Utah: Where the air is thick with particulates, but pornography is a public health crisis.
Good. We’re really sick of breathing in this porn all the time, you know?
Members of the Utah legislature’s Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee voted unanimously in support of SB 185, which allows for lawsuits against those who produce pornography. Somehow – in ways that are currently unclear – being able to sue a porn company will somehow fix the problem that arises from a child conducting a Google search of a term he or she heard on the playground during recess.
If only there was some way a child could get answers that were factual, straightforward and didn’t involve an accidental discovery of fetish websites!
There was a chance – as every year – for the Legislature to truly stage a war on porn through the use of comprehensive sex education, which yields safer sex and smarter decisions. HB 215, which would have allowed parents to opt in to a comprehensive sex education curriculum in schools, was shot down by the House Education Committee. The vote took place after four hours of overwhelming support for comprehensive sex education was presented by parents, youth, and experts from the Utah Medical Association. According to a 2016 UtahPolicy poll, nearly two-thirds of Utahns want the option of comprehensive sex education for children in public schools.
Our elected officials, of course, don’t care about representing their constituents, as evidenced by their 2-12 vote shooting down the bill. As Majority Whip Francis Gibson (R – District 65) said while casting his vote, “It doesn’t matter…No one in red was going to support it.”
So for now, there will be no information about healthy sexuality for youth in schools, and probably not at home, either – a 2014 study out of the University of North Carolina found that one in three youth aged 12 to 15 had never received information from parents about sex.
So where is a curious one to go for answers? We’re back to Google. Hopefully their search takes them to xHamster, a popular pornography site taking matters into their own hands:
“While we love porn, we don’t think it should be relied on for sex ed any more than Star Wars is a substitute for science class,” says an announcement posted on their site, “Beginning immediately, we’re rerouting all xHamster traffic from Utah to our comprehensive sex ed series, The Box. We’ve been working on The Box since last year, producing videos based on questions submitted by porn viewers.”
That sound you hear? That’s the SB 185 committee slamming their laptops in frustration.
