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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That is your opinion. I regard your opinion as false and invalid. Absolutely so.
It sounds like you just plain stink in the bedroom! Maybe you need lessons or something because it sounds like the porn ain't teaching you anything.
Don't be a twit.
You are free to hold any view on any topic you so choose. Just don't force me to hold the same viewpoint.
Folks like you are no better than the worst leftist scum.
And Heaven is full of folks just like you, huh?
I like porn
Do you watch it with your children and grandchildren?
Are you saying porn is a gift from Satan?
Thanks Satan!
secondly, Porn is not good in any context. Therefore, by an absolute, is porn bad or is it good? What is bad cannot be good, not in part but the whole.
And since Ted Bundy looked at porn, everybody who looks at porn is a potential serial killer.
Do I have that right?
Yup! You've got it... That's why when a man with a penis rapes a woman, then all men are potential rapists (per Catherine McKinnon/Andrea Dworkin). Since all female prostitutes have vaginas, all women are potential prostitues.
That's the way these people think.
Mark
Well, obviously by your logic above, we need to outlaw fleeting thoughts. We should pay especially close attention to our friends and family, and if we see one of them having any fleeting thoughts, we should kill them.
Apply that same plan of action to gun control and you won't be able to provide your own gun and ammo.
Yes, thanks for sharing but I was addressing someone who seems to have chronic problems in the bedroom.
However you don't believe in absolutes then. God is the supreme absolute. to not believe in God, you don't have a standard for truth.
I go to the strip clubs for that.
If your definition of cheating is focsung attention away, how about all the attention so many women divert from their husbands in favor of the following:
1. Shopping;
2. Visiting friends and their kids constantly;
3. etc etc.
Most guys will agree with me that they, not the woman, if often the one with the short end of the stick in this department and are left hanging whewn it comes to their needs being met, not the other way around.
How many guys ever say the following:
1. I can't I have a headache (See a doctor)
2. I can't I'm tired (That's funny, you seemed fine running around the mall)
3. I can't I'm not in the mood (Can't you make a better excuse than that?)
4. I can't I'm busy. (Boy, updating your PDA really must be vital!)
And on and on and on. And you question me? Ha!
Ask a guy to be honest with you and he will tell you exactly the same as I am.
By the way, I never looked at woman with the hope or desire that she would help me cheat. I don't cheat, period.
No, I did not and it is absurd to even think that.
snip
Encourage your local and national representatives to make laws to protect Americans from obscenity.
Perhaps these experts* can tell me under what Constituionally enumerated power I should be encouraging my representative to have the national government enact pornography legislation.
That is your opinion. I regard your opinion as absolutely false and invalid. If you think you can persuade me otherwise, then feel free to present a rational argument to that end.
Therefore, by an absolute, is porn bad or is it good?
Porn as a class is not one or the other. I already said that. Just as sex as a class is not one or the other, or driving as a class is not one or the other, or if we want to get silly, trees as a class are not one or the other.
What is bad cannot be good, not in part but the whole.
Obviously you are wrong. That is because your opinion is false and invalid and moreover because you are presenting a circular false dilemma. My response just above clearly and rationally illustrates why this final statement is false and invalid.
And Heaven is full of folks just like you, huh?
Maybe. If I can I'll let you know when I get there. :-)
Do you give your kids scotch to drink or give them your cigars?
Or, could it be that some things in this world aren't meant for kids?
Puh-leeze -- a half-dozen people all independently infer the same thing, and you deny that you implied it?
I know that, but tell that to a man whose every once of life and biology tells him differently?
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