Banning porn is not the solution. Sex education is.

Last updated: July 29, 2025

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The modern world has had to deal with online pornography since the 1990s as a taboo topic. But recently, many countries have decided to fight against it, and have launched region-wide or even nation-wide measures against sharing pornographic material on the Internet.

As of August 2025, The Wankershop blocks access to anyone in:

If you live in one of these territories and wish to have access to my content, I plead you read this manifesto and fight for the legalization of pornography in your region.

Restricting porn is cultural censorship

Detail of the Turin Erotic Papyrus, dated to be made in 1150 BC in Ancient Egypt

Whether you like it or not, erotic and sexual depictions have been around us even beyond prehistoric times, from petroglyphs found in Germany that date over 7,500 years ago, to the Kama Sutra, an ancient Indian scripture that served as a “sex manual” on how to have a plentiful and healthy life with sex, exploring other dimensions such as love and maximizing the connection towards your partners.

Biologically speaking, reproduction is the centerpiece in which all of biology revolves around, with the vast majority focusing on sexual reproduction. It’s a bit ironic that such a fundamental part of nature is considered as taboo. Many animals spend the vast majority of their adult lives looking for a mate, because ultimately biology has driven everyone into wanting procreation for the express purpose of perpetuating their kind. And that includes us humans. There are more than a thousand of examples of all sorts of “sexual deviancy” throughout the animal kingdom: Homosexuality in mammals, natural change of sex in fish, and adultery in birds, with no seemingly amoral repercussions for the majority of these cases. In fact, it seems like sexual fluidity, polygamy and bisexuality seem to be more of the norm than a committed heterosexual and monogamous relationship.

But as the rational beings we are, it seems like these practices have been considered unethical and “indecent” for being impediments to create the sustainable and monogamous unit that is family, even if it deprives everyone from understanding sexuality in ourselves. We should instead be studying sex in all of its dimensions: How varied it can get with its kinks and fetishes, what consent actually means, and how much damage it could cause without proper sex education. Sex isn’t just about putting a stick into a hole.

Pornography could be, in a way, considered as a form of art, as a way of putting into images what sex and eroticism is. Is it capitalized and turned into commercialized garbage? Of course it is, but so is the same with your Netflix subscription. What difference do you see there in regards of “culture”?

It should be up to us to be aware of what kind of pornography is considered good for our dumb minds, and what could be unhealthy. We fear it because it’s not well known, and when we think it fits something the likes of Srpski film, we ban it. In modern times, apparently that applies to every kind of porn.

We should avoid the mistakes people from the Middle Ages made when they feared literally everything because they didn’t bother to have the required open mindedness to understand that there was no such thing as miasma, and it was just a matter of good hygiene to prevent cholera. We have AIDS now; would banning porn help on preventing its spread? This remains a highly debated question, but it’s still too dangerous make assumptions based merely on gut feel.

Some might bring the topic of “threatening freedom of speech” here, but I personally believe that this argument is mostly invalid. Your freedoms end where mine begin, and if you feel entitled to your freedoms that you have to disturb other people showing porn everywhere, that’s no longer freedom of speech; it’s disturbing the freedoms and beliefs of others. These should be negotiated and mutually understood and agreed upon.

Porn may be being used as a scapegoat of more pressing issues

Porn is hardly the cause of moral degeneracy. In fact, some researches suggest the opposite: “When pornography becomes widely available, sexual crime rates do not increase and sometimes even decrease, suggesting a possible cathartic or substitutive effect.” (Source: Legalizing pornography: Lower sex crime rates? Study carried out in Czech Republic shows results similar to those in Japan and Denmark). Researchers have this widely popular “catharsis theory”, where pornography is seen as a substitutive outlet, or in layman’s words: “People watch porn to vent their frustrations”.

The only situation in which pornography could be linked to sexual offenses as a (still minor) factor is when the offender already is subject to other much more important factors: Psychopathy, being influenced by toxic masculinity, antisocial personality disorders, and other pre-existing individual traits (Sources: Use of Pornography with Sex Offenders: A Controversial Conundrum, Problematic Pornography Use and Physical and Sexual Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Among Men in Batterer Intervention Programs)

Some have even considered that researches on pornography seem to have a bias of wanting to find negative aspects about it. (Source: How Science Studies Pornography Impact and What Science Can, and Cannot, Tell Us). There is a lot of research yet to be made on the topics of pornography being linked to sex offenders.

