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Pornhub offering $25K college scholarships: "How do you make others happy?"

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I'm interested to see the...results.


imrs.php

One of the world’s most-viewed pornography Web sites is offering a new $25,000 college scholarship for a student who will be judged partially on a homemade video submission answering a single question: “How do you strive to make others happy?”

Pornhub.com, which touts 78.9 billion online video views each year, recently began accepting submissions for the scholarship as part of the site’s expanded philanthropic efforts.

“We work hard to help make millions of people feel happy every single day,” according to the scholarship Web site. “In turn, we would like to help support the recipient of the first annual Pornhub Cares Scholarship to realize their goal of doing the same.”

The scholarship offer from a prominent porn site immediately drew fire from feminism activist groups, which said they have concerns that the campaign is a thinly veiled ploy to exploit young women who are struggling to pay the rising costs of higher education.

Dawn Hawkins, executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, described the scholarship as a “an amazing and deceptive marketing tactic,” aimed at a vulnerable demographic: cash-strapped college students.

“A lot of younger people don’t realize the consequences and harm of pornography,” Hawkins said. “These videos follow them the rest of their lives and affect their jobs and relationships in the future to have this out there. … It’s really unfortunate we’re forcing our kids to sell their bodies to get an education.”

A woman known professionally as Belle Knox, a pornography performer and Duke University student, made headlines around the world after another student at her school outed her. Knox, whose real name is Miriam Weeks, later took part in a documentary describing her path to pornography in part to help pay her crushing college tuition debt.

Corey Price, vice president of Pornhub, acknowledged that the scholarship could be considered controversial, as pornography’s rampant spread across the Internet has long drawn debate about its role in society and how people view women. Price said that “if you’re against pornography and an anti-pornography crusader, this is probably not the scholarship for you.”

He also noted that “you don’t have to film a porn to be a winner.” He said that the Web site hopes that entrants will share Pornhub’s “sex positive belief system” and at the very least have a “neutral stance” on pornography in general.


The contest, which closes Oct. 31, is taking submissions from currently enrolled college or graduate school students who are 18 or older, “whether you are studying medicine, botany, paranormal psychology, or anything in between,” according to the Web site.

To apply for the contest, entrants must have a GPA of 3.2 or higher in college and submit official transcripts. They will be judged by Pornhub staffers based on an essay with the prompt: “How do you strive to make others happy?” A video of two to five minutes also is required as part of the application package, and the movies will be posted publicly.

Price said that the scholarship will be awarded to the most-deserving candidate who shows examples of their leadership and community involvement.

“We’re always looking at different ways we can give back and we thought helping someone to go to college would be a great way,” Price said in an interview Wednesday. “Part of our inspiration is that we’ve seen a lot of people have a hard time getting money to go to college. … We want to make it easier for one person who shares the same mission of spreading happiness.”

Price said that the videos will help judges get a better sense of the applicants and their creativity. Price said that nudity in the videos will not be a disqualifying factor but that an applicant who submits a sex video “will not be seriously considered.”

Price said that Pornhub allows users to submit their own self-made pornographic videos to be posted on their site and receives thousands of such movies daily. He said the site offers prizes in “amateur pornography” contests and, like YouTube, offers a percentage of advertisement revenue for users who draw high traffic.

But Price noted that the college scholarship offer is a more serious contest that is separate from the pornographic site, noting that it is the first aspect of a new philanthropic effort called “Pornhub Cares.” Previous Pornhub campaigns have included a tree-planting contest, a testicular cancer awareness effort and a charity drive for breast cancer research.

“Showing how you spread happiness in a sex video is not what we’re aiming for,” Price said. “This is not about you making a homemade porn and winning a scholarship.”

Even with the scholarship offer, Irene Tsepnopoulos-Elhaimer, executive director of Women Against Violence Against Women, said that doesn’t change the fact that women are being targeted by the multi-billion dollar porn industry. The Pornhub Web site receives 60 million visits daily, and, according to internal data, the most commonly searched term is “teen.”

“The porn industry must be held accountable for violence and exploitation of women,” Tsepnopoulos-Elhaimer said. “This is an opportunity for post-secondary institutions and their leaders to refuse to be complicit.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...dents-how-do-you-strive-to-make-others-happy/
 
Price said that the videos will help judges get a better sense of the applicants and their creativity. Price said that nudity in the videos will not be a disqualifying factor but that an applicant who submits a sex video “will not be seriously considered.”

You should bold this part as well.

This is a good thing~
 

Dennis

Banned
The owners of Pornhub is a company from Luxembourg.

As a European I want to thank you wankers for contributing to our economy.

Every time you rub one out you make us stronger.

$25K ain't shit though. Should be more generous.
 
People still think the porn industry is a joke, but they have insane profits. Good to see them do something positive with them.
 

DOWN

Banned
It doesn't have to be a porn video submission so I don't see the problem. They're helping someone out in the end
 
The owners of Pornhub is a company from Luxembourg.

As a European I want to thank you wankers for contributing to our economy.

Every time you rub one out you make us stronger.

$25K ain't shit though. Should be more generous.

It's never big enough is it.
 
