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Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

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Re: Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

#81

Post by quesera »

coliveira wrote: post #74
sickofparadox wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both things can be true at once. I think its very clear that China is vying to increase its influence and mantle the US as the defacto hegemon of the world, or at least create a sphere of influence as strong as the US.

This means they're competing with the US, not that they're enemies. Competition for economic leadership is something expected from any large country and it does not equal to evil doing. It is the US that has officially adopted the "enemy" language, in my opinion as a sign of weakness, because they know the economic leadership is slipping fast.

"adversary" means an enemy or a rival.

China and the US are clearly rivals in many areas.

And they oppose each others' positions in others.

The word is fine and appropriate.

Re: Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

#83

Post by rokkitmensch »

twiclo wrote: post #67
Workaccount2 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You see no negative effects because your brain grew up on porn just like everyone else you interact with. If everyone is sick then it's going to look normal. To really see the effects of porn you need to ask what could porn affect? Possibly someone's understanding of sexual ethics? Could it push their sexual interests into more and more extreme positions? The generation before has better mental health, less divorce,…

Anecdata.

Re: Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

#84

Post by quesera »

itishappy wrote: post #56
jasonlotito wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"we" Being the parents of children. Let's be clear here. If your children are visiting adult sites in 2024, it's 100% on you. "gambling" I'm sorry, but gambling? How is a 12 year old supposed to gamble in limitless ways without parental consent? Please, let me know. I'm actually curious.

There are plenty of ways to bypass parental consent, and as a former 12 year old, I assumed it to be my raison d'être. My favorite racket was the prepaid credit card laundering scam. I'd give my cash allowance to a friend, whos parent would buy a prepaid credit card as a gift for some vague friend's birthday. I could then use the credit cards for online purchases (specifically a Runescape Membership).

Why involve the friend at all?

Following your description, couldn't you have just bought the prepaid (debit) card with cash yourself?

Also FWIW "laundering" is a well-defined thing that this is not, and "prepaid credit" is an oxymoron! :)

Re: Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

#85

Post by nerdjon »

raffraffraff wrote: post #80
nerdjon wrote: post #10

> Texas cannot enforce a provision requiring porn websites to "display health warnings about the effects of the consumption of pornography." Well at least some common sense prevailed, there is zero reason to have a notice like that. Like I kinda get on paper how you could come to the conclusion of needing to do something like this (the ID part), I mean generally (unless you look a certain age) you do have to show you…

Hmm. Plenty of people end up with porn addiction and lots of men who watch extreme porn can't get it up for plain old vanilla sex. And be honest, most porn isn't vanilla, and is horribly misogynistic and frequently violent. And men trying to normalise "porn-style" sex isn't doing women any favours. The whole industry is ... just extremely unpleasant. Aside from porn, if I had kids under 14 I'd straight up ban them fr…

We can acknowledge that there are problems with the porn industry, and I agree there very much are, without stigmatizing the entire industry and the people that consume it.

Not being excited about "vanilla sex" really isn't a problem, sex should be fun and regardless of the reason you should be able to explore it. Even if that is the only sex you enjoy, that's fine. If that is the case, porn is just the thing that helped you find out you enjoyed a certain kink but you could have found that out another way. We should not be putting rules (or expectations) on what type of sex people should be having.

Porn can be a healthy part of someone's sexuality.

As far as forcibly removing stigma, obviously no. But we can analyze there that stigma comes from and push against it when it doesn't make sense.

Re: Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

#86

Post by quesera »

yau8edq12i wrote: post #63
kstrauser wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is “harmful to minors” defined here?

https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB01181H... > (6) "Sexual material harmful to minors" includes any material that: > (A) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find, taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to or pander to the prurient interest; > (B) in a manner patently offensive with respect to minors, exploits, is devoted to,…

This is, obviously, garbage.

As with all "offensiveness" laws.

Re: Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

#87

Post by yau8edq12i »

stickfigure wrote: post #77
yau8edq12i wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your anecdote isn't data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_pornography_on_youn... I'm not saying that it's black and white, but I hope we can rise above the level of discourse of "I watched porn when young and turned out just fine". It's about as interesting as e.g., "I started smoking when I was 16 and turned out just fine" or "my parents beat me as a kid and I turned out just fine". First of all, what you m…

The tone of your comment implies that the wikipedia article supports the "porn bad" narrative, but the article does not support that at all. I'm not sure why you linked it.

