A roundup of news and commentary from around the interwebs.
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Good news: “Washington University to end gender-affirming care for all minors.” An excerpt:
Washington University in St. Louis will stop prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors for the purpose of gender transition, the university announced Monday. It will refer any minor patients currently receiving that care to other providers.
A new Missouri law banning minors from beginning gender-affirming treatments allowed an exception for youth who began treatment before August 28 to continue it. Washington University cited a “new legal claim” for patients who received medications as minors in its decision to discontinue the care for all minors. The university published a statement Monday on the decision.
Christopher Rufo describes an ongoing battle over conservative reforms at New College in Florida, which included abolishing the gender studies program. The Biden Administration is striking back: “High Stakes in Florida.”
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The ever-insightful Aaron Renn has an analysis of the ongoing collapse of faith, particularly in Scotland: “Faith no more.”
I was ten years old when I watched porn for the first time. I found myself on Pornhub, which I stumbled across by accident and returned to out of curiosity. The website has no age verification, no ID requirement, not even a prompt asking me if I was over 18. The site is easy to find, impossible to avoid, and has become a frequent rite of passage for kids my age.
Where was my mother? In the next room, making sure I was eating nine differently colored fruits and vegetables on the daily. She was attentive, nearly a helicopter parent, but I found online porn anyway. So did my friends.
Today I’m 16, and my peers are suffering from an addiction to what many call “the new drug.” Porn is the disastrous replacement for intimacy among my sexless, anxiety-ridden generation.
First, let’s get on the same page about what porn really is today. When I talk to adults, I get the strong sense they picture a hot bombshell in lingerie or a half-naked model on a beach. This is not what I stumbled upon back in fourth grade. I saw simulated incest, bestiality, extreme bondage, sex with unconscious women, gangbangs, sadomasochism, and unthinkable physical violence. The porn children view today makes Playboy look like an American Girl doll catalog.
I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again: We need to ban pornography.
