Pornography poses serious threat to public health, panel of activists says
Campaigner says there is an 'untreated pandemic of harm from pornography' in advance of summit conference on public health effects
Pornography now is so widespread in the United States that it deserves to be addressed seriously as a major public health crisis, a panel of activists said on Thursday.
On the eve of a two-day conference on sexual exploitation, they suggested that porn be tackled in the same manner as teenage smoking or drunk driving.
“There’s an untreated pandemic of harm from pornography,” said Dawn Hawkins, executive director of Morality in Media, which has campaigned against pornography since 1962.
“We know now that almost every family in America has been touched by the harm of pornography.”
“There’s a lot of science now proving that pornography is harmful,” Hawkins told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington. “We know now that almost every family in America has been touched by the harm of pornography.”
Participants include health professionals, social workers, academics, feminists, faith leaders, campaigners against human trafficking and former members of the multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry.
“This is a business with considerable political clout,” said Gail Dines, a sociology and women’s studies professor at Wheelock College in Boston and author of .
