Religious Attacks

Michael McGrady opines on faith based porn panics:

What happens when a small faction of politicians attempts to impose their faith-driven vision of “American values” at the expense of free speech, queer visibility, and secular governance? The growing wave of anti-pornography proposals—ranging from full bans on adult content to invasive age-verification laws—illustrates how far the far-right is willing to transform moral panic into legislation, regardless of constitutional limits or practical absurdity.

One striking example comes from Michigan state representative Josh Schriver, a Republican known for racist, homophobic, and inflammatory rhetoric. In September 2025, Schriver went viral after introducing a proposal to completely outlaw online pornography in Michigan’s digital sphere. Even many conservatives expressed skepticism, acknowledging the proposal’s blatant overreach into free speech protections.

Schriver’s bill, House Bill 4938—formally titled the “Anti-Corruption of Public Morals Act”—would impose sweeping criminal penalties and steep fines for distributing or possessing what it vaguely defines as “prohibited material.”

A History of Gendered Censorship and the Costs of Faith-Based ‘Porn’ Panics - TheHumanist.com

Bigotry rebranded as moral purity.

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thehumanist.com

LOS ANGELES—Collective Shout, an Australian anti-pornography group, announced Thursday that it successfully pressured Honey Birdette, the Playboy-owned lingerie retailer, to withdraw certain advertising from a shopping mall near Perth.

The group described the outcome as a “flash win” in its campaign against what it called “porn-themed” marketing.

Collective Shout, co-founded by self-described “pro-life feminist” Melinda Tankard Reist, positions itself as a prominent anti-pornography organization in Australia and has often compared its efforts to similar conservative-led advocacy groups in the United States.

Honey Birdette has been in Collective Shout’s crosshairs for years. In August 2025, the group objected to the retailer’s advertising of lingerie products featuring BDSM-inspired accessories such as chains, collars, and leashes. The complaint was filed with Australia’s advertising industry regulatory body, Ad Standards, which later closed the matter after Honey Birdette addressed the concerns. Similar cases have been raised by Collective Shout against the brand multiple times in the past.

“Playboy-owned sex shop Honey Birdette has been forced to remove two porn-style shop window ads following our reports to Ad Standards,” the blog post declared. “The ads promoting a range called ‘Sumi – Leopard’ featured objectifying portrayals of naked women.”

The complaint targeted ads promoting Honey Birdette’s Sumi collection, which the company describes as “inspired by sheer bodysuits and bodystockings.” The line includes lingerie sets, catsuits, headpieces, and other items in black and leopard print designs.

Collective Shout said the ads objectified women and were inappropriate for children visiting the Perth shopping mall. The group emphasized that the ads were displayed in close proximity to a children’s stage show, describing the venue as a “family shopping center.”

While the group highlighted this proximity in its complaint, it did not provide exact measurements of the distance between the advertisements and the stage show. Still, Ad Standards acted quickly after receiving the reports.

“Less than 24 hours after lodging our reports, Ad Standards replied with a notice advising that Honey Birdette had confirmed the ads had been ‘modified or removed and the original advertisement will not be used again on this medium,’” Collective Shout wrote in its post.

Following the removal, the group is now urging its supporters to continue the campaign by filing additional complaints with Ad Standards and petitioning executives of the shopping center’s parent company to suspend Honey Birdette’s marketing campaigns across all of their properties in Australia.

Honey Birdette, founded in 2006 in Australia, was acquired in 2021 by the NASDAQ-listed PLBY Group, parent company of Playboy and other brands, as part of a strategy to expand its global retail footprint and e-commerce operations. The lingerie chain operates stores across Australia as well as in the United States and other international markets.

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban has cut off internet access across large parts of northern Afghanistan, a move it says is intended to curb “immoral activities.”

According to Reuters, the shutdown initially targeted five provinces — Kunduz, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Takhar, and Balkh — and blocked all fiber-optic connections. Reports later suggested the blackout had expanded to as many as 10 provinces. While mobile internet technically remains available, service is unreliable and in many areas largely inaccessible.

