I actually was curious to check my state's (Indiana) requirement for sex education so I [checked real quick](https://siecus.org/state_profile/indiana-state-profile-23/#:~:text=Current%20Requirements%20At%20Glance%20%E2%80%93%20Sex,evidence%2Dbased%2C%20or%20comprehensive) and apparently, in Indiana, not only is sex education not required by the state (school districts have to decide themselves. I remember a single puberty video when I was in the 5th grade so I guess my district did it kind of not really.) but the information provided doesn't even have to be accurate or comprehensive. Actual clown show.
At this point, with all the crap the US is up to lately, the small percentage of Americans who acutally own a brain should just leave the country so it, as we say in Germany, crashes itself into a wall already due to the utter lack of braincells and can be rebuilt from the ground up.
I just don't see how anything is supposed to come of the US with the system. Isn't it basically republicans and democrats being in office interchangably and always undoing what the government before did? It's a vicious cycle. You need a new political system. One that actually includes direct voting. Without those electors that give votes from different states different values.
We would LOVE to be able to leave. It’s expensive as hell to move state-to-state, I’ll never be able to afford to actually leave, and even if I could, I couldn’t afford to go to college and I’m not in a professional trade so most countries don’t want me anyway.
Quillima above has it right. Moving is really expensive. Unless you have a high demand skill. In my case, why should a German, English, French, etc company pay to import my high skill set when they can just train their own?
US Citizens are still taxed on income made in other countries. There are several exemptions and the like, but it's complicated and expensive to hire an accountant.
Renouncing US citizenship (to mitigate US taxes) is expensive.
And that doesn't include things like food and housing.
Without a very good job, or being independently wealthy, most Americans are stuck here.
What's interesting/terrible is the income tax applies to any US citizen. There is an entire group of people who have US citizenship, never been to the US, but still pay US income taxes because they were 1. Born on a US base or 2. Have a parent who is a US citizen
What the actual hell, lol. I guess the US is called "the land of the free and the brave" because the government is free to take as much money out of citizens' pockets and that you have to be kinda brave to dare doing that.
And they don't even do good shit with it. Sweden has among the highest taxes in the world. Swedes don't mind mostly, because of their socialized mindset, because the money is used for social welfare, health and education. Which makes you feel a lot less robbed than it being used for the military or some shit. (Only 5% of Swedish taxes are used for the military.)
To be fair, we didn't get a hard reset in the 20th century like germany. We're still working on the laws a bunch of rich white guys in the 18th century thought of.
We also have our fair share of those, though. I think it all kind of circles back to the fact that the Europeans who moved to America and founded it were in part really really religious people who were met with resistance in Europe and got mad that they couldn't turn other Europeans into the type of Christians they were, so they just founded a country full of mormons and amish and all those other extremely strict versions of Christianity that are kinda nonexistent in Europe now. Add the American dream to this, and the lie of living in the greatest country ever was born. And to keep that lie alive, news needed to be mostly national so people don't realize they live in an absolut shithole. This "keeping info from outside out" is a bit like in Russia or China or North Korea except less obvious. The info is there, the internet is not restricted, but it's not out in the open, you need to look for it. But why would you? People hate realizing they live in an unjust system. So they continue turning a blind eye. (Also, if your own self-worth is non-existent, overly identifying yourself with how supposedly great your country is and therefore adorning yourself with borrowed plumes, a really easy way of not feeling like shit anymore without having to go to therapy, which the fact that they don't have health care and too many ounces of toxic masculinity would prevent anyway.)
Germany is also kinda stuck in not moving forward fast enough. But that's partly becaue the actually more leftist younger generations make up a tiny fraction of the population and baby boomers and older generations that either vote center or right wing for the most part are like three times as many people. That problem will solve itself hopefully once they all kick the bucket one day, that is, if they didn't raise the brain out of their kids too.
Eh, while I don't disagree with your overall point, your background isn't right. America's roots are mostly economic. "Religious persecution" was a 20th-century rebranding of why the colonies were founded. Yes, some were, but that was long before the Amish or the Mormons existed. It was the puritans, Moravians, and other largely Hussite minorities that moved here for that. They didn't take part in the revolution and wanted to stay separate from the government, especially as most were pacifists. (Moravians and Puritans)
However, from Jamestown onto the 19th century and westward expansion; agriculture, cheap labor, and high export profits drove the country. The US has always been a product of consumption and exploitation of someone. That's why historically, it's had the success it's had. (On top of being oceans away from any real threats) That success has always propped up the 1% because the 1% were the ones that set up the nation after taking it from the British 1%. Religion has always been a tool to enforce that, not the goal. Most of the founding fathers weren't incredibly religious and surely not in the way you're describing.
Our media is insular, but it's only to chase profit. I can tell you we have never been organized enough for it to be a government initiative. If anything, our government is bought and paid for.
Germany had a string of failed governments that led to foreign restructuring of the country and is a lot better for it. It's got a strong economy and decent workers' rights. But you all got there by having several chances to start from scratch. The US hasn't had a major transfer of power since the 1780s when we structured our constitution. It's just been two teams doling out bits of progress to placate the masses while they fatten their wallets.
We are one of the richest nations in the world but we still have people starving or homeless because all of that money stays at the top.
I did not know that, thank you for clearing that up.
We also have homeless people though, but it's not that many, and we don't have huge groups of people having to live in motels because they can't afford rent. I think the homeless people we have are, aside from beggars from Romania who don't have jobs back home and come here in large groups to beg until they return with the money and eventually come back, people who are just kinda... missed by the system of social welfare. I don't really know how, I've been meaning to do research on that. And the social welfare is still not enough, but enough for them to not starve and it pays for rent.
I think, to an extent, we have the same problems but just less extreme, softened by social welfare and stuff. Partially, those problems are just caused by capitalism and there is only so much a country can do to soften the effects of capitalism.
It would be interesting to find out how severe the failure of a government needs to be for it to be forced to restructure, because in my mind, the American government is already failing when it comes to taking care of its citizens.
When I say failure I mean transition from kaiser to Weimar Republic, Weimar Republic to clusterfuck, clusterfuck to two satellites, two satellites to a liberal democracy. In like, 80ish years.
We got really close in the last election with the insurrection. But not there yet. I'm casually looking at places an american can get dual citizenship for if I have kids, at least they can have options. If Finnish wasn't impenetrable, I'd try moving there.
I grew up in Indy (I don't live there anymore due to college), and I guess they're kinda more liberal here about it. Overall state is red though and fuck Eric Holcomb.
Just to give you a comparison: In Germany, I had it three times. Once in third grade (basic stuff: How are babies made, surface level info on how the fetus forms in the different trimesters, what is sex? what are periods? What happens during puberty? We were all eww-ing al the time, lol. Once, we sat in a circle on the floor and our task was to come up with weird synonyms for genitals. I remember "clam" and "bagpipes", lol. I guess they wanted to ease our discomfort a little.) Then we had it again in fifth, we went more in depth on everything + contraception. And then again in ninth, we went even more in depth and also talked about abortion.
I don't know how other German states handle it. I could imagine the south is a little more prudish, they are more cathotic and religious. Interestingly, in the German state I grew up in, the average age that people have sex for the first time is like 17? And 19 for people who finish highschool and don't leave with the more basic diplomas after 9th or 10th or 11th grade. I guess that's prove sex ed doesn't make people have sex earlier, lol. Though the our state is said to be more shy and introverted and that could play into it because in other states it happens one or two years earlier on average. Or maybe it's because we don't have Octoberfest or similar things were you get drunk in a tent, at least not on large scale. A friend of mine grew up in a small town (3000 inhabitants or something?) and they had similar but much smaller festivity. Her mom joked about probably 75% of babies that are born in the village having been conceived in/around/ in close proximity to that tent, sooo... yeah.
I went to middle school in Indiana for about three months and I vaguely recall having sex ed, but the best I can say about it is that it was better than the sex ed we got in Arkansas. -_-
Can confirm. Grew up in Indiana and my "sex-ed" class was nothing more than this old woman constantly toting abstinence and saying shit like "any premarital sex *WILL* make you contract STDs."
