In a recently published post titled “The Assault on Freedom: How Pornography Bans Are the First Step Toward Authoritarian Control,” Black Label Magazine Director Lincoln offers what the publication described as “a scathing rebuke of the Supreme Court’s FSC v. Paxton decision and the broader wave of anti-pornography legislation sweeping the United States,” which the director sees as “a dangerous precursor to authoritarian censorship and control.”
Proclaiming that pornography is “always the first battlefield,” Lincoln noted that “from the Comstock Act all the way up to FSC v Paxton, certain groups have seeded actions in the United States government to restrict the freedom to produce and consume ‘pornography.’”
“The recent decision made by a highly partisan Supreme Court in FSC v Paxton has landed the first major blow against your right to consume erotic content in decades,” the director wrote. “You now have to give up private information to a third party – stoking fears and rumors that your data may be leaked or that you’ll end up on a list of ‘porn watchers.’ Whatever your fears*, the point is that you’re being overburdened by the government to privately enjoy the entertainment that you want to. All in the name of ‘protecting the children.’”
The article asserts that “sexual expression always comes under attack from groups and regimes that want to wield power over others,” and represents the first step in a process designed to suppress other forms of expression, as well.
“Targeting sex work and pornography also helps them suppress dissent,” Lincoln added, “Restricting sex work and pornography disproportionally impacts marginalized groups (e.g. women and nonconformists). Criminalizing and stigmatizing these groups limits their economic independence, justifies surveillance and enforcement of punitive measures under the guise of ‘public safety.’”
Lincoln’s post zeroes in on the role of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) and policy papers like the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 in lobbying for further restrictions on pornography (or in the case of Project 2025, a direct call for an outright ban on porn) and argues their efforts are “not just about pornography.”
“It’s about conditioning society to accept control, starting with your most private choices,” Lincoln wrote. “The FSC v. Paxton decision and Project 2025 are steps toward a theocratic vision that undermines the secular freedoms America was founded on.”
You can read the full article on BlackLabelMag.com.
