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Signature Project: Pornography: Public Health Crisis

Edgar Delgadillo
Pols 1100
April 29, 2016

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Pornography is a controversial issue throughout the world. Some argue that as
adults they have the right to watch whatever they want. If adults are choosing to make
pornography films then they can choose to watch them. Others argue that pornography
is harmful to society more specifically children. Since pornography can be easily
accessed online there are no barriers for children to view pornography. There are plenty
of free websites that offer pornography videos, and pictures. Pornographic images can
be found without even searching. With some search engines when you put in a term the
first few will be elated and then they will put some pornographic ones in there too.
Pornography is a concerns and it needs to be better handled.
Utah is known for its conservative values. In the 2016 legislative season Senator
Todd Weiler wrote Senate Committee Resolution bill 9 that reported that pornography
was a public health crisis. A public health crisis is defined as a difficult situation that
affects people in one or more geographical area. According to our book about American
Government the legislature is composed of all the citizens and requires a high level of
participation. Senator Weiler argues that pornography is harmful to everyone who views
it. In his bill he gives several points to argue his bill including the negative affects of
pornography on adults and children. Senator Weiler writes, Pornography is contributing
to the hypersexualization of teens, and even prepubescent children in our society. He
makes several points about how children are exposed to what is considered hard-core
porn but is now known as mainstream. Early exposure leads to low self-esteem, body
image disorders, and increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages and
increased desire to engage in risky sexual behavior. Exposure to pornography often
serves as children's and youth's sex education and shapes their sexual template.
Senator Weiler reports that research indicates that pornography is potentially
biologically addictive, which means the user requires more novelty, often in the form of

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more shocking material. Senator Weiler has great points about why pornography is
harmful, and should not be accessed by children.
When I attended the legislative meeting there were many speakers that spoke
against pornography. This proved what was brought up in our textbook about the
citizens being involved because the testimonies and opinion those citizens brought to
the meetings. One-woman spoke about how she had been taught about sex and a
healthy relationship by what she viewed online. When she became involved with her
first boyfriend he was abusing her sexually, she thought it was normal and that this was
what a relationship looked like. When she learned about a healthy relationship she
realized that it wasnt what her boyfriend was doing. Her boyfriend would hit her, call her
names, swear at her and abuse her but since it was in videos and seemed normal she
thought it was ok. She spoke at this legislative hearing so that she could inform others
about the negative consequences of having pornography. Another testimony that I
heard from involved a married woman whose husband would drug her and have her fall
asleep so that he could have his way with her. Her husband would watch pornographic
material and then would want to act it out. The woman would not want to participate in
what he would ask her so he would drug her to fall asleep and take advantage of her.
Lastly there was a speaker who was addicted to pornography himself. A cousin who
sexually abused him exposed him to pornography when he was 12 years old. He lost
his family because of his addiction to pornography. He talks about how pornography is
easy to access and he can watch all types of pornography for free. At this time
pornography is legal, it is a job that people get paid for if they are willing adults.
Although pornography is legal for adults it is illegal to show pornography to children.
Pornography is easily accessed, you can search any words and it will come up. Words
like naked, sex, porn, etc.

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In my younger years Internet did not exist and the only way to see pornographic
images was to buy a Playboy or a Hustler magazine and hide it under your mattress.
This topic was interested to me and I decided to research myself. I searched the word
porn on Google and several websites popped up. Some like Pornhub and Redtube,
which I have heard of before. I got onto the PornHub website and I was in shock! First
off I dont know how women allow themselves to be exposed like this so easily. There
were plenty of videos available to watch. I didnt feel comfortable watching any so I
quickly closed the program. I have also struggled with issues with my kids. I used to
allow them to watch videos on YouTube. I quickly learned that by searching some key
words some negative videos came up. Im glad that YouTube realized this and created
an app that is geared toward children.
According to the Family Safe website pornography is a 13 billion dollar industry,
in the world it is a 97 billion dollar industry. The top search terms used to access
pornography are sex, adult dating, adult DVD, porn, sex toys, teen sex, free sex and the
list goes on. On the World Wide Web there are 4.2 million pornographic websites. The
website reports that 1 in 7 youth receive sexual solicitation. The average age for
pornography exposure is 11 years old. How is that possible that an 11 year old is
watching pornography? 80% of 15 to 17 year olds have been exposed to hard-core
porn. 90% of 8 to 16 year olds were exposed to porn and most of them report it was
while they were online doing homework. There are 26 childrens characters that are
linked to pornographic websites such as Pokmon and action man. Does this sound like
a problem to you yet?? It is ridiculous that society thinks this is ok and allows this to
happen to our children. In the United States the major pornography producers are Vivid
Entertainment, Hustler, Playboy, and Red Light District. The top cities for pornography
are Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York. 89% of pornographic websites are created
in the United States, these statistics all make it sound like it is a problem. In 1988 there