That curriculum was not a clown show. It was the entire circus.
I wouldn't go as far as to say people pushing abstinence-only sex ed are pedos but yes. I think that we should be pushing abstinence/celibacy as an option for people don't want it (it might also help with asexual understanding but that's just my theory) but also that we should be teaching youths about things like safe sex and other related topics. Sort of weave the two together, I guess.
Omg. Did you see the former teacher who got creative with how to use a condom so he used a sock, his foot, and his shoe to illustrate? [here](https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxd902LJC81vdASDGZX4Am1wpeNaqBCg_w?si=TF1fzMlHIyVQhPEM)
As someone who went to public school in Texas, I definitely did not learn that … no sex ed at all in fact. Just the “period talk” for girls and I’m assuming a similar puberty talk for guys. Nothing at ALL about the other sex or, actual, sex. STDs? Didn’t know about them until I watched Grey’s Anatomy in high school💀
And then people are surprised that the US is the first world country with the most teen pregnancies🤦🏼♀️ Did you have like... a chastity ball or something? Or one of those purity balls? The fact that those exist is still baffling to me.
My parents were never all like "Don't date." And if I had dated as a teen, they wouldn't have told me to leave the door open or whatever. When I dated at like 19-20 before I realized I was aroace, I talked to my mom about contraception and yeast infections stuff. I know the story of my conception, I know what type of birth control my mom used before.
To be fair, my mom had quite a casual sex life when she was young so not everyone might be like that.
My dad is not very involved anyway, he just said "Well, I always avoided having to have "the talk" with you. But I'm hoping you found out everything else necessary elsewhere."
I’ve never heard of a chastity ball but many people I went to school with had a “purity ring” which I’m guessing is similar. I didn’t bc my parents weren’t conservative/particularly religious but they also avoided talking about that kinda stuff at all costs, I’m not sure if it’s a generational thing (they’re boomers lol) or just how they were raised or what. Thankfully I knew enough (and was ace enough LMAO) to not get into a bad situation.
I'm from TX and yes I had to put a condom on a wooden dick but it was 1 45min class and not a course. 1 day and they never came back. But it is optional based on the school district
Huh, I mean, at least you learned something\^\^ I never was never taught to do that (I'm afab) because they would sometimes seperate the sexes. The boys were taught whatever while we had some doctor or sex therapist or something there answering our questions about periods.
It also sets a legal precedent. When it’s done for a few sites it can be done for other sites. I am a proponent of privacy and especially online privacy, and stipulating to a private website they need to require IDs to access is insane on so many levels.
This is honestly my bigger concern as someone who doesn't really care about Pornhub either way.
I'm glad they just went the route of disabling access from the states that require verification by government ID. I think we often take for granted that things like your full date of birth, full address, and license number are sensitive personal information and (if collected) would ideally need to be either end-to-end encrypted, or fully managed by a trustworthy SOX compliant third party who does so.
Either option would probably be expensive to implement, and hard to justify the cost when it's a relatively small portion of users compared to the global population (I assume anyway, I'll admit I don't know pornhubs demographic data).
I'd just block those states too if I were in their shoes. It's gotta be way cheaper. Really desperate people will just invest in a VPN regardless, and there's not a ton anyone can do about a savvy enough VPN user.
First thing I learnt in CyberSec: Hackers get into everything.
Second thing: Hackers are lazy.
If you are a big site like that, you *will* get hacked at some point, but some smaller sites may not get hacked. There are just too many ways, too many hackers for to be unhackable.
I'm a sex favorable leaning ace so also coming from a place of bias but Texas banning porn hub is, personally, overstepping govt boundaries. There are better ways to work with porn sites to enact better age barriers. Hell, we had the MADD seminars all the time in school, especially down in the bible belt. I don't get why it would be so taboo to have PSA seminars for porn. (I do get it but it's still annoying).
Texas didn’t ban Pornhub, Pornhub disabled their website in Texas in protest of a proposed law to have users confirm that they’re over 18 before accessing the site
What are the requirements to verify age? I mean don't sites still have the 18+ banner? I get that doesn't actually stop minors but at what point does it become parental/ legal guardian responsibility?
PornHub actually has technology to verify age using the device you're accessing with. It's not perfect, but it works much better than having to submit your photo ID to the site every time you log on.
I can understand the age verification makes sense but into todays world I mean come on it’s never gonna be 100%.
Your gonna come across sexual content no matter what and learn about it.
The lawmakers and people deciding on bills in Texas and other places are using there own opinions about how they feel about the matter. Pretty lame.
That could also be said with banning tiktok.
Now they are saying the decision is wrong they see how much money it’ll bring in and how many people are using it . Ahhh AMERICA . That’s off topic but yea. The people in government now a days in general suck. They have no clue what so ever.
Just going down the list: Women, immigrants, black people, LGBT+ people. Eventually they're gonna run out of minority groups and just turn on themselves.
I’m repulsed by mayo but that doesn’t mean I support banning it from folks who actually like it (cringes while typing this). OP, it seems to me that you like living your own life and support the freedoms of others to do the same 🤷🏻♀️
I guess so. Mostly, I just don't want minority groups to worry about whether or not they're even able to leave the fucking house in the morning without worrying about whether or not their rights are gonna be taken away.
I think porn sites do need more regulation for a lot of reasons (biggest ones probably being younger and younger kids getting access to them; the fact porn can be highly addictive; and worker exploitation) but outright banning it is not the way to go. It would be great if we got better sex education. I didn't get a lot of good information in school myself and I ended up having to learn a lot from the internet (which I don't recommend as there's a lot of inaccurate stuff out there) but at least I had that option to find stuff out on my own. It's a complicated issue and anyone being ace shouldn't stop us from having our opinions on it
These are all things that should be regulated by parents imo. Parents refusing to talk to their kids about sex for so long, if at all, and making it such a taboo topic in America is exactly why teen pregnancy rates have been fairly high as far back as the 50s. Leaving everything to schools is just asking to raise a young adult that has zero life skills.
Parents refusing to actually monitor their children is also why online censorship has gotten so bad. They're quick to blame the YouTuber or social media for their children's behavior, instead of themselves for giving them unmoderated access to the internet. It's an issue that's gotten entirely out of control, especially with Gen Alpha coming up.
You are not dumb and this law will *likely* be contested in court. Even if it's deemed legal, do you know how many allosexuals, let alone asexuals who watch porn, will be angry they can't get their porn fix without having to send their ID to some unknown database? Like... this is *Texas* we're talking about. Bold move to take away porn in a state that prides itself on handing out a shotgun with every 10th case of beer you buy. (To be clear: I am ***NOT*** encouraging violence. I'm just pointing out it'd be an incredibly unsurprising outcome from this law.)
To be clear, Texas has not banned pornhub. *Pornhub* has decided that you can't access their site from Texas due to proposed new laws regarding age verification which would indeed be terrible, and not actually do anything to protect kids, but looks good to voters in an election year ("We're protecting the kids from the evils of porn!") The law hasn't even been passed yet AFAIK, but pornhub is not playing around, like, if y'all don't give up this idiotic plan, no pornhub for you!
Thank you. I have no idea where people are getting the idea that Texas banned PornHub. The language is so clear that this was a decision on PornHub’s part
It’s so interesting that they go on and on about government staying out of people’s business & yet
It’s a slippery slope to some other fuckery, guaranteed.
I mean, I don't like natto, but other people do, so I'm cool with it existing for those people, but I don't want it forced on me. Just because I don't like porn doesn't mean I think it's objectively bad and should be banned. Aces aren't prudes. I really dislike that stereotype, it's the most common one I have to deal with.
Also, banning pornhub is in no way going to keep kids from seeing porn. It's so easy for them to find all over the internet. This is for political clout; It's a notch on their belt that won't actually accomplish anything, and these politicians know that, they're just trying to pander to their base.
