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I think the defense from porn sites would be that you could apply this to a whole range of destructive behaviors, from self-harm, to stealing, to causing trauma in others (in fact this is considered an important factor in essentially all forms of abuse). Yes, people can use porn to destroy themselves. It's not the worst thing people do, by far. There's the occasional story of porn actually helping (you know, because money). Why should you need to prove that you're doing porn shoots for the right reasons ... and not when buying anything even remotely sharp (which may be used for self-harm), or for private sex acts (so why shouldn't there be limits on buying condoms or lube or ...)? And yet when we put it in ways that would really make a difference, like requiring when a teacher buys a "barely 18" magazine, the police gets notified. Or, in Europe, when buying or surfing to anything extreme-right (a BIG no-no for anyone in public office in many WW2 participant countries, Germany, France, Belgium, ...). That would be totally unacceptable, and yet would probably protect more people than porn regulations. And, lastly, porn (and ...) is a way people survive. If you take it away you are taking away people's livelihoods, which will have strong negative consequences for them. Is homelessness better or worse than porn? Because all these "protect women" efforts are a bit like youth care: any careful look at the alternative will make you question if these people have the good of those women at heart. |
Just like the solution to drug addiction isn't making drug usage illegal, neither is banning porn.