After the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, eleven schools across America have fallen prey to mass shootings. Places of worship, clinics, concerts and other locations regularly deemed safe have also found themselves as crime scenes in recent years. In 2018 alone, America has already faced 21 mass shootings.
There have been many reasons cited for these tragedies, such as mental health, video games and bullying, but Republican representative Diane Black believes that pornography is to blame.
The Washington Post reports that during a recent meeting with a group of ministers, Black questioned what drove and continues to drive people to be so violent and was looking towards the “root causes.” She believes that violence in film, “deterioration of family” and yes, pornography are to blame.
Black stated, “Pornography, it’s available, it’s available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store. Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there’s pornography there. All of this is available without parental guidance. And I think that is a big part of the root cause.”
During a meeting last week with local pastors, Republican Rep. Diane Black raised the issue of gun violence in schools and why it keeps happening.
“Pornography,” she said.
“It’s available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store.” https://t.co/BkG2wRad7y
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 29, 2018
As the publication points out, there has yet to be any kind of science to prove that this is even likely. However, existing studies are more focused on what pornography does to one’s romantic and sexual lives rather than their mental health and likelihood of committing violence.
“Debating porn’s ills on society seems like a game of choose-your-own-study. There are studies that claim to show a link between pornography and a myriad of sexual, mental and emotional problems. And there are studies that claim to show porn watching actually helps people’s relationships. In Denmark, some teachers actually use the topic of porn to teach students about the difference between consensual and nonconsensual sex, the Economist reports.
Branding porn as a public health hazard, though, also doesn’t change advocates’ fundamental problem: They have little legal recourse to limit it.”
As Dr. Rachel O’Neill, a Talkspace therapist, told Teen Vogue, “Although it’s tempting to point to one single causal factor, the reality is, there are likely a number of reasons why there is an increase in gun-related violence. Moreover, to blame pornography for gun violence misses the bigger picture that there are many countries in which pornography and prostitution are legal and yet those countries don’t necessarily also have elevated rates of gun violence and school shootings.”
While it’s unclear why she believes that pornography could lead someone to take another’s life, it is clear, according to her website, that she believes there needs to be a better focus on mental health and not stricter gun control that could stop these episodes from happening. The discussion of mental health is important, but so is the conversation on stricter gun control.