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1 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE PUBLIC HEALTH
2 CRISIS
3 2016 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Chief Sponsor: Todd Weiler
6 House Sponsor: Curtis Oda
7
8 LONG TITLE
9 General Description:
10 This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor recognizes that
11 pornography is a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and
12 public health impacts and societal harms.
13 Highlighted Provisions:
14 This resolution:
15 ▸ recognizes that pornography is a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of
16 individual and public health impacts and societal harms; and
17 ▸ recognizes the need for education, prevention, research, and policy change at the
18 community and societal level in order to address the pornography epidemic that is
19 harming the citizens of Utah and the nation.
20 Special Clauses:
21 None
22
23 Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
24 WHEREAS, pornography is creating a public health crisis;
25 WHEREAS, pornography perpetuates a sexually toxic environment;
26 WHEREAS, efforts to prevent pornography exposure and addiction, to educate
27 individuals and families concerning its harms, and to develop recovery programs must be
28 addressed systemically in ways that hold broader influences accountable;
29 WHEREAS, pornography is contributing to the hypersexualization of teens, and even
30 prepubescent children, in our society;
31 WHEREAS, due to advances in technology and the universal availability of the
32 Internet, young children are exposed to what used to be referred to as hard core, but is now
33 considered mainstream, pornography at an alarming rate;
34 WHEREAS, the average age of exposure to pornography is now 11 to 12 years of age;
35 WHEREAS, this early exposure is leading to low self-esteem and body image
36 disorders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages, and an increased desire
37 among adolescents to engage in risky sexual behavior;
38 WHEREAS, exposure to pornography often serves as childrens’ and youths’ sex
39 education and shapes their sexual templates;
40 WHEREAS, because pornography treats women as objects and commodities for the
41 viewer’s use, it teaches girls they are to be used and teaches boys to be users;
42 WHEREAS, pornography normalizes violence and abuse of women and children;
43 WHEREAS, pornography treats women and children as objects and often depicts rape
44 and abuse as if they are harmless;
45 WHEREAS, pornography equates violence towards women and children with sex and
46 pain with pleasure, which increases the demand for sex trafficking, prostitution, child sexual
47 abuse images, and child pornography;
48 WHEREAS, potential detrimental effects on pornography’s users can impact brain
49 development and functioning, contribute to emotional and medical illnesses, shape deviant
50 sexual arousal, and lead to difficulty in forming or maintaining intimate relationships, as well
51 as problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction;
52 WHEREAS, recent research indicates that pornography is potentially biologically
53 addictive, which means the user requires more novelty, often in the form of more shocking
54 material, in order to be satisfied;
55 WHEREAS, this biological addiction leads to increasing themes of risky sexual
56 behaviors, extreme degradation, violence, and child sexual abuse images and child
57 pornography;
58 WHEREAS, pornography use is linked to lessening desire in young men to marry,
59 dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity;
60 WHEREAS, this link demonstrates that pornography has a detrimental effect on the
61 family unit; and
62 WHEREAS, overcoming pornography’s harms is beyond the capability of the afflicted
63 individual to address alone:
64 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
65 Governor concurring therein, recognizes that pornography is a public health hazard leading to a
66 broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.
67 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor recognize the
68 need for education, prevention, research, and policy change at the community and societal level
69 in order to address the pornography epidemic that is harming the people of our state and nation.
