The French government recently implemented a law requiring internet users to verify their age before accessing adult websites. In response, leading porn purveyor Pornhub blocked access to its site in France, its second biggest market after the United States, citing concern for user privacy.

This is just one piece of a larger effort in France to protect minors online. Authorities have also proposed restrictions on platforms like X and Bluesky, and President Emmanuel Macron has voiced support for banning social media access for children under 15.

The effects of early and chronic pornography exposure go far beyond the individual. What’s at stake is our shared understanding of sex, intimacy, and family.

France is not alone. Pornhub has already pulled out of 19 U.S. states over similar age-verification laws. And across the European Union, countries such as Spain, Italy, Germany, and Belgium are either considering new laws or expanding existing ones. Globally, Pornhub is banned in numerous countries, including Russia, China, India, and Pakistan.

At first glance, these laws may seem largely symbolic — easy to bypass for anyone with modest technical skills. And it’s true that they probably won’t stop determined adults or teens from finding workarounds. But that doesn’t mean they’re meaningless. In fact, we should celebrate these laws and others like them for two reasons.

First: Anything is better than nothing. Any law that makes it harder to access pornography is a good thing.

Second: The exposure of children to pornography is one of the most dangerous and under-acknowledged threats to our social fabric.

A 2022 study by Common Sense Media revealed alarming statistics:

• The median age of first exposure to pornography is just 12 years old, with many children exposed even earlier.
• 73% of all minors under 17 have consumed pornography.
• Of those exposed, 29% viewed it unintentionally, and of that group, 63% had been exposed in just the last week.

These numbers are staggering. They make it clear that pornography isn’t a fringe or hidden danger — it’s ambient. It’s part of everyday life for today’s youth. Even more disturbing: 63% of teens say they’re “OK” with the amount of pornography they consume.

This isn’t just a moral or spiritual problem — it’s a neurological and cultural crisis.

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Pornography is addictive — and disordering

Pornography is, by its nature, addictive. Like all addictions, it escalates: To sustain stimulation, the user must consume more — and often more extreme — content. But unlike many other addictions, pornography doesn’t just compromise behavior; it rewires the very foundations of a person’s sexual identity.

This is particularly dangerous for children. Young brains are pliable, and early experiences shape long-term patterns. The brain’s neurochemical response to sexual excitation — especially when triggered by pornography — creates what might be called a “first wire”: a foundational neurological connection that can define future desires, expectations, and impulses.

This is why early sexual exposure is so damaging — and why child sexual abuse causes such long-term trauma. Even in the absence of physical abuse, when the exposure is virtual and indirect, the impact can be profound. The body’s natural processes are being hijacked and twisted at the developmental level. Left unchecked, these patterns harden into addiction and dysfunction.

The cultural fallout

The effects of early and chronic pornography exposure go far beyond the individual. What’s at stake is our shared understanding of sex, intimacy, and family.

When young people learn about sexuality through pornography, rather than through healthy relationships, spiritual formation, or parental guidance, their entire framework for love, marriage, and family is warped. And because sexual identity is upstream from marriage and family, and because marriage and family are the bedrock of civilization, the consequences ripple outward across society.

This is not hyperbole. A society cannot survive without stable, self-giving families. And families cannot form or flourish if children are neurologically and morally disabled before they even reach adulthood. If a generation’s understanding of love and sexuality is shaped by pornography, then everything that flows from sexuality — courtship, commitment, procreation, parenting — is at risk of disintegration.

A moral and political imperative

We must stop treating pornography as merely a private moral failing. It is a public hazard. It is a systemic threat to the future of families, and by extension, to the future of nations.

The United States, a country that promises “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” should feel no hesitation in restricting or even prohibiting the industrial distribution of content that destroys life, undermines liberty, and poisons the very possibility of happiness.

Critics may call such laws prudish or paternalistic. But in truth, they represent a long-overdue return to moral sanity. They affirm what was once widely understood: that children must be protected from premature exposure to sexuality; that families are the cornerstone of any lasting civilization; and that not all freedoms are worth preserving when they come at the expense of human dignity.

A culture that cannot draw a line around what defiles its children is not a culture that can endure. Laws like France’s are a small but essential step in the right direction — and they deserve our full support.