I don't think any college is going to accept a student on a PornHub scholarship.

Good on Pornhub though.

I don't get why some people are calling this an exploitative contest when the president clearly say "no porn".

Because association with porn is bad. And that Belle Knox might not be the only student who turned to porn because suffering under college debt.
 

Dennis

Banned
Between paying private school to avoid Common Core and 4 years of Ivy League education I am starting to think I have to flee back to Europe when it comes time to breed.
 
$25K isn't even a years worth of tuition from an American university worth a damn.
Ehh, not every university. I attend the University of Central Florida (which is a pretty good uni nationally) and $25K is well, well, well over a year's worth of tuition here.
 
Most people who apply for scholarships aim to receive several that cover all expenses. Not all scholarships have to be over 100K or something.

Can't believe people would be upset that a porn site isn't offering a full ride to college.
 

Brakke

Banned
I thought fees were like $100k+ in the US?

UC Berkeley, as a top-shelf public school example, quotes $23,060 as the one-year ticket price (without housing). Harvard and other top-shelf private schools generally list closer to $40,000. Most private schools offer some merit and need-based grants though so their average tuition is usually much lower than their ticket price.
 

Iorv3th

Member
$25K isn't even a years worth of tuition from an American university worth a damn.

What school are you talking about? The expense is only that high if you include apartment, vehicle, food, etc. Went to A&M in state was less than 5k per semester. Actually think it was closer to 3k. So for a year it's under 10k.
 
Its a scholarship and they would be helping someone get through college. I don't see the problem here.

Because they are a PORN site. Emphasis on porn. People aren't really comfortable dealing with porn outside of their own bedrooms along with the baggage that comes with it.
 
I thought fees were like $100k+ in the US?
This isn't typical. For a student who chooses a private or out of state public school, probably yeah.

An in state public school? Tuition and fees are generally $5k-$15k per year. With living expenses, food, etc. being necessary costs too. But these costs will exist in every situation regardless.

You have books too, but those costs will vary.
 
Because they are a PORN site. Emphasis on porn. People aren't really comfortable dealing with porn outside of their own bedrooms along with the baggage that comes with it.
If it's a private or religous institution I can see your point, but I doubt a state university would care.
 
in-state tuition for university of arizona is $10k, and nearly anybody who's done decently in school gets the wildcat excellence scholarship, which ranges from $2k to $10k a year (i gots the $10k one).

out of state (mostly cali kids too dumb for UC schools come here) is $30k, but i know my dumbass PoliSci CoD-playing roommate has either a $10k or $20k scholarship (don't remember) so I imagine they're pretty open with scholarships.

though all of that is prob going to change soon, new governor de_stroyed state funding for education.
 

faridmon

Member
I paid 12k for my studies here in UK (the entire degree)

I would not have survived in the US and its expensive education system
 

dankir

Member
The owners of Pornhub is a company from Luxembourg.

As a European I want to thank you wankers for contributing to our economy.

Every time you rub one out you make us stronger.

$25K ain't shit though. Should be more generous.

Yeah but its now run out of Montreal through Mindgeek / Manwin
 
J

Jpop

Unconfirmed Member
My tuition at a private school was about 50k a year. I paid about 28k in loans. The face value is never what you actually pay.
 
He also noted that “you don’t have to film a porn to be a winner.” He said that the Web site hopes that entrants will share Pornhub’s “sex positive belief system” and at the very least have a “neutral stance” on pornography in general.

But will bonus points be added to your submission if you do?
 
$25K isn't even a years worth of tuition from an American university worth a damn.

Well mine is 8-9k a year and I'll still walk away with a $60-70k salary job thereafter. Not bad for a shitty school =P, I really do wonder how much i'd make if I graduated from MIT.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
...do those groups firing off criticism understand its not supposed to be thinly-veiled anything? Its clearly just an invitation to audition to do porn.
 

Keri

Member
Yeah, I hate to be pessimistic here, but this sounds like a trick to get more content for the website, because what's the point of mandating a video requirement, otherwise? It's all well and good for Pornhub to state that porn submissions won't be seriously considered, but aren't most people who find out about this scholarship, going to assume that's exactly what they want? The implication is pretty clear, when you have a porn site asking, "how do you make others happy? SEND A VIDEO." The practical consequence of this, regardless of what Pornhub says, is that they're going to get a bunch new amateur videos, from people who didn't read the rules carefully enough, but thought they had a chance at $25k.
 
Price said that the videos will help judges get a better sense of the applicants and their creativity. Price said that nudity in the videos will not be a disqualifying factor but that an applicant who submits a sex video “will not be seriously considered.”

But they may be offered a job.
 
Holy craps those tuition prices are nuts. Here in Canada my tuition was ~6000 a year.

I thought everything was more expensive here but I guess not
 

Linkyn

Member
The owners of Pornhub is a company from Luxembourg.

As a European I want to thank you wankers for contributing to our economy.

Every time you rub one out you make us stronger.

$25K ain't shit though. Should be more generous.

To be fair, many corporations relocate their European or global headquarters here for financial reasons.

Kinda amusing though that their offices are right down the street from the cathedral in the capital.
 
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