Republicans Called Porn A “Public Health Crisis.” The Industry’s Response Is PERFECT
Looking at the Republican Party’s official platform, you’d be forgiven for wondering what century it was. Entirely out of touch with reality once again, the religious extremists in the Republican Party has declared that the Bible should be taught as American history, that our society is plagued by the evils of deviant trangenders demanding their rights, that we must send homosexuals to religious re-education camps and that the menace of pornography is a public health crisis. We must protect our pure American white men from being tempted into sin by the lascivious enticements of fallen Delilahs! cries the right-wing.
All sarcasm aside, it goes without saying that these are obvious smokescreen efforts to distract attention from some of the more pernicious articles in the platform – like the idea that coal is a “clean” energy source and that we must sell off our national parks and public lands to multinational corporations.
But pornography industry does not appreciate being slandered on a national stage like that, and has fired back against this unfair and baseless assertion. “Lets talk about the gun issues, poverty, children in America not having food when they get home for school. Calling porn a public health crisis is disgusting. Kids aren’t going to an adult book store, they’re getting it on computers at home, and last time I checked that was a parent’s job” says porn star and AVN Hall of Fame recipient Alana Evans.
Much of the commentary focused on the conservative refusal to teach their kids adequate sex education and to repress their sexual identity with guilt and draconian religious values. “Sex education for every student would create a more comprehensive picture of what sexuality is… then if kids have that opportunity and watch porn, they will be more likely to understand the movie for what it is: entertainment. Let’s not kid ourselves: the internet is a global network and there’s only so much one government can do to block certain content” says Katja Kassin.
Anti-porn advocates accuse porn of promoting sexual violence, but there is – surprise! – no evidence that is the case. What certainly DOES promote sexual violence is the instilling of patriarchal values of toxic masculinity that accompany fundamentalist Christian ideologies, the tolerance of white privilege and the perpetuation of male entitlement. Republicans are once again accusing others of what they themselves are guilty of, and in what is now a classically American thing to do, shifting the blame for their own failures on to some formless, ethereal entity. No, children should not watch porn, and as with all vices, porn should be viewed in moderation. But it is certainly not a public health crisis – and you have wonder why sexually repressed Republicans consume more pornography than liberals do?
All links are SFW, if you were concerned.
