Guide to Family Issues: The Harms of Pornograpy

 IMPACT ON MARRIAGE

"This is not about couples going to the porn store to spice up their sex lives. Men in growing numbers are using porn in ways that are secret, shameful and damaging. It is having a damaging impact on intimacy and sexuality."

Michael Flood, research fellow in gender studies at La Trobe University and co-author of the 2003 report Youth and Pornography in Australia. Cited by: Adele Horin, (2007, May 26), How cyber porn is wrecking relationships, Sydney Morning Herald

“The sex became impersonal and aggressive: It became more 'porn' style -- pulling my hair, no kissing, slapping around a bit, all stuff I was initially okay with. There was no real intimacy, no thought about what I might like. Slowly, the sex tapered off: I would wake up and find him looking at it, I would go to bed at night and he would look at porn. We would argue; he would look at porn.” -- A woman told the Sydney Morning Herald how pornography wrecked her marriage

Adele Horin, (2007, May 26), “How cyber porn is wrecking relationships,” Sydney Morning Herald

Question 1
Can pornography serve as an aphrodisiac to help couples attain higher levels of sexual desire and enhance their marriage?

Answer
Pornography actually dampens sexual interest among couples and is a contributing factor in divorces. In the place of a loving, focused relationship with a spouse, pornography substitutes fantasy relations with a two-dimensional, air-brushed image. The fantasy partner is always available, makes no demands, exists solely to please the viewer and delivers sexual climax without any give and take, with no need to exercise tenderness, sensitivity or compassion. There is no emotional attachment between “partners.” Compared to the fantasy affair, the demanding work of a genuine relationship with another real, living being can appear daunting. As porn users divert from interpersonal relationships and withdraw into pornography, the relationship with one’s spouse becomes increasingly strained and disconnected, which fuels a further withdrawal into fantasy.

Pornography addicts become increasingly dissatisfied with their mates and require increasing levels of stimuli in order to achieve sexual arousal. This makes sexual intimacy with a spouse less appealing, and pornography becomes nearly exclusive as the porn user’s sexual outlet.

Pornography may rouse a couple's interest for a while, but wives with imperfect bodies lose out in the end because they cannot compete with the forever young, cosmetically-altered women in videos. 


See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 7-73

Question 2
Can pornography be used as a helpful source of education in sexuality and teach people how to please their mate?

Answer
Pornography creates a false, self-focused view of human sexuality which is profoundly destructive to families. Among the unrealistic attitudes conveyed by pornography are the following myths perpetrated on porn users:

• Sex with anyone, under any circumstances, in any way, is beneficial and has no negative consequences for either party.
• Women have one purpose – to meet the sexual demands of men.
• Sexual objectification: the only thing that matters about women is their body parts.
• Even if women say no, they don’t mean it.
• Marriage and children are obstacles to sexual fulfillment.
• Monogamous relationships are boring.
• No one is monogamous and faithful to their spouse.
• Everyone is involved in either pre-marital or extra-marital sex.
• Young children are sexual beings at their core who desire to experience sexual pleasure.

According to the Final Report of the Attorney General’s 1985 Commission on Pornography, “Substantial exposure to material of this type will increase acceptance of the proposition that women like to be forced into sexual practices, and once again, that the woman who says “no” really means “yes.” (Final Report, p. 42).

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 7-73

 RISKS OF PORNOGRAPHY

“Significant effects of pornography are feelings of aggression and abuse. Exposure to particular kinds of erotic imagery can result in an increase in aggressive sexual fantasies, aggressive behavior, acceptance of anti-female attitudes, and specifically, in male aggression against females.”

Neil Malamuth and Edward Donnerstein, Pornography and Sexual Aggression, (New York: Academic Press, 1984).

After six weeks of exposure to nonviolent porn, subjects came to see non-monogamous relationships as normal, had developed callous attitudes toward rape and sought after more deviant, bizarre types of porn.

