{"id":17609,"date":"2017-01-05T10:04:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits-90003\/"},"modified":"2017-01-05T10:04:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T10:04:00","slug":"this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/","title":{"rendered":"This Utah legislator wants internet porn peddlers to face lawsuits"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Laptop_Credit_Thomas_Lefebvre_CC0_10_CNA_1_28_15.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 5, 2017 \/ 03:04 am (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- A lawmaker in Utah says the damage internet pornography can cause means people should be able to sue pornography companies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children\u2019s minds as they\u2019re developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think is foolish,\u201d Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler said, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ksl.com\/?sid=42757842&amp;nid=148&amp;title=after-declaring-public-health-crisis-lawmaker-wants-to-pave-way-for-pornography-lawsuits\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">according to the Utah news site KSL.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Weiler has proposed to allow lawsuits against companies that put pornography on the internet. He especially aims to aid underage children and teens who become addicted to pornography.<\/p>\n<p>He compared the proposal to the 70 years of legal action taken against tobacco companies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m concerned that the average age of first exposure to hardcore sex videos on the Internet is now the age of 11,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not government coming in and saying what you can and can't watch. It\u2019s just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The legislator said the first 30 cases brought under the proposal would likely not win. He thought lawsuits would eventually succeed.<\/p>\n<p>He is also authoring a bill to help public libraries filter pornography on Wi-Fi connections.<\/p>\n<p>Weiler sponsored <a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/sweeping-vote-in-utah-labels-porn-dangerous-to-public-health-92952\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">a resolution the Utah legislature passed in March 2016<\/a> that recognized pornography as \u201ca public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The resolution charged that pornography perpetuates \u201ca sexually toxic environment\u201d and contributes to the \u201chyper-sexualization\u201d of young children and teens. It cited pornography\u2019s potential impact on brain development and functioning, its potential to harm users\u2019 ability to form intimate relationships, and its potential to lead to \u201cproblematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.\u201d The resolution charged that pornography \u201ctreats women and children as objects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The legislature said that pornography has a detrimental effect on the family linked to \u201clessening desire in young men to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=ppC2WWp4Rqw:ENSIL-jPnU0:yIl2AUoC8zA\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/ppC2WWp4Rqw\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Laptop_Credit_Thomas_Lefebvre_CC0_10_CNA_1_28_15.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 5, 2017 \/ 03:04 am (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" target=\"_self\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- A lawmaker in Utah says the damage internet pornography can cause means people should be able to sue pornography companies.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;To pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children&rsquo;s minds as they&rsquo;re developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think is foolish,&rdquo; Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler said, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ksl.com\/?sid=42757842&amp;nid=148&amp;title=after-declaring-public-health-crisis-lawmaker-wants-to-pave-way-for-pornography-lawsuits\">according to the Utah news site KSL.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Weiler has proposed to allow lawsuits against companies that put pornography on the internet. He especially aims to aid underage children and teens who become addicted to pornography.<\/p>\n<p>He compared the proposal to the 70 years of legal action taken against tobacco companies.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned that the average age of first exposure to hardcore sex videos on the Internet is now the age of 11,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not government coming in and saying what you can and can&#8217;t watch. It&rsquo;s just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The legislator said the first 30 cases brought under the proposal would likely not win. He thought lawsuits would eventually succeed.<\/p>\n<p>He is also authoring a bill to help public libraries filter pornography on Wi-Fi connections.<\/p>\n<p>Weiler sponsored <a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/sweeping-vote-in-utah-labels-porn-dangerous-to-public-health-92952\/\">a resolution the Utah legislature passed in March 2016<\/a> that recognized pornography as &ldquo;a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The resolution charged that pornography perpetuates &ldquo;a sexually toxic environment&rdquo; and contributes to the &ldquo;hyper-sexualization&rdquo; of young children and teens. It cited pornography&rsquo;s potential impact on brain development and functioning, its potential to harm users&rsquo; ability to form intimate relationships, and its potential to lead to &ldquo;problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography &ldquo;treats women and children as objects.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The legislature said that pornography has a detrimental effect on the family linked to &ldquo;lessening desire in young men to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=ppC2WWp4Rqw:ENSIL-jPnU0:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/ppC2WWp4Rqw\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This Utah legislator wants internet porn peddlers to face lawsuits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 5, 2017 \/ 03:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- A lawmaker in Utah says the damage internet pornography can cause means people should be able to sue pornography companies. &ldquo;To pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children&rsquo;s minds as they&rsquo;re developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think is foolish,&rdquo; Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler said, according to the Utah news site KSL.com. Weiler has proposed to allow lawsuits against companies that put pornography on the internet. He especially aims to aid underage children and teens who become addicted to pornography. He compared the proposal to the 70 years of legal action taken against tobacco companies. