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Texas Lawmaker Proposes Age Restrictions for [Online] Pornography
Texas Scorecard ^ | Marcy 8, 2023 | Sebastian Castro

Posted on 03/09/2023 12:05:48 PM PST by JeepersFreepers

As minors are increasingly struggling with exposure to pornography, legislation has been filed a bill to make it harder for children to access.

House Bill 3570 by State Rep. Nate Schatzline (R–Ft Worth) introduces requirements that force websites with pornographic content to implement age verification using state-issued identification and gives parents the ability to sue websites if their child is exposed to online pornography.

If passed, the legislation would take effect September 1. As described in the bill, the requirement for age verification could affect social media websites and other websites where one-third of the content is sexually explicit.

An identical bill was filed on the same day by State Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson (R–Galveston).

Chris Hopper, president of the Texas Family Project, says his organization fully supports the effort.

“Texas Family Project supports and stands with State Representative Nate Schatzline as he puts forth bills that will protect children in Texas from obscene material,” Hopper told Texas Scorecard. “For many decades, porn has preyed on the minds of children all across this country. Nate is right when he says, ‘Age verification for explicit content should be a no-brainer.'”

The legislation comes after a similar bill passed in Louisiana last year.

“Given the effect we have already seen Louisiana’s bill have, I am very excited to file it here in Texas so we can protect our children from harmful material online as well,” said Schatzline.

Pornography is well known to have severe negative effects on the minds of children and adults. Children, who statistically first find porn at age 12, experience poor mental health, according to UNICEF.

The American College Pediatrics further elaborates on the harms of pornography, which include “increased rates of depression, anxiety, acting out and violent behavior, younger age of sexual debut, sexual promiscuity, increased risk of teen pregnancy, and a distorted view of relationships between men and women.”

The American College of Pediatrics also explains that “pornography [consumption] results in an increased likelihood of divorce which is also harmful to children.” Additionally, ACP found in a study of young adults:

1. Male subjects demonstrated increased callousness toward women.

2. Subjects considered the crime of rape less serious.

3. Subjects were more accepting of non-marital sexual activity and non-coital sexual practices such as oral and anal sex.

4.Subjects became more interested in more extreme and deviant forms of pornography.

5. Subjects were more likely to say they were dissatisfied with their sexual partner. Subjects were more accepting of sexual infidelity in a relationship.

6. Subjects valued marriage less and were twice as likely to believe marriage may become obsolete. Men experienced a decreased desire for children, and women experienced a decreased desire to have a daughter.

7. Subjects showed a greater acceptance of female promiscuity.

After having been filed, the bill will now be referred to a committee by House Speaker Dade Phelan in the coming days.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: minors; online; pornography; texas
A similar law has already been enacted in Louisiana> that requires ID and age verification within the state to access online porn.

Here is the reasoning for the law: "We require brick and mortar businesses to check ID before providing anyone access to this type of material but somehow we’ve given the internet a free pass. How does this make sense? And because it's free and easily accessible without any need to show verify your age, hardcore pornography is just a click away from our children," Schlegel said. "Research has shown that kids as young as six are now seeing pornography and that 1 in 10 visitors of porn sites are now under 10 years old. This is not acceptable. One researcher even said that children’s unlimited access to extreme and graphic pornography is the ‘largest unregulated social experiment in history’ and our society is paying the price."

1 posted on 03/09/2023 12:05:48 PM PST by JeepersFreepers
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To: JeepersFreepers

Good for him. But the devil and his minions have ways to circumvent the system of man.


2 posted on 03/09/2023 12:08:38 PM PST by crusty old prospector
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To: JeepersFreepers

A simple modification would give it real teeth, instead of allowing parents to sue, allow them to HUNT DOWN AND KILL the perps


3 posted on 03/09/2023 12:22:15 PM PST by eyeamok (founded in cynicism, wrapped in sarcasm)
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To: crusty old prospector

“Click if you are 18 or older”

Yes, that will work.


4 posted on 03/09/2023 12:44:16 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (There is lots of money and power in Green Communism and we all know where Communism ends.)
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To: crusty old prospector

It’s ridiculous. Teen boy’s struggling? Doubtful. And sure, go after porn sites. But teens Google. Lol.


5 posted on 03/09/2023 12:47:29 PM PST by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Click here if you would prefer not to see gay porn. Ha ha. Sucka.


6 posted on 03/09/2023 1:08:07 PM PST by crusty old prospector
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To: eyeamok

Hear, hear.


7 posted on 03/09/2023 1:08:36 PM PST by crusty old prospector
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To: JeepersFreepers

It’s about time!


8 posted on 03/09/2023 1:34:59 PM PST by Ge0ffrey
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To: JeepersFreepers

The solution is to flood the internet with bad porn. Which has already been done to a certain extent. Make it not worth the effort.


9 posted on 03/09/2023 2:05:04 PM PST by jroehl (And how we burned in the camps later - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - The Gulag Archipelago)
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To: crusty old prospector

This is very Bad! I agree that it bad for minors to see that stuff, but You have to look at the bigger picture. If you let states do this stuff on the worldwide web then whats next? Age verification or government registration to access other sites like even FR? If a state even has the right to do such a thing it would could only possible apply to web sites that originate in that State.

So maybe they can block any site that they claim puts out false information. This is already happening in other countries. See the precedence this sets if they can pass laws like this. The democrats will have the entire internet censored like Twitter was. And all it takes to do it are democrat controlled legislatures. They can control the entire internet with bills like this.

It gets complicated I know. But if people would just not only thing about the part that sounds good, and look at the big picture then they might think different.


10 posted on 03/09/2023 2:20:41 PM PST by Revel
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To: Revel

Yeah, the way to stop kids from accessing porn is to not let them have unsupervised access to the internet.

But due to massive parenting failures that have already taken place, I reckon that ship has sailed.


11 posted on 03/09/2023 2:37:24 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: Revel

Not just minors. It rots the souls of all who look upon their filth.


12 posted on 03/09/2023 2:43:11 PM PST by crusty old prospector
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To: JeepersFreepers

Lol. who’s gonna be the first guy to upload his driver’s license to Brazzers.com.


13 posted on 03/09/2023 2:43:20 PM PST by TheElectionWasStolen
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To: JeepersFreepers

but in the meantime, it’s mandatory for children to study pornography in some schools.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUowWGGe2kg


14 posted on 03/09/2023 4:30:23 PM PST by Brown Deer (America First!)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

15 posted on 03/10/2023 6:56:50 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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