Dolf Zillman and Jennings Bryant, Pornography's Impact on Sexual Satisfaction, Journal of Applied Social Psychology 18(5) 1988, 438-453; and Dolf Zillman and Jennings Bryant, Effects ofProlonged Consumption of Pornography on Family Values, Journal of Family Issues 9(4) December 1988): 518-544.

“More than 3,000 research projects and scientific studies between 1960 and 1992 have confirmed the connection between a steady diet of violent entertainment and aggressive and anti-social behavior.” 

Michael Medved, Hollywood vs. America (1992), New York: HarperCollins, 243.

“Research has shown that pornography and its messages are involved in shaping attitudes and encouraging behavior that can harm individual users and their families. Pornography is often viewed in secret, which creates deception within marriages that can lead to divorce in some cases. In addition, pornography promotes the allure of adultery, prostitution and unreal expectations that can result in dangerous promiscuous behavior.”

The Effects of Pornography and Sexual Messages, National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families

Question 3
Is pornography addictive?  

Answer
Pornography is highly addictive – more addictive than cocaine for some persons. Dr. Robert Weiss defined sexual addiction as an inability to stop despite negative consequences, such as lost sleep, lost wages or damaged relationships.

A Stanford/Duquesne universities study classified users as “cyber-sex compulsives” if they spent more than 11 hours a week visiting sexually-oriented areas.

Habitual users turn to pornography for a release from unmanageable stress. The sight of something shocking and forbidden provides an adrenalin rush and releases chemicals in the body, which deliver a temporary high. But stressors return when the high wears off and are aggravated by feelings of guilt and shame. This necessitates another dose of pornography, which in turn increases stress and the vicious cycle continues.

People have reported tremendous financial consequences attributable to experiences with pornography, including physical injury, mental trauma and loss of employment. One such person spent more than $500 a month on therapy. Another incurred hospitalization costs of nearly $30,000.*

Overcoming the problem is complicated by the shame attached to a sexual addiction. Addicts require a network of support in order to help them overcome their compulsive behavior. Pornography addicts must deal with loved ones’ disapproval and feelings of betrayal, and are liable to be marginalized as “perverts.”
 
*Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, Part 4, Chapter 1: Victimization, (1986).

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 7-28, 289-318

Question 4
Are people at risk of attitudinal changes by repeatedly viewing pornography?

Answer
Anyone and everyone who views pornography is susceptible to changes in attitude – up to and including compulsion and addiction. Like drug use, pornography is an escalating addiction for many people – adults and children.

Over time, the user becomes desensitized to soft porn images that previously were considered shocking. Users seek out more deviant material in order to obtain the same effect. Soft porn media contain numerous teasers (in cartoons, costuming, columns, Internet links) that whet users’ appetites for – and draw them into -- more deviant material.

Empirical research suggests that when experimental subjects are exposed to repeated presentations of hardcore non-violent adult pornography over a six-week period, they:

• developed an increased callousness toward women; trivialized rape as a criminal offense (to some it was no longer a crime at all);
• developed distorted perceptions about sexuality;
• developed an appetite for more deviant, bizarre or violent types of pornography (escalation); normal sex no longer seemed to "do the job";
• devalued the importance of monogamy and confidence in marriage as a lasting institution; and
• viewed non-monogamous relationships as normal and natural behavior.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 289-318

Question 5
Is pornography a harmless activity without adverse repercussions, except for “psychos” like Ted Bundy?

Answer
Fantasies do affect behavior, by altering sexual preferences. In the normal progression of the addiction, pornography addicts eventually act out their fantasies. Law enforcement authorities find evidence of ties between pornography and individuals engaging in sex crimes in eight out of 10 cases.

According to Dr. Victor Cline, who has treated more than 3,000 sex addicts and sexual offenders, the common course of unchecked porn addiction advances from addiction to escalation to desensitization to acting out.

Masturbation to deviant images is a surefire means of acquiring a deviant sexual compulsion or fetish. Stanley Rachman demonstrated in the laboratory how sexual deviations could be created in adult male subjects. He was able to condition, in two separate experiments, 100 percent of his male subjects into a sexual deviancy (fetishism).*

*(Stanley Rachman, "Experimentally induced sexual fetishism,” The Psychological Record, 1968, 18, p. 25.)

