Pornography, a category of content that the Supreme Court cannot define, could soon be outright illegal in Oklahoma. State Senator Dusty Deevers (that is his real name, not his porn name) recently proposed a slew of morality policing laws including one that would send any person who produces, distributes, or possesses adult content to prison for up to 10 years.
The bill, SB 593, would increase existing penalties for any sort of engagement with pornographic material. It would increase the penalty for possession and distribution of child pornography, creating a new minimum of 10 years behind bars, with a maximum of a 50-year jail sentence for repeat offenders. But along with that, it would establish a straight-up porn ban, penalizing people even for material produced and distributed legally. The penalty for “production, distribution, or possession” would start at up to 10 years, with a 10-to-30-year sentence for “organized pornography trafficking.”
In a press release, Deevers described pornography as “both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug” that “ruins marriages, ruins lives, destroys innocence, warps young people’s perception of the opposite sex, turns women into objects, turns men into objects, degrades human dignity, and corrodes the moral fabric of society.” So, seems like he’s not all that flexible on his feelings here.
The porn ban is just one bill in a slate that Deevers says is “aimed at restoring moral sanity in Oklahoma.” That includes a law that would make it illegal for a person to order and use abortion pills, prohibit no-fault divorces, and offer $2,500 tax credits to people who opt into “covenant marriages” that can only be dissolved in cases of abuse, adultery, or abandonment. Deevers said the laws are designed to roll back the degeneracy of the “far-left” in the state, despite the fact Republicans have held all three branches of state government since 2010.
Oklahoma already has an age-verification law on the books that prevents anyone under the age of 18 from accessing pornography—a decision that resulted in PornHub pulling out of the state. But that apparently does not go far enough for Deevers, who would like the content to be banned outright.
There are legitimate criticisms of the pornography industry and people should be encouraged to consider their relationship with the material, which can often be the result of abusive and exploitative labor practices. Unfortunately, most of the critique of the industry stems from morality police ghouls like Deevers, who are invested in enforced traditionalism that aligns with his own religious beliefs rather than dealing with any of the troubling implications of the commodification of sex under capitalist systems and more interested in making sure everyone averts their eyes to whatever he deems is offensive rather than doing something to protect sex workers.
Read the full article here
