Friday, January 21, 2022

I am very happy to live and let live. I am not concerned what consenting adults get up to in private. I voted for gay marriage in Australia and in general, other people's personal relationships are none of my business. Nor do any of these matters in any way conflict with my religious views. God said 'do not judge' (actually, 'Judge not lest you be judged') and that is an end of it. 

But I do not understand how a modern progressive society can tolerate the unfettered proliferation of pornography on the internet, nor how porn is 'free speech.' The latter is a puzzle for the US Supreme Court to debate again one day - hopefully the 1997 Reno vs UCLA might be revisited.

Quite part from the people who are exploited in the production of online porn, there is the abiding and now well-documented evidence of its psychological harm. This is particularly the case with young users. To quote American psychologist John Mark Haney, unwanted effects can include,

"modelling and imitation of inappropriate behaviours; unhealthy interference with normal sexual development; emotional side-effects including nightmares and residual feelings of shame, guilt, anxiety and confusion", together with violent attitudes about sex and women.

When I raised these kinds of issues over 20 years ago I was looked at as if I was a freak. What real harm could there be? The chickens are now coming home to roost. The adults have been asleep at the wheel for too long.

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