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 7-99, 118-130, 193-196, 212-277, 289-318

Question 6
Is the viewing of pornography a private matter and therefore a victimless activity?

Answer
Many arguments in defense of pornography have been perpetrated by the industry in attempting to protect its financial interests by minimizing opposition to graphic sexual depictions. As standards of decency decline, the treatment of women and children deteriorate as well. Marriages and families break down and sex crimes increase. The victims of pornography verify that it is not merely a “private matter.” Private behavior can have public consequences.

Among the many victims of pornography are:

• The subject of the pornographic production. Porn subjects are frequently victims of molestation and/or rape, and are many times coerced into their first photo-shoot and then blackmailed into continuing.
• Viewers who acquire deepening sexual dysfunction, twisted attitudes and decreased capacity for intimacy and sexual addiction.
• Marriages ending in divorce, resulting in broken homes.
• Addicts, who may also suffer career and/or financial loss.
• The children who are raped and murdered by persons who viewed child pornography. At the very least, pornography robs children of their innocence by portraying sexuality in perverted and bizarre ways which are detached from love, emotionally scarring them for life.
• Society at large suffers. Many people who are incarcerated due to sex crimes were motivated, at least in part, by porn and/or used pornography in the commission of their crimes against innocent citizens. Many sex offenders had viewed pornography prior to committing sex offenses.

• The work place, where decreased productivity and distraction from tasks and responsibilities, has resulted in sexual harassment, termination and other problems.

• Communities which bear the social costs of divorce, devaluation of property and reduced standard of living in the areas surrounding sex-oriented businesses.
• Victims of sex trafficking and forced prostitution.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 7-99, 118-130, 193-196, 212-277, 289-318

“MAINSTREAMING” PORN

“Pornography is a multi-billion-dollar industry in America and is making multimillionaires of sicko producers, twisted directors and pathetic ‘actors’ — who have now made inroads into the mainstream culture.”

Laura Ingraham, Ingraham taking back America, one reader at a time, Today, 12 September 2007, MSNBC

Question 7
Once considered a “dirty business,” isn’t porn now considered a mainstream business?

Answer
The pornography industry -- and all too often, the media – tries to make that case. They base this assumption on the financial numbers involved in pornography. In doing so, they gloss over the many social harms which are also “mainstreamed.”

Worldwide, more than $100 billion was spent on pornography in 2006.

The story behind the story is this:

• Much of the money generated by the pornography industry goes to organized crime.
• Pornography has no socially redeeming value and does not enhance the cultural quality of communities.
• Pornography poses severe threats to families. Money spent on pornography can be diverted to much more worthwhile causes, such as cost of living needs and harmless leisure time activities and recreation.
• Pornography creates no high quality jobs.

The damages caused by pornography far outweigh any gains.

Corporations producing and peddling pornography profit off the backs of children and adults who are sometimes exploited in the production stages of the industry. Organized crime syndicates benefit from pornography sales.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 100-117, 131-135

GUARDING AGAINST OBSCENITY

“Parents are the most effective guard against kids getting involved in pornography. It's time for you to get involved in their life. Ask the tough questions. Talk about the dangers.”

Craig Gross, XXXChurch.com

Question 8
Should we depend on governments, courtsand laws to control obscenity?

Answer
Government is inconsistent at best in combating obscenity. In the United States and Canada, courts of law have protected pornography and struck down a children’s online protection act. Adult obscenity is largely tolerated by governments, preferring to go after child pornographers.

The obscenity lobby is extremely well-funded and powerful. Anti-family interests have been successful in defending obscenity and in defining legal standards downward.

Concerned citizens working together can establish community standards and prevent sex-oriented businesses, such as strip bars, from opening in areas where they are inappropriate. Citizens may not be able to close down existing sex-oriented businesses, but they can push for the enactment of strict regulations on them. Consumers may not be able to persuade grocery stores to get rid of lewd magazines, but they can insist that the magazines be covered in wrapping paper, placed in obscure locations and sold only to adults. Citizens can urge hotel chains not to offer pornographic cable programming. In short, citizens may not be able to outlaw pornography, but they can work to educate people of its harms and advocate that the use of pornography is unthinkable.

