"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)

"Due to the nature of their contents"

"US officials will not release al-Qaeda leader's pornography stash"

Among the thousands of documents was what Reuters described in 2011 as a "fairly extensive porn stash".

Brian Hale, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), told The Telegraph that the pornography would remain classified even as details of Bin Laden’s other personal files were released.

Family letters revealed the intimacies of Bin Laden’s relationship with his wives and songs.

In August 2008, Bin Laden wrote to one of his wives, including a will: "If you want to marry after me, I have no objection, but I really want for you to be my wife in paradise."

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

It takes an act of Congress...

To stop federal employees from watching porn on taxpayer's dime.

The Eliminating Pornography from Agencies Act aptly shares its initials with the government agency that drew attention to the problem of staff watching pornographic videos at work, the Environmental Protection Agency.

“It’s appalling that it requires an act of Congress to ensure that federal agencies block access to these sites,” Meadows said. He is chairman of the operations subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

An Instapundit commenter muses...

I'm conflicted.

Does a federal employee hurt taxpayers more when he wastes their time watching porn, or when he is assiduously dedicated to his work?

This Story Will Really Piss Off Issa H8ers...

...I mean, the sheer gall of the man:

'How Much Pornography' Does it Take 'to Get Fired' at EPA?

Chase Bank is Closing Accounts of Porn Stars?

"Chase Bank is closing the accounts of hundreds of people who work in the adult industry, according to multiple reports."

"Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton posted images of the letters reportedly sent to stars in the adult industry informing them of the account closings. Hilton reported that the accounts would be closed on May 11, 2014."

"TMZ.com reported Friday that Chase had closed the account of porn star Layton Benton, who told the site that Chase said her account was "a risk." Citing sources, the site reported that Chase is targeting specific types of transactions such as deposits from webcam shows."

“I got a letter and it was like please cancel all transactions, please fix your automatic pay account and make sure everything’s taken care of by May 11,” Presley told XBIZ. “I called them and they told me that because I am, I guess, public and am recognizable in the adult business, they’re closing my account. Even though I don’t use my account, it’s my personal account that I’ve had since I was 18, when it was Washington Mutual before Chase bought them out.”

CNBC via Twitter

Essay: The End of Sex (The “Porn Oscars” and the pornification of America)

First paragraph...

"Vegas, Baby — “Eggs are expensive, sperm are cheap.” That’s a plain-English approximation of Bateman’s principle, which holds that in a species with two sexes, the members of the sex that invests less biologically in reproduction will end up competing, sometimes ferociously, over the members of the sex that invests more. Because healthy men can in theory reproduce almost without limit while women are constrained by the number of pregnancies that they can take to term in a lifetime, women have a very strong incentive to be more selective about their sexual partners, while men don’t: snipers vs. shotguns, basically. In a 2004 paper under the forthright title “Sexual Economics: Sex as Female Resource for Social Exchange in Heterosexual Interactions,” two scholars from the University of British Columbia and Florida State took that insight and examined mating behavior through the lens of market competition. And if you doubt for one second that the pitiless laws of supply and demand provide an excellent explanation of human sexual behavior, then by all means make a reservation at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for the annual awards ceremony hosted by Adult Video News, a.k.a. the “Porn Oscars,” the most mercilessly Darwinian sexual marketplace you will find this side of Recife."

National Review Online via Hot Air. As they say in the blogs 'read the whole thing' here.

***

About 10 years ago, I remember reading from a reputable source, that, porn industry revenues had surpassed most major sports revenues, in America, combined. Two years ago the site Skeptics Stack Exchange concluded that indeed this was the case.

"The sex industry is HUGE - $57 Billion Worldwide, $12+ Billion in the United States. It is larger than all the sport franchises put together"

"... what's wrong with this picture?"

"The Cambridge University neuropsychiatrist Dr Valerie Voon has recently shown that men who describe themselves as addicted to porn (and who lost relationships because of it) develop changes in the same brain area – the reward centre – that changes in drug addicts. The study, not yet published, is featured next week in the Channel 4 TV show Porn on the Brain. Neurosceptics may argue that pictures of the brain lighting up in addicts tell us nothing new – we already know they are addicted. But they do help: knowing the reward centre is changed explains some porn paradoxes."

In the mid-1990s I, and other psychiatrists, began to notice the following. An adult male, in a happy relationship, being seen for some non-romantic issue, might describe getting curious about porn on the burgeoning internet. Most sites bored him, but he soon noticed several that fascinated him to the point he was craving them. The more he used the porn, the more he wanted to.

Yet, though he craved it, he didn't like it (porn paradox 1). The cravings were so intense, he might feel them while thinking about his computer (paradox 2). The patient would also report that, far from getting more turned on by the idea of sex with his partner, he was less attracted to her (paradox 3). Through porn he acquired new sexual tastes.

For the rest of the article click here.

*** 

A romantic comedy, called Don Jon (2013) , now playing in theaters, is about the life of a young, middle class male who's addicted to pornography. The movie was written, directed and starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

 A favorable review ...

If you can handle the porn, go see this movie, if for nothing else than to experience how very talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt truly is. September 28, 2013 Full Review  Jeanne Kaplan, Kaplan vs. Kaplan

An unfavorable review ...

Filled with frank conversation and gutter language, mysogynistic with misandry thrown in, it's probably not possible to make a tasteful movie about a subject as distasteful as masturbation, but this movie doesn't even try. September 28, 2013 Full Review Tony Medley Tolucan Times

Is this movie an introduction of porn into the mainstream? Or is the mainstream more porn than anything else?

Don Jon (2013) Trailer after the jump