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What the ‘Average Joe’ Can Do About Porn…and Why - (caution; for adult readers only)
CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA.ORG ^ | MAY 24, 2005 | SARA BRODE

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:

"[I]t happened in stages, gradually. . . . My experience with pornography that deals on a violent level with sexuality is that once you become addicted to it . . . I would keep looking for more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of materials.

Like an addiction, you keep craving something that is harder, harder. Something which gives you a greater sense of excitement. Until you reach the point where the pornography only goes so far."

“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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TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: 1stamendment; aliciario; business; censorship; children; concernedwomen; corruption; fascism; fighting; filth; foramerica; freespeech; garbage; nannystate; perversion; pornography; ronjeremy; schlafly; seka; sexslaves; sextrade; unwadthepanties; vanessadelrio; youth
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To: Chuckster; JusPasenThru

Someone must have purchased the domain name. It sure didn't look like THAT during the Clinton era.


461 posted on 05/24/2005 5:56:12 PM PDT by cyborg (Serving fresh, hot Anti-opus since 18 April 2005)
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To: Robert_Paulson2

I give up. You are a hostile person and not worth talking to.


462 posted on 05/24/2005 5:56:57 PM PDT by cyborg (Serving fresh, hot Anti-opus since 18 April 2005)
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To: cyborg
Ten commandments,not ten suggestions.

What's your opinion on people calling up their national representatives and urging them to legislate the First Commandment?

463 posted on 05/24/2005 5:57:01 PM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: cyborg

I don't need my husband to pay attention to me all the freakin time. Some men have very high sex drives. I don't think many women would want their husband after them like that all the time. So this is a way of dealing with that drive. Now, if the man is using porn INSTEAD of being intimate with the wife, that's another story and that's not what I'm talking about here.


464 posted on 05/24/2005 5:57:03 PM PDT by Hildy ( The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue)
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I consider them concubines!


465 posted on 05/24/2005 5:57:24 PM PDT by Nooseman
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To: King Prout

Have a nice day


466 posted on 05/24/2005 5:58:13 PM PDT by WKB (You can half the good and double the bad people say about themselves.)
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To: Hildy

okay


467 posted on 05/24/2005 5:59:27 PM PDT by cyborg (Serving fresh, hot Anti-opus since 18 April 2005)
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To: Bella_Bru

You drool over Paris Hilton? You have lousy taste.


468 posted on 05/24/2005 6:00:20 PM PDT by FierceKulak
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To: WKB; cyborg

Bump!


469 posted on 05/24/2005 6:01:59 PM PDT by dixiechick2000 (President Bush is a mensch in cowboy boots.)
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To: cyborg

Cyborg,

My friend, there are those who view firearms with as much (more, actually) distaste as you view pornography, and who consider it criminal to have a gun in the same house as a child. I consider their argument of no greater merit than I do yours, for identical reasons.

I would not care if a kid of mine viewed pornography as a mature adult, any more than I would care if he or she became an avid gunner as a mature adult. Until that kid IS an adult, however, I would exercise editing control over what he or she could see and make use of.

The problem lies not in the inanimate object in question, but the unready state of the user.

Do I need to go on in greater analytical and descriptive detail, or do you now understand the point I am trying to elucidate?


470 posted on 05/24/2005 6:03:15 PM PDT by King Prout (blast and char it among fetid buzzard guts!)
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To: cyborg

"I give up. You are a hostile person and not worth talking to."



You are a dissembling accuser of others as has been shown by quoting your own post from this selfsame thread...

The hostility you sense is probably your own at having it pointed out.

It's probably a good idea that you give up.


471 posted on 05/24/2005 6:03:16 PM PDT by Robert_Paulson2 (The minutemen are 'vigilantes' doncha know?)
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To: dixiechick2000

thanks for the bump...there's a really good set of books called 'Every Man's Battle and Every Woman's Battle'. I recommend them to anyone getting married or who are married already.


472 posted on 05/24/2005 6:03:28 PM PDT by cyborg (Serving fresh, hot Anti-opus since 18 April 2005)
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To: King Prout

We're friends so I think we should leave it at that. We have very divergent opinions about porn and probably won't ever agree.


473 posted on 05/24/2005 6:04:47 PM PDT by cyborg (Serving fresh, hot Anti-opus since 18 April 2005)
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To: WKB

It has been a good day, and in all likelihood shall continue to be so. thank you. may you have one equally as good.


474 posted on 05/24/2005 6:05:43 PM PDT by King Prout (blast and char it among fetid buzzard guts!)
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To: King Prout

Do I need to go on in greater analytical and descriptive detail, or do you now understand the point I am trying to elucidate?



No it was pretty well done in the example given.
Folks just don't WANT to see it. They make money from screaming about porn, just like the gun grabbers do from screaming about guns... or smoking nazis do about cigarettes... and on and on....

Expect to be accused of working for playboy or something...
you made sense after all.

rofl.


475 posted on 05/24/2005 6:06:46 PM PDT by Robert_Paulson2 (Please don't squeeze the Koran. I gotta go to the bathroom.)
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To: cyborg

very well. see ya on the UT :)


476 posted on 05/24/2005 6:07:05 PM PDT by King Prout (blast and char it among fetid buzzard guts!)
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To: Robert_Paulson2

she's actually a very nice lady. seriously. I can see where you have a just grievance, but it pained me to see the two of you go at it like that.


477 posted on 05/24/2005 6:08:49 PM PDT by King Prout (blast and char it among fetid buzzard guts!)
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To: FierceKulak; FierceDraka

as an aside: you know FierceDraka by any chance?


478 posted on 05/24/2005 6:09:59 PM PDT by King Prout (blast and char it among fetid buzzard guts!)
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To: cyborg; dixiechick2000

You know SOMEMEN do require more help than
others to do many things.


479 posted on 05/24/2005 6:10:53 PM PDT by WKB (You can half the good and double the bad people say about themselves.)
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To: King Prout

I know that, and that is why it surprises me when folks go to accusing.

YOURS was a great example that shows the increasingly perilous angle and condition of our current 'slippery slope'.

And I know that doesn't make either YOU or ME a pornography proponent... My guess is, others do too.

be well.


480 posted on 05/24/2005 6:14:33 PM PDT by Robert_Paulson2 (Please don't squeeze the Koran. I gotta go to the bathroom.)
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