While addiction to porn is undeniably real, research on addiction can be quite divisive, with some arguing that there are other factors other than the porn material itself. Regardless, nowadays most researchers consider that the most effective way to intervene in cases of porn addiction is to raise awareness on the reality of pornography and how it differs from sex in real life. Sexual education for young people is particularly crucial for an adequate and healthy development of one’s sexuality. (Source: Is Moral Panic Around Porn Misplaced?)

Prohibition 2: Sexy Electric Boogaloo

Researches suggest that pornography is subject to the balloon effect: The supply of pornographic content remains the same even if restrictions destroy major producers of content, much like alcohol and other substances like drugs. It only shifts from a reduced amount of major to widespread minor producers.

In parallel, limiting access to pornography doesn’t reduce the demand for it, which encourages displacement. When it comes to online pornography, the following workarounds exist, which carry their own set of risks:

Within 2 days after the United Kingdom’s OSA regulation went into effect, usage of Proton VPN increased by 1400% (Source: The Register), which is worth noting considering that 46% of UK adolescents age 16-17 were already using VPNs and similar workarounds (Source: Policy & Internet Journal). Similar sign-up spikes to that same VPN service of 1000% were reported in France and Utah shortly after blocking access to sites like PornHub. (Source: Clubic)

Without access to a legal framework, there is no precedence of what kind of content should be allowed in these alternative sites. Much like Prohibition and the War on Drugs that occurred in the United States, it’s expected that more extreme pornographic content will be available in these places, particularly in the dark web as it allows for anarchy. This allows for producers to violate human rights willy-nilly, from slavery and human trafficking to discrimination and all kinds of violence. This also applies for pornography distributed in physical format, even if its market is dwindling.

By restricting access to safer alternatives, people will gravitate towards riskier places that could deliver extremely disturbing content. I’m not talking about something the likes 2 Girls 1 Cup; I’m talking about productions akin to Srpski film, a movie with themes that are so incredibly disturbing that I personally believe it can irreversibly change the mentality of one person, with the most notorious example being using newborns as porn actors.

Depending on the enforcement of these restrictions, other unintended consequences include mass and unfair incarceration (including incarceration of minorities), corruption, and the instauration of a money sink in the institutions that police it. In the two extremes:

But regardless of the enforcement, blocking a safe pathway to pornography will make accessing more dangerous pathways to it much easier, making content like CSEM, gore, torture, and other incredibly disturbing content more accessible than ever, as it is estimated that 1 and 5 sites in the dark web distribute content of at least one of these.

Further sources:

Age verification is ineffective, and a blatant violation of privacy

In the old days, age verification was simple and efficient. Anyone can tell who was an adult and who wasn’t, but when brought into question, they could check a proof of identity in a rather secretive manner, as you handed your ID proof hand to hand and sometimes in proximity of people you trusted. However, it was far from perfect. People could still fake their IDs to prove they were of age.

When digital technology came into play, age verification has worsened significantly: Often trivially easy to bypass, and when foolproof it becomes extremely inefficient and prone to false negatives, or worse, false positives of being of age. Plus, you are handing over your personal data to a third party that they may choose to store for later, something that did not happen in the analogic days. If that third party is hacked later on, you run the risk of being doxed and your information could become publicly available. Such privacy concerns, especially when talking about risqué topics such as pornography, are completely unacceptable.

Besides, if there’s even a potential to exploit even the smallest weakness into the wall, it very quickly becomes useless. It’s common knowledge that a non-trivial percentage of children are capable of bypassing the parental control systems some of our devices have. This has also happened in the pre-digital world: Ever heard of anyone who has accidentally found their parents’ stash of pornography that they have hidden away?

