All men are created equal, but all porn definitely is not.

Two weeks ago, 42 U.S. Senators signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder pushing him to criminally charge “all major distributors of adult obscenity.” This weekend,  Josh Gerbstein of Politico reported that the Senators were responding to Holder’s recent decision to shutter the Obscenity Prosecution Task Force— a Bush-era agency brought about by social conservatives who were disturbed by the world’s largest, nastiest, festering cesspool of immorality: the internet.

Referring to “the growing scourge of obscenity in America,” the Senators cited violence against women, child pornography and sex trafficking as reasons why they were urging Holder to come down harder on adult, consensual porn. In the letter, they urged him to “study the evidence gathered” at PornographyHarms.com.

I like reading about sex-related topics, so I went to PornographyHarms.com and wound up staying for over an hour, hopping back and forth between articles about sex, pornography and masturbation.

Stories like “Can pornography use become an actual brain addiction?” and ”Mirror Neurons Control Hard-ons?” compare sexual arousal from porn and subsequent wanking to use of hardcore drugs like heroin and cocaine, while links like ”He’s Just Not That Into Anyone” points the reader to NY Mag for a story about a really talented guy who fakes orgasms.

“Why The New ‘Porn Norm’ is Hurting Women,” from the Sidney Morning Herald, talks about how themes of aggression and violence against women have increased in the past decades and become commonplace in porn.

The site, and the letter, which you can read in full at Politico, openly tie adult, consensual porn to violence against women, child pornography, sex trafficking and drug addiction.

Jezebel quotes former obscenity prosecutor Patrick Trueman, who now speaks for Morality in Media:

“In various administrations – not just this one – DOJ has tried to sell the notion that it has a vigorous enforcement of obscenity laws underway. A look at the cases, however, reveals that what are counted as ‘obscenity cases’ are in fact child pornography cases where the defendant is allowed to plead down to an obscenity charge. … To suggest that such cases are adult porn cases is just wrong.”

The internet can be a disgusting place, and porn stars frequently do things that I wouldn’t. But associating porn to addiction to heroin and decrying abuse against women and children is a thin disguise for what they’re really doing, which is moralizing.

If they were truly acting in the interests of human rights they would be introducing legislation that would decriminalize and regulate prostitution, and Trueman would not be upset that the DOJ is directly focusing on child pornography rather than adult porn.

[Via Politico]