campaign manager for Rabbi Shmuley’s ill-fated Congressional run in 2012. But the rest is equally suspect. For one, Anderson has a long track record of forcefully advocating for causes she supports (including occasionally in the Observer). But for another, the instant dismissal of the idea that a beautiful woman might just have something meaningful to contribute to an important discussion kinda proves her point.

The Dr. Oz episode is slated to run later this week and in a lengthy interview with the Observer, Ms. Anderson and Rabbi Shmuley go into deeper detail about what brought them together on this issue.

So we’re here to talk about what’s on everybody’s mind all the time, pornography. It seems like everybody in the world read this article. So why don’t you tell me the genesis of why you two decided to attack the subject?

Rabbi Shmuley: We had seen that Pamela as a supporter of Israel speaks out very positively about Israel, even honeymooning in Israel, and my organization wanted to honor her and thank her. She gave an amazing speech and what everyone saw is that while Pamela Anderson is arguably America’s most famous sex symbol of the past 25 years she has a great mind, great heart, very insightful.

So we became friends. We started meeting for coffee in California when I’m there a lot visiting my father, and I was amazed at her insights about relationships, which is what I write about. So when the whole Anthony Weiner story broke there was a tragic quality to it. I think people see it as, ‘Oh if you hate Anthony Weiner you’re happy to see him self-immolate. If you hate Huma Abedin you’re happy to see her suffer.’ But there’s a little boy stuck in the middle and his parents are now divorcing. I was only four years older than that boy when my parents divorced. So I called up Pamela and I said, “You know, what we’ve been talking about, the loss of sensuality, the addiction to pornography, men’s need for this constant fraudulent erotic stimulation consumed this guy. What do you have to say about it?” And I started taking notes and everything and wrote it up and showed it to her. She said, “That’s a good piece.” We submitted it and it went gangbusters from there.

Pamela, why is this topic near to your heart?

Pamela Anderson: Well, I’ve been writing for a while now on sensuality and I have this book called The Sensual Revolution that I’m working on, and I see the disconnect and the lack of human interaction and technology. I think from my perspective I can really see the worst of it. I feel like I’ve seen just even being me and having this kind of objectification, and kind of taking it as a compliment at first and thinking ‘this is great and this is love’ to be called sexy and wonderful, but to see my relationships really suffer because either porn addiction or maybe being cast into this relationship as a caricature, I just really felt disconnected from my partners. It’s going completely the wrong way. I’m used to Playboy and this really wonderful kind of free spirited sensuality, sexuality, but I think it’s taking a really dark turn. I have two teenaged boys, and I realize that it’s a little bit hypocritical because I’ve been in Playboy and because of the tapes that were stolen, but those were home movies that were stolen and people made money on them and they weren’t anything for the public to see. It just really struck me and I feel a real lack in my own sexual life, and I felt like gosh if I’m feeling this way so many women must feel this way.

This really blows my mind, because if you’re saying this—you, the very definition of a sex symbol in the post-World War II era…

Rabbi Shmuley: Don’t leave me out of that as well. I kind of define it as well. We’re kind of a team here, you know.

Funny. But is the point that if even Pamela Anderson has her partners less interested than they ought to be because of the intrusion of porn, then how does Jane Jones possibly hope to hold the interest of her fellow?

Pamela Anderson: Neglect is a form of abuse too and is a way to control somebody. And to make them feel less than and not worthy or not sexy, and a lot of times with women I think that maybe you get into a relationship because of a certain image. I’m still trying to figure it all out as we’re discussing it, but I find that committed relationships and loving relationships are the way to have the best sex and the best sexual connection, and women are very sexual creatures, so when you’re ignored and people withdraw from you to go into a basement to watch porn, it’s devastating.

You mention you’re raising two teenage boys. I have a teenage son and I just don’t want him to think that that’s what love is and that’s what marriage is.

Pamela Anderson: And that’s what people do say to me:“That’s how people learn how to make love.” I say, “What?” Oh boy. Really? That’s how to become a very bad lover if that’s how you’re thinking. People that are addicted to porn sometimes are addicted to prostitution and when you are hiring people for sex that’s very self-indulgent and not about giving to another person. So I worry too about my kids looking at that or dating sites or you know, swiping the girl left to right. I want them to experience real love, real passion and to be able to treat people respectfully, and I always tell them if you disrespect women you disrespect your mom.