And yet, no matter how good, age verification systems have one unavoidable hurdle: Accessibility. Those who struggle with smartphones or computers (due to either coming from before the digital age or a certain disability) will find themselves locked out of whatever feature that requires age verification, even for things that aren’t watching porn, such as making a bank account or performing certain administration operations. (Source: Age Verification in the European Union: The Commission’s Age Verification App; I don’t really agree with EFF’s take of the eIDAS system, but they’re absolutely on the right on this topic)

User generated content is especially contentious: Companies that host that kind of content are not liable for any damages caused by any kind of content as long as it’s deemed legal in the jurisdiction in which they operate. While this is a freedom that I and many internet advocates support, it also means that companies are not forced by law to moderate content if they don’t feel like it’s worth investing resources on, causing the Internet to become extremely neglected on moderation.

Content must be moderated, yes, but that moderation mustn’t be legally binding. But because of this neglect, it’s up to us adults to curate the content for our children and the younger generation. As my own suggestion, guidelines on what content should a child engage with shall be published and standardized globally for all parents, while also providing reasoning to children on why these kinds of contents, as well as best practices on searching and filtering content on the Internet, and how to deal with undesirable content in a healthy manner. This is especially important with the rise of generative AIs.

This is not just about pornography

And now, a little bit of a personal experience of mine: Let us return to Spain during the 1940–60s, under the dictatorial catholic regime of Francisco Franco.

Pornography was strictly prohibited, both owning and distributing content of any kind. But that was just scratching the surface of the Francoist censorship.

Masturbation causes physical and brain fatigue, headaches, nervous system problems, restlessness, premature ejaculation, powerlessness and early aging.

When Francisco Franco rose to power after the Spanish Civil War, he censored, silenced and oppressed the voices of those who didn’t follow his catholic views. And this is the point where I would bring the free speech argument: Not just a minority, but half a nation were quietly (and not so quietly) put to shut up. And yet, several of the most currently celebrated visionaries of the time who resisted the repression, such as Federico García Lorca, still tried to maintain a certain respect to the rules, as it was the freedom of speech of those who were catholic.

By the 1970s, as some of these restrictions began to loosen a bit, some circles had already become aware of the problem of the declining sexual education in the youth, something that eventually made its way into film.

Adiós, Cigüeña, Adiós movie poster

An offbeat film about a vital social issue of our times! The creation of life must not be left as a mystery to our children…!

Adiós, cigüeña, adiós (Bye-bye, stork; 1973) managed to slip past the Francoist censorship radar and introduced to the Spanish people depictions of human sexual reproduction, the misogynistic figure of toxic masculinity, rape, and even unwanted pregnancies in children, as a warning sign of what awaited the Spanish society should sexual education not be reintroduced in the scholar curriculum.

Other issues that were elephants in the room concerned about homosexuals who sought refuge in the church from being persecuted by the regime, resulting in numerous cases of pædophilia, much like in other regions of the Christian world; and a noticeable spike in incestuous relationships.

Grooming and rape cases were censored as “crimes against honesty” during the Francoist regime, yet the number of cases reported were comparable to those in current times. Researches suggest that if these were made as visible as they were in 2017, the actual number of cases reported should have been 10 times that of today, and this uptick in incidence was strongly linked to the following factors, starting from the strongest:

  1. The complete deletion of sexual education in Spanish schools
  2. Repression of sex out of marriage and sex itself being a taboo topic
  3. Gender inequality, that of males being regarded as the superior gender.
  4. Social stigma on the victims of sexual abuse.

After the death of Franco in 1975, Spain transitioned from a totalitarian to a democratic government, and the era of censoring came to a close. Almost immediately, a tsunami of foreign and national culture struck the country, now known as el destape (the revealing [of the naked body]); human reproduction was reintroduced back into schools, and authors that were persecuted by their homosexuality are now celebrated and taught in schoolbooks.

In the present day, Spain is one of the loudest voices on gender equality, as well as joining alongside other European countries on opening up to exploring sexuality in all of its dimensions, from gender fluidity to transitioning, and while pornography is still seen as a taboo topic, sexual education is on the rise. However, 69% of Spaniards between 16 and 25 years old believe that they haven’t received enough sexual education, but they are willing to learn more, which is better than nothing. Best of all, despite sexual offenses being reported more often than in the 1950s, it’s still 1/10 of what the actual number of cases in the past is estimated to have been in actuality.

