Mass. Legislation Targets Senior and Disabled Porn
The most popular rationalization for moral panics is some version of the words of Helen Lovejoy from The Simpsons: "Won't someone please think of the children?" See the recent freakouts over "sexting" as an example. You would think that children were our number one national resource for allowing us to avoid talking about sex.
Massachusetts has come up with a novel new spin on the old prudishness: targeting sexual depictions of senior citizens and the disabled. In order to protect these two groups from "exploitation," Massachusetts State Rep Kathi-Anne Reinstein has submitted legislation that would punish the manufacture of adult materials starring persons over 60 or disabled persons with prison terms between ten and twenty years, plus fines ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. Legal Satyricon notes that not only is this law an assault against constitutional protections of speech, but it's also highly paternalistic about the sexual desirability and ability to consent of people who aren't young and perfectly healthy:
Believe it or not, there is a market for “elder porn,” as well as “disability porn,” and those markets are served by consenting, healthy, elderly and disabled models. Naturally, some of this market caters to fetishists, but before you start saying “ewwww,” consider that there also happen to be many healthy members of society who don’t believe that sexual desirability ends at 60, nor at any other age, and it’s not just big in Japan.
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What don't these people
What don't these people understand about the term "consenting adults"? Do they really think they need to protect everyone from themselves, as if after 60 there should be no more sexual expression of any kind?
Disabiliities as turn-on
Many years ago (mid-50s) I was attending Boston University and sharing a small place with a nice fellow who I didn't socialize with because I was so busy with school and work. One day, in a rush, I burst into the apartment and my friend was peeking out the window and masturbating.
He shrugged, zipped up his pants and explained to me that he had a great deal of sexual desire for men and especially men who were amputees. While he was talking I glanced out the window (2nd floor overlooking Commonwealth Ave.) and there was a fellow, one leg missing, with crutches, waiting at the bus stop.
I didn't realize he was gay; however it made no difference. He was a good guy and we shared the place for a couple of years. Directly across the street, his sister lived with a 2 year-old son and a husband working in New Jersey coming home on weekends. If my family came to Boston he would crash with his sister. Sis was unique. And I fell in love with her. That was 54 years ago and I love her to this day.
It takes all kinds.