Rabbi Shmuley: A few years ago, I did a debate against Larry Flynt who I met on the Judith Regan show on Fox. We did it live with a thousand people with Roseanne Barr as the moderator. And he said to me, “I know what you’re going to say to me—retrograde Victorian prudishness arguments against porn..” I said, “I’m not going to say any of that. I’m going to say porn is just a bore. It’s so boring.” He said, “What do you mean it’s a bore? Look at all the money I made in porn.” I said, “A smart businessman pays a woman once and he uses her 12 times as a centerfold and he saves a lot of money. You have to pay 12 women, because once a woman takes her clothes off it’s not as interesting the next month or the month after that. In other words, pornography is only interesting in variety and men are being addicted to variety. They cannot focus. There can’t be a single erotic target and women notice this.” My friend Dennis Prager always says, “You know guys go out with women today and their heads are like roving radar towers. Every time they are speaking to a woman they are kind of saying is there anyone prettier to speak to? So they can’t focus. Women feel that.”

To repeat what Pam said that neglect is a form of abuse. I’ve always believed that in relationships the sins of omission are much more serious than the sins of commission. I do marital counseling, andI have seen wives forgive their husbands for affairs and all kinds of bad stuff, but they don’t forgive them for neglect because there’s no relationship if there’s been neglect.

So let’s get to some prescriptions though. What do you do? What are some solutions here?

Pamela Anderson: Well, just to be aware that this is going on and be aware of your own habits, your own relationship. Pay attention to the people that you love because we all want to grow old with somebody and that takes nurturing and love and commitment and taking care of that other person, and teaching our children. There’s no way we’re going to get rid of porn. I just want to remind people that making love in committed monogamous relationships is much sexier and is much more intense and much better in every single way.

Rabbi Shmuley: Yeah. We don’t live in Iran. No one wants to live with a revolutionary guard barking down the door saying, “You looked at porn!”

Pamela Anderson: Just think about what’s going on right now and how can I make my relationship stronger and better and experience these really wild sexual experiences within a relationship. Because porn is an addiction. Literally. Women come up to me and they say, “Thank you so much for saying this. I’ve been in a relationship, my husband is addicted to porn, he hasn’t touched me in 14 years.”

Why do you think that this article took off so strongly?

Rabbi Shmuley: I think there’s two reasons. The first is definitely the wives and the girlfriends are sick of it and they fear that they can’t say anything because they will come across as prudes.

Pamela Anderson: And I’m no prude. I’m no prude.

Rabbi Shmuley: A couple of pictures, what are you bitching about? What are you complaining about?

Pamela Anderson: Everybody is doing it.

Rabbi Shmuley: So the wives are afraid to say anything unless they come across as scolding. But it even resonated with the guys. We got tons of emails from guys, because I think men do what something more. They do realize that they are becoming, whether the word is addicted, which would imply a loss of self-control, they want something better. This is bad sex. Porn is bad sex. That’s why people feel a loss of erotic attraction to their spouses, their relationships. And the average guy who is masturbating to porn and not making love to his wife he knows he’s got an issue. He knows he’s got a problem. He knows it’s kind of weird. You have a real live woman naked in bed with you and you are fumbling for the computer. Another reason is it broke a taboo, because our society is supposed to be so egalitarian, so libertarian, so free that you’re not allowed to criticize anything like that. So when we came along, a Rabbi was a little bit more predictable, but when Pamela also came along and said, “You know there’s something so much better than this. This is kind of for losers.” And we weren’t trying to put anyone down, we were saying it’s loser sex. It suddenly resonated that God Almighty this conversation is suddenly being had. The taboo was shattered. We can now talk about this and the conversation began.

Pamela Anderson: Yes, it’s been a great conversation. Like I said, I’ve had people stop me on the street and say ‘thank you for bringing this up.’ I want to say one thing about Playboy. Porn killed Playboy like video killed the video star. You know porn killed Playboy. It was that titillating kind of voyeuristic girl next door, still lots of clothing on, just kind of being a little bit risqué and it spun out and people wanted more and more and more and it gets very dangerous. I also work with a lot of people that help survivors of sex traffickers and I feel like this is a dangerous turn and it’s all connected, so we need to take a self-responsibility of what we are watching and imprinting upon ourselves. We need to talk about it and get to a better place.

