As we all know, the internet- for better or worse- revolutionized pornography. Almost overnight, porn became free, and abundant. Anything for any fantasy became available, hence the creation of the famous Rule 34 (“If it exists, there is porn of it”). Internet porn was an instant hit, to say the least. According to the Internet Filter Review, there are currently 4.2 million pornographic websites- which accounts for 12% of the websites on the internet, and 68 million searches a day for porn.
Porn has always been controversial, and with the increased availability of it, it has only become more so. On the one side, it is argued that our society has become over-sexualized, that children are being exposed too young, women are being objectified, porn addiction is on the rise, and that sex is losing its mystery and is no longer a sacred bond. On the other side, it is argued that adults have the right to enjoy pornographic material as long as it involves consenting adults, and that porn can be a fun, erotic experience for both singles and couples. There are points to consider on both sides, but regardless, internet porn is certainly here to stay; to get rid of it, you’d have to get rid of the entire internet first.
We are currently entering a new era of internet porn. The dawn of the .xxx domain. Beginning this past September, the domain was opened up to trademarked companies for registration (I checked- walmart.xxx, mcdonalds.xxx, facebook.xxx, youtube.xxx- all taken). This is an important move. Say, for instance, someone were to start a pornographic site called ufv.xxx- well then every time someone googled UFV, instead of our lovely university they would find a porn site. Not ideal. Hence why UFV bought ufv.xxx (which I’m pretty sure they have no plans to develop into a porn site).
Now we’re at the point where anyone can buy a .xxx website if you’re willing to spend $99.99 a year. Not every one is being used for porn, per se; some .xxx domains are just bought to be edgy (such as kite.xxx, an extreme kite surfing website). But obviously, on the whole, .xxx was created for porn– effectively making a cyber red-light district.
There are some great advantages from this. For starters, it would be far easier to safeguard children from porn. It would also be more convenient for adults either trying to access or avoid porn. And, like a red-light district, easier to patrol for illegal content, such as child pornography.
However, there are fears about the new domain. What if, for instance, rather than .xxx being a voluntary option for porn sites, it became a mandatory option? At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a problem– in fact, it makes a certain amount of sense, for the above stated reasons. However, there would be the possibility that a country or state could make internet porn illegal and block all citizens from accessing .xxx sites. And what we have there is a freedom of speech issue. Sure, porn sites would continue to exist underground. But that’s not the point. The point is that, despite all of the potential problems porn can create, adults still have the right and choice to view it or not. Even scarier is the possibility that sex education sites could be forced to carry a .xxx domain as well, which would at least prevent youth from having access to healthy places to learn about sex and sexuality.
I’m personally not against the .xxx domain. I think it’s a great idea. The onus is on us, however, to ensure it isn’t used against itself. It’s hard to say at this point what the effects of this domain will be in the long run– but like the content .xxx represents, it’s sure to be large scale. We are about to witness a major shift in the virtual landscape.
Posted on 2012/01/27
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