Parents need to control and monitor the use of home computers, keeping them in areas of high visibility. Many good filtering programs are available and reasonably priced. Family engagement in wholesome activities is the best defense against the contamination of porn in the home.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 162-192, 327-336

CREATION OF PORN MARKETS

“As with video, the porn industry quickly realized the possibilities. Firms that had grown big and profitable off of video -- Vivid Video, VCA Pictures, even the Playboy empire -- could repackage and resell their product almost endlessly and distribute it, cheaply, via several media nationwide: rental and mail-order video, home and hotel pay-per-view, websites, porn magazines, and satellite TV.”

Nicholas Confessore, (2002, February 7), “Porn and Politics in a Digital Age,” Frontline, Public Broadcast System.

Question 9
Has consumer demand created a market for pornography? Is the mass media merely responding to those demands by producing and distributing pornography?

Answer
The adage, “if you build it, they will come,” fits appropriately into a discussion of pornography and consumer markets. There is no logical, historical or economic argument against the premise that the pornography industry has created its own markets. The mass media uses technological innovations to dangle pornography carrots in front of consumers, enticing them to access obscenity in new ways.

The “American Dictionary” offers this definition of “marketing”: “The commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer.” The word “producer” precedes “consumer.”

The rise in pornography revenues directly correlates to the proliferation of cable television, video stores, pay-per-view TV, cell phones and the Internet, with its downloadable streaming video. Prior to the arrival of Playboy Magazine in 1954, pornography was largely unattainable. When pornography was mainstreamed on newsstands and in grocery stores, book stores, convenience stores and elsewhere, the markets were created and the cash flow followed.

In areas with high levels of access to Internet, cable TV, video and paper forms of pornography, the porn industry utilized existing market venues to create new markets and attract paying customers.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 131-135

HARMS TO CHILDREN

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit found “a strong correlation between child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children.”

Letter from Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates and Captain J.J. Doherty to Wisconsin State Representative James Rutkowski and aide Sara Lee Johann, 28 May 1985.

Twenty-six popular children's characters, such as Pokemon, My Little Pony and Action Man, were used as search terms to lure children into thousands of porn sites. Thirty percent were hardcore.

Envisional, 2000

“Although much child pornography is probably consumed by pedophiles who are already stimulated by children, exposure to it may create new converts. It seems equally likely that child pornography can reinforce a partially developed interest and rationalize acting it out.”

David Finkelhor, Sexual Abuse of Boys, Victimology 6: 71-84. Cited in: Diana Russell, Sexual Exploitation, (Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications, 1984), 242.

Question 10
Why are the creation of and access to child pornography treated so seriously?

Answer
Obscenity and child pornography are not protected by the First Amendment and are not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press. Pornography exploits children in numerous ways. It warps children’s sense of what constitutes healthy and mature sexuality, exposes children to the risks of incest, pedophilia, sex trafficking, violence, acting upon pornographic images and loss of innocence. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that a large percentage of those who view child pornography have or will abuse their own children.

Between 2000 and 2004, federal criminal referrals of sexual exploitation over the Internet increased by 124 percent. One in five children will be solicited online. More than 50,000 predators are online at any given time. One in 33 of predator solicitations will result in the successful contact of a child by phone, letter or physical meeting. Many online predators use pornography to manipulate children and as a precursor to meeting them for illegal sexual relations.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 161, 183, 202, 204, 211-231, 242, 244, 251, 253, 260, 262-263

Question 11
Do pornography producers take adequate steps to minimize minors’ exposure to their product?

Answer
Pornographers have not made adequate attempts to minimize the exposure of minors to obscenity. Children are viewed as current porn consumers.

Scores of online pornographers have embedded the names of popular children’s toys in their websites so that Internet users are directed to their site when searching for toys.