Sources:

However, in countries like the United States, this trend seems to be reversing: The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is seeking to ban porn altogether, claiming that the purveyors of pornography being regarded as “child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women”, with scientific reports that were published with clear interests on backing the project, completely against the scientific method by starting with the conclusion and then “doing the science” to back it up.

Ironically, the Trump administration (which has links to the Heritage Foundation) has expressed interest on “menstrual education”, and is considering giving economic incentives per baby a woman has given birth to, with an unmistakable subtext that encourages them to become “breeding machines”. Even the incumbent president Donald Trump himself has made comments rating the attractiveness of several women on a scale from 1 to 10, much like the lingo of the “red-pilled” and “black-pilled” communities which celebrate specific yet extremely toxic aspects of masculinity. Unequivocally, this is misogyny by objectification of women, and far worse, an attempt to corrupt our understanding of the female sex.

The main problem with censorship of pornographic content is that anyone in power can draw a line wherever they want about what could be considered as “pornographic”. Does suggestive clothing or food meet the criteria? Do phallic shapes count as pornographic? Are breasts to be considered sexual parts of the human body, hence we should hide them? Are kisses sexual? Is raising eyebrows to raise attention to someone sexual? Is a photo of a shirtless man porn? Is a photo of someone whose crack is visible on their ripped pants too sexual?

A kid in a Japanese anime, with his penis clearly visible, versus the same character grown up, with his crotch censored Must we censor an 18-year old penis? Is leaving a 10-year old boy’s prepubescent genitals visible something acceptable? (According to Japanese legislation, both statements are true)

Under a totalitarian regime, it’s anyone’s guess whether something as innocent as a wedgie could be considered a sexual act; it’s up to your nation’s dictator whether your sexual education will be sufficient for you to have a healthy life, but often blinded by their convictions, this is usually not the case.

The United Kingdom with its OSA regulation, despite the claims of its proponents that it will protect the lives of children, has already been reported that support networks are being locked under age verification, including:

I will stress this again. These regulations are isolating children by cutting out support groups that are absolutely crucial platforms that could be their last lifeline. And it’s exclusively to children.

CHILDREN WILL DIE BECAUSE OF THESE OVER THE TOP REGULATIONS.

THESE REGULATIONS DO NOT PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN.
THEY ARE TARGETED WEAPONS TO COVERTLY MURDER THEM.

So if it’s not about the children, what are these regulations for, really?

It’s all about the money!

The EU’s current proposal for an age verification app seemed to be on an interesting track that balances privacy and security, at the cost of the inconvenience of digital systems. But the launch of its prototype, the Mini-ID wallet, clearly shows it’s been extremely rushed and has lots of rough edges (a bit ironic, considering the European Commission takes forever to do anything). However, the Commission acknowledges this and that they’ll iterate over the system as they test it.

However, the most flagrant flaw about it is that the EU’s age verification app is simply an option. The Digital Service Act (DSA) actually states that as long as it’s robust enough to comply with the EU’s guidelines, any form of age verification is valid.

Even though the DSA discourages discrimination when performing these verifications, it actually doesn’t disallow it. And while discrimination of race, facial features and gender is unacceptable, it is likely that this will be unavoidable for a while for two reasons: As mentioned before, there are people with difficulties accessing digital services, and these will be inherently discriminated. Devices incompatible with age verification systems will also be sources of class discrimination.

But by far the most blatant form of discrimination is going to be the class discrimination caused by paywalls. Although strongly discouraged under the EU, X has sort of implemented a paid verification system. Their guidelines state that X premium users who verified their accounts prior to the enactment of the UK’s regulations are deemed to have “very strong claims to be of age”. This is completely inaccurate and only discriminates people who are loyal to the platform to pay for these perks, and those who aren’t. So it is expected that, in their financial interest, companies will push regulators to allow them to use paid verification systems.

Screenshot of an age verification app in the UK

It doesn’t help that the UK and the EU’s systems of “zero knowledge proofs” may be completely undermined by the fact that they’re actively stating that a minified claim of identity (by scanning your ID documents and create a claim that you are over a certain age) may not be sufficient in some businesses, and that these could pressure regulators to allow them to ask for more information, or otherwise they’ll stick to a different system; especially if it provides some economic incentive.