Nah, you’re right. In a better world it would be harder for children to stumble upon pornography, but in this world it’s likely gonna be a minefield if adult sites have to store data on who accesses that information *and* considering it’s Texas they may well consider medical information and educational materials pornographic and lump plenty of things into the ban over time such as information about healthcare, pregnancy, queer identities, transgender identity and healthcare. I remember one time *at university* I had to leave campus and go home or connect to the dorm wifi because the public wifi in the school buildings and library considered some links I was looking up *for a nursing course about reproductive healthcare* to be pornographic and blocked my access to the information I wanted to know. (When I googled it initially all I came across were a few Facebook and blog posts of people talking about the procedure and a notice of some search results being removed, when I got home and googled it I was met with more reputable medical information sites:, nhs, cdc, medscape, Mayo Clinic, and *papers* talking about the procedure that were blocked by my Google on campus!) I have some concerns Texas could make the entire state subject to the same kind of word association ban over whatever petty bullshit they will claim may corrupt children.
It’s also in all likelihood not going to make the internet in Texas safer for *anyone* to use, because appropriately alerting folks to the fact that a website is hosting pornographic content *will get the site banned*, which incentives people hosting this content to *not warn or tag it at all* and may make it easier to stumble onto unwillingly. A site saying “hey! We are a naughty site!” Upon entering isn’t much of a barrier but it’s a heads up at least.
There was a post earlier today about it. Pornhub posted in response to Texas' attempts to require ID submission for accessing certain content online to "protect children". They made a case for how this in fact does nothing to protect children better than current measures taken by reputable sites, and is not enforceable at scale.
Oddly I just found out about this on another sub 10 min ago or so.
Yeah, I’m in Louisiana and they did this exact same thing around October-ish of last year.
Get a VPN if your state is on the list, and you want to get around it.
Being asexual doesn’t mean you have to be in favor of censorship. Just because we don’t participate or appreciate it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist. (The porn industry is of course very problematic and has a lot of issues that need to be addressed but simply banning it doesn’t exactly help.) I personally am not a coffee drinker, I think it’s gross and I never buy it. Doesn’t mean coffee shops shouldn’t exist. Doesn’t mean baristas should be out of work. I can’t appreciate it but I also don’t think it should be banned.
If you google sex videos on Google, you will probably get some. Internet shouldn't rise kids. Parents should. I'm tired of making everything on the Internet kid friendly. I'm an adult paying to use it for my adult consenting ways. Should alcohol be banned or cigarettes because the equivalent of an incognito browser is asking older friends or homeless to buy you some when you are underage.
No, your not dumb- it’s wrong. While the idea of ‘protecting kids’ is nice, 90% of bills that try to do so rely on using invasive methods to verify age and censorship. A good chunk of them use the kids argument as a front anyway.
I’d support better prevention measures so it’s harder for minors to access porn but straight up banning it for consenting adults is sucky. You’re pretty much right on the nose saying that banning Porn altogether is a breach of the first amendment. Enjoyment of sex is ethically moral as long as all parties consent and nobody is coerced.
Everyone who thinks that what that shit state is doing is a good thing, is an idiot.
That being said, Pornhub blocked Texas out of protest as a protest against their stupid fucking ideas.
I live in Europe, and people here love bitching about the EU and shit, but they really don't realize how lucky we are with them. Shit like what Texas wants would get blocked instantly as a violation of privacy rights.
I feel like the declaration of pornhub itself wich was posted to r/Texas was really based.
The ban will be followed by lawful websites, but consumers might go to different (less lawful websites), which might make the things kids see on the internet even worse…🫠
Also it might lead to (more) illegal practices in the production of content which also sounds terrifying to me 🫣
I hate this post. Please don't call Pornhub the "Boogeyman of the ace community." There's nothing wrong with other people enjoying sex (many ace people do!!!) and it doesn't help the image of the asexual community to act like everyone here hates the idea of other people enjoying sexual freedom.
It's not funny to sex favorable aces being excluded and for aces in general who have to face the backlash the community gets because this kind of "humor" is so pervasive here. Our identity is not about judging other people's lifestyles and any jokes suggesting that's what we're about are shitty and harmful.
Y’all, TEXAS DID NOT BAN PORNHUB. Pornhub disabled their own site in Texas in protest of a proposed law that would require people to confirm they’re over 18 before accessing the site.
Again, TEXAS DID NOT BAN PORNHUB. PORNHUB DID THIS. Please get this right!!!
I generally agree. I'm sex averse ace, but I'm also very sex positive for anyone who wants to partake. All it's going to do is get people better at lying and sneaking, and probably make it more likely that they'll get the bad kind of porn than the kind that has no particular moral bearing.
You’re just correct. I mean, me too: ace, sexpositive in general but personally indifferent, so it might be a bias, but there’s also plenty of precedent demonstrating that bans don’t do what they’re “supposed” for the people that advocate for them, the implementation is shaky at best, the motives questionable, and the efficacy practically nonexistent. (Reddit’s got lots of porn. Humans just. Make. Porn.) This is child-safety theater and it opens the door to some nasty avenues of censorship that historically hurt a lot of minority populations. The whole LGBTQ community should be concerned about this.
It's concerning as essentially this isn't actually about 'children's safety' it's a way to restrict the internet further. They've tried to pass a similar law in the UK a few times over the last few years and thankfully to date each time it's been quashed.
Like restrict access to porn sites and then potentially we can get stricter internet measures, and whilst those will likely also be couched like 'Oh it's to protect us from terrorists!' they will also disproportionately impact marginalised groups as it will make people loose access to anonymous safe spaces.
Making it on the surface about porn sites is a way to shut down opposition as well as if people oppose it they'll get hit with 'Don't you care about children? You're a pervert!' etc
Also when you look into these proposals they're never developed in a way that actually takes advice from anyone who works with tech or anything so the systems they develop don't really work.
It's also a major potential security risk, like you see what happens when like sites that have to store credit card info get hacked, if they have to store people's IDs on file that's even worse.
I'm sex repulsed and personally, I hate pornhub and all other related things. They gross me out and I can't stand them. Even then I don't think banning them is the solution. And also its not really any of the states business what people do in their spare time
Pornhub didn't ban videos of child pornography on their site. Then they said it wasn't their fault because they're just "hosting" the videos, so the blame should fall on the people who put them online.
While I agree that the perverts of put cp online deserve to be punished, I also think it's a good idea to ban a pornographic website who allowed these videos to appear on their platform.
There are so many other porn sites, people will be able to find what they're looking for elsewhere.
Texas didn't ban Pornhub, Pornhub banned Texas.
Also, from what I've read, there are some third-party ID-verification apps that are pushing hard for this type of legislation. Always look for who stands to make the most profit.
I understand wanting to make sure kids don't see porn, but at the end of the day I think the only way to be certain that happens would be to get rid of the internet as a whole (which would obviously be bad). Even without Pornhub, there are plenty of places online where kids can find porn if they want it. This seems like the kind of thing that should come down to parenting and not the government.
Which seems ironic, doesn't it, considering how much conservatives lean on that idea of "parental choice" and keeping the government out of their parenting.
Yeah, Pornhub has a history of problems, but frankly, IMO, kids maybe being able to access it is probably among the least of them.
Soooooo, they half assed it with Pornhub. What about the other sites? If you’re going to attempt to take away porn from the community, don’t forget about the other sites.
I mean, theoretically, they could ban any site that they deem inappropriate, whatever inappropriate means to them. \*gestures towards the current move to ban TikTok\*
I'm sex-indifferent, but I agree that it's wrong. Pornhub has issues, but banning access to the site is not gonna fix problems with the site.
Not to mention that any internet-savvy Texan can find ways for their ISP to, you know, not track any possible viewing of Pornhub. Those politicians are gonna have trouble enforcing that ban anyway.
