Never ending porn restrictions now hit sexual health sites

We already know about the Chinese government's obsession with blocking porn. It's brought us the web portal clean up, the Green Dam and - most recently - the heinous Google block. But now they're even tearing down websites that are about sexual health.

Beginning July 1, new regulations under the Ministry of Health will further restrict access to information about sex on the internet. The MOH website states that medical information service providers are required to install software to ensure only professionals can access sites that carry information and research about sex.

According to Reuters:

"It is prohibited to spread pornographic content in the name of sex-related scientific research," the regulations said.

But the rules risk slowing sexual health education in a country where many people are too embarrassed to talk publicly about sex.

The rules do not clearly state the definition of "scientific research" and therefore could be blocking more information than they are saying. Reuters noted that "critics fear it is a pretext for a wider crackdown on groups and sites the government fears or disapproves of, in a year of sensitive anniversaries." As we've seen, the specter of pornography has been used many times before to block other things as well.

According to China Daily:

Xia Guomei, a researcher with the Shanghai Academy of Social Science, told China Daily that she welcomes the regulation in general, because many websites, which purport to give information about health, actually contain "harmful" information like pornography.

However, scientific sexual health knowledge and information is in high demand, and the public should not be denied this information, she noted.

While Xia believes that monitored websites will still allow the uninformed to obtain information, experts say that China lacks proper sex education for its people. Currently most people are only able to receive proper education from doctors and family planning departments.

What we worry about most is how badly this will mesh with more progressive health initiatives the Chinese government has taken recently, including the act of offering HIV/AIDS education for sex workers. Say after an HIV/AIDS prevention lecture, someone tries to go on the internet to find more information... only to find it all blocked because it's "porn." What then?