HJR 136

HJR136 187676-1 By Representative Mooney RFD: Rules First Read: 01-FEB-18 187676-1:n:07/25/2017:DSM*/tj LRS2017-2546 RECOGNIZING PORNOGRAPHY AS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS IN ALABAMA. WHEREAS, the harms of pornography are beyond the capability of an individual to address alone; efforts to prevent pornography exposure and addiction, to educate individuals and families concerning its harms, and to develop recovery programs must be addressed systematically in ways that hold broader influences accountable in order to counter the sexually toxic environment pornography perpetuates; and WHEREAS, pornography is contributing to the hyper-sexualization of teens and prepubescent children in our society; due to advances in technology and the universal availability of the Internet, young children are exposed to hard core pornography at alarming rates leading to low self-esteem and eating disorders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages, and an increased desire to engage in risky sexual behavior as young adolescents; and WHEREAS, because pornography treats women as objects and commodities for the viewer's use, it teaches girls they are to be used and boys to be the users; WHEREAS, pornography normalizes violence and abuse of women and children and often depicts rape and abuse as harmless; it equates violence towards women and children with sex and pain with pleasure, increasing the demand for sex trafficking, prostitution, and child sexual abuse; and WHEREAS, the detrimental effects on the pornography user include emotional, mental, and medical illnesses, shaping deviant sexual arousal, difficulty forming or maintaining intimate relationships, brain development and function, and problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction; and WHEREAS, research indicates that pornography is potentially biologically addictive and leads to increasing themes of risky sexual behaviors, extreme degradation, violence, and child sexual abuse; now therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA, BOTH HOUSES THEREOF CONCURRING, That in recognizing the public health crisis created by pornography in the State of Alabama, we acknowledge the need for education, prevention, research, and policy change at the community and societal level in order to address this epidemic that is harming the people of our state and our country as a whole.