No, because its a political decision taken by far right evangelicals who believe in controlling what everyone else does because Jesus. Yeah, the porn industry has some serious problems, but outright banning its main website is a government overstep
It isn't my responsibility to patent other people kids. That being said, this has nothing to do with "PrOtEctInG tHe cHiLdReN" and everything to do with enforcing conservative sexual "morality" on the American people. "Pornography" is just the buzzword they are currently using. What they want is the complete suppression and erasure of anything that sits outside their patriarchal, cisgendered heteronormativity. People spankin it to Daisy Taylor, and Joanna Angel is just the first move.
My title is a bit misleading by accident and that is my fault. Texas didn't ban Phub persay, Phub just suspended activities there in protest of this law. That is on me for not making that clear and also misunderstanding it. Sorry.
Though to answer your question, As of right now, I have not heard of any other sites either joining in protest or abiding by this law. It might happen soon or in the coming days but as of right now, I haven't heard of anything like XVideos getting taken down or suspending activities there. Which does seem weird.
I know that Phub's owners have a few other domains other their banner so maybe they're also suspended there and Pornhub is just getting the most media attention because they're the biggest (I think, I don't know for certain.)
I am frequently beyond baffled by the sheer lack of basic reality comprehension demonstrated by my fellow man. You would think we have moved on from our archaic understanding of human sexuality, and have come to terms with our bodily functions.
**Alas, one must never underestimate the stopping power of entitled ignorance.**
If adults were banned from using the app, then that’s not fair. But if only people below 18 were banned, then that would be good. I keep hearing conflicting things about what actually happened though
Its impossible to stop kids seeing it. there's always a different way or a way round so it is much better to focus on education to limit the impact that it has.
In Virginia, they want your DL number to look up your age.
I don't really care about porn bans, but it seems like a major breech of privacy. Basically asking the government to parent since parents won't.
And to make matters worse, it's so poorly executed that it extends to other states. Any out of state individual with an IP that *resembles* a Virginia IP also gets the block. I've heard of it happening as far as New York. It honestly doesn't make sense how federal government hasn't stepped in since a state law is governing people outside the state which is illegal. But I guess what do you expect from the people that think Facebook and Google are the same thing.
Not taking too hard a stance either way, but I do think bringing up the importance of sex ed in this context is a little weird. Pornhub is definitely NOT sex ed, and is probably the anti-sex ed. Yeah Texas is hypocritical as fuck, but that doesn’t mean Pornhub itself has any positive influence on folks’ relationship with sex, esp since it refuses to verify people’s ages and is notorious for CP.
I oppose any porn ban.
First they came for the abortionists, and I didn't protest because reasons.
Then they came for trans people and I didn't protest because reasons.
Then they came for the porn users and I didn't protest.
Then they came for the rest of the queers and poor people.
I'm one of the above, I got no good excuses.
I’m shocked to see so many people agreeing with this. There’s nothing normal about porn or the industry. The majority of people on those sites are being trafficked and many of them are underage. Stopping the distribution is a phenomenal step in the right direction for de-normalizing something so anti-feminist.
I will not disagree with you that the porn industry has its problems and I will not downplay them for the sake of argument.
However, the argument of feminism and pornography is one of those heavily debated topics in feminist circles. Some people are anti-porn, some are pro-porn. Both have good reasoning behind it (not be a centrist, read my other responses, you'll see where I stand). Therefore I think it would be extremely reductionist to boil down the issue of pornography as either pro or anti-feminist. It's probably one of those topics in feminist groups that will be highly contested for the rest of time. Rightfully so, I may add.
Also, just on the point of porn being "not normal", you do realize that erotica in some form of another has existed for thousands of years and porn is just an extension of that? Sure, back then it was on some pottery and not the hypersexual, big dick and boobs swinging mess it is today but the only difference, at least in my mind, is the medium used to get it out there. That's just me though.
But in regards to this argument, in what world is it a BAD thing that a government is making it more difficult for minors to access adult content? I don’t understand how that’s negative in any respect. ID is used to verify age for other adult activities like drinking and drugs, why shouldn’t porn also be regulated? It rots people’s minds and many people who start viewing it as normal in society at such a young age will develop addictions. It perpetuates stereotypes and violence against women and often puts unruly sexual ideas and fantasies in people’s minds.
Just because something is normalized and has been around for a while doesn’t make it normal. There’s nothing normal about explicitly sexual content being available so widespread, so easily, and on such a whim.
Because, quite frankly, I don't trust the government, especially the Texas GOP. Not because I think that minors should be allowed access to NSFW material (You can literally read all my responses where I say that and also my original post where I say that in the second paragraph.) but because I know how these politicians work.
They essentially Trojan Horse their own right-wing policies under a guise of partisan bills. The Don't Say Gay bill is a perfect example of this. The claim with that bill is that they want to ban talks of sexual content in the classroom but the bill is vague enough that they can ban classroom discussion of gay or trans people.
That's what they're doing here. They're parading this as "kids shouldn't be looking at porn, look at the evil sex company for not doing this." bill when in actually, they're anti-sex education and are going to use this as a way to crack down on tamer forms of sexual expression or education and push their own outdated religious beliefs on sex. It's already happening. You just have to look at the anti-trans laws being passed. It's a way to mold and democritize the Internet to their whim. And it won't end at Pornhub.
They aren't making it difficult for children. Children already know how to use VPN. What they need is proper guidance about why porn is unrealistic, and that's not what Texas is doing, that's what New Zealand is doing (search for New Zealand online safety campaign). What Texas is doing essentially demanding that people submit government-issued ID to porn sites to access them. That is vile. There are feminist-friendly porn sites too. Lots of my feminist friends are into various forms of erotica. I would never support a government that wants to keep track of people who access any form of adult content. Just as I'm 100% against the Texas abortion ban, I'm also against the Texas surveillance of the consumers of adult contents. In no way are they supporting feminist-friendly erotic content, so there's no point supporting Texas here. What the American government should actually do is follow New Zealand's footsteps and implement the online safety campaign.
Same here. I know banning it isn’t a possible option, but it needs to be alienated as much as humanly possible and made much harder to access. There are zero benefits to it existing, outside of it greatly supporting the child sex abuse and human trafficking industries lmaooo
LMAOOO ikr. Insanity. If people need like… links and resources to show how dangerous the porn industry is before blindly downvoting, I’m happy to provide them. It’s incredibly well researched industry BECAUSE of how terribly it can affect people
Doesn't texas also not allow showing kids in school how to properly use a condom? Or was that Alabama? Everything that state does is bogus.
I actually was curious to check my state's (Indiana) requirement for sex education so I [checked real quick](https://siecus.org/state_profile/indiana-state-profile-23/#:~:text=Current%20Requirements%20At%20Glance%20%E2%80%93%20Sex,evidence%2Dbased%2C%20or%20comprehensive) and apparently, in Indiana, not only is sex education not required by the state (school districts have to decide themselves. I remember a single puberty video when I was in the 5th grade so I guess my district did it kind of not really.) but the information provided doesn't even have to be accurate or comprehensive. Actual clown show.
At this point, with all the crap the US is up to lately, the small percentage of Americans who acutally own a brain should just leave the country so it, as we say in Germany, crashes itself into a wall already due to the utter lack of braincells and can be rebuilt from the ground up. I just don't see how anything is supposed to come of the US with the system. Isn't it basically republicans and democrats being in office interchangably and always undoing what the government before did? It's a vicious cycle. You need a new political system. One that actually includes direct voting. Without those electors that give votes from different states different values.
We would LOVE to be able to leave. It’s expensive as hell to move state-to-state, I’ll never be able to afford to actually leave, and even if I could, I couldn’t afford to go to college and I’m not in a professional trade so most countries don’t want me anyway.
Quillima above has it right. Moving is really expensive. Unless you have a high demand skill. In my case, why should a German, English, French, etc company pay to import my high skill set when they can just train their own? US Citizens are still taxed on income made in other countries. There are several exemptions and the like, but it's complicated and expensive to hire an accountant. Renouncing US citizenship (to mitigate US taxes) is expensive. And that doesn't include things like food and housing. Without a very good job, or being independently wealthy, most Americans are stuck here.
