Posted on 05/19/2005 11:05:47 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
On February 2, 2003, when seven-year-old Danielle van Dam disappeared from her family home in the middle of the night, every mother’s nightmare was played out on national television for almost a month while authorities searched for the girl. When Danielle’s body was found at the end of that month, the police and prosecutors discovered a frightening story about a neighbor of Danielle’s who had computer files filled with child pornography and even a sickening cartoon video of the rape of a young girl.
According to a report by Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, on the link between pornography and violent sex crimes, the prosecutor in the Danielle van Dam case said “The video represented [the defendant’s] sexual fantasies and inspired the abduction, rape, and murder of Danielle.” According to Raymond Pierce, a retired NYPD detective who worked on the sex-crimes squad for many years and is now a criminal-profiling consultant, about 80 percent of rapists and serial killers are heavy pornography users. I was a victim of an attempted rape by a disturbed man who turned out to be involved in pornography.
May is Victims of Pornography Month. Today Senator Sam Brownback (R., Kan.), Rep. Katherine Harris (R., Fla.), Rep. Joe Pitts (R., Pa.), and leaders from the values community will participate in a summit to explore the troubling connection between pornography and violence against women and children.
Florida attorney general Charlie Crist advises parents that “we must never lose sight of the fact that sexual predators make the online world a dangerous place for innocent children. Parents must be ever-vigilant to make sure their children are not exposed to images and messages that would have been unthinkable just a generation ago.” Crist warns that we cannot allow the Internet to be a “pipeline for pornography aimed at children.” But while parents can use available means to protect their children when they are in their own homes, there is a cultural climate surrounding our children that threatens them the way Danielle van Dam was threatened. Because of the availability of pornography online, there is no way of knowing what lurks in the hearts of our neighborhoods.
More needs to be done to evaluate the connection between violent predatory behavior and pornography, and to crack down on these violent predators. Police and law-enforcement officers across the country report brutal instances in which those addicted to pornography utilized its sadistic images on their female and child victims.
Just this past February, the New York Times reported a story about a teenage babysitter who had raped three young children he was watching in their homes. According to the Times, his pattern was to watch pornographic videos with the oldest of the children, a 12-year-old boy, and intimidate them all by torturing them with a knife and threats to their family members. Perhaps one of the most notorious serial killers, Ted Bundy, participated in an interview with Dr. James Dobson shortly before he was executed. In the interview, Bundy explained, “I’ve lived in prison for a long time now. And I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence like me. And without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography — without exception, without exception — deeply influenced and consumed by an addiction to pornography.”
Since 1956, the Supreme Court has made clear that the First Amendment does not protect obscene materials. If we know from the perpetrators themselves how obscenity contributes to violence against women and children, what can we do?
We need to fund more studies of the addiction to pornography and its effects on violent behavior. Parents can install filters on any computer used by children and keep the family computer in a central location, not in a child's bedroom or someplace where parents might not regularly see it. We need to demand tougher law enforcement on the state and federal level. The Bush administration is stepping up federal enforcement of obscenity laws. This is a good first step. Contact the U.S. attorney for your district and ask what they are doing to enforce the laws. We need tougher state penalties against both possession and distribution of child porn and passing any kind of pornographic material to kids. Experts indicate that pornography is often used by pedophiles to break down the resistance of child victims. Parents should check out their state’s penalties for child rape and make sure offenders are going to jail and staying there for these offenses. Florida, for example, just passed a tough new law after the tragedy involving Jessica Lunsford, whose killer was a recently released violent offender. We should pass legislation to address the threat to children on the Internet. This includes chat sites, websites, spam, and peer-to-peer networks. Peer-to-Peer networks are of particular concern because they are widely visited by kids and offer porn for free without any age verification.
As Rep. Katherine Harris has pointed out, "Pornography displays human beings as objects, obliterating the wall between an individual's sick fantasies and the compulsion to act upon them. Often, the monsters who hurt women and children start with this malignant desensitizer." We need to all work together to find better ways to protect women and children against this violence.
