Adult conservatives who were eager to take away books from children are bound to rethink their support of censorship as Sen. Dusty Deever is coming for their pornography, adult video games, and spicy books.
Past studies have found that states with larger conservative and religious populations tend to consume more pornography than blue states. The nation’s entire strip club industry knows they are bound to make three times as much money when the Republican National Convention comes to town than when the Democratic National Convention does. Meanwhile, as book bans began spreading like wildfire across red states, opposers suspected the censorship wouldn’t end with books in school. The slippery slope is evident in how many conservative politicians have proposed legislation to criminalize librarians for having books conservatives don’t like in the school library. They want to equate a librarian helping a child check out a book or even just leaving a banned book on the shelf to an adult giving a child pornography.
However, using this logic, one could also say it is criminal for a parent to have an adult book in their house that a child could hypothetically access. Additionally, when trying to ban books, they use language like “obscene” and “sexually explicit.” They try to generate hysteria and paint these books as so vile they must be burned. One can see the disconnect between deeming these books so vile that teachers must dispose of them and having these adults go home to consume similar books, video games, and movies without oversight. Now, just as suspected, at least one conservative Senator wants to expand censorship to every resident in the state of Oklahoma.
Sen. Dusty Deevers wants to make porn ‘unlawful’
Sen. Deevers recently introduced SB 593, which will make it illegal for individuals to distribute or produce pornography. The bill also extends to anyone who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the production or distribution of unlawful pornography.” So, anyone who aids the distribution of pornography through purchase or viewing will face criminal penalties. Meanwhile, SB 593 includes an extremely broad definition of “unlawful pornography.” Practically any depiction of sexual activity, romance, or nudity falls under the bill’s definition.
TikToker Diana Rodriguez Wallach summarized the definition of unlawful pornography essentially as “Just romantic material in general.” She also notes that the bill proposes raising penalties for distributing child pornography. It appears Deevers wrapped this positive measure into the bill to give it some leverage and a greater chance of passing.
The law applies to any “depiction, image, or film” that contains romantic/sexual content. Hence, it applies to books, shows, movies, video games, videos, images, etc. No more pornography, video games with nudity, or naughty books for Oklahoma residents. Meanwhile, conservatives in the past have somehow managed to label children’s picture books about penguins as hardcore pornography, so it’s impossible to say what even will be allowed under the proposed bill since anything can be “porn” in conservatives’ minds. If residents distribute material defined as “unlawful pornography,” they can face penalties of up to $100,000 and up to ten years in prison. The bill authorizes “any person” to legally challenge someone they believe has aided or abetted in the distribution of pornography. If they’re successful in their claim/challenge, they can get $10,000 and their legal fees covered.
It remains to be seen if the bill will be passed and how conservatives will react. They’re usually willing to support things like censorship because they think it will only impact the people they don’t like or care about. However, their attitude will likely change when they, instead of school teachers and librarians, face potential surveillance and constant threats of legal action for watching TV or reading a book. The thing conservatives need to remember is that when they allow tampering with the rights and freedoms of a limited group, there’s little chance the tampering will stop there. Book banning was never about protecting children from porn and was never going to stay in schools. It was far-right extremists’ way of testing the water to see how much they could get away with before expanding to try to bring censorship to everyone.
Published: Feb 4, 2025 12:06 pm