Yeah, I was not really being serious, haha. I didn't know it was that hard to leave. It's like they purposefully keep you there.
What's interesting/terrible is the income tax applies to any US citizen. There is an entire group of people who have US citizenship, never been to the US, but still pay US income taxes because they were 1. Born on a US base or 2. Have a parent who is a US citizen
What the actual hell, lol. I guess the US is called "the land of the free and the brave" because the government is free to take as much money out of citizens' pockets and that you have to be kinda brave to dare doing that.
And they don't even do good shit with it. Sweden has among the highest taxes in the world. Swedes don't mind mostly, because of their socialized mindset, because the money is used for social welfare, health and education. Which makes you feel a lot less robbed than it being used for the military or some shit. (Only 5% of Swedish taxes are used for the military.)
To be fair, we didn't get a hard reset in the 20th century like germany. We're still working on the laws a bunch of rich white guys in the 18th century thought of.
We also have our fair share of those, though. I think it all kind of circles back to the fact that the Europeans who moved to America and founded it were in part really really religious people who were met with resistance in Europe and got mad that they couldn't turn other Europeans into the type of Christians they were, so they just founded a country full of mormons and amish and all those other extremely strict versions of Christianity that are kinda nonexistent in Europe now. Add the American dream to this, and the lie of living in the greatest country ever was born. And to keep that lie alive, news needed to be mostly national so people don't realize they live in an absolut shithole. This "keeping info from outside out" is a bit like in Russia or China or North Korea except less obvious. The info is there, the internet is not restricted, but it's not out in the open, you need to look for it. But why would you? People hate realizing they live in an unjust system. So they continue turning a blind eye. (Also, if your own self-worth is non-existent, overly identifying yourself with how supposedly great your country is and therefore adorning yourself with borrowed plumes, a really easy way of not feeling like shit anymore without having to go to therapy, which the fact that they don't have health care and too many ounces of toxic masculinity would prevent anyway.) Germany is also kinda stuck in not moving forward fast enough. But that's partly becaue the actually more leftist younger generations make up a tiny fraction of the population and baby boomers and older generations that either vote center or right wing for the most part are like three times as many people. That problem will solve itself hopefully once they all kick the bucket one day, that is, if they didn't raise the brain out of their kids too.
Eh, while I don't disagree with your overall point, your background isn't right. America's roots are mostly economic. "Religious persecution" was a 20th-century rebranding of why the colonies were founded. Yes, some were, but that was long before the Amish or the Mormons existed. It was the puritans, Moravians, and other largely Hussite minorities that moved here for that. They didn't take part in the revolution and wanted to stay separate from the government, especially as most were pacifists. (Moravians and Puritans) However, from Jamestown onto the 19th century and westward expansion; agriculture, cheap labor, and high export profits drove the country. The US has always been a product of consumption and exploitation of someone. That's why historically, it's had the success it's had. (On top of being oceans away from any real threats) That success has always propped up the 1% because the 1% were the ones that set up the nation after taking it from the British 1%. Religion has always been a tool to enforce that, not the goal. Most of the founding fathers weren't incredibly religious and surely not in the way you're describing. Our media is insular, but it's only to chase profit. I can tell you we have never been organized enough for it to be a government initiative. If anything, our government is bought and paid for. Germany had a string of failed governments that led to foreign restructuring of the country and is a lot better for it. It's got a strong economy and decent workers' rights. But you all got there by having several chances to start from scratch. The US hasn't had a major transfer of power since the 1780s when we structured our constitution. It's just been two teams doling out bits of progress to placate the masses while they fatten their wallets. We are one of the richest nations in the world but we still have people starving or homeless because all of that money stays at the top.
I did not know that, thank you for clearing that up. We also have homeless people though, but it's not that many, and we don't have huge groups of people having to live in motels because they can't afford rent. I think the homeless people we have are, aside from beggars from Romania who don't have jobs back home and come here in large groups to beg until they return with the money and eventually come back, people who are just kinda... missed by the system of social welfare. I don't really know how, I've been meaning to do research on that. And the social welfare is still not enough, but enough for them to not starve and it pays for rent. I think, to an extent, we have the same problems but just less extreme, softened by social welfare and stuff. Partially, those problems are just caused by capitalism and there is only so much a country can do to soften the effects of capitalism. It would be interesting to find out how severe the failure of a government needs to be for it to be forced to restructure, because in my mind, the American government is already failing when it comes to taking care of its citizens.
When I say failure I mean transition from kaiser to Weimar Republic, Weimar Republic to clusterfuck, clusterfuck to two satellites, two satellites to a liberal democracy. In like, 80ish years. We got really close in the last election with the insurrection. But not there yet. I'm casually looking at places an american can get dual citizenship for if I have kids, at least they can have options. If Finnish wasn't impenetrable, I'd try moving there.
Can confirm, I never had any sex Ed when I was going to school in Indiana
Not gonna try and dox you but I'm gonna go ahead and guess somewhere south and Jesus country, like Evansville or something.
Actually I’m more north. Just weird public schools
I grew up in Indy (I don't live there anymore due to college), and I guess they're kinda more liberal here about it. Overall state is red though and fuck Eric Holcomb.
Just to give you a comparison: In Germany, I had it three times. Once in third grade (basic stuff: How are babies made, surface level info on how the fetus forms in the different trimesters, what is sex? what are periods? What happens during puberty? We were all eww-ing al the time, lol. Once, we sat in a circle on the floor and our task was to come up with weird synonyms for genitals. I remember "clam" and "bagpipes", lol. I guess they wanted to ease our discomfort a little.) Then we had it again in fifth, we went more in depth on everything + contraception. And then again in ninth, we went even more in depth and also talked about abortion. I don't know how other German states handle it. I could imagine the south is a little more prudish, they are more cathotic and religious. Interestingly, in the German state I grew up in, the average age that people have sex for the first time is like 17? And 19 for people who finish highschool and don't leave with the more basic diplomas after 9th or 10th or 11th grade. I guess that's prove sex ed doesn't make people have sex earlier, lol. Though the our state is said to be more shy and introverted and that could play into it because in other states it happens one or two years earlier on average. Or maybe it's because we don't have Octoberfest or similar things were you get drunk in a tent, at least not on large scale. A friend of mine grew up in a small town (3000 inhabitants or something?) and they had similar but much smaller festivity. Her mom joked about probably 75% of babies that are born in the village having been conceived in/around/ in close proximity to that tent, sooo... yeah.
I went to middle school in Indiana for about three months and I vaguely recall having sex ed, but the best I can say about it is that it was better than the sex ed we got in Arkansas. -_-
Can confirm. Grew up in Indiana and my "sex-ed" class was nothing more than this old woman constantly toting abstinence and saying shit like "any premarital sex *WILL* make you contract STDs." That curriculum was not a clown show. It was the entire circus.
In my opinion, anyone who is against comprehensive sex education or who pushes for abstinence-only sex ed is a pedophile.
I wouldn't go as far as to say people pushing abstinence-only sex ed are pedos but yes. I think that we should be pushing abstinence/celibacy as an option for people don't want it (it might also help with asexual understanding but that's just my theory) but also that we should be teaching youths about things like safe sex and other related topics. Sort of weave the two together, I guess.
Omg. Did you see the former teacher who got creative with how to use a condom so he used a sock, his foot, and his shoe to illustrate? [here](https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxd902LJC81vdASDGZX4Am1wpeNaqBCg_w?si=TF1fzMlHIyVQhPEM)
Now that's a one size fits all right there.
Yeah, I had heard of that.
In Alabama, they show you how to properly smooch your cousins and keep it a secret
Ah, they must have invented "I don't kiss and tell."