Most children have encountered online porn and one in five has been sexually propositioned by adults or other children forwarding porn to them.

Some children’s websites are besieged by pop-up ads for adult sites. It is not uncommon for “children’s” video games to feature pimps, prostitutes and full nudity.

Boys in the 12-to-17 age range constitute pornography’s largest consumer group. It is not then surprising that the number of treatment centers for juvenile sex offenders has risen exponentially in recent years.

Pornographic sites on the Internet show free sample images and some sites employ the practice of “mousetrapping” – making it impossible to navigate out of their sites unless one shuts down the computer.

The pornography industry and organizations sympathetic to the pornography industry, such as the ACLU, have aggressively fought attempts by communities to place filters on library computers.

The only true “policing” available to prevent children from entering pornographic Internet sites is the involvement of parents and guardians in computer use. Unsupervised minors, who are naturally curious to learn about sexuality, are a mere click away from entering porn sites.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 142, 144-145, 148, 150

Question 12
Does exposure to child pornography create a desire for sexual contact with children in males for whom it did not previously exist?

Answer
Yes, exposure to child pornography can cause sexual arousal in some males who were not previously sexually interested in children.
The transition of a male’s arousal to child pornography can be achieved through a step-by-step process of exposure to gradually younger sexualized teenagers and eventually prepubescent girls. Seemingly normal heterosexual males can become sexually aroused by depictions of children that:

• sexually objectifies children
• merges sexual images of girls and women thereby increases male viewers’ propensity to use girls as sexual substitutes for women
• applies the laws of learning

Males who have become habituated to adult pornography and who now seek more extreme forms of pornography may divert to child pornography.

The “adultification” of child images can result in the merging of sexual images of girls and women. This is when girls are portrayed as mini-adults with the use of makeup, seductive clothes, sexy and adult-like poses and/or accompanying text. Like pseudo-child pornography, adultified child images can sexualize girls for some male viewers who never before felt sexual interest in young girls. 

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 8-15, 17-18, 20-24, 55-59, 216, 225

PORN ADDICTION

It is critical that addicts and their families get specialized assistance from counselors trained to work with pornography addiction. Participation in a support group for addicts or family members seeking recovery can be invaluable.

Question 13
Are porn addicts hopeless perverts who can never hope to be normal again?

Answer
Porn addiction is a serious problem. Like drug dependency, porn addiction is a clinical disease, one with identifiable causes and definitive treatment solutions. Porn abuse is comparable to drug abuse insofar as both are predicated on the physical and psychological needs of addicts themselves, and both can only be eradicated through intensive addiction treatment programs. Porn addiction kept private is porn addiction allowed to fester, and grow. It will eventually overwhelm its captive.

Like all forms of addiction, porn addiction is characterized first and foremost by compulsive and uncontrollable behavior. Drug addicts use drugs at the expense of everything else in their lives: their jobs, their families and their health. The same holds true for porn addicts, for whom porn viewing becomes a singular locus of pleasure and purpose. Porn addiction is a condition under which an individual will go to any length to view porn, over and over again, with complete disregard for everything except the viewing itself.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 7-28, 289-318

GENDER 

“In recent years, the accessibility, affordability and anonymity of the Internet have made pornography undeniably attractive to millions of women. While some women simply find it exciting, others have battled addictions and other problems."

Mark O'Keefe,  Newhouse News Service, Cited in:Gretchen Gallen, More Women into Porn, XBiz: The Industry Source, 31 October 2003

The scientific foundation of the pornography-as-cathartic effect has been refuted.

Steven Hill and Nina Silver, Civil Rights Anti-Pornography Legislation: Addressing the Harm to Women, 288. Transforming a Rape Culture, Emilie Buchwald, Pamela Fletcher and Martha Roth (eds.) (Milkweed Editions, 1992).

Question 14
Are most pornography users and addicts males?

Answer
Most users are men. However, women make up an increasing share of those using pornography. An estimated 9.4 million women in the United States accessed pornography online in September 2003. One study revealed that college-age women were more accepting of pornography than their fathers.