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned that the average age of first exposure to hardcore sex videos on the Internet is now the age of 11,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not government coming in and saying what you can and can&#039;t watch. It&rsquo;s just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially.&rdquo; The legislator said the first 30 cases brought under the proposal would likely not win. He thought lawsuits would eventually succeed. He is also authoring a bill to help public libraries filter pornography on Wi-Fi connections. Weiler sponsored a resolution the Utah legislature passed in March 2016 that recognized pornography as &ldquo;a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography perpetuates &ldquo;a sexually toxic environment&rdquo; and contributes to the &ldquo;hyper-sexualization&rdquo; of young children and teens. It cited pornography&rsquo;s potential impact on brain development and functioning, its potential to harm users&rsquo; ability to form intimate relationships, and its potential to lead to &ldquo;problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography &ldquo;treats women and children as objects.&rdquo; The legislature said that pornography has a detrimental effect on the family linked to &ldquo;lessening desire in young men to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity.&rdquo;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Utah legislator wants internet porn peddlers to face lawsuits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 5, 2017 \/ 03:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- A lawmaker in Utah says the damage internet pornography can cause means people should be able to sue pornography companies. &ldquo;To pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children&rsquo;s minds as they&rsquo;re developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think is foolish,&rdquo; Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler said, according to the Utah news site KSL.com. Weiler has proposed to allow lawsuits against companies that put pornography on the internet. He especially aims to aid underage children and teens who become addicted to pornography. He compared the proposal to the 70 years of legal action taken against tobacco companies. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned that the average age of first exposure to hardcore sex videos on the Internet is now the age of 11,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not government coming in and saying what you can and can&#039;t watch. It&rsquo;s just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially.&rdquo; The legislator said the first 30 cases brought under the proposal would likely not win. He thought lawsuits would eventually succeed. He is also authoring a bill to help public libraries filter pornography on Wi-Fi connections. Weiler sponsored a resolution the Utah legislature passed in March 2016 that recognized pornography as &ldquo;a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography perpetuates &ldquo;a sexually toxic environment&rdquo; and contributes to the &ldquo;hyper-sexualization&rdquo; of young children and teens. It cited pornography&rsquo;s potential impact on brain development and functioning, its potential to harm users&rsquo; ability to form intimate relationships, and its potential to lead to &ldquo;problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography &ldquo;treats women and children as objects.&rdquo; The legislature said that pornography has a detrimental effect on the family linked to &ldquo;lessening desire in young men to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity.&rdquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-05T10:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Laptop_Credit_Thomas_Lefebvre_CC0_10_CNA_1_28_15.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/\",\"name\":\"This Utah legislator wants internet porn peddlers to face lawsuits\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-05T10:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-05T10:04:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 5, 2017 \/ 03:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- A lawmaker in Utah says the damage internet pornography can cause means people should be able to sue pornography companies. &ldquo;To pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children&rsquo;s minds as they&rsquo;re developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think is foolish,&rdquo; Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler said, according to the Utah news site KSL.com. Weiler has proposed to allow lawsuits against companies that put pornography on the internet. He especially aims to aid underage children and teens who become addicted to pornography. He compared the proposal to the 70 years of legal action taken against tobacco companies. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned that the average age of first exposure to hardcore sex videos on the Internet is now the age of 11,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not government coming in and saying what you can and can't watch. It&rsquo;s just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially.&rdquo; The legislator said the first 30 cases brought under the proposal would likely not win. He thought lawsuits would eventually succeed. He is also authoring a bill to help public libraries filter pornography on Wi-Fi connections. Weiler sponsored a resolution the Utah legislature passed in March 2016 that recognized pornography as &ldquo;a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography perpetuates &ldquo;a sexually toxic environment&rdquo; and contributes to the &ldquo;hyper-sexualization&rdquo; of young children and teens. It cited pornography&rsquo;s potential impact on brain development and functioning, its potential to harm users&rsquo; ability to form intimate relationships, and its potential to lead to &ldquo;problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography &ldquo;treats women and children as objects.&rdquo; The legislature said that pornography has a detrimental effect on the family linked to &ldquo;lessening desire in young men to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity.&rdquo;\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This Utah legislator wants internet porn peddlers to face lawsuits\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Utah legislator wants internet porn peddlers to face lawsuits","description":"Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 5, 2017 \/ 03:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- A lawmaker in Utah says the damage internet pornography can cause means people should be able to sue pornography companies. &ldquo;To pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children&rsquo;s minds as they&rsquo;re developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think is foolish,&rdquo; Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler said, according to the Utah news site KSL.com. Weiler has proposed to allow lawsuits against companies that put pornography on the internet. He especially aims to aid underage children and teens who become addicted to pornography. He compared the proposal to the 70 years of legal action taken against tobacco companies. