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Comment by guywithahat | Hacker News Reader

I support basically any limits on porn. I’m not religious, but I used to watch a ton of it and it had lasting repercussions on my real sex life. While I would believe religious groups don’t like porn, I think they’re just a part of it

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The states that have banned pornography are highly religious even for America. What makes you think religious groups aren't the major driver here?

Do you think all vices with potential for addiction should be banned, or just yours?

You're using the wrong word here. The issue of weather pornography is "addictive" has been visited multiple times by multiple DSM committees in recent times and in the latest release DSM-5-TR they have found that pornography cannot and does not cause "addiction". There may be disorders associated with it, but it is not addiction. Using that word allows for framing which justifies the use of violence against people and is, frankly, more damaging than pornography.

Fair enough. What word would you use? Pornography abuse?

I mean porn is especially potent because anyone can access it any time. A lot of men start watching porn around 10, and the fact it’s so easy to do is ridiculous. I mean when I was young, the only barrier between me and porn was learning what words brought up better search results

But it's also far less innocuous than a lot of other things. The vast majority of people have no problem with their porn consumption.

It's far more innocuous is what I meant. It causes little harm to most.

funny, that's exactly how I feel about religion.

Should we also ban sports because people can be injured? It only happens to a small fraction of the players but the same can be said for people like you that believe they've had "lasting repercussions" serious enough to justify the use of violence against others.

Some sports are banned because of the harms they cause.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_sports

I don't think porn is in this category.

I have not seen any real evidence that would justify the concern, and for the most part the indications are the opposite — there is less harm when it's easier to get.

But for the sake of argument, if it can be demonstrated that some content is harmful, then a ban is justifiable.

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