The accessibility, affordability and anonymity of the Internet have enticed millions of women to view pornography. While some women simply find it exciting, others have encountered addiction and related problems. One-third of Internet porn viewers are female and the number of women falling victim to pornography is rising significantly. Young women and men have grown up in a sex-saturated culture, and desensitization can occur easily in such a climate.

Ministries and other organizations are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of women seeking help in breaking free from porn addiction. One in six women in America struggle with pornography. Women, far more than men, are likely to act upon pornography use and to seek multiple partners, casual sex or affairs. The resulting implications on families are immense.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary #55-59, 60-73

Question 15
Is pornography a natural and healthy outlet for males?

Answer
Pornography use is healthy for no one. In fact, it represents a threat to all who consume it. Obsessions, compulsions and addiction can quickly set in. Until males (and females) learn how to control physiological reactions in their brain, they are no match for the overpowering effects of pornography. In other words, when people play with “fire,” they are going to get burned.

Social scientists and law enforcement authorities have reached a similar conclusion: pornography can change men’s attitudes, make them more calloused toward women, desensitize them toward rape and incite men to commit sexual crimes.

Many men are obsessed with pornography at work and at home. Their lives are derailed from real meaning and purpose. Their families suffer as a result of their problem.

There is nothing glamorous about porn use or addiction. Men have the opportunity to set a positive tone for their family by abstaining from pornography use. It’s not a matter of what they can and cannot do; it’s a matter of what they should and should not do.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 7-28, 29-45, 55-59, 74-99, 118-130, 232-251, 259-267, 289-318, 348-358

ACADEMIC STUDIES

“Congress should end all federal funding of educational institutions that train students with bogus Kinseyan academic pornography and/or that teach pornography as harmless. Congress should also remove the authority of so-called sexology institutes -- most of whom are pornography grantees ….”

Dr. Judith Reisman, Testimony at The Science Behind Pornography Addiction hearing, U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation,  18 November 2004.

Question 16
Is the academic study of pornography liberating and educational when done in the right context? Is it a legitimate use of taxpayer dollars?

Answer
The study of pornography in college classroom settings is in no way valuable to the education of young men and women. Several academicians have conducted legitimate research on the impact of pornography, but college courses actually validate it. Some syllabi require students to produce pornography, which does more to corrupt students than it does to make them marketable as potential employees in respectable professions.

Author Diane Glasser said it is problematic that students watch pornography because it subjects them to harmful and degrading images and experiences which impact their psyches and bodies -- all under the guise of academic discipline. Students are not studying porn because it’s the most popular and enduring of all the movie genres, but to get a thrill for college credit.*

Universities have demonstrated hypocrisy over pornography. Harvard Divinity School dean Ronald Thiemann was discovered having thousands of pornographic images stored on his office computer. Under pressure, Dean Thiemann stepped down from his post and went on leave. It is apparently not acceptable for an academic dean to possess pornographic images on his computer, but it is acceptable for faculty to offer pornography disguised as exercises in academia.

*Diane Glass, Do pornography college courses have intellectual merit? 13 January 2006, Atlanta Journal-Constitution.


See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 278-288

GOVERNMENT AND PORNOGRAPHY

“There is nothing harmless about pornography in any form, and state and national lawmakers have a public duty to do all they can to protect families from the destructive effects of an industry that profits from the sexual exploitation of human beings.”

Alysse ElHage, Sexual Degradation: How Pornography Destroys the Family, July 2004, North Carolina Family Policy Council
 

“Although the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography had its share of critics and criticism, the vast data used in the Commission’s findings and recommendations clearly justify the conclusion that there is at least some relationship between the pornography industry and the victimization of women.”

Barry Flowers, (1994), The Victimization and Exploitation of Women and Children: A Study of Physical, Mental and Sexual Maltreatment in the United States, (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 182.

“We had hoped that liberalization [of pornography] would lead to the open and honest portrayal of all aspects of sexuality. Instead, the sex capitalists moved in and what we got was pornography, which was cold, mechanical, violent and degrading." – The chairman of Sweden’s Sex Ed Association

Newsweek Coverage Scores One for Pornographers, National Federation for Decency Journal, September 1985, 12.

