Ukrainian churches criticise proposal on legalising porn industry

The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations issued a statement in which they condemn the legalisation of producing pornography, SPZH reports.

The bill for legalising pornography is an initiative from MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, among others. According to the religious leaders, the politicians justify their proposal "by claiming it will allow women to legally sell their bodies for volunteer contributions to support the Ukrainian army."

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Depravity

However, the religious leaders believe that the bill only testifies to the "moral depravity" of its authors, "who are ready to lobby for harmful and immoral initiatives and involve women in the sex industry for the sake of excessive profits from this amoral business."

Also, pornography is damaging to people's mental health because of its addictive nature. According to the church representatives, the images show "unhealthy, misogynistic, violent and coercive behaviour in sexual relationships." Not only that, they point out, but they also contribute "to the early and negative sexualisation of young people and cause great harm to children and adolescents, who have a distorted perception of healthy sexual relationships in married life."

Moreover, pornography contributes to the objectification of women, the church leaders fear. They argue that this can even encourage more violence against women and present women as "objects of pleasure."

Therefore, the statement calls for the withdrawal of the bill. "It poses significant harm to the morals and health of Ukrainian society, legalising the import and production of pornographic materials in Ukraine", the religious leaders argue.

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Justification

Money is a bad justification for the legalisation of pornography, Nazar Golovko argues in an article on SPZH. If pornography becomes legal, the state can tax those who upload images to the internet, MP Maxim Buzhansky, who is also in favour of legalisation, argued.

For Golovko, it is very clear: pornography is evil. He compares the case of pornography to the one of prostitution, which is legal in many countries. "The reason behind legalisation is the same. They say that prostitutes are professionally engaged in selling themselves, which means they get money. Once they receive money, they must pay taxes", Golovko reasons. However, he strongly believes that money does not justify legalisation. "There are professional killers who receive a thousand times more money per order than a prostitute. Why not legalise the killer business, for tax purposes, of course?" he ironically argues.

For Golovko, it is clear: "We risk inflicting such wild moral harm on our unfortunate country, constantly shaken by adversity, that no amount of money can measure it."