Utah Governor Gary Herbert Signs Bill Claiming Porn Is A ‘Public Health Crisis’

Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed a bill asserting that pornography represents a “public health crisis.” His argument, along with Utah senator Todd Wieler’s, is that pornographic images and videos are harmful to children and families and can contribute to increased sexual violence. Solid evidence for the last claim is scarce. Both Herbert and Wieler insist that they are not trying to ban porn, but simply to educate the public about its negative sides.

While issues around porn exist, there is also a bigger problem, experts say. That is the funding, or lack thereof, of sex education in schools. In a country where sex and its education are either snickered at or completely avoided because it’s considered taboo, people turn to porn to learn about sex. This is partially why abstinence-only until marriage education is roughly one-quarter of schools’ sex ed curriculum, even though it’s been proven to be ineffective repeatedly.

President Barack Obama slashed the funding for abstinence-only education by two-thirds. Since 1998, the U.S. government has spent $50 million a year on abstinence-only education. Obama has also spent $190 million to prevent teenage pregnancies and create awareness about STDs, including HIV.

The bill has received a positive reception in the mostly conservative state. Herbert and Wieler are also arguing that pornography is addicting and can negatively impact relationships and sexual desire.

“We live in a world where just the porn site Pornhub has 60 million viewers a day,” Ian Kerner, a psychotherapist and sex expert, said. “It is a world in which porn exists, the Internet exists, and we need to show our kids how to live in it, and first we need to live in it ourselves, make porn a healthy part of our communication or communicate why we don’t want it in our relationship.”