Question 17
Did the 1970 Congressional Commission on Pornography exonerate pornography?

Answer
In 1968, the American pornography industry was considered new and shocking, and Congress established a commission to look into the growing problem. The commission report, based on a limited amount of research, concluded:

"Much of the 'problem stems from the inability or reluctance of people in our society to be open and direct in dealing with sexual matters."

The commission recommended two legal reforms: repealing all obscenity laws at the state, local and federal levels; and replacing them with new laws to protect children and to control public display.

Many of the experimental studies utilized by the commission were sexually explicit materials obtained from sex research institutes because of the difficulty of obtaining materials from the local market.*

The U.S. Senate voted 60-5 to reject the commission’s recommendations.** Marvin Wolfgang, a prominent sociologist and one of the authors of The Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, later stated that violent pornography does in fact encourage physical aggression.

* Einsiedel, E.F. (1995). Social Science and Public Policy: Constraints on the Linkage, Prevention in Human Services, 12, p.93.

**Tim Wu, “How Laws Die,” Slate Magazine, October 15, 2007 Part of a five-part series on which laws we violate.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 337-347

Question 18
Was the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography (July 1986) biased against pornography, and weren’t its scientific findings criticized?

Answer
Opposition to the commission was fierce, before and after it convened. Activated at the direction of President Ronald Reagan, the commission was subjected to threats and intimidation by the pornography industry and its defenders, including the ACLU. Pornographic magazines threatened to sue each of the 11 commission members $30 million for “putting them under pressure.” A liberal attorney called the formation of the commission “un-American.” Opponents also vilified the commission simply because some of its members were religious individuals.

The Media Coalition launched a $1 million campaign to discredit the commission and those who opposed pornography, created hysteria over censorship and planted news stories falsifying the harmful impact of pornography. Representatives of Penthouse and the ACLU attempted to suppress free speech by heckling witnesses during commission testimony.

The commission marked the first time the U.S. government undertook a full examination of the special problems presented by the use of actual persons to create sexually explicit materials and to receive testimony from actual performers in the sex industry. The commission’s conclusion directly contrasted with the earlier commission’s findings: pornography is harmful. The 1986 commission found convergent validation of the effects of violent pornography, including evidence that sexually violent depictions led to:

• aggression against women under laboratory test conditions;
• significant increases by college males in the acceptance of rape myths and of sexual violence towards women;
• seeing the rape victim as more responsible for the assault, with perpetrators absolved and viewed less negatively; and
• more aggressive sexual fantasies.

The commission made 92 recommendations calling for a widespread federal, state and local crackdown on the pornography industry. As a result of the commission's work, the attorney general created a federal prosecutorial unit that specialized in prosecutions of obscenity-related crimes. Among the main recommendations were those calling for enforcement of obscenity laws. Despite the horrors of pornography revealed by the commission’s work, none of the companies in the liberal-dominated publishing industry agreed to print the final report.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 197-203

Question 19
Has the United Nations taken a position on pornography?

Answer
Yes. The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) expressly condemned the sexual exploitation of minors in pornography, prostitution and illegal sexual practices, and 191 nations signed on.

Under Article 19 of the UNCRC, children must be protected from all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation by parents and others and obligates states to undertake prevention and treatment programs to this end. Article 34 specifically requires states to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse including involvement in pornography. The UNCRC established a Committee on the Rights of the Child for the purpose of monitoring the progress of the parties who must make periodic reports to the Committee. The Committee lacks authority to receive petitions from states or individuals alleging violations of the Convention, and the Convention offers no remedies.

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography draws special attention to sexual exploitation issues. Adopted through the UN Economic and Social Council March 26, 2000, the Optional Protocol calls on party states to cooperate with other states to further the prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment for crimes of sexual exploitation of children. Under Article 3(1) of the Protocol, states agree to pass national legislation making certain offenses illegal regardless of whether they are committed domestically, transnationally or on an individual or organized basis. Included among these offenses are specific provisions for the production, distribution, dissemination, import, export, offer, sale, or possession of child pornography.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 5-6

Question 20
Has the permissiveness associated with adult pornography led to a reduction in sexual assault?

