Stop the Gotchas: Focus on Fighting Porn, Not Smearing Candidates

Over Divine Mercy Sunday—the same weekend as Pope Francis’s funeral—some opponents hoped accusations against lieutenant governor candidate John Reid regarding pornography use would sink his campaign. But if 94% of American men have viewed pornography, as research by Herbenick et al. (2020) found, and 64% reported monthly use even before an 11% pandemic-era increase (Digital Journal, 2014; Mestre-Bach et al., 2020), who among us can truly “cast the first stone”?

If one of the 6% of men who have never seen porn wishes to pass judgment, so be it. But those hoping this attack derails Reid’s campaign may find themselves as disappointed as those who thought the “Access Hollywood” tapes would doom Donald Trump in 2016.

The Real Issue: Porn’s Damage to Society

If pornography becomes a campaign issue, it should not be as a tired “gotcha,” but as a serious debate over the damage porn causes. Studies show it harms relationships, damages mental health, and fuels human trafficking (Layden, 2010; Polaris Project, 2020).

Divine Mercy Sunday reminds us of Christ’s command in John 20: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them…” We must confront the sin without destroying those accused—rightly or wrongly—of being sinners (as we all are).

Political Irony and Policy Failures

The irony deepens when geography is considered: Reid is running in the only non-Trump state to pass an anti-pornography law strong enough that Pornhub shut down access. Eighteen states have enacted similar protections—seventeen of them Trump states.

This divide highlights a broader philosophical split. Libertarians often resist laws that restrict personal choices. Faith-based conservatives, however, recognize that laws sometimes protect citizens from self-destructive behaviors. A purely libertarian view would permit brothels near schools if no direct harm could be proven. Social conservatives understand that easy access to temptation harms individuals and communities alike.

A Better Conversation on Porn Policy

Rather than shaming individual candidates with charges that could be true, false, or even AI-generated—as in the case of a New Jersey high school teacher who was suspended after AI-generated pornographic images falsely depicted her—voters should ask: why haven’t the other 32 states and Washington, D.C. passed similar anti-pornography protections? Even Pamela Anderson—once the face of pornography culture—co-authored an essay with a rabbi warning that porn is “for losers.” A cultural shift is overdue.

Accessing porn once took planning—a stolen magazine under a mattress. Today, smartphones bombard users daily. Resisting porn now requires more effort than finding it. Technological tools like accountability apps, porn-blockers, and AI filters help, but societal norms must change too. Just as the sacrament of confession reminds Catholics of the importance of accountability—as I recall all too well from my days at Benedictine High School, during which I served as news editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch‘s Junior Achievement newspaper that was later named the top A newspaper in the country—we need systems that make purity easier and porn use harder.

Even liberals who refuse to pass anti-porn laws surely do not intend to promote human trafficking. Yet without action, they remain complicit in an industry fueled by exploitation (International Labour Organization, 2017).

The Real Choice for Voters

Let’s see at least one blue state join the 18 that already have taken steps to eliminate or discourage access to billions of pornographic images, rather than arguing that a guy who is a mediocre athlete or in a men’s prison can “improve” his life by saying he is a woman to win a women’s title or spend his life abusing women in a women’s prison.