I’m glad to be able to look you guys in the face and say I never watched your sex tape. And it’s not because…

Pamela Anderson: I’ve never watched it.

I never watched it because I thought it was intruding on your privacy.

Pamela Anderson: Yeah. It was two people in love. It wasn’t two people trying to be famous, trying to make money off of something.

And I’m such a huge Motley Crue fan too. It was like a double fan. I didn’t watch it because of that and subsequent ones of other people too. I just don’t do that.

Pamela Anderson: We were offered so much to… We just said no, absolutely no.

That’s a grotesque invasion.

Pamela Anderson: It was pretty devastating.

Rabbi Shmuley: I think bootleg copies of some of my sermons have done far better to be perfectly honest.

I want to thank you for Borat as well.

Pamela Anderson: Thanks. We did a few different endings and that’s what we came up with, yeah. I found that since I did that actual movie I’ve been offered roles on a daily basis pretty much just to play myself, cameos as myself, which is no fun for an actress. But it’s been kind of like here and there with raising kids and stuff like that, but now I’m kind of ready to get into some more fun roles that are not playing me.

Rabbi Shmuley: Who is your dream guy?

Pamela Anderson: I’ve been turned off completely. My kids are just going to the university and like I said, it’s that spark I see in someone’s eyes. It’s not going to be someone I meet on the internet. It might not be here, it might be back home, it might be in Canada. I’m not saying just American men; I’m saying that when I came to do Playboy I think some people kind of looked at me as a different person. I just kind of generalized and thought Canadian were better lovers.There’s something more sensitive and sensual about people that are…

Rabbi Shmuley: It says in the Bible that when Queen Esther meets Ahasuerus the King and he has his harem and she has to win him over, because otherwise her people are going to be decimated in a genocide, that God engineered that it was winter so that the friction of bodies was so much more pleasurable. So I think the fact that 99 percent of Canada is under an artic layer of ice most of the year, definitely.

Pamela Anderson: [Laughs] I think that’s it. That’s my calling. I’m going back.

The Tides Are Changing, The Currents are Shifting

Posting by Captain Paul Watson

The announcement this week at the Oceans Conference in Washington D.C. by Leonardo DiCaprio that the technology is available to locate illegal fishing operations at sea is most welcome. Also welcome, is all the announcements and promises by more than a score of nations and NGO’s of commitments to protect marine eco-systems.

Sea Shepherd applauds all these parties for the following announcements this last week.

1.  The United States announced the expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii to cover an additional 1,146,798 square kilometers, creating the world’s largest marine protected area and permanently protecting pristine coral reefs, deep sea marine habitats, and important ecological resources. 

2. The United States also announced the establishment of a new marine monument of 12,725 square kilometers covering New England Canyons and Seamounts. 

3. The Seychelles announced that it will establish up to 400,000 square kilometers of marine protected area (30 percent of its EEZ) by 2020 as part of a comprehensive marine spatial plan for its entire EEZ via a debt swap of up to $27 million with its Paris Club creditors and the Government of South Africa, with the support of the Nature Conservancy and private capital investors interested in marine conservation. 

4. The United Kingdom announced the designation of a sustainable use marine protected area throughout whole of St. Helena's 445,000 square kilometer maritime zone and the final establishment of the marine protected area around the Pitcairn Islands that it proposed in 2014, which permanently closes more than 99 percent of the 840,000 square kilometer maritime zone around the Islands – 40,000 square kilometers more than originally planned. 

5. The United Kingdom also announced a roadmap to determine the exact location of an evidence-based fully protected marine protected area around Ascension Island covering at least 220,000 square kilometers by 2019 and a commitment to establish a regime for protecting the waters across the entire 750,000 square kilometer Exclusive Economic Zone in Tristan da Cunha by 2020. In total, this amounts to 1,455,000 square kilometers in new MPA commitments. The United Kingdom furthermore pledged more than $22 million (EUR 20 million) over the next four years to support the implementation, management, surveillance, and enforcement of these new marine protected areas. 