Answer
In the nations where the availability of pornography proliferated, rapes and sexual assaults increased dramatically. Despite claims that one European nation’s sexual assaults decreased, the opposite in fact had occurred.

Social science research shows that pornography can inhibit viewers’ disdain for rape. Compulsive viewing contributes to addiction to pornography. History has shown that a high percentage of rapists owned and viewed vast amounts of pornography, borne out by police records and testimony to courts and commissions.

The victims of sexual assault will attest that nothing good can come of pornography.

Marriage counselors are seeing an exponential rise in troubled marriages and divorce related to pornography.

Because of technological advances of the past 30 years, adults are exposing children to pornography and preying on them.

These are the costs of permissiveness.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 248-249, 251-252, 271-281, 284-288, 290-291, 293-299, 302-306, 309-320, 325-329, 365, 370-373, 375-376, 378-381, 383-384, 388-393

THE WORK PLACE 

“Every American workplace has a story to tell about the casual use of company computers for personal purposes, and many of those stories reflect fairly benign behavior such as online shopping. But now we get a clear and compelling insight into the significant use of workplace computers for more explicit sexual purposes well beyond online dating.”

Stephen Hirschfeld, CEO, Employment Law Alliance, Loren Baker, Workplace Internet Full of Porn, Blogs and Dating, 15 February 2004, Search Engine Journal.

Question 21
Isn’t pornography common and acceptable in the work place?

Answer
It’s certainly true that pornography is not uncommon in the work place. Seventy percent of adult site traffic on the Internet occurs during prime business hours. However, pornography is just as harmful and disruptive in the work place as it is in the home.

From small businesses to the White House, pornography has proven both present and problematic. The viewing of pornography in the workplace can cause serious social, psychological, ethical, legal and financial problems for both employer and employees.

Pornography requires businesses to monitor employees and computers, prompting disciplinary actions and terminations.

Hand-held electronic devices tempt employees to view pornography on the job in a way that is harder for administrators to detect.

Employees also email pornography to co-workers – some of them unwilling recipients. This has resulted in sexual harassment lawsuits against perpetrators and the company.

In short, pornography has brought new tensions into the work place. Families suffer when dad or mom is distracted at work by pornography, thereby putting their family’s financial security at risk.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 118-130

HEALTHY SEXUALITY 

“Porn is like junk food--it provides little in the way of real nutrition for your sexual health."

Dr. Ian Kerner, author of Sex Detox

Question 22
Do pornographic productions demonstrate healthy sexuality?

Answer
Pornographic productions depict anything but examples of healthy sexuality. By nature, healthy sexuality is a private expression – not a spectator event for the world to view repeatedly. By contrast, healthy sexuality is the natural result of love, intimacy, commitment and fidelity. It is best demonstrated by married couples who affirm each other by giving each other affection, love and respect over a long period of time. Love is given consensually without measure by partners who know each other’s sexual history and who have made a public and legal commitment to one another. Healthy sexuality creates an ever-growing sense of love, admiration and respect for one another and contributes to marriage longevity.

Among the characteristics of healthy sexuality are: romance, affection, intimacy and sensuality. Pornographic productions are characterized by none of these. Porn typically features little or no foreplay and demonstrates little or no expression of respect for the other partner(s). Porn is purely a matter of mechanical sex – taking something from one or more partners without attachment, intimacy, emotion, love, respect or giving in return. It is a cold, calloused exercise by partners who are often anonymous to each other.

Pornography is associated with fear, exploitation, crime and high risks of disease and injury.

Healthy sexuality comes with no price tag attached. Healthy sexuality is guided by maturity and secure, healthy boundaries; pornography is a demonstration of unhealthy sexual boundaries.

See: Fast Facts and Commentary # 348-388