Posted on 05/24/2005 1:42:28 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions that may be difficult for some readers.
A crowd of people gathered on Capitol Hill last Thursday to hear experts* in obscenity law and sexual crimes speak in recognition of Victims of Pornography Month.
What they said in that room should be heard by every American. (It just so happens that you can download and listen to the presentations, including one by CWA’s chief counsel, Jan LaRue, on our Web site by clicking here.)
First, if you aren’t convinced yet that we, as a society, should crack down on pornography, consider some of the facts presented at the summit.
Where should we start? Maybe with this statement from Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values in Cincinnati, Ohio: “I’ve never met a police officer yet who investigated a pedophile that did not find pornography. Every one of them said pornography is always on the scene.”
Or perhaps that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMC’s) Cyber Tip Line (http://www.cybertipline.com/) collected about 1,500 reports of possible child pornography being transmitted online in a seven-day period earlier this month (and 293,000 reports since 1998), according to Marsha Gilmer-Tullis, Director of the Family Advocacy Division at NCMC. They received 35 reports of adults trying to meet and greet children in chat rooms that same week.
Or, we could also consider facts presented by Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, a psychiatrist, professor at Princeton University and researcher at the University of Nice, that the sexual slavery trade is the third-largest source of funds for organized crime, right behind drugs and arms, and that pornography drives that trade.
Plus, Satinover mentioned studies showing that brain activity associated with craving pornography is “identical to any other behavioral or chemical addictions.” In fact, some have pointed out that pornography is as addictive as cocaine, but even harder to overcome due to the images burned into the user’s mind. “It is not an art form,” he said. “No one gets addicted to The Washington Post. No one gets addicted to James Joyce [author of Ulysses, a book with some erotic scenes].”
Satinover also had the courage to point out the motivation behind the porn industry: “Its purpose is not to entertain.” Its purpose, he said, is to lead the viewer to “achieve arousal and orgasm” as quickly and frequently as possible. There’s a financial interest – the more the buyer gets aroused by pornography and achieves orgasm, the more he will purchase. Comparing the purchasing frequency of mainstream movies and pornographic ones makes that clear.
When the movies, magazines and Web sites just aren’t cutting it anymore, the user moves to the final stage: acting out. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Florida) read the following quote from serial rapist Ted Bundy, made one day before his 1989 execution:
“The purveyors of pornography repeatedly challenge us to prove that pornography causes violent crime,” said Rep. Harris. “I challenge them to prove that it does not.”
Likewise, John Richter, the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division, said, “Because obscene material is so accessible, many may fail to realize that availability does not equate to legality.”
Concerned Women for America (CWA) Chief Counsel Jan LaRue wrote an excellent, full-scale paper on this topic, Hard-Core Harm.
So, what can you, as a citizen, do with the information these knowledgeable presenters gave? Here are several ideas:
Start with your own home. Supervise your children on the Internet, and teach them how to safely use it. Read CWA’s brochure, 14 Ways You Can Protect Your Children Online, for help. Watch out for peer-to-peer file-sharing sites like Kazaa and Morpheus, as they are virtually unregulated – children can easily access pornographic files and even give away your household’s personal information. If you or your spouse is struggling with addiction, there is help (see http://www.victimsofpornography.org/ for a start).
Be aware of what – or who – is in your neighborhood. Check with local law enforcement to see if it maintains a sex offenders’ registry. Use the registry to find out if any convicted sex offenders live in your neighborhood. If your state doesn’t have one, lobby your officials to make this information public.
Encourage your local officials to prosecute obscenity. If juries never get the opportunity to set community standards, then pornographers will set them. In cities where prosecutors have gone after pornographic shops and other sexually oriented businesses, all types of crimes have dropped. Local law enforcement should be enthusiastic about cleaning up communities in this way.
Encourage your local and national representatives to make laws to protect Americans from obscenity.
Sign up for e-mail alerts from groups like CWA that are fighting pornography. We’ll keep you informed as to how you can act on the issue. Sign up at www.cwfa.org.
Vote! Watch how your officials and representatives are voting, acting and responding to your requests regarding obscenity. Register to vote, and encourage your friends and family to register as well!
