South Dakota joins Virginia, Utah to declare porn as public health crisis

(Wikimedia Commons/Anthony Easton)A store selling adult entertainment material.

South Dakota is the latest state to acknowledge pornography as a public health crisis. It joins Virginia and Utah that have made similar moves earlier. The latest declaration was made via Senate Concurrent Resolution 4 which was passed on Jan. 24.

The resolution enumerates the following hazards of watching porn, including self-esteem and eating disorders, increased problematic sexual activity at younger ages and an increased desire to engage in risky sexual behavior as young adolescents.

It also accuses porn of serving as children and youths' sex education and shaping their sexual templates, teaching girls that they are to be used and encourages boys to be users. The resolution notes that porn normalizes violence against and abuse of women and children, and increases the demand for sex trafficking, prostitution, child sexual abuse and child pornography.

The resolution further links porn "to lessening desire in young persons to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage and infidelity." It also cites the side effects to excessive users of porn to include "emotional, mental and medical illnesses, shaping deviant sexual arousals, difficulty forming or maintaining intimate relationships, diminished brain development and functioning, problematic or harmful sexual behaviors, and addiction."

The measure was unanimously passed by 52 Republican senators led by Sen. Jenna Netherton of Sioux Falls. She laments to Associated Press that with the increased use of smart phones and the internet, X-rated adult material has gained a broader influence on younger generations, and harms men, women and children.

The Republicans' support for the resolution conforms to their 2016 party platform identifying porn as a "public health crisis" that destroys the lives of millions. "We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children's safety and well-being," a provision of the platform states, adding, "We urge energetic prosecution of child pornography which is closely linked to human trafficking."

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