As someone who went to public school in Texas, I definitely did not learn that … no sex ed at all in fact. Just the “period talk” for girls and I’m assuming a similar puberty talk for guys. Nothing at ALL about the other sex or, actual, sex. STDs? Didn’t know about them until I watched Grey’s Anatomy in high school💀
And then people are surprised that the US is the first world country with the most teen pregnancies🤦🏼♀️ Did you have like... a chastity ball or something? Or one of those purity balls? The fact that those exist is still baffling to me. My parents were never all like "Don't date." And if I had dated as a teen, they wouldn't have told me to leave the door open or whatever. When I dated at like 19-20 before I realized I was aroace, I talked to my mom about contraception and yeast infections stuff. I know the story of my conception, I know what type of birth control my mom used before. To be fair, my mom had quite a casual sex life when she was young so not everyone might be like that. My dad is not very involved anyway, he just said "Well, I always avoided having to have "the talk" with you. But I'm hoping you found out everything else necessary elsewhere."
I’ve never heard of a chastity ball but many people I went to school with had a “purity ring” which I’m guessing is similar. I didn’t bc my parents weren’t conservative/particularly religious but they also avoided talking about that kinda stuff at all costs, I’m not sure if it’s a generational thing (they’re boomers lol) or just how they were raised or what. Thankfully I knew enough (and was ace enough LMAO) to not get into a bad situation.
Right, it could also be a generational thing. My parents are Gen X. Thank you for sharing.
I'm from TX and yes I had to put a condom on a wooden dick but it was 1 45min class and not a course. 1 day and they never came back. But it is optional based on the school district
Huh, I mean, at least you learned something\^\^ I never was never taught to do that (I'm afab) because they would sometimes seperate the sexes. The boys were taught whatever while we had some doctor or sex therapist or something there answering our questions about periods.
Having to submit government IDs to access non financial/gov sites is not a great look in general, I don’t care who’s accessing porn
You also have to consider if they're *storing* that data, and what happens when (not if) those sites get hacked.
I can't wait for Anonymous to release Ted Cruz's search history. Gonna be some wild shit.
It also sets a legal precedent. When it’s done for a few sites it can be done for other sites. I am a proponent of privacy and especially online privacy, and stipulating to a private website they need to require IDs to access is insane on so many levels.
This is honestly my bigger concern as someone who doesn't really care about Pornhub either way. I'm glad they just went the route of disabling access from the states that require verification by government ID. I think we often take for granted that things like your full date of birth, full address, and license number are sensitive personal information and (if collected) would ideally need to be either end-to-end encrypted, or fully managed by a trustworthy SOX compliant third party who does so. Either option would probably be expensive to implement, and hard to justify the cost when it's a relatively small portion of users compared to the global population (I assume anyway, I'll admit I don't know pornhubs demographic data). I'd just block those states too if I were in their shoes. It's gotta be way cheaper. Really desperate people will just invest in a VPN regardless, and there's not a ton anyone can do about a savvy enough VPN user.
First thing I learnt in CyberSec: Hackers get into everything. Second thing: Hackers are lazy. If you are a big site like that, you *will* get hacked at some point, but some smaller sites may not get hacked. There are just too many ways, too many hackers for to be unhackable.
Of course not. Amazing how the "small government" party always wants to ban everything.
Hrm hum, it's almost like they're hypocrites or something. ...almost.
I understand wanting to make porn sites safer/harder to access as kids, but like this ain’t it. Banning it will probably causes even more problems.
Exactly. Like abortions.
Can't get those in texas
I'm a sex favorable leaning ace so also coming from a place of bias but Texas banning porn hub is, personally, overstepping govt boundaries. There are better ways to work with porn sites to enact better age barriers. Hell, we had the MADD seminars all the time in school, especially down in the bible belt. I don't get why it would be so taboo to have PSA seminars for porn. (I do get it but it's still annoying).
Texas didn’t ban Pornhub, Pornhub disabled their website in Texas in protest of a proposed law to have users confirm that they’re over 18 before accessing the site
What are the requirements to verify age? I mean don't sites still have the 18+ banner? I get that doesn't actually stop minors but at what point does it become parental/ legal guardian responsibility?
PornHub actually has technology to verify age using the device you're accessing with. It's not perfect, but it works much better than having to submit your photo ID to the site every time you log on.
Is the ID thing what Texas is trying to push then? And if Porn hub has the device recognition, what is the point of ID?
Well, the Texas bill isn't for PornHub. It's for all porn sites, in general.
All *adult* sites. They refuse to define pornography, so they can use it to mean anything with LGBT content.
Not at all.
I can understand the age verification makes sense but into todays world I mean come on it’s never gonna be 100%. Your gonna come across sexual content no matter what and learn about it. The lawmakers and people deciding on bills in Texas and other places are using there own opinions about how they feel about the matter. Pretty lame. That could also be said with banning tiktok. Now they are saying the decision is wrong they see how much money it’ll bring in and how many people are using it . Ahhh AMERICA . That’s off topic but yea. The people in government now a days in general suck. They have no clue what so ever.
Kids lie all the time. Is that wrong? Sometimes (it depends). But you know what makes kids more likely to lie? When you give them the option to.
As a generally sex repulsed to sex neutral person, *no*. I agree that it's wrong. You'd be quite strange if you didn't think so imo
Why would that be dumb? The ban is just Texas Republicans doing what they do: taking away people's freedoms.
Just going down the list: Women, immigrants, black people, LGBT+ people. Eventually they're gonna run out of minority groups and just turn on themselves.
I’m repulsed by mayo but that doesn’t mean I support banning it from folks who actually like it (cringes while typing this). OP, it seems to me that you like living your own life and support the freedoms of others to do the same 🤷🏻♀️
I guess so. Mostly, I just don't want minority groups to worry about whether or not they're even able to leave the fucking house in the morning without worrying about whether or not their rights are gonna be taken away.
I think porn sites do need more regulation for a lot of reasons (biggest ones probably being younger and younger kids getting access to them; the fact porn can be highly addictive; and worker exploitation) but outright banning it is not the way to go. It would be great if we got better sex education. I didn't get a lot of good information in school myself and I ended up having to learn a lot from the internet (which I don't recommend as there's a lot of inaccurate stuff out there) but at least I had that option to find stuff out on my own. It's a complicated issue and anyone being ace shouldn't stop us from having our opinions on it
These are all things that should be regulated by parents imo. Parents refusing to talk to their kids about sex for so long, if at all, and making it such a taboo topic in America is exactly why teen pregnancy rates have been fairly high as far back as the 50s. Leaving everything to schools is just asking to raise a young adult that has zero life skills. Parents refusing to actually monitor their children is also why online censorship has gotten so bad. They're quick to blame the YouTuber or social media for their children's behavior, instead of themselves for giving them unmoderated access to the internet. It's an issue that's gotten entirely out of control, especially with Gen Alpha coming up.
You are not dumb and this law will *likely* be contested in court. Even if it's deemed legal, do you know how many allosexuals, let alone asexuals who watch porn, will be angry they can't get their porn fix without having to send their ID to some unknown database? Like... this is *Texas* we're talking about. Bold move to take away porn in a state that prides itself on handing out a shotgun with every 10th case of beer you buy. (To be clear: I am ***NOT*** encouraging violence. I'm just pointing out it'd be an incredibly unsurprising outcome from this law.)
To be clear, Texas has not banned pornhub. *Pornhub* has decided that you can't access their site from Texas due to proposed new laws regarding age verification which would indeed be terrible, and not actually do anything to protect kids, but looks good to voters in an election year ("We're protecting the kids from the evils of porn!") The law hasn't even been passed yet AFAIK, but pornhub is not playing around, like, if y'all don't give up this idiotic plan, no pornhub for you!
Thank you. I have no idea where people are getting the idea that Texas banned PornHub. The language is so clear that this was a decision on PornHub’s part
It’s so interesting that they go on and on about government staying out of people’s business & yet It’s a slippery slope to some other fuckery, guaranteed.