6.  The Federated States of Micronesia announced its commitment to expand out to 24 nautical miles around each island its marine protected area that prohibits commercial fishing, therein protecting an additional 184,948 square kilometers of its ocean waters. Canada reaffirmed its commitment to meet marine conservation targets, including the commitment to protect 5% of Canada’s marine and coastal areas by 2017 and 10% by 2020. Contributing towards this goal and building on previous actions, Canada announced plans to protect sensitive benthic ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine through fisheries closures in Jordan Basin and in Corsair and Georges Canyons, amounting to a total area of over 9,000 square kilometers on Canada’s Atlantic Coast. These new protection measures in the Atlantic join the soon to be established Anguniaqvia Niqiqyuam Marine Protected ‎Area in Canada’s western Arctic and the Hecate Strait/Queen Charlotte Sound Marine Protected Area, on Canada’s Pacific coast. The protection of these marine areas on Canada’s three coasts, combined with Canada’s plans for a National Marine Conservation Area in Lancaster Sound in Canada’s Arctic, will total over 58,121 square kilometers of new marine protection by 2017 for Canada and the world’s oceans. 

7.  Ecuador announced the creation of a no-take marine sanctuary in the Galápagos Islands Marine Reserve, which prohibits fishing in an additional 40,000 square kilometers around the northern Galápagos islands of Darwin and Wolf. The marine sanctuary will protect the area with the largest concentration of sharks on the planet. 

8. Cambodia announced the establishment of its first marine protected area, which covers 405 square kilometers in the waters of the Koh Rong Archipelago. 

9. Palau announced the final establishment of the National Marine Sanctuary it proposed in 2014. The Sanctuary, which encompasses Palau’s entire EEZ, prohibits all extractive activities, including foreign fishing and mining in 80% of the area, and the remaining 20% of the sanctuary will be developed into a domestic-only fishing zone to ensure food security for Palauans. 

10. Colombia announced that it will quadruple the size of the Malpelo Flora and Fauna Sanctuary, which hosts one of the world's largest aggregations of sharks, so that it will cover an additional 20,237 square kilometers. Malaysia announced the establishment of the 10,000 square kilometer Tun Mustapha Park marine protected area and a project to build Park enforcement capacity with $250,000 from the United States and $50,000 from WildAid. 

11. Costa Rica announced that it will expand the protected waters of the Cocos Island National Park by almost 10,000 square kilometers, which will nearly quadruple this area in an effort to safeguard white-tip sharks, whale sharks, and hammerhead sharks‎, among others. Malta announced the designation of nine new marine protected areas comprising roughly 3,450 square kilometers, covering an area significantly larger than the country itself (316 square kilometers). 

12. Sri Lanka announced the 292 square kilometer Veduthalathiv Nature Reserve marine protected area, as well as nearly 800 square kilometers in four new marine protected areas of habitat for marine mammals, coral, migratory and shore birds, and other marine life: the Mirissa and Kayankanni MPAs, part of the Gulf of Mannar, and the Jaffna Lagoon Sanctuary. Sri Lanka will set aside an additional 86.05 square kilometers of Associated Marine Protected Areas in lands bound by marine ecosystems: the Nai Aru lagoon and Nandikadal sanctuaries. 

13. Korea announced the designation of the 91.2 square kilometer Garorim Bay, one of the only two habitats for endangered spotted seals in Korea and important spawning ground for many species of fish, as its 25th marine protected area, achieving progress on its commitment to increase the number of MPAs to 32 by 2020‎. 

14. Thailand announced a 10 square kilometer pilot protected area for dolphins in Trat Bay, with expansion potential for the entire Trat Bay of 880 square kilometers, and enhanced protection for dugongs and their habitats, including opening a marine mammal rescue center in Phuket in 2017 and establishing a 400 square kilometer dugong protected areas in Trang province by 2020. 

15. Morocco announced the creation of three marine protected areas, in Moghador, Massa, and Albora, covering 775 square kilometers on the Moroccan Atlantic and Mediterranean shores as well as plans for a fourth in M’diq along the Mediterranean by 2018 where trawling will be banned. 

16. Norway announced three new marine protected areas, totaling 170 square kilometers, to protect an inshore coral reef, an estuary, and a rich and diverse open coastal area in the counties Rogaland and Sør-Trøndelag, and ten additional marine protected areas to protect cold water corals. 

17. Lebanon announced its intent to establish a 30 square kilometer marine protected area in Naqoura and Ras ech Chaqaa. Kuwait announced marine protected areas around Garouh, Kubar Island, and Um-Al-Maradim Islands covering 0.158 square kilometers to protect beaches, shoals, coral reefs, and other marine life. 

