Do the "secondary effects" of porn exceed the protection of the First Amendment?

[rand]

Do the "secondary effects" of porn exceed the protection of the First Amendment?

Discussion with porn banners (http://freedomsforums.com/group-trying-to-ban-porn-t16,highlight,porn.html)
Porn banners website (http://nopornnorthampton.org/)

[Elrathin]

No, they don't. At best there needs to be stricter regulation to keep porn on the internet from being seen by those under age, but porn itself should have protection of the First Amendment.

[sbannon]

What exactly are the "secondary effects" of porn? I've always heard that I'll go blind, but I'm not sure how that's a Constitutional issue in any way.

Perhaps these refer to those idiot ideas about how pornography causes various social and economic conditions, you know, the way that rap music causes kids to be gang-bangers or the movie Cocktail caused everyone to become bartenders?

Anything we can do to not hold ourselves accountable for our own actions, right?

As for the No Porn Northampton thing, I want to be civil but the first paragraph on their web site (after the warning that they'll be using grown-up words) advocates censorship while claiming they "are not" for censorship, and requests business owners conform to their ideas of ethical standards (as if their notions are the one-size-that-fits-all for industry or society at large) and not focus first on making profits.

With all the issues to concern ourselves with and worry over at this time, this seems like another absurd waste of time and energy to me. If an adult bookstore or topless bar located in a commercial district of your city is all you have to complain about, you're pretty damn lucky these days.

[Buck Laser]

Damn, I'm disappointed. When I saw the link to "Porn Banners," I thought there was gonna be something titillating. Instead, it was just about people who want to ban pornography.

Actually, I think what Scott said covers it pretty well. I don't care for pornography as it's currently described, and so far as I know, it probably IS demeaning to women. But there are a hell of a lot of issues more important than banning or controlling pornography. I'd surely hate to see MY tax money spent on that.

[firefox]

Do whatever you want, as long as it is peaceful and involves voluntary, mutual consent.