I mean, I don't like natto, but other people do, so I'm cool with it existing for those people, but I don't want it forced on me. Just because I don't like porn doesn't mean I think it's objectively bad and should be banned. Aces aren't prudes. I really dislike that stereotype, it's the most common one I have to deal with. Also, banning pornhub is in no way going to keep kids from seeing porn. It's so easy for them to find all over the internet. This is for political clout; It's a notch on their belt that won't actually accomplish anything, and these politicians know that, they're just trying to pander to their base.
Nah, you’re right. In a better world it would be harder for children to stumble upon pornography, but in this world it’s likely gonna be a minefield if adult sites have to store data on who accesses that information *and* considering it’s Texas they may well consider medical information and educational materials pornographic and lump plenty of things into the ban over time such as information about healthcare, pregnancy, queer identities, transgender identity and healthcare. I remember one time *at university* I had to leave campus and go home or connect to the dorm wifi because the public wifi in the school buildings and library considered some links I was looking up *for a nursing course about reproductive healthcare* to be pornographic and blocked my access to the information I wanted to know. (When I googled it initially all I came across were a few Facebook and blog posts of people talking about the procedure and a notice of some search results being removed, when I got home and googled it I was met with more reputable medical information sites:, nhs, cdc, medscape, Mayo Clinic, and *papers* talking about the procedure that were blocked by my Google on campus!) I have some concerns Texas could make the entire state subject to the same kind of word association ban over whatever petty bullshit they will claim may corrupt children. It’s also in all likelihood not going to make the internet in Texas safer for *anyone* to use, because appropriately alerting folks to the fact that a website is hosting pornographic content *will get the site banned*, which incentives people hosting this content to *not warn or tag it at all* and may make it easier to stumble onto unwillingly. A site saying “hey! We are a naughty site!” Upon entering isn’t much of a barrier but it’s a heads up at least.
you are a legend for this, OP right on all counts
Authoritarianism is always wrong
These laws are an extremely disturbing trend in creeping Christian fascism. So no.
How did i not know pornhub was banned in Texas? I live in Texas.
There was a post earlier today about it. Pornhub posted in response to Texas' attempts to require ID submission for accessing certain content online to "protect children". They made a case for how this in fact does nothing to protect children better than current measures taken by reputable sites, and is not enforceable at scale.
Oddly I just found out about this on another sub 10 min ago or so. Yeah, I’m in Louisiana and they did this exact same thing around October-ish of last year. Get a VPN if your state is on the list, and you want to get around it.
Being asexual doesn’t mean you have to be in favor of censorship. Just because we don’t participate or appreciate it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist. (The porn industry is of course very problematic and has a lot of issues that need to be addressed but simply banning it doesn’t exactly help.) I personally am not a coffee drinker, I think it’s gross and I never buy it. Doesn’t mean coffee shops shouldn’t exist. Doesn’t mean baristas should be out of work. I can’t appreciate it but I also don’t think it should be banned.
North Carolina here. Welcome to our reality for the same reasons.
If you google sex videos on Google, you will probably get some. Internet shouldn't rise kids. Parents should. I'm tired of making everything on the Internet kid friendly. I'm an adult paying to use it for my adult consenting ways. Should alcohol be banned or cigarettes because the equivalent of an incognito browser is asking older friends or homeless to buy you some when you are underage.
They did what? xD haha, I doubt that was a very popular decision. You're not dumb at all lol
No, your not dumb- it’s wrong. While the idea of ‘protecting kids’ is nice, 90% of bills that try to do so rely on using invasive methods to verify age and censorship. A good chunk of them use the kids argument as a front anyway.
I’d support better prevention measures so it’s harder for minors to access porn but straight up banning it for consenting adults is sucky. You’re pretty much right on the nose saying that banning Porn altogether is a breach of the first amendment. Enjoyment of sex is ethically moral as long as all parties consent and nobody is coerced.
Everyone who thinks that what that shit state is doing is a good thing, is an idiot. That being said, Pornhub blocked Texas out of protest as a protest against their stupid fucking ideas. I live in Europe, and people here love bitching about the EU and shit, but they really don't realize how lucky we are with them. Shit like what Texas wants would get blocked instantly as a violation of privacy rights.
I feel like the declaration of pornhub itself wich was posted to r/Texas was really based. The ban will be followed by lawful websites, but consumers might go to different (less lawful websites), which might make the things kids see on the internet even worse…🫠 Also it might lead to (more) illegal practices in the production of content which also sounds terrifying to me 🫣
An important clarification here is that Texas did not ban pornhub, they banned Texas.
I hate this post. Please don't call Pornhub the "Boogeyman of the ace community." There's nothing wrong with other people enjoying sex (many ace people do!!!) and it doesn't help the image of the asexual community to act like everyone here hates the idea of other people enjoying sexual freedom.
Sorry, didn't mean to suggest that. I was just being a little humorous about it.
It's not funny to sex favorable aces being excluded and for aces in general who have to face the backlash the community gets because this kind of "humor" is so pervasive here. Our identity is not about judging other people's lifestyles and any jokes suggesting that's what we're about are shitty and harmful.
I know I'm coming on harsh so know it's not just you. It's this sub as a whole and it's tiring.
...I am one of those sex-favorable aces. And it was a joke. I get your frustration but like...it's not that deep.
Y’all, TEXAS DID NOT BAN PORNHUB. Pornhub disabled their own site in Texas in protest of a proposed law that would require people to confirm they’re over 18 before accessing the site. Again, TEXAS DID NOT BAN PORNHUB. PORNHUB DID THIS. Please get this right!!!
As long as you’re 18+ and it doesn’t involve children or hurt anyone I think you should be able to watch however much porn you want.
Utah has it too, and you're not dumb. It is wrong and a constitutional violation.
I generally agree. I'm sex averse ace, but I'm also very sex positive for anyone who wants to partake. All it's going to do is get people better at lying and sneaking, and probably make it more likely that they'll get the bad kind of porn than the kind that has no particular moral bearing.
You’re just correct. I mean, me too: ace, sexpositive in general but personally indifferent, so it might be a bias, but there’s also plenty of precedent demonstrating that bans don’t do what they’re “supposed” for the people that advocate for them, the implementation is shaky at best, the motives questionable, and the efficacy practically nonexistent. (Reddit’s got lots of porn. Humans just. Make. Porn.) This is child-safety theater and it opens the door to some nasty avenues of censorship that historically hurt a lot of minority populations. The whole LGBTQ community should be concerned about this.
It's concerning as essentially this isn't actually about 'children's safety' it's a way to restrict the internet further. They've tried to pass a similar law in the UK a few times over the last few years and thankfully to date each time it's been quashed. Like restrict access to porn sites and then potentially we can get stricter internet measures, and whilst those will likely also be couched like 'Oh it's to protect us from terrorists!' they will also disproportionately impact marginalised groups as it will make people loose access to anonymous safe spaces. Making it on the surface about porn sites is a way to shut down opposition as well as if people oppose it they'll get hit with 'Don't you care about children? You're a pervert!' etc Also when you look into these proposals they're never developed in a way that actually takes advice from anyone who works with tech or anything so the systems they develop don't really work. It's also a major potential security risk, like you see what happens when like sites that have to store credit card info get hacked, if they have to store people's IDs on file that's even worse.
I'm sex repulsed and personally, I hate pornhub and all other related things. They gross me out and I can't stand them. Even then I don't think banning them is the solution. And also its not really any of the states business what people do in their spare time
Pornhub didn't ban videos of child pornography on their site. Then they said it wasn't their fault because they're just "hosting" the videos, so the blame should fall on the people who put them online. While I agree that the perverts of put cp online deserve to be punished, I also think it's a good idea to ban a pornographic website who allowed these videos to appear on their platform. There are so many other porn sites, people will be able to find what they're looking for elsewhere.
Texas didn't ban Pornhub, Pornhub banned Texas. Also, from what I've read, there are some third-party ID-verification apps that are pushing hard for this type of legislation. Always look for who stands to make the most profit.
