Sex domains

Pornography, or porn, is nothing new. It has most likely been around for a long time – perhaps as long as the human race itself. Even though it is generally considered dirty and associated with horrible things such as drugs, prostitution, and sex crimes people turn to porn. Why is that? The common answer is probably that people are simply perverted and dirty minded. But it’s probably deeper than that. Porn is of course the natural outcome - or unnatural outcome depending on whom you ask - of people’s lust for sex.
In the old day’s, pornographic material were usually found in magazines, such as the infamous Playboy magazine, and on video tapes. But in the last decade or so, it has gotten more widespread. Today, many television programs, magazines, and movies feature some kind of sexual material. In fact, there’s hardly a movie blockbuster without any sexual content. While many pornographic magazines are still around, VHS (Video Home System) has been abandoned in favor for VCD’s (Video Compact Discs) and DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and more importantly, the Internet.
This leads us to the point: Internet porn and sex domains.
Porn is nowadays becoming a big social problem and some people fear a total moral breakdown. So, in order to deal with the constantly growing number of porn sites a proposal has been suggested to separate them from the rest of the Internet.
The idea is timely since new domains are to be introduced by ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). In the near future, we will probably see such domains as ‘.travel’ for travel agencies, ‘.news’ for news stations, ‘.shop’ for shops, and more. We’ll most likely also see a red light district develop on the Internet where ‘.xxx’ and ‘.sex’ will be new places for Internet porn. For unfortunately, there is so much porn on the Internet’s original domains that .com, .org, and .net are getting choked.
So, the idea with separate domains for sex domain ought to be well-appreciated by concerned parents. These domains or virtual red light districts, as the article describes them, would undoubtedly ‘clean’ up the Internet once and for all. The moral dilemma is, however, that children could be overwhelmed with porn if they gained access to a sex domain.
But parents don’t have to be worry and it should be relative easy to block out and filter away porn. In fact, it would most likely be much easier than how things work now. For instance, it’s much easier to block a whole domain, say ‘.sex’ than it is to block sex sites on the originals domains. With the current system, it is virtually impossible to filter out and block online porn.
Sex domains have been up for discussion before and ICANN practically decided to give ‘.xxx’ a go before 6,000 upset American parents sent U.S. President Bush angry letters, so the move was temporarily put on ice. However, these efforts just seem to delay the process and sex domains will most likely be introduced. But why are some parents (and other people) so reluctant to the ‘.xxx’ and ‘.sex’ switch? Are they really caring parents or porn addicts in disguise, terrified that sex sites won’t be accessible?
Anyway, as already discussed, concerned parents don’t have to worry. It’s not difficult to block and filter out unwanted porn. The same goes for porn addicts – they don’t have to fear sex sites will disappear. On the contrary, there will probably be even more porn sites around. And truthfully, porn sites and porn in general will probably never disappear.
Separate sex domains would be the best solution for all parts. On the one hand, children won’t be exposed to pornography; on the other hand, sex will sites become easily accessible. The porn industry should welcome this proposal as well. It’s already one of the most lucrative businesses in the world, generating millions (or even billions) of US dollars each year. If all porn is under one roof, directors and producers could easier overlook their material. They could also have better and more direct contact with the audience which will most likely simplify commerce.
Famous porn stars could start websites within the domain and boost the number of fans. Make no mistake, porn stars have many admirers. These sites would also make actors and actresses (if that are the correct terms) easier to find. Theoretically, everyone could have their own site and actors, directors, and producers would all benefit. This might however cause delicate problems in the porn industry, for instance, if two or more individuals (or groups) want to register the same site address there’s obviously a problem since only one party can register a unique internet address.
On the whole, the sex domains would make it easier for people to find what they are looking for. It would boost search for sex sites dramatically and no longer would interested people need to spend hours searching the Internet.
It would also be jackpot for various advertisers. For instance, companies selling sex toys would probably have its target group right at the table. Just like people searching for (sex) products would also know where to look. But advertising wouldn’t necessarily only be for sexual related products (or services). Any company wanting to catch a great audience could place ads on these domains. For instance, car manufacturers, cigarette producers, or even every day products such as milk could be advertised. It’s a dilemma of course and the question is whether a non-porn company would or dare like to engage in these sites and hence being associated with pornography. But nevertheless, advertising on sex domains could be as common as television advertisement in the future.
On the bad side, worried parents may be right. If children somehow get access to ‘.xxx’ or ‘.sex’, all the Internet porn would become instantly available. However, access to a domain alone doesn’t mean that access is provided to all the individual sites. At the moment, many sex sites require users to verify their age before they may enter. This is usually done with credit cards and the same system could be used in the future as well. Overall, this system is safe and proven.
So why not put online pornography on a shelf of its own? Just like pornographic DVD’s and magazines are conveniently located away from ordinary material in shops, boutiques, and rental stores the same could be true online as well.
People’s desire for porn and the big money involved means that there will be more and more porn. Unfortunately this means that children could be exposed to porn. For children, sex domain, or virtual red light districts would function as a shield, it would protect them from unwanted porn. For adults, sex domains could be an absolute heaven where customers and film makers could find each other. Customers would most likely be thrilled in having all porn and sexual related material in a specific location. No more would they have to search the whole of the Internet for desired videos and films.
So, in conclusion, it’s fair to say that sex domains would ’clean’ up the Internet by placing all porn in one place. This means, however, that children could, theoretically speaking, get exposed to all the online porn on a given sex domain. It’s ironically though that kids can ultimately be hurt by that which is supposed to protect them. This is the dilemma of course, but there’s really no alternative. The chance that a child would gain access to the domain is slim and the chance that children gain entry to individual sex sites is even smaller. Sex domains would mean win-win situations for everybody; adults can easily find porn while children can easily stay away from it. In other words: there’s no reason to oppose the introduction of the new sex domains.