Iceland porn: Tackling the impact of porn on youths

Editor: Vlad Rothstein | Tactical Investor

Iceland Porn: How Iceland Dealt With This Issue

The government is considering introducing internet filters, such as those used to block China off from the worldwide web, in order to stop Icelanders downloading or viewing pornography on the internet. The unprecedented censorship is justified by fears about the damaging effects of the internet on children and women.

Ogmundur Jonasson, Iceland’s interior minister, is drafting legislation to stop the access of online pornographic images and videos by young people through computers, games consoles and smartphones.

“We have to be able to discuss a ban on violent pornography, which we all agree has very harmful effects on young people and can have a clear link to incidences of violent crime,” he said.

Methods under consideration include blocking access to pornographic website addresses and making it illegal to use Icelandic credit cards to access pay-per-view pornography Full Story

“Iceland is taking a very progressive approach that no other democratic country has tried,” said Professor Gail Dines, an expert on pornography and speaker at a recent conference at Reykjavik University. “It is looking a pornography from a new position – from the perspective of the harm it does to the women who appear in it and as a violation of their civil rights.”

“I believe – and research backs it – that material that children see online affects their ideas on sex. Nonetheless this is something that teaches us that we need to react before the damage is done and we need to prevent children seeing something online that might harm them or give them delusions”, explained Dagbjört Ásbjörnsdóttir, a sexologist at the Reykjavik department of Education and Youth.

How Iceland Got Teens to Say No to Drugs

Walking with me are Gudberg Jónsson, a local psychologist, and Harvey Milkman, an American psychology professor who teaches for part of the year at Reykjavik University. Twenty years ago, says Gudberg, Icelandic teens were among the heaviest-drinking youths in Europe. “You couldn’t walk the streets in downtown Reykjavik on a Friday night because it felt unsafe,” adds Milkman. “There were hordes of teenagers getting in-your-face drunk.”We approach a large building. “And here we have the indoor skating,” says Gudberg. A couple of minutes ago, we passed two halls dedicated to badminton and ping pong. Here in the park, there’s also an athletics track, a geothermally heated swimming pool and—at last—some visible kids, excitedly playing football on an artificial pitch.

Young people aren’t hanging out in the park right now, Gudberg explains, because they’re in after-school classes in these facilities, or in clubs for music, dance, or art. Or they might be on outings with their parents.

Iceland porn ban: what happened?

The sheer volume of porn on the Internet, coupled with the existence of proxy services and VPNs, already made this idea unworkable in a practical sense. As well-intended as it might have been, the proposal was also met with fierce resistance from free speech advocates. Ultimately, the proposal was scattered to the winds. Full Story

Iceland porn Ban update 2019

Iceland is considering installing Internet filters to block Icelanders from viewing porn. If that ban goes ahead as expected this spring, the country will be the first Western democracy to attempt to censor the Internet. Iceland already forbids the creation and distribution of print pornography, and in the past few months, a national consensus has emerged that pornography is harmful to the women who perform in it and promotes sexist or even violent attitudes in men. Installing appropriate filters could be tricky, but Halla Gunnarsdottir of the Interior Ministry is convinced it can be done.

“Surely if we can send a man to the moon,” she said, “we must be able to tackle porn on the Internet.” Full Story

Iceland Porn: Tackling the impact of porn on youths

Iceland Porn: How Iceland Dealt With This Issue

How Iceland Got Teens to Say No to Drugs

Iceland porn ban: what happened?

Iceland porn Ban update 2019

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