18. Monaco announced that it has provided approximately $563,000 (EUR 500,000) to start a newly created trust fund set up with France and Tunisia that will provide long-term financial support to marine protected areas (MPAs) designated by Mediterranean countries; this fund will enhance existing MPAs, encourage the creation of additional MPAs, foster capacity-building, and complement existing initiatives. 

19. Australia announced that it will provide an additional $41.95 million (AUD $56.1 million) over 4 years to strengthen the management of its marine protected areas, the largest representative network of marine protected areas in the world. This funding will develop modern approaches to management and support research to better understand the ecological, social, and economic values of Australia’s marine reserves. 

20. Sri Lanka announced that it will establish a sea turtle conservation complex at Dodanduwa in the Southern province to treat and provide a sanctuary for injured turtles and educate the local community, to be completed this year. 

21. France announced the expansion of the marine reserve in the French Southern Lands in the Indian Ocean by 550,000 square kilometers, as well as its commitment to create a marine protected area around Clipperton Island. France also committed to a target of protecting 75% of its coral reefs by 2021.

These are wonderful and welcome developments but there is one thing that has not been properly addressed.It is one thing to declare large areas of the Ocean protected and it is quite another thing to actually protect these areas.There is simply a lack of political and economic motivation to actually make good on many of these promises.The Marine Sanctuary already in place in the Galapagos has failed to stop the taking of some 300,000 sharks each year or to curb the rising catches in local waters to feed ever increasing numbers of eco-tourists.Costa Rica’s Cocos Island has been a sanctuary for decades but the poorly equipped rangers on the island do not have the resources to defend the areas already designated as protected. Sea Shepherd has reported the locations of illegal fishing operations for decades without any response from regulatory agencies until recently, and that only in response to us making a great deal of noise with high seas chases and confrontations.Indonesia and Chile have been taking action with the destruction of illegal fishing boats but most everywhere else on the high seas, the poachers plunder the sea with impunity reaping billions of dollars in illicit profits. Sea Shepherd’s efforts to stop illegal fishing have been successful despite a lack of funds and support although I do appreciate and acknowledge the cooperative support of Mexico, Gabon, Ecuador, Italy Sao Tome Principe and Indonesia.We also acknowledge the recent actions and cooperation of Interpol.And yes things are being done, but not enough, not nearly enough and not fast enough.

Our Ocean is dying.

Fish have been diminished by 90%. The seas are becoming increasingly more polluted with chemicals, plastic, oil, radiation, not to mention the impact from climate change. Marine mammals and birds are starving.These announcements and these commitments are wonderful and are certainly a huge improvement on the way things have been over the last generation. It demonstrates a rising concern and we don’t want to diminish the importance of these commitments.We just need to understand that these commitments are not complete solutions. More must be done and sooner, much sooner.Finding illegal and unregulated fishing operations is not that difficult and all the more easier with the technology announced by Mr. DiCaprio. However the key is enforcement and that means patrols, deterrent sentences and an end to corruption that allows these illegal operations to survive. We have seen and experienced this corruption first hand and it goes to the highest levels in many countries.Sea Shepherd was not at the meeting in Washington D.C. – it was not a meeting for pirates I was told which is understandable. Besides we’re not big fans of meetings.We don’t need meetings, we need action. We have ships. We have volunteers and most importantly we have the courage, the imagination and the passion to make a difference.For the coming year Sea Shepherd will continue to intervene against illegal activities around the planet with ships and crew in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Pacific and the Southern and Indian Ocean.Next year will be the 40th year since I established Sea Shepherd as an anti-poaching organization.We do what we do with the resources we have available within the boundaries of the law and practicality.Our tactics may sometimes be controversial but these tactics have proven to have been successful. We get results without causing injury. We shut down illegal activities and we save lives as we protect the integrity of marine sanctuaries around the globe.We have no problem with being controversial. I like to call ourselves the ‘ladies of the night’ of the marine conservation movement. Many people may agree with us and what we do secretly but would rather not be seen with us in the light of day. And that is okay because the strength of a movement, just like an eco-system lies in diversity.However more and more outspoken support comes our way with each passing year as people see our predictions unfolding and they see the results of our interventions.Last year, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Interpol praised Sea Shepherd actions in shutting down Southern Ocean Toothfish poachers.Encouragement and support has also come from the governments of Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia and from the Navy and police in Italy, Honduras, and France and from the President of Mexico.

