U
tah Gov. Gary Herbert signed a resolution on April 19 declaring pornography a public health hazard. The SCR 9 resolution is non-binding and largely symbolic in its purpose, but the bill will serve to promote “education, prevention, research and policy change” in the hopes of raising public awareness of “the pornography epidemic that is harming the citizens of Utah and the nation.”
The bill primarily focuses on the negative impacts that pornography may have on the behavior and health of our society. It states that pornography can impact mental health, cause deviant sexual behavior, impact familial relationships and perpetuate harmful sexual behaviors and addiction. While many could argue that much of this is true, these deeper issues are not a direct result of the consumption of pornography.
Many anti-pornography feminists argue that the production of porn is directly harmful to women. It promotes the general idea that women’s sole purpose in heterosexual sex is to be objects. It depicts images of non-consensual sex, sex with underage women and perpetuates generally dangerous misconceptions about sex.
Furthermore, a majority of pornography is not only misogynist, but also transphobic, racist and homophobic. Many times pornography can confuse viewers—primarily young, heterosexual men—as to what is normal or what is consensual. Certain aspects of this bill could be seen as a positive step toward punishing the objectification of women.
A bill such as the SCR 9 resolution, however, is not the solution to the growing commodification of sex. Although the bill mentions the degradation of women that pornography creates, most of the bill promotes “traditional” family values and expresses harmful viewpoints of human sexuality. The bill states that pornography can create “sexual deviancy,” “hyper-sexualization” and will have “a detrimental effect on the family unit.”
These seem to be more driven toward promoting a conservative agenda—shaming people for expressing their sexuality and enforcing a monogamous lifestyle. It is essentially another way for white, heterosexual men in power to control the private sex lives of those that differ from their own.
This kind of thought will be harmful to porn industry workers, who are systematically taken advantage of and abused in their line of work. By further stigmatizing the sex industry, it becomes harder to regulate and discuss sex work openly—pushing workers farther into the background and putting them in dangerous situations.
In order to combat some of the issues this bill discusses, such as “the normalization of violence, abuse and rape,” “the hypersexualization of teens” and “the objection of women,” we need education and reform—not a ban on porn. Rather than simply trying to eliminate pornography, we need to change the way our society views sex entirely.
Blaming the “pornography epidemic” for the degradation and mistreatment of women would be a total misplacement of effort. Instead, we need to focus on giving high school and college-age students comprehensive sex education that not only focuses on the physical aspects of safe sex, but the importance of consensual sex and a heightened focus on female sexuality. Furthermore, we must reform the pornography industry through depicting mutually pleasurable and realistic sex scenes, regulating the use of protection and giving workers more rights in terms of benefits and unionization.
The SCR 9 bill would be ineffective in attempting to change prevalent, harmful ideas about sexuality. Declaring pornography a “public health hazard” will only further the shame and secrecy we often associate with sexuality. Reforming our attitudes toward both sexuality and the porn industry as a whole is the only effective way to combat the societal issues associated with porn.