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were 1300 pornographic films created by 2005 it increased to 13,588. The Huffington
Post reports that porn sites get more visitors than Netflix, Amazon, and Twitter
combined.
As I viewed these statistics I couldnt help to wonder how we got to this point.
When did pornography become so mainstream? I believe that it became mainstream
because of the Internet. If we look at the increase it increased as the Internet became
more popular. The most shocking problem that I saw is the age of exposure. Kids
between 8 and 16 are exposed while they are doing homework!!! How is that ok? Kids
that are spending their time trying to focus on doing what they need to do and they are
exposed to these negative images that can cause a lifetime of harm and damages. It is
scary to think that in 2005 there was 13,000 pornographic films created, we are in 2016
now and I wonder how many films are being created now. The information that Senator
Weiler has documented in his bill seems to all be accurate. Pornography is an issue that
has destroyed the life of many. By making pornography a public health crisis Senator
Weiler hopes to be able to create laws and prevention for children to view pornography.
Some solutions for this epidemic could be that pornography is to be paid for. By
registering and putting a card number on an account they are going to be held more
accountable and itll be almost impossible for children to access it. Pornography for
adults will also decrease because a lot of men and women do not want evidence that
they view pornography therefore adding a card onto an account will leave evidence.
There is a website called Fight the New Drug it is a non-profit organization that is
trying to do just that, fight this drug. Their slogan is that Porn Kills Love and they sell tshirts for those to agree. They argue that in pornography flaws are edited out, people on
screen act like they are having a good time, people only think about themselves and if
the person viewed doesnt satisfy them they can click to another page. Pornography
also portrays women as nothing more than sex objects that must be dominated, men

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start viewing women as just that, sexual objects. They also state that research finds that
after men are exposed to porn they say they are less in love with their partner; they also
are critical of their partner's appearance, sexual curiosity, sexual performance and
displays of affection. Over time they lose interest in their partners. For all of these
reasons they say that Porn Kills Love
As I researched the topic I realized that this is a public health crisis even though
no one agrees with it. Porn is harming our children, and harming our youth and we have
to fight the new drug. People become addicted to this drug and it ruins their life. I have
never really been exposed to pornography and the short things I saw were not
something that I was attracted to and made me feel bad. I dont want my children to
learn that it is ok to treat women like objects. I have two sons and I have been married
for 10 years. I view my wife as the queen of my household and I want my children to
view women the same way. I dont want them to think women are sexual objects that
are only there to serve men sexually. Women are so much more than that, women
create life, they care and they nurture. I also would not want my children to watch
pornography because it would seem normal, and it would be ok to call women names
and treat them violently. What scared me the most is the age of exposure. My son will
be 8 this year, and to think that he could be innocently doing his homework online and
that he could be exposed to pornography is not ok. My children will not be exposed to
pornography, and I will agree with this bill to make pornography a public health crisis
because that is what it is. We need to take care of our children and take care of our
future society.

Works Cited

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Kleinman, Alexis. "Porn Sites Get More Visitors Each Month Than Netflix,
Amazon And Twitter Combined." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
"Porn Kills Love." Fight the New Drug. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
Schmidt, Steffen W., Mack C. Shelley, and Barbara A. Bardes. American
Government and Politics Today. Print.