At this moment over a hundred Sea Shepherd volunteers are at sea on nine different ships.  Many other Sea Shepherd volunteers are in Costa Rica, Honduras, Florida, Japan and the Danish Faroe Islands.After forty years without causing a single injury to any person our tactics of aggressive non-violent intervention have proven effective.Sea Shepherd is a growing global movement and we are thankful to the nations that attended this meeting in Washington for expanding the protective areas thus allowing us some extra degree of authority in stopping the criminals who continue to exploit the Ocean without respect for the laws of nature or the laws of humanity.

The bottom line is: If the Ocean dies, we all die!

www.seashepherd.org

DAZED - 25 Anniversary Issue

Photography Zoe Ghertner - Fashion Emma Wyman - Interview Isabella Burley

Polaris - National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline

Sex Trafficking of Latinas Flourishes in U.S. Cantinas and Bars

New report highlights the need to fight the sex trafficking of young women and girls from Latin America in cantinas and bars across the United States

(Para leer el comunicado de prensa en español haga clic aquí.)

Polaris, a leader in the global fight to eradicate modern slavery and restore freedom to survivors, released a report today shedding light on an underground sex economy that is operating out of U.S.-based cantinas and bars and is exploiting young women and girls from Latin America. The report, More than Drinks for Sale: Exposing Sex Trafficking in Cantinas and Bars in the U.S., details how these commercial-front brothels continue to operate largely unchecked by posing as traditional bars or nightclubs. Meanwhile, their victims are trapped in an industry characterized by unimaginable violence and exploitation.

From December 2007 to March 2016, Polaris identified 1,300 potential victims from Latin America in cantina-related cases in 20 U.S. states and Puerto Rico through its operation of the National Human Trafficking hotline and Befree Textline. In the same period, federal law enforcement prosecuted several such cases in Houston, but much more work is needed to end this kind of trafficking.

Deceived and enticed with false promises of good jobs, love, or a better life, victims are lured to the U.S. and forced to engage in commercial sex. Powerful criminal networks and individual traffickers use brutal threats, physical violence, and other severe forms of abuse to keep their victims compliant. The report reveals how, too often, law enforcement and immigration officials miss the signs of trafficking in cantinas – and a critical opportunity to help victims get out.

Click here to download the report.

“Every day in the U.S., young women and girls are held prisoner by criminal networks that sell sex in cantinas and bars right in our backyards,” said Bradley Myles, CEO of Polaris. “If we want to stop the victimization of Latina women in these highly abusive venues, we have to change the equation for traffickers by disrupting the business model and making the crime high-risk and low-profit.”

“Once communities understand the horrific exploitation victims of sex trafficking in cantinas experience, of course they want to end it – but they need to know how,” said My Lo Cook, director of Polaris’s Strategic Initiative, Mexico. “Law enforcement need training and resources to identify more victims and effectively pursue cases, and service providers need to be equipped to respond to the unique trauma experienced by these victims in a way that is culturally and linguistically competent.”

More than Drinks for Sale is based on data gleaned from Polaris’s normal interactions with individuals contacting the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline and BeFree Textline. The report looks at several specific business models in cantina-based sex trafficking throughout the U.S. Key findings include:

Who are the Victims? Victims are overwhelmingly young women or girls from Latin America.

• 96 percent of potential victims were female, typically from Mexico or Central America.
• 63 percent were minors. Traffickers in cantinas are eager to target young girls.

Who are the Traffickers? Traffickers are typically Latino males and may also be U.S. citizens.

• 67 percent of traffickers were male, but nearly a third were women.
• 70 percent were of Latin American descent, and at least 35 percent were U.S. citizens.

Means of Control: Threats, physical abuse, and sexual abuse are rampant in cases involving cantinas and bars. Traffickers often use multiple tactics to control their victims.

• 62 percent of potential victims were confined or physically isolated in some way.
• 51 percent reported economic abuse – including wage theft or the imposition of unattainable debts – but the real figure is likely much higher.

Recruitment: Traffickers trick and lure vulnerable young women and girls fleeing violence in their home countries or seeking better opportunities into violent trafficking situations in the U.S.

• 34 percent of potential victims were recruited through smuggling-related tactics. But some victims may not even realize they are crossing the border illegally.
• At least 29 percent received fake job offers, only learning the real nature of the work on arrival.

Access Points: Victims occasionally have access to people and agencies who could help them.

