National Center on Sexual Exploitation
| Abbreviation | NCOSE |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1962 |
| Type | Political, media watchdog, anti-pornography |
| 13-2608326 | |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) organization |
| Location |
|
President | Marcel Van der Watt |
| Website | endsexualexploitation |
Formerly called |
|
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), previously known as Morality in Media and Operation Yorkville, is an American conservative anti-pornography organization. The group has also campaigned against sex trafficking, same-sex marriage, sex shops and sex toys, decriminalization of sex work, comprehensive sex education, and various works of literature or visual arts the organization has deemed obscene, profane or indecent. Its current president is Marcel Van der Watt. The organization describes its goal as "exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation".
The group was started as a part of the religious right and was primarily Catholic. It began as an interfaith group of three New York clergymen concerned about pornography and "salacious" magazines. The group became involved in several landmark court battles regarding obscenity laws and freedom of speech in the United States. The group's influence later declined due to the decreasing interest in the anti-obscenity cause among prosecutors, politicians and religious leaders. After modernizing its message from morality to exploitation, the group changed its name. NCOSE have stated that pornography constitutes a public health crisis, but this is not supported by any global health agency, and the organization has been criticized for advancing medical claims that are false, misleading or unsupported.