First, I did write "I'm not saying that it's black and white". My main point is that one person's subjective anecdote isn't enough to discuss policy.

Second, the article absolutely points out ill effects of pornography on young people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_pornography_on_youn...

> Problematic pornography use (PPU) or pornography addiction, is understood as a pattern of pornography viewing which causes significant distress to the individual personally, relationally, socially, educationally, or occupationally. The prevalence of PPU by adolescents, lies at under 5%. Frequent users of pornography are more likely to show symptoms of PPU. Higher levels of depressive symptomatology in adolescent boys, and sexual interest, predicted increase in compulsive use of pornographic material over time. Baseline levels and subsequent growth in pornography use subsequently predicted higher levels of PPU, independent of religiosity, negative emotions, and impulsivity. Higher frequency of pornography use is associated with higher probability of suffering from CSB. LGBTQ-Adolescents aren’t more likely to develop PPU.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_pornography_on_youn...

> Adolescent pornography consumption predicted greater sexual engagement, greater sexual insecurity, and greater sexual dissatisfaction, and is linked to sexual intercourse (anal sex, oral sex, sexual encounters, sexual desire, earlier sexual initiation, sex with prostitutes/partners/friends),[3] more experience with casual sex, and a higher likelihood of exercise or experiencing especially among female adolescents. However, there isn't any evidence connecting frequent pornography consumption to a wider range of sexual practices. Meaningful evidence linking pornography and sexual risk behaviors is lacking.[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_pornography_on_youn...

> A 2021 review which compiled evidence from other empirical sources such as surveys found that representations of women in pornography may lead adolescent boys to view women as sexual objects, with disregard and disrespect for gender equality.[15] The review, however, does not claim anywhere proving a causal relationship of consuming pornography and changing views of sexual objectification or gender inequality.[15]

---

Yes, there are caveats, and yes, the article also has a section called "Positive effects" (that has all the same oratory precautions and caveats as the sections I quoted). My point isn't "porn is bad". My point is, again, that one's person anecdote doesn't mean that we can just deregulate the whole thing without further thought.

Re: Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

#88

Post by karaterobot »

> "the age-verification requirement is rationally related to the government's legitimate interest in preventing minors' access to pornography. Therefore, the age-verification requirement does not violate the First Amendment."

The idea that the government takes an interest in whether a minor views pornography doesn't make sense to me. I can see why their parents would take an interest, but it's harder for me to justify why the government ought to weigh in on it. I get that the government gets to say what they have a legitimate interest in and what they don't, but if you follow that logic you just wind up back where you started. It seems pointless and overreaching. This is a completely different matter than child exploitation or sex trafficking, or any matters tangential to porn.

Re: Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

#89

Post by amenhotep »

sickofparadox wrote: post #51
BeFlatXIII wrote: post #27

Let's hope a new generation of kids learns the wisdom in cooking up fake IDs. I was worried it was dying out due to today's children not boozing as hard as my peers.

I can understand being opposed to these laws on the principle of freedom of information and freedom from government interference, but why are you explicitly hoping for specifically children to receive pornographic material? That's a very strange thing to wish.

Presumably because he was a kid and remembers what it was like.

Re: Porn Sites Need Age-Verification Systems in Texas, Court Rules

#90

Post by drewbug01 »

yau8edq12i wrote: post #63
kstrauser wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is “harmful to minors” defined here?

https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB01181H... > (6) "Sexual material harmful to minors" includes any material that: > (A) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find, taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to or pander to the prurient interest; > (B) in a manner patently offensive with respect to minors, exploits, is devoted to,…

> designed to appeal to or pander to the prurient interest

This is the part that really concerns me, to be honest. The main meaning of "prurient" is "characterized by an inordinate interest in sex."

The main reason this concerns me is because some people believe LGBTQ issues to be inherently sexual; and thus this law could be used to suppress general LGBTQ content as well as pornography. It depends on who enforces it and who interprets it, of course. But when you consider it in light of the hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills filed this year alone, it just worries me.

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