My followers know I hate talking about politics and current events, and generally refuse to do so, but this is important.
A bill has been introduced in the US that would make all pornography a federal crime. Owning it. Creating it. Distributing it.
Under this law, fanart of nude characters would be a federal crime.
Under this law, depictions of homosexuality or simply being transgender, would be considered pornography and a federal crime.
This bill is not going to pass.
However, the reason for this bill is to continue to push the "overton window". The reason for this bill is to make banning pornography seem more and more normal to everyone until they can actually do that.
And remember, they consider depictions of gay characters and transgenders characters "pornography" in any context, including platonic.
They have been working on this for a decade now and it has been working.
If you are one of the people in fandom who thinks that "nasty" porn on AO3 should be banned because it's "icky" or "immoral", then this mental scam is working on you.
Censorship is never about protecting people.
Censorship is always about control.
Do not let the rising moral panic affect your mind and make you weak to propaganda that lets others control you and control what you watch and read.
Do not fall for the scam.
When they say they are going to ban "pornography" it means they're going to ban anything they don't like by calling it "pornography" and they don't like you!!
@i-add-sources
Screenshot from this (paid) 404 media article (note that they do on occasion use clickbaity headlines):
Republican Senator Mike Lee introduced Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (again) last week, which would criminalize porn at the federal le
This is about the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act:
Text for S.5260 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Interstate Obscenity Definition Act
Read more about it here (archive link):
A new bill sponsored by Utah's senior U.S. senator Mike Lee would redefine obscenity under federal law, creating a pathway for a nationwide
Sen. lee's own statement on the bill:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act today to clarify the legal definition of “obsce
While it does not make pornography itself immediately illegal, it does make it much easier to prosecute it's distribution. This is a case of 404 being a bit clickbaity, despite being an otherwise trusted source
This list has your senators on it.
Every state has 2.
The phone number will follow the (202) 22X-XXXX format.
That means that the first senator on the list, Angela Alsobrooks, will have the phone number (202) 224-4524.
I’ve been calling my senators about this bill for months now. They’re tired of hearing from me. We need new voices raising hell.
You don’t actually have to talk to a person.
You can write an email. Your senator’s website will give you a way to do that when you click Contact Us.
If you just want to leave a message, then call after hours.
I’ve gotten a call back maybe 2/100 times, so don’t worry your head about it. They’re usually too busy to do it.
If you find that you don’t mind pestering politicians, you should know that each senator has multiple offices and that each of these offices has a phone number for you to call and voice opinions on.
If you visit your senator’s website looking for these phone numbers, you’ll need to go looking for the addresses of the offices first. Scroll all the way down and you’ll find the phone numbers.
This is important. This will impact all of us. Please at least try to help.
