2008 Woodie Awards
Should the government restrict porn? Yes
Porn has no place in civil society
Richard Nelson is a policy analyst with The Family Foundation of
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Opinion
Somehow we've been conditioned to believe that pornography is a matter of free speech, personal freedom and privacy and that any restrictions would undo the First Amendment. People like Larry Flynt tell us that banning it could lead us down the wrong path. (As if the path our pornified nation is already on could get any more jaded.)
Pre-Hefner America perceived pornography to be incompatible with public decency and civility. Post-Viagra America is now picking up the pieces. Study after study shows a clear connection between pornography use and sexual crime. According to Jan LaRue, attorney and pornography expert, "86 percent of convicted rapists have admitted to regular use of pornography; 57 percent admitted imitating pornographic scenes in the commission of their crimes." Between 1960 and 1999, "forcible rape" increased by 418 percent according to the U.S. FBI Index of Crime.
Gene Abel of the New York State Psychiatric Institute studied convicted rapists and found, "One-third reported that they had used pornography immediately prior to at least one of their crimes." Charles Linedecker, author of "Thrill Killers, a Study of America's Most Vicious Murders," reports 81 percent of these murderers ranked porn as their primary sexual interest. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice reported 148,110 victims of rape or sexual assault.
The idea that porn is victimless is now about as convincing as the idea that long-term exposure to carcinogens isn't linked to cancer. Women become demeaned and devalued. They are objectivized as playthings whose sole purpose is to fulfill someone's twisted fantasy. A certain percentage act on their fantasies, but nearly all porn addicts are hindered from developing healthy relationships with woman, according to psychologist Gary R. Brooks, author of "The Centerfold Syndrome." Brooks said porn promotes distorted images of women and fosters an obsession with visual stimulation.
Listen to how it affected one former student at Eastern Kentucky University: "Many people think looking at pictures of naked women is a progressive thing to do. It's progressive all right," Angie* said. "It gets worse and worse. And soon watching is not enough." Angie dropped by her boyfriend's apartment on campus, where she caught a glimpse of a sex scene on TV. She confronted him, but he said it "was just a guy thing." Later that night that scene became Angie's worst nightmare as her boyfriend raped her at gunpoint. Angie escaped with her life, but she still has scars.
Other women aren't as fortunate as Angie.
In the 1980s, more than 30 women died at the hands of a porn addict whose descent into sexual deviancy began when he discovered dirty books in the neighbor's trash. His name was Ted Bundy and violent sexual acts accompanied his murders. Just before his execution in 1989 Bundy said: "There are those loose in towns and communities, like me, whose dangerous impulses are being fueled, day in and day out, by violence in the media, in its various forms - particularly sexualized violence. There are lots of other kids playing in the streets around the country today who are going to be dead tomorrow and the next day, because other young people are reading and seeing the kinds of things that are available in the media today."
*last name withheld, "Defeating Depravity," The Southeast Outlook, summer 2004
Pre-Hefner America perceived pornography to be incompatible with public decency and civility. Post-Viagra America is now picking up the pieces. Study after study shows a clear connection between pornography use and sexual crime. According to Jan LaRue, attorney and pornography expert, "86 percent of convicted rapists have admitted to regular use of pornography; 57 percent admitted imitating pornographic scenes in the commission of their crimes." Between 1960 and 1999, "forcible rape" increased by 418 percent according to the U.S. FBI Index of Crime.
Gene Abel of the New York State Psychiatric Institute studied convicted rapists and found, "One-third reported that they had used pornography immediately prior to at least one of their crimes." Charles Linedecker, author of "Thrill Killers, a Study of America's Most Vicious Murders," reports 81 percent of these murderers ranked porn as their primary sexual interest. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice reported 148,110 victims of rape or sexual assault.
The idea that porn is victimless is now about as convincing as the idea that long-term exposure to carcinogens isn't linked to cancer. Women become demeaned and devalued. They are objectivized as playthings whose sole purpose is to fulfill someone's twisted fantasy. A certain percentage act on their fantasies, but nearly all porn addicts are hindered from developing healthy relationships with woman, according to psychologist Gary R. Brooks, author of "The Centerfold Syndrome." Brooks said porn promotes distorted images of women and fosters an obsession with visual stimulation.
Listen to how it affected one former student at Eastern Kentucky University: "Many people think looking at pictures of naked women is a progressive thing to do. It's progressive all right," Angie* said. "It gets worse and worse. And soon watching is not enough." Angie dropped by her boyfriend's apartment on campus, where she caught a glimpse of a sex scene on TV. She confronted him, but he said it "was just a guy thing." Later that night that scene became Angie's worst nightmare as her boyfriend raped her at gunpoint. Angie escaped with her life, but she still has scars.
Other women aren't as fortunate as Angie.
In the 1980s, more than 30 women died at the hands of a porn addict whose descent into sexual deviancy began when he discovered dirty books in the neighbor's trash. His name was Ted Bundy and violent sexual acts accompanied his murders. Just before his execution in 1989 Bundy said: "There are those loose in towns and communities, like me, whose dangerous impulses are being fueled, day in and day out, by violence in the media, in its various forms - particularly sexualized violence. There are lots of other kids playing in the streets around the country today who are going to be dead tomorrow and the next day, because other young people are reading and seeing the kinds of things that are available in the media today."
*last name withheld, "Defeating Depravity," The Southeast Outlook, summer 2004
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 8
Steve
posted 11/21/08 @ 8:55 AM CST
It seems like every week we have a article about how in this free country we should limit individual liberty. If you do not like porn then don't watch it and urge others to do the same. (Continued…)
Lee Coursey
posted 11/21/08 @ 9:19 AM CST
A recent study found that many murders were carried out with guns. Should guns be illegal?
I love how the correlation between rapists "using" pornography immediately prior to their crimes is used as proof. (Continued…)
Steve
posted 11/21/08 @ 10:43 AM CST
Thanks to the internet pornography is more widely available than every and yet we do not have a epidemic or rape any more so than before. Correlation does not equal causation. (Continued…)
Mad John
posted 11/21/08 @ 1:29 PM CST
In fact, as porn has proliferated in the last couple of decades, rape rates have dropped dramatically.
But even without that correlation, I am continually stunned by the arrogance of preening busybodies who would presume to tell me what I can watch. (Continued…)
Chris
posted 11/21/08 @ 2:13 PM CST
Why does he say nothing as to the statistics regarding the number of people who regularly watch porn and do not committ sex crimes?
Ace King
posted 11/21/08 @ 4:09 PM CST
Many criminals when arrested claim they're "God-fearing Christians" in order to try for a reduced sentence. Does that mean religious people are also a high risk for sexual crimes? The statistics of that are just as meaningless. (Continued…)
chirs
posted 11/30/08 @ 1:26 PM CST
this is ridiculous series of lies. I use pornography as a substitute for rice, soap, and religion.. I do not rape.
Larry
posted 12/09/08 @ 8:50 AM CST
Give me a break. I can see the dependency on pornography in these posts. I used to watch pornography. One day, I'd just had enough. I realized the sheer meaningless of it. (Continued…)
Post a Comment