Editorial counterpoint: Acknowledging porn as a public health crisis

While much of the Republican Party platform devalues equality, science, inclusiveness, and the separation of church and state, there is arguably one plank that is not wrongheaded or unreasonable — namely its declaration that pornography has become "a public health crisis."

To label today's porn as such is not an overreach, as some have implied, including the Star Tribune editorial "It should be anything but conventional" (July 17). Consider:

• In our hypersexualized society, porn is incredibly pervasive and has become normalized. It was recently reported that internet porn sites get more visitors each month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined and that a staggering 36 percent of internet downloads are porn. One major free porn site reported 21.2 billion visits in 2015 (now consider that there are more than 4 million porn sites worldwide). Unlike the days of "girlie" magazines in brown paper packaging, internet porn offers the convenience of the 3 A's — affordability, accessibility and anonymity.

• The average age an American child first views hard-core porn is 11; some 93 percent of males have viewed it by age 18.

• Porn is overwhelmingly misogynistic — eroticizing subservience, humiliation and violence. Among the most-rented and bestselling porn films, almost 90 percent had physical aggression (such as gagging and slapping) and women were the recipients 94 percent of the time. Not surprisingly, studies on men who view porn show that they tend to objectify women as well as finding their partners, who lack the airbrushed perfection of the "actresses," less appealing. And while no one has proved a causal link, there are numerous studies showing a correlation between porn use and sexual assault or rape.

• Teenage girls and young women whose male partners use porn report markedly diminished self-esteem, body image and relationship quality as well as expectations to engage in sexual acts their partners see in porn.

• Increasing numbers of compulsive porn users are reporting erectile dysfunction when encountering a real partner. While males of all ages are at risk, young men are especially vulnerable to this because their brains are more plastic (see Time magazine's April 11, 2016, issue for in-depth discussion). Dubbed the "new drug," porn is recognized by neuroscientists as having powerful addiction-like effects.

Rarely brought up in polite conversation, porn permeates our culture under the radar, profoundly shaping attitudes and beliefs about gender roles and inequality, sexuality, relationships, and intimacy. Increasingly extreme — or, as one porn producer put it, "harder and harder" — the vast majority of today's porn is devoid of respect, mutual concern and human connection. And, for far too many kids, it fills in the blanks in the absence of quality sex education.

By designating it as a "public health concern," if not a "crisis," porn would be recognized as a social issue so widespread and problematic that individuals need help and support from society at large to deal with it. This status would increase public awareness as well as make money available for education, research and development of strategies to counteract porn's harm, and perhaps to enable legislation (such as measures taken in some countries that make it necessary to opt-in with one's internet service provider to porn sites. Not censored, but not two mouse clicks away, either).

Michael Seto, a leading authority on porn and sexual assault, has stated that "the early and pervasive exposure to internet pornography among children and youth is the largest unregulated social experiment I'm aware of. We don't know what the effects will be."

Is this the world we want for our sons and daughters — and their sons and daughters? Is this what we envision for how they perceive themselves and for their relationships? For our own? This isn't about liberal or conservative — it's about all of us. Perhaps "crisis" isn't so far off the mark after all.