Out of Line
by Timothy Rollins
May 8, 2001
In
what has become an over $10 BILLION business in America, not to mention
other revenues from elsewhere around the world – particularly Europe, pornography
continues to be a scourge not only for women who are the main objects of it,
but also for all those who come into contact with its contents. It is by
far the most frequently visited subject on the Internet.
Contrary to what some may think with their view that pornography is “harmless”, the fact remains that the exact opposite is true according to Wendy Wright, Communications Director for Concerned Women of America. The principal market for pornography of course are men of all ages, who seem from even an early age to have a disproportionate interest in what they think it has to offer. They think that they can get by just looking at pictures of naked women in publications such as Playboy and the like and not be affected by it, to which I say: What a crock!
The indisputable fact remains that so-called “soft-core” publications such as these only go to serve as a feeding ground for increased addiction to the depravity of hard-core pornography. What passes for entertainment on both network and cable television does not help things much. Even Ted Bundy admitted indulgence in pornography in his series of final interviews just prior to his execution in Florida’s electric chair back in 1989.
The
figures connecting pornography to felonies of the first magnitude are indisputable.
According to FBI (seal, right) records from 1985, upwards of 87 percent of girl
child molesters and 77 percent of boy child molesters admitted to the regular
use of hard-core pornography. Those same records report that 81 percent of serial
sex-killers admitted to the regular indulgence in hard-core pornography. Brushing
aside the figures for a moment, pornography has extremely negative effects on
society at large, and I am not just talking about violent crimes such as Rape
and the like.
I have been fortunate in that I have never had any real desire to indulge in having pornography in my own life. Maybe part of the reason I didn’t have that desire was because I knew in my heart that whoever was being featured in it was somebody else’s daughter or another man's wife. As a parent myself, I am even happier than ever that I have had the opportunity and the sense to protect myself from what can only be described as one of society’s great modern scourges. When you think about it, you cannot help but come away with the knowledge that it is the launching pad for a host of other societal ills.
In my experiences both as a Church officer over the last 20 years and change as well as my military experience as both a Marine and later as a Soldier, I have come across many men who have struggled to overcome its highly addictive nature. It not only dulls one’s sensitivity to that which is precious above all else – as in life itself, it fosters damage in personal relationships. I cannot even begin to number the marriages or other personal relationships that I have seen destroyed by pornography.
I remember when I bought my first computer in 1997 at which time I immediately got connected to the Internet. Shortly thereafter, I went in for my annual worthiness interview with my Stake President. During the interview, he asked me about the computer and what type of sites I surfed, to which I replied primarily newspapers and research sites. He then asked me if I surfed any “adult” sites, to which I replied that I had neither the time nor the inclination. I reasoned that if it cost $3.99 a minute to have someone talk dirty to me, then it probably cost even more to both see and hear it on the World Wide Web – not to mention that I wasn’t willing to put my credit card number on the web.
I remember an experience told me by a woman a number of years back when she told me that on one Friday evening she was hoping for a special date with her husband without the kids, but instead he popped a pornographic videotape in the VCR, and suggested that they do the same things. Her shock and revulsion was of such intensity that the scars inflicted by her husband that night never fully healed, and not too long after that, she left him and later divorced him.
Another experience – also from a number of years ago in another time it seems, was a colleague out West who like most boys in their teenage years, hid various “girlie” magazines from his parents as I suppose most boys do. As he got older, he became seriously addicted to hard-core pornography and has been struggling with it ever since. I cannot but help but think that it has affected his ability to have a healthy relationship with a lady inasmuch as the mind has the ability to have images indelibly etched within it and subject to recall without even the slightest provocation.
Victims of pornography struggle with it too – often for the rest of their lives. In a very real sense, they are also victims of sexual abuse just as though they themselves had been physically raped. In some cases, it is probably worse than an act of physical sexual violence in that the pictures remain around in perpetuity – especially with the way things circulate around the Internet and the like.
What brings even more revulsion than traditional pornography (as in women taking off their clothes and doing various sexual acts) is the publication of pornography involving children and in some cases even animals. While these may be decidedly unpleasant subjects to dwell on, we as a society must be aware of these issues if we are going to take an active stand in keeping ourselves and more importantly our families safe from this most vile of societal ill.
Pornography is more than an addiction – it is the crack cocaine of the human soul. It dulls sensitivity to that which is most precious - that being life itself. Children are especially vulnerable, as they do not yet have a sense of psychological maturity on sexual issues, particularly as they relate to their own bodies.
Patrick Fleming, a therapist of a nine-year old boy and his family, has attested to the addictive nature of this modern plague. He said, “Sometimes pornography has a powerfully damaging effect because the child is emotionally vulnerable in some way, or sometimes simply because the exposure comes at such a young age that the child is not developmentally prepared to handle such explicit sexual material.”
One of Fleming’s clients was a young boy who was exposed to pornography while watching an HBO “adult” feature at a friend’s house. From that point on, his curiosity was more than just piqued - he had become addicted. He looked up every pornographic website he could find, which culminated in his getting caught by his mother IN THE ACT of molesting a friend’s three-year old daughter.
This type of behavior is completely unacceptable regardless of what First Amendment advocates may crow about freedom of speech or of the press. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled unanimously in January of this year that the need to protect children from pornography and abuse far outweighs any “freedom” of the press or speech that such advocates may claim. In that regard, the Canadian Supremes were right on the mark, even if another part of that key ruling was fatally flawed. The Supremes in the United States also take a dim view on the rights of pornographers when it comes to any desire they may have to include children in on their act.
With the arrival of the Bush administration in Washington, it is hoped that Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft will enforce a number of laws that were not enforced during the Clinton years. The fact that the adult film industry and other pornographers publicly endorsed Al Gore for President at their convention in New Orleans last year only went to show just how beholden that the Clinton-Gore team was to the pornographers of America and elsewhere around the world.
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Congressman
and former Seattle Seahawk football player Steve Largent (R-OK - pictured with
wife Terry, left) is right on the mark when he says that we do not need more
laws on the books, but rather better enforcement of the ones already in place.
Such tighter enforcement can come none too soon. ***
© 2001 Timothy Rollins
COPYRIGHT © 2001 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.