When Utah declared porn a hazard to public health, some people found the idea absurd but it was easy to shake off and dismiss as a Beehive State eccentricity. Now Republican delegates are proposing to amend their GOP platform to further condemn adult entertainment, making it a national issue. The amendment states: “Pornography, with its harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the life of millions. We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace…”
Porn isn’t a contagious disease lurking about online trying to expose and infect wholesome American families, and it shouldn’t be treated like that, either. Sex and pornography are part of our culture; let’s not ban access and make it even more alluring to curious pubescent teens. Young people don’t have to watch porn to see sex.
Sexualized images are a large part of mainstream media, television, and ads. HBO’s most popular show, Game of Thrones, consists of equal parts violence and shocking sex scenes (heck, the show even employs numerous porn stars). Based on a series of books aimed primary at young adults, it’s not surprising that adults aren’t the only ones watching. Parents are supposed to dictate whether or not children have access to certain TV shows or the internet but it’s also up to them to explain that like Game of Thrones, porn is fantasy.
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“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,” says Alana Evans, porn star and AVN Hall of Fame recipient. “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.”
Assuming children are not stealing credit cards to access porn behind a pay wall, the real issue here is with the abundance of free XXX content on the internet. The porn industry hates that, too. Here at least, everyone can agree.
Adult actress Brooke Brand believes lazy parenting is to blame for the unmitigated access kids have to hardcore porn. In addition to employing parental blocks and having open conversations, Brand doesn’t let her daughter use the internet without supervision. “Part of the problem is people are using tablets and the internet as babysitting tools and then getting angry about what their kids are finding,” says Brand.
Restricting minors’ access to internet porn is increasingly difficult as children become more tech-savvy than their parents. Instead of wasting money on the impossible task of eliminating online porn, why not create a curriculum on it? Second-year MSW candidate Katja Kassin is in graduate school pursuing social work to become a therapist—she’s also a renowned porn star with some strong opinions on this subject. “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,” says Kassin. “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.”
Angie Rowntree, director and founder of the premiere porn site for women, Sssh.com, feels the GOP declaration about porn is rather silly and trivializes the real health issues our country faces, such as lead exposure in water supplies. “Go back through the Republican platform starting in about 1984. Porn is presented as some sort of boogeyman in every iteration of the party’s platform since then,” says Rowntree. “If the Republican Party were serious about wanting to address the issue of kids being exposed to porn, they’d be focusing on improving sex education and making sure young people know there’s a big difference between sex in real life and the kinds of sexual fantasies which are played out in porn—but we all know the GOP is never going to advocate for better sex education. If anything, they’ll treat sex education like it’s a problem in and of itself.”
Politicians have created more of a health crisis by not pushing for sex education. Before declaring porn a public menace, politicians should consult the science behind the data and collect evidence to prove their beliefs, if that’s possible.
According to the CDC, there is a sex related health problem—but it’s not porn. The red state of Georgia was ranked as the top state for primary and secondary Syphilis transmission. As if that weren’t bad enough, Georgia now faces a new problem: skyrocketing HIV rates that some say rival Third World countries. Yet many schools in Georgia fail to provide crucial sex ed to middle and high school-aged children, with a mere 14 percent of area schools teaching kids about condom use. Don’t blame porn for this health crisis.
A lack of education on reproduction, rampant STDs, and unwanted teenage pregnancies—these are the public health issues that should be on the GOP platform. Whig Party representative for Ohio, Jennifer Allbaugh, wants to change the political system in relation to sex ed, and as both a mother and former porn star, she may have a better perspective on what needs and can be done than any other politician. “The Republican Party has been hijacked by the church so none of this surprises me, but their platform is irresponsible. What about a real solution? That’s why I decided to get involved, to create solutions,” says Allbaugh. “These are people who were raised to think their private parts are shameful. How can you be for family values without also being for sex education? It takes sex to have a family.”
