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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Amazingly ironic, ain't it?
rofl.
great.
There is another argument as well along the lines of: were it not for broken girls and dissolute men porn would not get made. Perhaps that is true to some extent (of the 'hard-core' stuff) but that's neither here nor there. The underlying topics you raise should be confronted for what they are, and porn can then become whatever it will be to whatever extent they are resolved.
A lot of this ties back into what I said earlier about our unhealthy social regard of sexuality, in tandem with some unrelated or indirectly related social ills. The basic point that I am making is that graphic erotic imagery is not the problem; other social ills that intersect with that are the problem. And I don't condemn sex for what it is, nor do I classify it in some vague, shady sphere apart from the rest of human life. I think most of the problems with sex arise from that type of attitude.
* Except in the most tangential sense of: 'if you have sympathy for the participants, you won't patronize the product' or something along those lines. Arguable in itself.
You didn't answer the question
Note the language and reference to Nazism.
It's crystal clear whom you regard as your mortal enemy.
Very sad.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.....I have a lot of blue ink on my body and I've never even been in jail, let alone in prison. You have no idea what you're talking about here. Most people I know with ink have blue ink. It's a toss up between green and blue as to which is the most common outline color.
Do you watch it with your children and grandchildren?
Of course not.
Why not?
I love this idea that anyone who vomits at the ideas of what homos do is somehow "repressed" homosexual. It works with your recruitment of pre-teen boys, but give it a rest. We despise not only what they do among each other, but the fact that they want to push the rest of societies face into their sickening lifestyle.
You must be one to throw that lame argument at those of us who vomit at your actions with each other.
Homosexual and other porn addictions (deviancy in flavours) is very sad and is a poison in our culture and country.
Oh, please. You're making me swoon.
I am talking to you about what goes on in a normal guys head.
You're talking about what goes on in your porn-addled head. Try not to drag every other man down with you.
If you think a guy really wants to hear about how his mother is not nice enough to his wife, someone is lying to you terribly.
And if you think your poor listening skills or lack of response to her feelings don't matter, than either you are lying to yourself or someone else is lying to you terribly.
religious delusions of self righteousness and moral superiority are MORE addictive than any substance known to makind.
people will kill for it.
see islamic fundamentalism...
Addicts don't like to share their drug if it means less for them.
Addicts like to share and seduce if it brings them more of their drug.
So let's couch it in terms unoffensive to your Victorian sensibilities. You wish to see all Jews come to Jesus and forgret their Judaism. Make you happy? It's the same thing, with different words as saying the extermination of Judaism.
Some FReepers are the best. :-)
Well there's definitely something wrong with me then. And for the guys out there saying they need porn because the wife isn't interested. That can be a two way street. Why do you think all those soft porn romance novels are such big sellers? Why do you think Desperate Housewives and Sex in the City are so popular? Because of the men? And guess what? Women do watch and read other porn too.
PS. And I am not agreeing that your characterization applies universally to the adult industry, but that it does to enough of an extent that it should be considered. In many cases that is more the perception than the reality. By example, the Canadian girl who contracted HIV seemed to be pretty content with her job when leaving that aside (and she evidently made pretty hard-core films), at least in the interview of her I read at that time.
My main thought in that regard is that I think it is unfortunate for the people involved to the extent that it limits their future options in life (career, family, etc). Then again, I think that that's what pays their bills, and it's better than selling themselves on the street or running drugs. We don't live in a perfect world. You know that!
Addicts don't like to share their drug if it means less for them.
Addicts like to share and seduce if it brings them more of their drug
Thanks for good clear answer!!
I'm inclined to doubt it. I haven't looked at porn with any kind of lustful intention in decades now, but I can say with certainty that beautiful women were not optional. Really, that's what the whole appeal was: Beautiful naked women. Gay porn for example wouldn't have done anything for my youthful libido.
Does this mean that if I like owning a small handgun that eventually I'll want more and more until I want to own howitzers then move on up to owning my own fleet of battleships?
Or, he told Dobson the truth.
Why lie on death row?
Bundy didn't pin his predilection on pornography; he pinned it on, specifically, VIOLENT pornography. Which goes along with the "addiction view" that some need more and more thrills once they become numb to a certain level of violence. Rape being a combination of lust and power...
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