Utah and Virginia might just become the first states to declare porn a public health emergency, if lawmakers get their way.
Senator Todd Wailer from Utah is intent on proving that watching porn causes emotional and psychological damage, and says that people should be able to sue pornographers for any harm they cause, Pulse Headlines reports.
In Virginia, Republican Delegate Bob Marshall also declared that porn is not ideal for social stability as it sexualizes teenagers, and normalizes violence and abuse of women and children. Both politicians announced that they don’t want to ban porn completely, but rather create restrictions to how people access it.
Wailer first led a 2016 resolution to declare a public health emergency due to pornography – a first in the USA. Now, the lawmaker is working on a second bill that intends to filter pornography on wireless internet connections and close loopholes in libraries.
Wailer has said that he expects his proposals to meet initial rejections, but is positive that the tide will eventually turn in his favor. His ideas were based on a public-health resolution from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a group based in Washington, D.C. Wailer says he is not surprised that other states are also raising this concern, which he adds is part of the plan.
Marshall backs Wailer’s proposal, saying,
Certain diseases, objectifying women as nothing but sex objects. This is not very good for a society for social stability.
His move aims to make a statement recognizing that pornography is a problem, highlighting the need for education and research.
Marshall calls it an “epidemic” and adds that pornography access leads to “sexting” among minors. Fox 43 reports that he said, “When you see more of these episodes of teens texting pictures to each other, there’s obviously an obsession or fixation on the body as an object, not a person. It’s not very helpful for social relations or later development of a family. I thought, lets draw a line in the sand.”
The lawmaker also said that pornography leads to low self-esteem and body image problems among the youth.
The legislation will be considered at the first 2017 regular session of the General Assembly on January 11.
