Should Age Verification Be Required to Access Pornography?

When it comes to kids we should err on the side of conservatism.

In other words, if someone wishes to change established practices then the onus isn’t on us to defend the past, but it’s on them to produce strong scientific evidence to contradict it.

A big area where this comes into focus is… porn.

Over the last half-century, we’ve been running a global experiment on pornography’s effect on children.

The average age for a kid to first be exposed to porn is now 12 years old.

This isn’t your Grandfather’s nudity magazine.

The Left has largely argued porn is educational, liberating, and healthy, but studies and good ol’ common sense indicate that a 12-year-old watching grown adults engage in gang b*ngs isn’t good for their mental health.

Porn creates unrealistic expectations about sex, body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, trains misogynistic thinking, and increases sexual dysfunction and perversion.

Think about it…

Porn gives you a massive dopamine boost, which reinforces a sexual desire to see other people have sex.

According to a 2009 study, the average teenager spent about 2 hours a week browsing pornography. As one becomes desensitized to heteronormativity then to get a similar high one seeks out evermore exotic erotism.

For example, the #1 porn site in the world said its two most common search terms for 2022 were “lesbian” and “hentai,” which some common hentai tropes include depictions of “underage characters, incestuous relationships, non-consensual sex acts, and extreme fetishes.”

And just think about how over time innovation will only make porn more realistic and accessible. Should a minor via AR and/or VR be able to easily step into a BDSM sex scene that could feel indistinguishable from reality?

If the only barrier to entry is “click here if you’re 18” then that’s effectively no barrier at all.