Taliban officials have long expressed concerns over pornography, framing it as a justification for stricter online controls. “This measure was taken to prevent immorality, and an alternative will be built within the country for necessities,” Haji Attaullah Zaid, a spokesman for the Taliban government in Balkh province, told the Associated Press.

Critics, however, argue the ban is far more sweeping than necessary. Former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad noted that many Islamic countries filter explicit content without imposing a nationwide blackout. “If pornography is really the concern, it can easily be filtered,” he wrote on X.com, warning that the Taliban is using the issue as a pretext to limit access to information.

“The justification for the decision is absurd and insulting,” Khalilzad added. “It will damage not only the province’s economy but the country’s prospects as a whole.”

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai also condemned the move, calling it part of the Taliban’s broader assault on women’s rights. “Shutting down the internet is the Taliban’s latest attempt, under their brutal system of gender apartheid, to cut Afghan women and girls off from the world,” she wrote.

The internet restrictions deepen concerns that Afghanistan is becoming increasingly isolated under Taliban rule, with significant consequences for its economy, education system, and civil society.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank, has raised concerns about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Free Speech Coalition et al. v. Paxton. In a briefing published on Tuesday, Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow at AEI for technology policy studies, laid out the basis for the criticism.

Calvert argued that the Court’s conservative majority created a carve-out in First Amendment protections for controversial forms of expression, such as adult content.

“To grease the skids for a decision that burdens First Amendment rights, it helps to denigrate the group that’s fighting for free speech subtly,” Calvert wrote in his AEI blog post.

Calvert is professor of law emeritus at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law and Brechner Eminent Scholar Emeritus at the College of Journalism and Communications, with expertise in First Amendment case law and communications policy.

He noted that the Free Speech Coalition (FSC)—which describes itself as “the trade association of the adult entertainment industry based in the United States”—was characterized differently in the Court’s opinion. While FSC’s website does not use the socially stigmatized term “pornography,” Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, referred to it as “a trade association for the pornography industry.”

“Semantics matter because under U.S. law, there are three distinct categories of sexual speech: obscenity, child pornography, and variable obscenity,” Calvert explained. “Notably, pornography is not a legal term; it’s just a disparagingly loaded word. Thomas unloaded it against the FSC, making it just that much easier for adults to stomach a decision burdening their own First Amendment rights.”

Reason opines about how anti-porn groups are coming after games by pressuring payment processors

The anti-porn crusade comes for online games

Activists pressure payment processors, who in turn pressure game marketplaces. Now many video games and visual novels are disappearing.

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reason.com

Gaming platform Itch.io has removed all NSFW games after being targeted by an anti-porn group.

Itch.io Removes NSFW Games After Targeting by Anti-Porn Group AVN

Itch.io is the latest popular PC gaming storefront to cave to payment processors when it comes to marketing and distributing adult games.

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avn.com

An anti-porn group has taken credit for the adult ban at the game platform Steam.

Anti-Porn Group Claims Credit for Steam’s Adult Game Purge AVN

Steam, the popular online gaming platform, recently purged scores of adult and sexually explicit games to appease payment processors. Several news outlets report that the anti-porn group Collective Shout took credit for the pressure campaign.

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avn.com

BBC Science dispels the myth of porn addiction in this fine article.

Here’s what ‘porn addiction’ actually is (and how to manage it) | BBC Science Focus Magazine

While a source of shame for some, there’s little hard evidence that X-rated sites are harmful or even addictive to regular users.

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www.sciencefocus.com

The Free Speech Coalition has issued guidance on Kansas age verification lawsuits.

Private Age Verification Lawsuits in Kansas: What You Need to Know — Free Speech Coalition

In four lawsuits filed on May 12, 2025, a minor identified as Q.R., through his mother, claims he accessed adult sites in Kansas without encountering legally compliant age verification protocols. They are suing four different sites for approximately $14 million dollars in damages. This is the first

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www.freespeechcoalition.com

The Kyrgyzstan Parliament approved a bill to outlaw porn in the country.

Kyrgyzstan Parliament Moves to Outlaw Internet Pornography

A parliamentary committee of the Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday approved a measure to outlaw online adult content in the country.

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www.xbiz.com