Discussing
What Britain’s impending porn ban won’t do

I heartily agree with your position, Branson. I am among those who applaud making restricted porn access the "default" position for a society, while still permitting opt-in for those who want it. I think it raises community standards and promotes the valuation of human beings as more than a commodity to be consumed.

But the most important reason I applaud this kind of effort is that it represents governmental effort to do what good government is meant to do: protect its citizens. Pornography is a dangerous commodity, plain and simple. It's dangerous to the people who consume it, and it's dangerous to the people who are consumed along with it. Even without making a moral judgment in the legitimacy of porn consumption as an individual right, I think the government has a perfectly fair place to legislate on what is increasingly becoming a public health concern.