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned that the average age of first exposure to hardcore sex videos on the Internet is now the age of 11,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not government coming in and saying what you can and can't watch. It&rsquo;s just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially.&rdquo; The legislator said the first 30 cases brought under the proposal would likely not win. He thought lawsuits would eventually succeed. He is also authoring a bill to help public libraries filter pornography on Wi-Fi connections. Weiler sponsored a resolution the Utah legislature passed in March 2016 that recognized pornography as &ldquo;a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography perpetuates &ldquo;a sexually toxic environment&rdquo; and contributes to the &ldquo;hyper-sexualization&rdquo; of young children and teens. It cited pornography&rsquo;s potential impact on brain development and functioning, its potential to harm users&rsquo; ability to form intimate relationships, and its potential to lead to &ldquo;problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography &ldquo;treats women and children as objects.&rdquo; The legislature said that pornography has a detrimental effect on the family linked to &ldquo;lessening desire in young men to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity.&rdquo;","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Utah legislator wants internet porn peddlers to face lawsuits","og_description":"Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 5, 2017 \/ 03:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- A lawmaker in Utah says the damage internet pornography can cause means people should be able to sue pornography companies. &ldquo;To pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children&rsquo;s minds as they&rsquo;re developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think is foolish,&rdquo; Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler said, according to the Utah news site KSL.com. Weiler has proposed to allow lawsuits against companies that put pornography on the internet. He especially aims to aid underage children and teens who become addicted to pornography. He compared the proposal to the 70 years of legal action taken against tobacco companies. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned that the average age of first exposure to hardcore sex videos on the Internet is now the age of 11,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not government coming in and saying what you can and can't watch. It&rsquo;s just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially.&rdquo; The legislator said the first 30 cases brought under the proposal would likely not win. He thought lawsuits would eventually succeed. He is also authoring a bill to help public libraries filter pornography on Wi-Fi connections. Weiler sponsored a resolution the Utah legislature passed in March 2016 that recognized pornography as &ldquo;a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography perpetuates &ldquo;a sexually toxic environment&rdquo; and contributes to the &ldquo;hyper-sexualization&rdquo; of young children and teens. It cited pornography&rsquo;s potential impact on brain development and functioning, its potential to harm users&rsquo; ability to form intimate relationships, and its potential to lead to &ldquo;problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography &ldquo;treats women and children as objects.&rdquo; The legislature said that pornography has a detrimental effect on the family linked to &ldquo;lessening desire in young men to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity.&rdquo;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2017-01-05T10:04:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Laptop_Credit_Thomas_Lefebvre_CC0_10_CNA_1_28_15.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/","name":"This Utah legislator wants internet porn peddlers to face lawsuits","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-01-05T10:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-05T10:04:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 5, 2017 \/ 03:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- A lawmaker in Utah says the damage internet pornography can cause means people should be able to sue pornography companies. &ldquo;To pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children&rsquo;s minds as they&rsquo;re developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think is foolish,&rdquo; Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler said, according to the Utah news site KSL.com. Weiler has proposed to allow lawsuits against companies that put pornography on the internet. He especially aims to aid underage children and teens who become addicted to pornography. He compared the proposal to the 70 years of legal action taken against tobacco companies. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned that the average age of first exposure to hardcore sex videos on the Internet is now the age of 11,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not government coming in and saying what you can and can't watch. It&rsquo;s just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially.&rdquo; The legislator said the first 30 cases brought under the proposal would likely not win. He thought lawsuits would eventually succeed. He is also authoring a bill to help public libraries filter pornography on Wi-Fi connections. Weiler sponsored a resolution the Utah legislature passed in March 2016 that recognized pornography as &ldquo;a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography perpetuates &ldquo;a sexually toxic environment&rdquo; and contributes to the &ldquo;hyper-sexualization&rdquo; of young children and teens. It cited pornography&rsquo;s potential impact on brain development and functioning, its potential to harm users&rsquo; ability to form intimate relationships, and its potential to lead to &ldquo;problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.&rdquo; The resolution charged that pornography &ldquo;treats women and children as objects.&rdquo; The legislature said that pornography has a detrimental effect on the family linked to &ldquo;lessening desire in young men to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity.&rdquo;","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/this-utah-legislator-wants-internet-porn-peddlers-to-face-lawsuits\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This Utah legislator wants internet porn peddlers to face lawsuits"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}