I’m going to be blunt here. Combining this with the fact that these regulations don’t give any useful protection to children:

YOUR CHILDREN'S LIVES WILL BE TRADED FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, POUNDS AND EUROS.

IF YOU'RE IN FAVOR OF THESE REGULATIONS, YOU'RE ACTIVELY SELLING OUT YOUR CHILDREN.

Conclusions and demands

This manifesto is NOT an attack against neither Catholic nor Protestant christianism. The stance of this manifesto is that the values that the Francoist dictatorship tried to defend in order to protect Spanish families and the Spanish society were actually hampering both of them, because it starved the Spanish society of knowledge on sex by abiding to a specific ideal of making a monogamous family, and suppressing the remaining aspects that conform the complex and often confusing world that is sexuality. Christianism simply happens to traditionally align to those values. However, even the interpretation of the Bible can get contentious sometimes, and as of recent, thanks to the efforts of Pope Francis I, the values of the Catholic church seem to be aligning with contemporary values of sexology and sexual orientation.

It is a crucial point of this manifesto to state the acknowledgement of this change in the Catholic church, as well as denoting that the values of the Francoist dictatorship could be applied anywhere, regardless of religion, culture or traditional and historic values. And currently, this is happening in certain regions around the world, with particular mentions to Asia, the Middle East, and the United States of America.

What this manifesto actually represents is a warning to everyone about the dangers of neglecting the culture of sex and sexual education, as well as a wake up call for those in power to consider pro-sex values in their government agendas. Left unchecked, our society will be plagued with people with degenerated ideals on sex, willing to cause rampage on women, children and men alike.

I hereby declare my demands to those in power:

  1. Make full, truthful and professional sex education universal to everyone at the age of 6 to 18 years old. Even prior to puberty, children may already be accidentally exposed to pornography. Education shall include but not be limited to: basics on sexology vocabulary, puberty, coital and non-coital sex, sexual orientation, consent, STIs, myths on sex, sexual values and regulations across cultures and history, paraphiliæ and assessing which are morally safe and correct, sexual paraphernalia, psychology of sex, morality of sex and its social criticism, erotic media and pornography, and their differences with sex in real life; menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth; masturbation, arousal and orgasms; sexual anatomy and erogenous areas, gender theory and gender transition, cybersex, theory of love and its differentiation to lust, maintaining healthy relationships and finding out toxic and/or abusive relationships and how to deal with them, the development of toxic behaviors including but not limited to objectification, misogyny and idealization of beauty standards; prostitution, other related sex related jobs and their moral implications; basics on criminology and sexual offenses, and defining, dealing with, and overcoming sexual abuse. Equal access to the full education shall be guaranteed to everyone, regardless of their assigned sex at birth and currently assumed sex, gender, sexual orientation, and other discriminatory traits of one's identity, including but not limited to race, religion, age, political alignment, and neurodevelopmental conditions. Education shall be adapted in an non-discriminatory way to accommodate for those having difficulty of understanding certain topics to ensure protection against misinformation.
  2. Define all types of pornographic content as thoroughly as possible, and set guidelines on how to respect each other's preferences. There shall be no room for vagueness. There shall be systems set in place to inform and explain to consumers of pornography which content is particularly sensitive and/or disrespects the identity of a specific trait of anyone's sexuality, including but not limited to gender, sex, or preferences, and only allow the display of said content with the full, exclusive, untransferable and non-delegable, BUT NOT irrevocable approved consent of the consumer. Additionally, there shall be systems set in place to ensure that the consumer of pornographic content does not see anything that they have given full, exclusive, untransferable, non-delegable AND irrevocable disclosure that they do not wish to see any content of a particular kind.
  3. Invest in UNBIASED sexology research, including but not limited to the causes of development of pornography addiction and society disrupting behaviors. No interests of any kind, including but not limited political and economical, shall be taken into consideration in these researches, and shall be peer reviewed by refuted researchers who are equally not biased by any interest.
  4. Promote open mindedness and mutual understanding on sexuality across cultures and moral frameworks. No one shall use the argument of freedom of speech when the freedoms of others feel compromised. Cultural shocks and disputes shall be negotiated through dialogue in the best interests on cultural exchange.
  5. Regularize pornography and sex work in all of its dimensions as equally fair as any other form of visual media, and establish a system to rate the content of a piece of pornographic content according to the guidelines previously defined. Online, it shall not be restricted by age verification, as it is ineffective, prone to error, and violates the privacy of everyone, including those who don't regularly consume pornographic content in this manner. Payment provider services shall not have the final saying on any transaction involving pornography or sex work of any kind. Whether someone spends their money on porn or something else in fair trade shall be entirely up to their decision.
  6. Educate parents to be honest about sex with their children and ensure their children's trust at an early age, as well as to provide guidance and company in their journey of sexual discovery. Trust is quintessential so that children listen to their parents in an honest manner, and one of the best ways to do this is by reinforcing a safe attachment of the children to their parents, by being their guide in a supporting but regulated manner, yet not too regulated so as to avoid being overbearing.
  7. Invest on education campaigns debunking myths about sex and barrelling down preconceptions about sex and pregnancy established by untruthful or unverified sources. Natural abortion shall be distinguished from induced abortion. The former shall be recognized as universally acceptable, while the latter may or may not be interpreted in different ways depending on the culture and posture of an individual, wherein dialogue shall be necessary to negotiate and promote mutual understanding of every individual's posture on induced abortion. However, induced abortion shall not be made universally unavailable. Truthfully verified methods to avoid unwanted pregnancies such as contraceptives shall be made universally available, especially those that provide protection against infection of STIs.
  8. Disallow pressuring companies on moderating content. This does not mean that all content, moral or amoral, shall be allowed online, but that the right that companies allowing for user generated content to be uploaded on their platforms shall not be liable to damages caused by the content uploaded by their users must be preserved, for its revocation would turn the Internet as we know it into a totalitarian surveillance hellscape.
    1. Instead, invest in education campaigns to parents and children about detecting adult content online and how to curate and guide their children responsibly in an Internet where there is little moderation.
  9. Establish a clear line between consensual and non-consensual sex, taking into account the emotional maturity and the age of both parties, but disregarding discriminatory factors such as race and gender.
  10. Promote and provide psychological and/or psychiatric help for those who have been affected by sexual abuse and other offenses. This assistance shall be offered to anyone regardless of their condition and whether they have committed sex offenses.
  11. Define the concepts and limits of "safe" sex, exposing the consequences of STIs, and promote the usage of contraceptives and other tools to improve safety during sex. Clinical trials on new contraceptives shall be exercised with the sole interest on guaranteeing the safety of those who perform sexual acts. The efficacy of contraceptives on preventing unwanted pregnancies shall be tested and be considered as one but not the only benchmark of its safety performance.
  12. Define thoroughly what it means to commit a felonious sexual act in public, and when and/or where shall it be permitted. For prohibiting these paraphiliæ outright promotes such felonious acts.
  13. Promote body positivity by encouraging self-exploration of the sexuality of children and teenagers as they grow. Practices that harm one's physical and mental health, or practices that promote unhealthy standards such as idealization of a body shape or weight or the conformity of an unhealthy body shall not be encouraged. Physical education shall include outlining body changes during puberty, pregnancy, and both pathological or induced hormonal changes, in order to provide understanding of these changes and how one can deal with them in a healthy and positive manner.

Banning porn will not increase the population of your nation, but actually causes it to decrease.

Imposing age restrictions will increase socioeconomic inequalities and will cause the cost of living to rise.

Banning sexual education will cause more degeneracy than allowing porn to be distributed, and sex offenses will multiply in your nation, causing a vicious loop that will motivate lawmakers to impose more strict regulations, causing more covert and more extreme degeneracy.

Porn does not create unproductive people, but constant oppression to them does.

Something as natural to the world as sex must NOT be persecuted. IT IS A FUNDAMENTAL PART OF OUR LIVES. If suppressed by means of censorship or oppression, society falls apart and it WILL go extinct.

If you agree with the points this manifesto concerns about, share it with everyone. Spread the word: Banning porn is not the solution. Sexual education is.