If Republican state senator, Todd Weiler gets his way, Utah porn users could sue porn websites for purported emotional and psychological damage. The burden of proof would be on the plaintiff.
Recently, Utah has been waging war on porn – the first attack occurring last year when Utah governor, Gary Herbert denounced porn as a “public health crisis”, comparing watching porn to taking methamphetamines. Now there is a new bill in play which would give Utah porn watches the ability to sue porn companies if they can prove any legitimate distress caused by viewing.
Weiler compared his current vendetta to the tobacco industry but what he doesn’t understand is that studies have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that tobacco does cause cancer and death. Porn hasn’t been proved to cause anything. Weiler is using hand-picked, out-of-context anecdotes and retooled studies to support his claim. It just takes one simple Google search to dig up the real facts yourself.
For example, the following quote from Weiler about the effects of porn on Navy recruits is completely false:
“Men are having a harder time forming and keeping relationships and there’s been a dramatic increase in domestic violence and domestic abuse.”
Untrue! The Navy study that Weiler is referring to looked at three active-duty Navy members who said they suffered from erectile dysfunction. The study makes zero mention of domestic violence or abuse.
You can never trust a politician, especially one from Utah. Notable sexual psychophysiologist, Dr. Nicole Prause, who has a decade of experience and research in addiction, sexual probles and erectile dysfunction lambasted Weiler for his ill-informed conclusions about porn.
“Yes, porn does trigger reward centers in the brain, but that’s also true with images of chocolates and images of puppies. You don’t see puppies being declared a public health hazard. These sex addiction studies are relying on ignorance, claiming that pornography is the same thing as cocaine and hoping you don’t know any different.”
