House Bill Says Access To Porn Is Child Abuse
HAVING introduced an unworkable anti-abortion bill, American politicos turn their attention to sex and decree that anyone allowing a minor access to pornography is guilty of child abuse.
The adult would then be listed on the Iowa state child abuse register.
The DesMoins Register tells us:
“Some critics say the bill could be interpreted so broadly that even a child who sneaks a peek at a Playboy Magazine could push parents into legal turmoil. The legislation is not clear on whether it includes explicit material a child might discover on the Internet.”
Meanwhile over in California, in the LA suburbs of Chatsworth and Van Nuys, porn is an industry employing thousand of people. Films are premiered in respectable theatres. Chris Ayres writes from LA that the 2005 “pornbuster” Pirates cost more than $1 million to make, featured CGI effects, multiple locations and a replica of HMS Bounty”.
There are awards do and porn star Jenna Jameson can launch signature scent and expects people to want to smell like her.
The paper opines:
Access to pornography puts children at greater risk for sexual abuse as well as psychological and emotional harm.
This is delivered as a fact, and given the prevalence of porn on the web you’d think incidences of sexual abuse have risen dramatically in recent years. But we are given no facts. And what of Scandinavia, where exposure to porn is manifest in a fascination with herring and a craving to pack furniture as flat as possible? Is sexual abuse more likely in Denmark than Iran?
Says Randall Wilson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa:
“This would have the state intervening in families every time a parent drops their guard. You have adolescent hormones raging here, you have curiosity and I think, truth be told, you would find that a whole lot of kids would qualify as children in need of assistance who belong to perfectly normal families.”
Kathy Lowenberg, director of Counseling for Growth & Healing in Iowa City, counters:
“This legislation isn’t the icing on the cake. It’s the cake,” Lowenberg said. “We have to have it.”
Rep. Kurt Swaim, D-Bloomfield supports the bill:
“There’s been concern on the part of some legislators that if there were inadvertent viewing of material that it might cause some problems but that’s not the intent of the law. The intent is to get at hard pornography and things that there should be no reasonable basis for a child to look at.”
Details of House File 433
ABUSE CHARGE: A parent, guardian or other custodian that allows a child direct or indirect access to obscene material could be found guilty of child abuse.
REGISTRY: People guilty of a violation could be required to be listed on the state’s child abuse registry.
OBSCENITY: State law defines obscene material as “any material depicting or describing the genitals, sex acts, masturbation, excretory functions or sadomasochistic abuse which the average person, taking the material as a whole and applying contemporary community standards with respect to what is suitable material for minors, would find appeals to the prurient interest and is patently offensive; and the material, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, scientific, political or artistic value.”
Obscene is a picture of someone’s or something’s genitals. Art cannot be obscene if it has “value”.
CURRENT LAW: Iowa law prohibits any person other than a parent or guardian of a minor from knowingly disseminating obscene material.
And most abuse takes place, where?
People who committee the crime face serious misdemeanor charges. Parents are exempted over concerns that those who attempt even misguided sex education should not be subjected to criminal proceedings, according to an analysis of the law by Daniel Bray, an Iowa City attorney and former state representative. Bray outlined the law in a letter last month to lawmakers, advocating for the exemption to be closed.
So you stop porn and you reduce child abuse? You stop children seeing porn and you reduce the risk of adults abusing them? You stop porn an you stop child abusers thinking of a crime..?
Posted: 3rd, March 2009 | In: Politicians Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
