US Sex Sells News

A new Gallop poll has been published surveying the opinions of Americans on the subject of pornography.

For the first time, a majority of Democrats do not have moral qualms about pornography. The poll found that 53%t of Democrats see pornography as morally acceptable, an 11 point spike from last year and the biggest jump since Gallup began taking the survey in 2011.

Across a number of issues related to sexuality and sex, Americans have been adopting a more permissive viewpoint.

The percentage of all Americans who view pornography as morally acceptable jumped 7% this year to 43%. Previously the supportive fraction has risen only one or two percentage points each year.

Republican acceptance of pornographic material has also increased but remains relatively low at 27%.

Instagram has censored the hashtag #stripper and several related keywords that dancers use to find each other and organize online. Now, sex workers are taking to social media to spread the word, decry censorship, and suggest workarounds.

Currently, when you search Instagram for #stripper or #strippers, you are given a preview of just a couple top posts in the category. But if you click through to view the entire hashtag, the following message appears:

Recent posts from #strippers are currently hidden because the community has reported some content that may not meet Instagram's community guidelines.

The same thing was reportedly happening until very recently with a handful of related hashtags, including #yesastripper, #stripperstyle, and #stripperlife--but those appear to be back in action, demonstrating how quickly the sex work community has to adapt and change.

Instagram has yet to comment about the censorship, but is surely because of the recent US internet censorship law FOSTA. This would make Instagram responsible should any posts to #stripper be used to facilitate sex trafficking. As Instagram is unable to vet all such postings for possible traffcking then the only practical option is to ban all posts about sex work.

Update: Unbanned

1st June 2018. See  article from avn.com

By Thursday morning, Instagram had apparently backed down, telling Jezebel that, the hashtag #stripper can again be used and seen by the community in the spirit in which they are intended.

Instagram sent a statement on Thursday effectively rescinding the ban:

The safety of our community is our number one priority and we spend a lot of time thinking about how we can create a safe and open environment for everyone, Instagram said in the statement. This includes constantly monitoring hashtag behavior by using a variety of different signals, including community member reports. Access to recent posts and following hashtags are sometimes restricted based on content being posted with those hashtags. The hashtag #stripper can again be used and seen by the community in the spirit in which they are intended.

A Missouri state Senate committee is considering a resolution that would declare pornography a public health threat. The Republican-backed resolution declares that pornography perpetuates a sexually toxic environment.

The resolution argues that pornography can contribute to emotional and medical illnesses, shape deviant sexual arousal and has negatively affected the family unit.

GOP state Senator Ed Emery, whinged:

In my opinion, what is unveiled by a personal moral failure may be a reflection of a disturbing and invasive social evil -- that of the proliferation of pornography and modern culture's ambivalence toward it.

Far too often, such behavior grows out of an exposure to pornography, he added. Where is the outcry against the evil of pornography?