A fifth grader would never be allowed to walk into a porn shop and rent a video. However, as it is now, a simple "click here if you are over 18" suffices as the barrier between explicit material and anybody who knows how to use a mouse.
For this reason, Mary Landrieu, a Democrat senator from Louisiana proposed a bill that would require pornography Web sites to end with a ".sex" or ".xxx." Those who put explicit content on non-porn suffixes like dot.com would be subject to punishment, either jail time or fines.
Some suggest that porn filtering software is sufficient for protecting minors from internet porn. However, filtering software doesn't get everything and may block content that isn't explicit (e.g. breast cancer). Filtering ".sex" or ".xxx" domains would be much easier to do.
I believe there's a deeper issue at stake here. While we rightly and continuously talk about protecting America's youth from porn and the damage it could do to them, we rarely speak of the damage that is incurred by the performers within the porn content; unhealthy and dangerous sex acts which have physical and emotional consequences.
ABC News followed an 18-year-old girl who pursued a porn career. She was exposed to atrocities that were simply disgusting and demeaning. She didn't realize what she was in for -- from being slapped, to being dominated by 12 men, to being forced into sex acts that she was unaware she would have to do, to being choked, to the higher risk of STDs -- all on film and "all for the money," she says. Physical torment isn't all. Behind the smile she confesses she isn't happy and doesn't like herself. Sadly, there's more to her story and there are many like hers.
Human nature gives each of us the desire to be with another person to share a life with and to connect with emotionally, spiritually and physically. Pornography is a mirage that feels good for a moment but ultimately fails to fulfill that complete desire within us. Plus, it erodes our sense of worth.
While adding a ".sex" domain suffix will not be the be-all and end-all of the porn issue, I believe it is a step in the right direction putting it in a smaller box accessible to fewer people. But the damage done to both the viewer and the actor in a porno should really be analyzed. If not by the justice system, at least by society in general. At what expense to the health and emotional well-being of both the viewer and the actor do we need a seven second high?
--Luke Barrett is a psychology senior. He can be reached at dailyopinion@ou.edu.
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