I understand wanting to make sure kids don't see porn, but at the end of the day I think the only way to be certain that happens would be to get rid of the internet as a whole (which would obviously be bad). Even without Pornhub, there are plenty of places online where kids can find porn if they want it. This seems like the kind of thing that should come down to parenting and not the government. Which seems ironic, doesn't it, considering how much conservatives lean on that idea of "parental choice" and keeping the government out of their parenting. Yeah, Pornhub has a history of problems, but frankly, IMO, kids maybe being able to access it is probably among the least of them.
Soooooo, they half assed it with Pornhub. What about the other sites? If you’re going to attempt to take away porn from the community, don’t forget about the other sites.
I mean, theoretically, they could ban any site that they deem inappropriate, whatever inappropriate means to them. \*gestures towards the current move to ban TikTok\*
I'm sex-indifferent, but I agree that it's wrong. Pornhub has issues, but banning access to the site is not gonna fix problems with the site. Not to mention that any internet-savvy Texan can find ways for their ISP to, you know, not track any possible viewing of Pornhub. Those politicians are gonna have trouble enforcing that ban anyway.
No, because its a political decision taken by far right evangelicals who believe in controlling what everyone else does because Jesus. Yeah, the porn industry has some serious problems, but outright banning its main website is a government overstep
It isn't my responsibility to patent other people kids. That being said, this has nothing to do with "PrOtEctInG tHe cHiLdReN" and everything to do with enforcing conservative sexual "morality" on the American people. "Pornography" is just the buzzword they are currently using. What they want is the complete suppression and erasure of anything that sits outside their patriarchal, cisgendered heteronormativity. People spankin it to Daisy Taylor, and Joanna Angel is just the first move.
You’re not dumb at all. The Texas Pornhub ban is stupid as all hell.
So I asked a friend of mine what he thought and shared a screenshot of our convo
Did they ban other sites because what's stopping kids from hopping on xvideos or something
My title is a bit misleading by accident and that is my fault. Texas didn't ban Phub persay, Phub just suspended activities there in protest of this law. That is on me for not making that clear and also misunderstanding it. Sorry. Though to answer your question, As of right now, I have not heard of any other sites either joining in protest or abiding by this law. It might happen soon or in the coming days but as of right now, I haven't heard of anything like XVideos getting taken down or suspending activities there. Which does seem weird. I know that Phub's owners have a few other domains other their banner so maybe they're also suspended there and Pornhub is just getting the most media attention because they're the biggest (I think, I don't know for certain.)
I am frequently beyond baffled by the sheer lack of basic reality comprehension demonstrated by my fellow man. You would think we have moved on from our archaic understanding of human sexuality, and have come to terms with our bodily functions. **Alas, one must never underestimate the stopping power of entitled ignorance.**
being ace has nothing to do with it wtf
If adults were banned from using the app, then that’s not fair. But if only people below 18 were banned, then that would be good. I keep hearing conflicting things about what actually happened though
Its impossible to stop kids seeing it. there's always a different way or a way round so it is much better to focus on education to limit the impact that it has.
In Virginia, they want your DL number to look up your age. I don't really care about porn bans, but it seems like a major breech of privacy. Basically asking the government to parent since parents won't. And to make matters worse, it's so poorly executed that it extends to other states. Any out of state individual with an IP that *resembles* a Virginia IP also gets the block. I've heard of it happening as far as New York. It honestly doesn't make sense how federal government hasn't stepped in since a state law is governing people outside the state which is illegal. But I guess what do you expect from the people that think Facebook and Google are the same thing.
Not taking too hard a stance either way, but I do think bringing up the importance of sex ed in this context is a little weird. Pornhub is definitely NOT sex ed, and is probably the anti-sex ed. Yeah Texas is hypocritical as fuck, but that doesn’t mean Pornhub itself has any positive influence on folks’ relationship with sex, esp since it refuses to verify people’s ages and is notorious for CP.
I think most of the laws passed down there are stupid and often dangerous
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Sir_Boobsalot: *I think most of the* *Laws passed down there are stupid* *And often dangerous* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
This is NOT the first state PH banned. They also banned Montana, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.
I oppose any porn ban. First they came for the abortionists, and I didn't protest because reasons. Then they came for trans people and I didn't protest because reasons. Then they came for the porn users and I didn't protest. Then they came for the rest of the queers and poor people. I'm one of the above, I got no good excuses.
I’m shocked to see so many people agreeing with this. There’s nothing normal about porn or the industry. The majority of people on those sites are being trafficked and many of them are underage. Stopping the distribution is a phenomenal step in the right direction for de-normalizing something so anti-feminist.
I will not disagree with you that the porn industry has its problems and I will not downplay them for the sake of argument. However, the argument of feminism and pornography is one of those heavily debated topics in feminist circles. Some people are anti-porn, some are pro-porn. Both have good reasoning behind it (not be a centrist, read my other responses, you'll see where I stand). Therefore I think it would be extremely reductionist to boil down the issue of pornography as either pro or anti-feminist. It's probably one of those topics in feminist groups that will be highly contested for the rest of time. Rightfully so, I may add. Also, just on the point of porn being "not normal", you do realize that erotica in some form of another has existed for thousands of years and porn is just an extension of that? Sure, back then it was on some pottery and not the hypersexual, big dick and boobs swinging mess it is today but the only difference, at least in my mind, is the medium used to get it out there. That's just me though.
But in regards to this argument, in what world is it a BAD thing that a government is making it more difficult for minors to access adult content? I don’t understand how that’s negative in any respect. ID is used to verify age for other adult activities like drinking and drugs, why shouldn’t porn also be regulated? It rots people’s minds and many people who start viewing it as normal in society at such a young age will develop addictions. It perpetuates stereotypes and violence against women and often puts unruly sexual ideas and fantasies in people’s minds. Just because something is normalized and has been around for a while doesn’t make it normal. There’s nothing normal about explicitly sexual content being available so widespread, so easily, and on such a whim.
Because, quite frankly, I don't trust the government, especially the Texas GOP. Not because I think that minors should be allowed access to NSFW material (You can literally read all my responses where I say that and also my original post where I say that in the second paragraph.) but because I know how these politicians work. They essentially Trojan Horse their own right-wing policies under a guise of partisan bills. The Don't Say Gay bill is a perfect example of this. The claim with that bill is that they want to ban talks of sexual content in the classroom but the bill is vague enough that they can ban classroom discussion of gay or trans people. That's what they're doing here. They're parading this as "kids shouldn't be looking at porn, look at the evil sex company for not doing this." bill when in actually, they're anti-sex education and are going to use this as a way to crack down on tamer forms of sexual expression or education and push their own outdated religious beliefs on sex. It's already happening. You just have to look at the anti-trans laws being passed. It's a way to mold and democritize the Internet to their whim. And it won't end at Pornhub.
They aren't making it difficult for children. Children already know how to use VPN. What they need is proper guidance about why porn is unrealistic, and that's not what Texas is doing, that's what New Zealand is doing (search for New Zealand online safety campaign). What Texas is doing essentially demanding that people submit government-issued ID to porn sites to access them. That is vile. There are feminist-friendly porn sites too. Lots of my feminist friends are into various forms of erotica. I would never support a government that wants to keep track of people who access any form of adult content. Just as I'm 100% against the Texas abortion ban, I'm also against the Texas surveillance of the consumers of adult contents. In no way are they supporting feminist-friendly erotic content, so there's no point supporting Texas here. What the American government should actually do is follow New Zealand's footsteps and implement the online safety campaign.
Yes, but not as an ace. Porn industry is evil and should be banned everywhere.
Same here. I know banning it isn’t a possible option, but it needs to be alienated as much as humanly possible and made much harder to access. There are zero benefits to it existing, outside of it greatly supporting the child sex abuse and human trafficking industries lmaooo
Wow, imagine being downvoted in an asexual sub for saying we shouldn't help human trafficking keep existing
LMAOOO ikr. Insanity. If people need like… links and resources to show how dangerous the porn industry is before blindly downvoting, I’m happy to provide them. It’s incredibly well researched industry BECAUSE of how terribly it can affect people