Debunking the Porn “Public Health Crisis”
For many years, Adult Business Consulting has been a player in the adult entertainment market. We’ve endured all the anti-porn campaign has to offer, but our business is still alive and well.
Understand why? Facts. We have always performed ethical business dealings. We have never strayed from being ethical. Having said that, we must clarify a matter that is seriously bothering us once more. The state of public health around the world is a disaster, did you know? Not a new pandemic, please. No, not a fatal illness.
It’s a catastrophe in public health caused by porn, which is considerably worse. Oh, my dear reader, the horror! In this article, we’ll talk about the mythology that underlies the porn public health issue and how it has affected the adult entertainment sector on three fronts: social, regulatory, and legal.
In this blog post we discuss this fallacy.
What Actually Constitutes a Public Health Crisis?
We need to talk about the “porn public health crisis,” even though we wouldn’t typically waste time on such a ridiculous topic. This cliché has resulted in a lot of regulatory backlashes for some of the biggest businesses in our sector. Before we go any further, what exactly qualifies as a public health crisis?
A public health crisis is described by the National League of Cities as “something that prevents people and communities from being healthy.” These crises, according to the National League of Cities, include “opioids, chronic diseases, and gun violence have been named as public health crises because each of these hurts and/or kills people and restricts their capacity to live well and thrive.”
Science Over Ideology
Since pornography can have detrimental impacts on both individuals and society, some people see it as a public health concern. Overall, there is disagreement on whether there is a public health issue caused by porn, but some people assert that there is.
A common definition guide for defining a public health crisis is the Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice. In an editorial for the American Journal of Public Health, public health experts from Boston University wrote that “pornography itself is not a crisis” and that “the movement to declare pornography a public health crisis is rooted in an ideology that is antithetical to many core values of public health promotion and is a political stunt, not reflective of best available evidence.”
A Product of Social Conservatism
For two main reasons, people assume that pornography is a public health concern. They first have moral and ideological objections to pornography. Second, they contend that pornography causes a moral and social disintegration in society. This strategy is preferred by right-wing opponents because it results in what they regard as “evidence-based” public policy. But once more, it’s untrue.
Pornhub and Nicholas Kristof
According to scholarly study, some of the biggest companies in the internet adult entertainment sector have spiraled because of the perception that there is a “public health crisis” associated to porn. One of Nicolas Kristof’s contentious series of op-eds for The New York Times reportedly resulted in a moral panic that led to a backlash against MindGeek, the parent firm of Pornhub, according to a paper in the journal Porn Studies. By referring to porn as a “public health crisis,” this caused big corporations like Mastercard and Visa to stop processing payments for Pornhub and its corporate partners. By flagging payments and cancelling their accounts for no other reason than that they work in porn, banks have chosen to further discriminate against those who work in the adult entertainment sector, particularly adult performers.
Researchers, civil libertarians, and pragmatic lawmakers merely believe that categorizing pornography as a public health crisis can lead to problems, such as causing funds to be diverted away from policies or procedures that will be ineffective in comparison to underlying issues demanding the attention of the public health rage. Additionally, the negative effects on private business could result in overall losses of billions.
The Porn Public Health Lies: Who Spreads Them?
If you didn’t already know, the anti-porn movement is responsible for the porn public health disaster. Organizations like the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and Exodus Cry are among those who reject the idea that the porn public health problem is unfounded. The in-house journalist at Adult Business Consulting has previously written in our blog about the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
This anti-porn organization was formerly known as Morality in Media; it was a socially conservative group that fought to outlaw online pornography in its early years. Since then, the organization (NCOSE) has attempted to merely reposition itself as a group with objectives comparable to those of the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is supported by the U.S. government.
Anti-Porn Organizations
Despite its blatant attempts to rebrand, NCOSE has established a reputation for ignorance and making absurd claims that respectable mainstream and adult specialty businesses are “responsible for sexual exploitation.” For instance, NCOSE releases its yearly “Dirty Dozen” list, which the public perceives as a blatant attack on companies who have done nothing more than exist. NCOSE is nothing more than a front organization that opposes pornography and bases its arguments on nonsense, such as the notion that there is a “porn public health crisis.” And they profit greatly from doing so.
The Right Wing
Far-right politicians are encouraged to call for censorship by groups like NCOSE. Todd Weiler, a state senator from Utah, presented a motion in 2016 asking the state legislature to label the use of porn as a public health emergency. Sen. Weiler, a far-right Mormon Church member, was able to advance the measure by making a “symbolic” request to the state’s authorities to stop Utahns from watching pornography. This resolution sparked a dynamic that increased pressure on state legislatures in Utah and other Republican-controlled states.
Then, state governments exert pressure—legislative or political—on the adult industry by putting forward legislation that, among other things, prohibits internet communication, mandates age verification in a discriminatory way, and exposes adult entertainment companies to additional unjustified tort liability. All of this is connected to the idea that increased limitations and censorship are justified by successful legal interventions in the pornographic industry. And once more, all in the name of “protecting” the general welfare.
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