10 Feb Porn Ban Bill introduced in Oklahoma
Posted
in Industry Knowledge
There’s a saying that goes something like, “I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.” All through 2024, people worldwide were being warned about the dangers of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a right-wing nationalist playbook for the next US conservative administration to implement. Now, despite the mainstream media telling us not to believe our lying eyes, being assured that it was fringe hyperbole, and being called hysterical for speaking out, it’s here.
Most of our heads are spinning from trying to keep up with the blitzkrieg of unlawful executive orders, fascist takeovers of government institutions, and awkward salutes from tech bro billionaires coming from this administration and its allies, and that’s by design. Two bills have been quietly introduced to committees, one is a national abortion ban (H.R. 722), and the other is the criminalization of porn and other adult content (SB593). We’re going to focus on the second one, as it directly impacts all sex workers and threatens not only our livelihoods but our freedom as well.
Oklahoma senator Dusty Deevers introduced SB593 on January 21st,2025, with the intent to “restore moral sanity” to his state. The bill, if passed, would prohibit pornography, and those who produce, distribute, or possess porn in the state would face up to 10 years in prison. Some of the language of the bill is intentionally ambiguous and vague, and once a law is enacted in a state, it becomes that much easier to implement on a federal level. It’s the same strategy being used for the back-door porn bans disgusted as age-verification laws that have spread across most of the conservative states in the country.
When announcing the bill, Senator Deevers said, “Pornography is both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug, It ruins marriages, ruins lives, destroys innocence, warps young people’s perception of the opposite sex, turns women into objects, turns men into objects, degrades human dignity, and corrodes the moral fabric of society. Any decent society will stand against this plague with the full weight of the law.” While compulsive porn consumption can be considered harmful, the same can be said of compulsive eating and working out, but nobody is trying to throw chefs and personal trainers in prison. Sex workers are being used as scapegoats to open the door for expanding these laws to broader definitions of “obscenity” in order to start the purge of other groups deemed undesirable to a Christian Nationalist ruling class.
A lot of us are feeling scared and helpless, which is completely understandable. The last two weeks have been a flood of things most people thought could never happen in the United States. And while it’s important to be cautious, stay safe, and protect our loved ones, it’s equally crucial to not lose hope. Resist peacefully until it’s no longer a viable option, use your platforms to speak out, attend protests, organize locally, and most importantly, do not obey in advance.
These are dangerous times; the guardrails are off, and the US was completely unprepared for this despite being told explicitly that this was the plan all along. But we as sex workers are not alone; marginalized communities all over the country are being targeted, and if we all stand together, we’ll be a coalition too large to quietly be disappeared. There are resources available that you can find with simple searches to help you find your community and organize on a local level, and learn the skills you’ll need to get through this. Be safe, be cautious, remain peaceful, and stand strong so we can all get through this together.
Resources
Riley Cyriis is a New England-based indie content creator and mortician. She owns Cyriis Studios with her partner, Ryan Cyriis. She’s a cult survivor, a heavily-armed liberal, and the enemy of corruption and greed.
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There’s a saying that goes something like, “I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.” All through 2024, people worldwide were being warned about the dangers of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a right-wing nationalist playbook for the next US conservative administration to implement. Now, despite the mainstream media telling us not to believe our lying eyes, being assured that it was fringe hyperbole, and being called hysterical for speaking out, it’s here.
Most of our heads are spinning from trying to keep up with the blitzkrieg of unlawful executive orders, fascist takeovers of government institutions, and awkward salutes from tech bro billionaires coming from this administration and its allies, and that’s by design. Two bills have been quietly introduced to committees, one is a national abortion ban (H.R. 722), and the other is the criminalization of porn and other adult content (SB593). We’re going to focus on the second one, as it directly impacts all sex workers and threatens not only our livelihoods but our freedom as well.
Oklahoma senator Dusty Deevers introduced SB593 on January 21st,2025, with the intent to “restore moral sanity” to his state. The bill, if passed, would prohibit pornography, and those who produce, distribute, or possess porn in the state would face up to 10 years in prison. Some of the language of the bill is intentionally ambiguous and vague, and once a law is enacted in a state, it becomes that much easier to implement on a federal level. It’s the same strategy being used for the back-door porn bans disgusted as age-verification laws that have spread across most of the conservative states in the country.
When announcing the bill, Senator Deevers said, “Pornography is both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug, It ruins marriages, ruins lives, destroys innocence, warps young people’s perception of the opposite sex, turns women into objects, turns men into objects, degrades human dignity, and corrodes the moral fabric of society. Any decent society will stand against this plague with the full weight of the law.” While compulsive porn consumption can be considered harmful, the same can be said of compulsive eating and working out, but nobody is trying to throw chefs and personal trainers in prison. Sex workers are being used as scapegoats to open the door for expanding these laws to broader definitions of “obscenity” in order to start the purge of other groups deemed undesirable to a Christian Nationalist ruling class.
A lot of us are feeling scared and helpless, which is completely understandable. The last two weeks have been a flood of things most people thought could never happen in the United States. And while it’s important to be cautious, stay safe, and protect our loved ones, it’s equally crucial to not lose hope. Resist peacefully until it’s no longer a viable option, use your platforms to speak out, attend protests, organize locally, and most importantly, do not obey in advance.
These are dangerous times; the guardrails are off, and the US was completely unprepared for this despite being told explicitly that this was the plan all along. But we as sex workers are not alone; marginalized communities all over the country are being targeted, and if we all stand together, we’ll be a coalition too large to quietly be disappeared. There are resources available that you can find with simple searches to help you find your community and organize on a local level, and learn the skills you’ll need to get through this. Be safe, be cautious, remain peaceful, and stand strong so we can all get through this together.
Resources
Riley Cyriis is a New England-based indie content creator and mortician. She owns Cyriis Studios with her partner, Ryan Cyriis. She’s a cult survivor, a heavily-armed liberal, and the enemy of corruption and greed.
