"Is porn a public health crisis?"

CSM: Utah lawmakers are considering making it the first state to declare pornography a public health crisis, similar to cigarettes. State Sen. Todd Weiler (R) recently introduced a legislative resolution that would recognize a range of “societal harms” from the pornography “epidemic.”

“I’m hoping this will start educating people that pornography is actually addictive, that it’s harmful to families and relationships,” says Senator Weiler in a phone interview.

Weiler acknowledges First Amendment rights to make and view pornography. Although the resolution does not put forward any particular policy solution, he says he ultimately “would like to see the US work toward an Internet that is porn free unless you opt into it.”

The proposal has rekindled age-old cultural battles over sexual norms and morality – but it also pushes the conversation into a broader framework.

Some critics of the Utah resolution see it as yet another conservative attempt to shore up heterosexual marriage as the acceptable context for sex. A Salon.com headline ridiculed it as “porn hysteria.” But where some see an effort to reframe conservative morality under the guise of public health, crafters of the legislation point to issues from elementary school age children accessing hard-core porn to cases of sex trafficking and child abuse. (read more)