Sources?
I'm nothing if not consistent.
Of course, there is that old line about consistency and hobgoblins.....
So any guy that has ever masturbated has had a homosexual experience?
I am not defending porn, however I don't think we can make the leap that men would rather watch porn, or can only get aroused with porn. Wouldn't it me more logical to assume that they watch it because human intercourse is not willing or available? I mean wouldn't everybody rather have human intercourse than watch porn? It is kind of like going to the kitchen cabinet and finding out the potato chips are all gone so you have a bowl of ceral instead. Mush rather have the potato chips but since there aren't any might as well have a bowl of ceral, fills you up at least.
I can't see porn as a FIRST choice of gratification.
I agree. If a guy can't get aroused for a real woman, he clearly has problems.
I know you guys that are into porn don't like hearing this. But face it - you're pervs.
I disagree. A pervert is generally considered to be someone whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable when it comes to sexual behavior. A large percentage of Americans use porn at least occasionally. Therefore, porn use is common enough not to qualify as a perversion.
And, don't knock the homos: You are closer to being one than you think.
I don't knock homosexuals. I have no problems with them. However, I do not find men sexually arousing so I'm not close to homosexuals in that regard.
Hell, I'd be happy if we could just define what the hell we're actually talking about.
I didnt make that argument (you might want to go back and look again). Relations between husband and wife are private because of modesty, not because they are dirty or immoral.
This post is a pretty good start:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1406497/posts?page=362#362
Ah, I see where we truly differ. Honestly, I don't care for porn, it's just boring. Maybe it's because my first wife was a stripper, and I've been there, done too much of it, I don't know. Truth is though, it doesn't do much for me.
However, that's not the point. I don't want you to agree with me on porn. I don't even care about porn. What I do want you to agree with me on is the proper role of government, and that IMHO is what this debate is about, not porn.
Your right to disagree, even though I can't fathom how or why everyone is deciding to trust Bundy just this once.
Certain things are immoral or moral due to context. Sex in private is perfectly moral, while sex in public is not.
Porn falls into the same category. There is nothing immoral about watching porn in private. Doing it in public is a different matter.
I was (of course) speaking of pornography and not of relations between a MAN and his WIFE. These are done in private because of modesty and good taste. Any thing else?
Don't confuse the guy further. It's obvious he can't even make the distinction between autoerotic behavior and homosexuality. By this guys definition, every 14 year old boy in America is a flaming faggot. Nay a pedophile, because that's a 14 year old hand....
Ok, using 362 as your definion, you and I are in agreement.
So sayeth the lord god modernman! It is a scourge and it is filthy, and nothing you can say or think is going to make it ok. There is absolutly everything wrong and immoral with it. (looking at it contextually of course)
People can say the same thing about guns.
Fact is we don't take away everybody's freedoms because there are sickos in the world.
All web pages have to come from servers. There could be other ways devised to enforce it in the US.
Your point about foreign sites I did think about and don't have any good answers for regulating that, but there could be some ways to block them rather than subjecting the US to a set of international laws, some of which may not be in our best interest.
Despite filters and spam traps by my isp, the regular spammers, porn spammers, and scammers constitute the majority of mail in my inbox every single day. I guess it goes with the territory.
Because it makes logical sense to me, that is why I think Bundy was telling the truth, that "pornograohy" was a big negative influence on his life. It does ring true. I will bet there are studies done on Pornography and sexual crimes. My gut tells me that there is a connection.
I would not at all mind banning porn, simply becasue I don't consume it. I bet if I would look at some I would be even more in favor of it. However I think I have to go along with the argument that probably millions of people utilize/consume pronography and they don't commit crimes becasue of it, so we should not deny people the freedom to use it if they want.
I don't like it, I'm fairly sure it is not good for anybody, except for those men who have to give sperm samples :) but this is a free country after all.
That's just a disturbing thought.
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