• 31 percent reported commercial sex clients as a primary point of access to help.
• 14 percent interacted with law enforcement or immigration officials, but in most cases, this contact did not lead to their identification as victims.
• 19 percent reported accessing health care services, but the real figure is likely higher.

More than Drinks for Sale outlines specific steps various stakeholders can take to fight sex trafficking in U.S. cantinas and bars, as well as in a broad range of venues. Polaris stresses the urgent need for bilateral cooperation between government agencies and law enforcement, and between service providers and community partners on both sides of the border.

To receive help or report suspected human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 or send a text to Polaris at “BeFree” (233733).

About Polaris
Polaris is a leader in the global fight to eradicate modern slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves to freedom in the U.S., Polaris acts as a catalyst to systemically disrupt the human trafficking networks that rob human beings of their lives and their freedom. By working with government leaders, the world's leading technology corporations, and local partners, Polaris equips communities to identify, report, and prevent human trafficking. Our comprehensive model puts victims at the center of what we do – helping survivors restore their freedom, preventing more victims, and leveraging data and technology to pursue traffickers wherever they operate. Learn more at www.polarisproject.org

Operation Virus Hunter Campaign Summary

Sea Shepherd campaign Operation Virus Hunter saw the vessel RV Martin Sheen under the leadership of Alexandra Morton, head up the coast of British Columbia Canada to expose open Atlantic salmon farms and the impact they are having on wild Pacific salmon and the the surrounding eco-systems.

Porn Backlash

Tommy and my Home movies that were meant to be personal - were stolen from our house while construction was going on/ we were naked most the time and in love. (An entire safe was stolen- including the bikini I was married in) I'm no prude. I just worry about the fate of monogamous loving relationships. The best kind of love.

Tommy and I did not profit from the spliced together silly vacation videos. We fought as hard as we could against it - and did not accept any offers (in the millions) once it was out. The damage was done. I was pregnant with my son - the stress was so great in depositions. Tommy was worried about me and the stress that our baby might be feeling. We had to stop fighting to ensure a healthy pregnancy. The Brett tape surfaced after the Tapes with Tommy. (Suspicious/yes) I was told there was no film in the camera. (Years before) That it was only a projection on the wall for us. Both have nothing to do with being my choice-  I know it ended up inspiring desperate celebrities to follow suit but they were made on purpose for money and fame. That was not our case. 

Playboy was killed by porn. Playboy to me was innocent. And I stand by my statement. We must learn to make love again. It will save us. 

We are living in a post human world. And, I have had more people thank me this last week for bringing up. Than whiners protecting their perverted habits. There are men that are heterosexual out there that have never touched a woman because of porn addiction. It isn't enough for them to be with a loving breathing committed woman. It has infected our societies. Leading to more sex slavery and vulnerable people in abusive neglectful relationships. I recognize perception of my concern might seem hypocritical. I was a playboy playmate. Not a porn star. 

The worst lovers are porn abusers. I've unfortunately met a few. 

I've been writing my book 'The Sensual Revolution' and now 'The Men's guide to The Erogenous Mind' Rabbi Shmuley and I have decided to co-author. Thinking our 2 very different perspectives make an interesting conversation arriving at the same conclusion. Porn is for losers. A desensitized group that are afraid of vulnerability. Lazy and creepy. It seemed appropriate to write an op ed piece now- and shake people awake. Bring on the debate. I'm ready to discuss in depth anytime. 

Hope to hear from you soon. 

Press Release: Take the Pledge

"I speak with both experience and authority about the damaging effects of easy access pornography  - I am glad to join forces with Rabbi Shmuley in raising public awareness of the innocent lives this has destroyed, and the relationships it is undermining. Something must be done immediately. A healthy, loving sexual experience demands both intimacy and respect, both of which pornography addiction destroys, and I am committed to raising this fundamental awareness and protecting the vulnerable enslaved in the sex industry and abusive relationships"

-Pamela Anderson

America’s Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Actress Pamela Anderson Join Forces to Warn Against the Dangers of Evolving-Porn Addiction In Light of the new Anthony Weiner “Sexting” Scandal

New York  (Sept. 1 2016) -- Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, relationship expert and best-selling author of Kosher Sex and Kosher Love, has aligned with actress Pamela Anderson to warn against the dangers and pitfalls of erotic-porn addiction.   While this may seem like an unlikely pairing, the two offer interesting sides of the spectrum on the debate of the hazard of pornography, brought to the headlines once again by the recent indiscretions of Anthony Weiner, husband to Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s trusted advisor.