Educate others. One voice can start a movement! Join an organized grassroots organization like CWA – we’ll be happy to tell you how you can become active at the state level (phone: 800-964-2203). Encourage your friends to join e-mail lists, or form one of your own to pass around vital information. Organize events in your community and bring in experts like the ones at this presentation.
Contribute to hard-working groups like CWA, CCV and others. We are dependent upon generous giving from people like you.
John Richter ended his remarks by asking for continuing support of American citizens:
We aren’t backing down to the purveyors of obscenity… we do not fight these battles alone. We know that folks like you here today – decent, honest Americans – support us. And it is my last privilege today to ask for your continued support as we continue to move forward. I want you to think of our team as I think of them: As those men and women, at Justice, who seek justice, by doing justice, for those who deserve justice.
*Among the presenters were Concerned Women for America (CWA) Chief Counsel Jan LaRue; Citizens for Community Values President Phil Burress; Reps. Katherine Harris (R-Florida), Mike Pence (R-Indiana) and Joe Pitts (R-Pennsylvania); Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas); Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, John Richter; Marsha Gilmer-Tullis, Director of the Family Advocacy Division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; Focus on the Family Media and Sexuality Analyst Daniel Weiss; Florida Deputy Attorney General George LeMieux; and Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, a psychiatrist, professor at Princeton University and researcher at the University of Nice.
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I didn't think so.
Incrementalism.
They, like everyone else, need to take baby steps before they can run.
Where did you hear the term "Jebus?" I know that the neo-Nazi apologist (and onetime contributor to National Review) Revilo Oliver used to mock those who were "high on Jesus Juice." Then again, he also attacked Christianity as a "semitic perversion."
There isn't an immoral version of absolute, an absolute is true for all prople all places fro all time. It isn't about any idea
A woman's psychological need for sex isn't as strong as a man's is.
Well, when people atart clamoring for more government intervention, who do you think will be making the regulations? Ask if you would feel comfortable with any of the following making laws about porn:
1. Bill Clinton: President of the United States
2. Gingrich: Speaker of the House
3. Gore or Kerry?
4. Kennedy?
5. Delay?
Who? Who do think has the right to tell me what and what I cannot watch that does not involve child porn or some other illegal act???????
As far as my relationship goes, it has lasted than most marriages do, and my significant other will be the first one to tell you that I probably give her too much attention.
You really should not make suppositions about that you know nothing about.
I suspect that it's also a sense of being on the losing side of history.
Genteel anti-Semitism finally because socially unacceptable because of its association with the Enemy (Naziism). The theocratic strain of statism is in obvious danger of facing the same fate, for the same reason, in this generation.
Then right is right, wrong is wrong. Evil is evil. Evil canoot be good, no matter where you are.
My former boss, a southerner, chronic mispronouciation.
Of course you didn't infer that.
What you did was to imply that.
Try to keep the two straight in future.
Naturally that is true. Therefore, it is clear in my statement that I regard the typical Christian formulation of moral absolutism as absolutely false and invalid.
If you are planning on shooting everyone who looks at porn I hope you have a lot of bullets.
So what does your wife do while you watch your porn? Srubbing the toilets?
LOL -- even the DUmmies, normally masters at anti-Freeper invective, don't scale that height of venom.
As far as the government is concerned, I don't want them in my house or my life.
Nobody has a right to tell you what to do
As far as assumptions, why don't you ask her how she feels about you viewing porn. She will answer the way most do...They don't like it.
Naturally that is inherent within my statements. And equally so that porn is not categorically one or the other, but rather certain aspects of it are one and other aspects are the other.
Some of us watch porn with our significant others.....
“I’ve never met a police officer yet who investigated a pedophile that did not find pornography. Every one of them said pornography is always on the scene.”
NOTICE!!! In addition, the profiling has been expanded: They had all eaten at Mcdonald's, had drivers licenses, knew someone who owned a dog, lived in a district that had a public school, and had looked at at least one religious place of worship with their own eyes.
Gotta stop all that too.
I can't wait until we get all the laws passed that ban anything that anybody considers hate speech either. Gotta get rid of all that durn freedum stuff. Leeve that in-tee-lek-shul deesision stuff to them xsperts.
That is incorrect. God is an Absolute, the Bible is an absolute and the teachings are an absolute. So if God tells you what is right and wrong, who are you to decide which is false and invalid?
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