Sen. Beavers takes on porn: It's a "public health crisis"

A resolution filed in the state Senate on Tuesday aims to officially recognize pornography as a "public health crisis" and makes men less interested in marrying.

Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, reintroduced a resolution that was filed last year that would formally declare pornography "a public health crisis, and therefore its harms are beyond the capability of the individual to address alone."

"My goodness, you can't even look at Facebook anymore without seeing something," Beavers said in an interview.

Beavers said she filed the resolution again after receiving calls from a group in Memphis providing information on pornography's effect on youth, including  "hyper-sexualization in teens and even pre-pubescent children."

The resolution states, without citing a source, that 27 percent of "older millennials" reported seeing porn for the first time before puberty, and has led to "low self-esteem and eating disorders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages, and an increased desire to engage in risky sexual behavior as young adolescents."

A similar resolution passed the Senate unanimously in 2016 but was never voted on in the House.

The resolution says pornography "treats women and children as objects" and sensationalizes rape culture, sex trafficking and other illicit behaviors.

Pornography also lessen's the desire in young men to marry, and propagates infidelity, the resolution reads.

If passed, the resolution would not create new state law. Instead, it would acknowledge "the need for education, prevention, research, and policy change at the community and societal level in order to address the epidemic that is harming the people of our State and our country as a whole."

Jake Lowary covers state government and politics for the USA Today Network. Follow him on Twitter @JakeLowary.