Listen, we’re not here to tell anyone they have to watch porn, or even that you should, but judging people for doing that is pretty last century. Unfortunately this hasn’t stopped presidential candidate Andrew Yang from weighing in on this totally pressing issue:

As a parent of young kids I believe rampant access to pornography is a real problem. We need to empower families to be able to moderate what our kids see and when. — Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) September 20, 2019

Let’s break down what’s wrong with this tweet. For one, families already have the ability to monitor and control what kids watch and see. Passwords, lock codes, filters, screentime limits; you name it, parents have had the tools to keep kids away from the naughty stuff for a long time. But the thing is, if kids want to see that stuff…they will. There’s lots of arguments and fear-mongering out there about porn, as much as there is about sex and violence in video games and movies, and most of the discussion makes the same mistake as Yang does here: it’s not about keeping kids away from the idea of sex, it’s about being honest with them and giving them good, positive information to keep them healthy and safe.

No one should get sex ed from porn, just like you should learn home security from Home Alone. It’s a fantasy and parents, and yes, educators, have the responsibility to actually talk to young people about sex. Porn is not the problem, nor are sex workers or sex in general. The problem is a larger society that shames, exploits and degrades people, especially women and minorities. That’s the real rampant problem and we won’t solve it by “empowering families” with strong web filters, but by changing how we as a society treat sex and sexuality as a whole.

Anyway, here are some good things from the internet.

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