Adult content

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor I t’s kind of a tricky subject, but you can not overstate the pervasiveness of pornography in today’s world. There was a time when such “adult content” was limited to the “girlie magazines” or maybe an explicit video tape you could rent from that one “back room” of the video store.

But now, it’s right at your fingertips, with basically an unlimited variety of pornography available on your phone, your tablet or your computer. Now, I’m not here to argue the merits (or lack thereof) of pornography. As long as everyone involved (in either producing it, distributing it or watching it) is a consenting adult, I’m really don’t see that it’s any worse that any of the other vices that the world offers. Although, just like any other vice, pornography can become an addiction and can be harmful to you and your relationships and mental well being.

And pornography can be dangerous. People involved in the industry often become drug dependent, can be exploited by the powers that be, and of course, it can have a harmful impact on our children. That last one is pretty important, I think. Children exposed to pornography can develop a fixation on it, it can create unhealthy ideas about sex and it can potentially cause them to make the plunge into the kinds of activities they see depicted before they are mentally, emotionally or physically mature enough.

So, you might be glad to know that there have been several laws passed in recent years to address this issue. In fact, since 2023, 20 states have enacted age verification requirements in order to access pornographic web sites, with more expected to follow suit in the next year or two. In most cases, the requirement comes in the form of entering your name, age and some form of proof that you are over the age of 18. Arkansas is one of those states. As not many adults are willing to upload their drivers license photo to a pornography site, these site owners have seen a hit to their traffic (and more importantly to them, their ad revenue). Also, since there are hefty fines and other penalties for violating these verifications, some major pornographic sites have actually blocked access to users whose IP address is in those states.

Sure, some of the more sketchy sites simply ignore these laws. They might be hosted by internet companies based outside the U.S. and figure there’s no way for the laws to be enforced on them, or they are just small-time operations that they figure those who might enforce the laws won’t even notice them. There are even web hosting sites where you can download pornography in pirated fashion the same way people pirate music, video games and movies. People who don’t care about the laws will find away around them, and yes, that includes kids. If the only “age verification” a site requires is simply clicking a box that says “Yes, I am over 18 years of age,” there’s really nothing to stop a curious 13-year-old boy from clicking that box. If you disagree, you’ve somehow never encountered a 13-year-old boy.

So, it’s good that these new laws are being enacted. We definitely need a way to not only limit access to this adult content for our children, but also make sure we have a way of knowing who does have access to it. It’s actually against the law in many states for those convicted of cyber sex crimes, child pornography and certain other crimes to have access to pornography (or in some cases, the internet itself).

Now, if all of that makes sense to you, I’d like you to consider the same concept, but instead of pornography, apply it to gun ownership. Surely, we need to have laws that specify who can have access to firearms. Guns can, of course, be used responsibly. And again, as long as everyone is a consenting adult, I don’t see an issue with them. But I think we can all probably agree that guns should be kept away from children until they are mentally, emotionally and physically mature enough to handle them responsibly.

I mean we have laws regarding who can buy, own and use guns, but those regulations are in place to help control access to legitimate firearms dealers. Like outlaw pornography sites, undocumented gun sales happen all the time. You don’t know who is watching pornography on these sites and you don’t know who has access to these unregistered guns. If we’re so willing to step up our efforts to control access to pornography, can’t we step up our efforts to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have access to them?

I don’t have a great answer to this problem. Maybe some of our newly elected lawmakers do?