“If anyone still had doubts about the addictive dangers of pornography, Anthony Weiner should have put them to rest with his repeated, compulsive, all-consuming and self-sabotaging sexting,” said Boteach.  And if anyone still doubted the devastation that porn addiction wreaks on those closest to the addict, they should behold the now-shattered marriage of Weiner to Huma Abedin - a break-up that she initiated, reportedly, in shock at the disgraced ex-Congressman's inclusion of their four-year-old son in one lewd photo that he sent to a near-stranger.”

Shmuley goes on to say that from the respective positions of clergyman-counselor (himself) and Anderson as former Playboy model and actress, both have come to the same conclusion about  pornography's “corrosive effects on a man's soul and on his ability to function as husband and, by extension, as father.”  Shmuley asserts this is a public hazard of unprecedented seriousness given how freely available, anonymously accessible and easily disseminated pornography is nowadays. 

According to data provided by the American Psychological Association, the statistics already available are deeply disturbing. Porn consumption rates are 50 percent to 99 percent among men, and 30 percent to 86  percent among women, with the former group often reporting less satisfactory intimate lives with their wives or girlfriends as a result of the consumption. (By contrast, many female fans of pornography tend to prefer a less explicit variety, and report that it improves their sexual relationships.)

Nine percent of porn users said they had tried unsuccessfully to stop - an indication of addiction which is all the more startling when you consider that the dependency rate among people who try marijuana is the same - 9 percent - and not much higher among those who try cocaine  (15 percent), according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. 

Shmuley asserts:  “Whereas drug dependency data are mostly stable, the incidence of porn addiction will only spiral as the children now being raised in an environment of wall-to-wall, digitized sexual images become adults inured to intimacy and in need of even greater graphic stimulation. They are the crack babies of porn.”

As Rabbi Shmuley documented in his book The Broken American Male, Weiner’s behavior squares with what is often prevalent among many men, especially in the United States or other Western countries that enjoy liberal values and material prosperity. These are men who, by any objective measure, have succeeded - yet regard themselves as failures. These are men who feel marooned in lassitude because they enjoy physical security, who feel bereft and bored even if they are blessed to have the committed love of a wife or girlfriend. These are men who believe that cruising the Internet for explicit footage of other women, or sharing such images of themselves over the remote communication offered by smart phones, are risqué but risk-free distractions from the tedium.

“They are wrong,” asserts Rabbi Shmuley.   “The march of technology is irreversible and we are not so naive as to believe that any kind of imposed regulation could ever reseal the Pandora's Box of pornography. What is required is an honest dialogue about what we are witnessing - the true nature and danger of porn - and an honor code to tamp it down, in the collective interests of our wellbeing as individuals, as families, and as communities.

“The iniquitousness of porn is an outgrowth of the sexual revolution that began a half-century ago and which, with gender rights and freedoms now having been established, has arguably run its course. Now is the time for a new epochal shift in our private and public lives, a “sensual” revolution that would replace pornography with eroticism - the alloying of sex with love, of personality with physicality, of imagination with the body's mechanics, of orgasmic release with binding relationships.”

“We need to learn to make love again,” says Pamela Anderson  “Not pop a pill or download degrading, aggressive sex displays that leave us numb and sexually disoriented. We can no longer afford of desensitization that makes us inadequate lovers in relationships that lack respect and dignity. Simply put, we must educate ourselves and our children to understand that porn and sexting strangers is for losers - a boring, wasteful and dead-end outlet for people too lazy to reap the ample rewards of healthy sexuality.”  

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, “America’s Rabbi,” whom The Washington Post calls “the most famous Rabbi in America” is the international best-selling author of 31 books, including “Kosher Sex,” “Kosher Lust,” and “The Kosher Sutra.” Rabbi Shmuley serves as Executive Director of The World Values Network and is an acknowledged relationships expert.

Pamela Anderson is an activist, author, and actress best known for her role as CJ Parker on Baywatch. Through the work of The Pamela Anderson Foundation she has courageously spoken out against the pitfalls of pornography and domestic abuse and how we must protect precious, loving relationships. 

Paige Acebo - Assistant to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach paige@shmuley.com

Pamela's Foundation www.pamelaandersonfoundation.org