Rob Colquhoun

The danger and power of pornography

 

A modern maxim states: “What you do in private is not going to damage anyone else.” The fact is that porn does not stay private. In 2003, two thirds of the 350 divorce lawyers who attended a meeting of the American Academy of matrimonial lawyers said the Internet played a significant role in the divorces.[1] In a survey, 49% said pornography promotes negative attitudes towards women and encourages viewers to think unprotected sex is O.K.[2] 57% of pastors said that addiction to pornography is the most sexually damaging issue to their congregation.[3]

 

There is an abundance of evidence to support the conclusion that many violent sex crimes would not have occurred if the perpetrator had not been exposed to or become addicted to pornography.[4] There is a clear relationship between frequent pornography use and sexually aggressive behaviour. Those who are at high risk for sexual aggression and who frequently use pornography have sexual aggression levels four times higher than those who do not use porn often.[5] 47% of families said that pornography is a problem in their home.[6] Porn amounts to about 7% of the 3.3 billion pages indexed by Google.[7] More than 70% of men ages 18 to 34 visit a pornographic site in a typical month.[8]

 

Young people are particularly susceptible to pornography. The sexualisation of youth has substantially damaging effects for the personal and mental health, as well as future marriages. Pornography prepares young people to have a twisted ideas about sex, a desire for a source of constant sexual availability and a human desire for physically flawless looks. Young men who are high consumers of pornography are more likely to engage in anal sex, as well as have sexual relations with a friend.[9] 71% of adolescents surveyed believed pornography consumption influenced others’ behaviour, and 29% believed it affected their own behaviour.[10] Many young people accidentally access pornography online: 70% of 15-17 year olds indicated they accidentally viewed porn online.[11] 9 out of 10 children between the ages of 8 and 16 have viewed porn on the internet. The largest consumer of internet pornography is the 12-17 year old age group.[12] It is clear that exposure to sexual content in music, movies, television and magazine accelerates adolescent’s sexual activity and increases their risk of engaging in early sexual intercourse.[13]

 

Some might express exasperation at the proliferation of pornography and its negative effects in recent decades. Yet there is plenty that you can do. There is a campaign to clean up hotels and stop the provision of pornography in hotels. Hamilton County in Ohio now has no pornographic bookstores, no strip bars and 95% of stores do not have any form of pornography. Locals banded together and refused to shop in stores that carried this material leading elected officials to pass strict regulations and law officers to enforce existing laws.

 

Phil and Vickie Burress are doing tremendous work to help reduce the impact of pornography, to help people break free of sexual struggles and addiction and let women involved in relationship with men using porn that it is not their fault. Some groups such a citizens for community values have ensured that the mainstream media is not used for sex services. Meeting victims face to face is a poignant way to realise the full extent of damage that pornography does. At World Youth Day 2008, Pope Benedict stated: “could anyone standing face to face with people who actually do suffer sexual exploitation ‘explain’ that these tragedies, portrayed in virtual form, are considered merely "entertainment?"[14] Many studies show that retributive justice is highly effective.

 

Overall, pornography does considerable damage to the psyche of our nation, most especially to young people. It warps and damages the beautiful gift of human sexuality into a fantasy based on lies, manipulation and profit. It destroys marriages, degrades women, emasculates men and distorts the emotional and spiritual dimensions of sex. Yet there is plenty we can do to ensure that the law is enforced on pornography and that businesses and advertising do not support this evil industry.

 

 

Resources:

www.victimsofpornography.org

www.bsafehome.com

www.purelifeministries.org

www.pureonline.com

www.whodoesithurt.com

 

 

 

 

The new sexual revolution

A Cultural Change for life and love

 

In Malcolm Gladwell’s classic book, the tipping point describes how fashions, trends and phases suddenly go from being deeply unpopular to the height of fashion. With an array of fascinating anecdotes he weaves a story telling us about the precise moment why and when New York became safe, hush puppies grew to be fashionable and children’s programs developed a ‘stickiness’ like glue that made them attractive to children.

 

Chastity is a moral virtue that was largely gleefully relinquished in the 1960s as part of the sexual revolution. Partly due to the ideology that stemmed from this revolution, today teaching about chastity has been virtually eradicated from the classrooms in Britain as teenagers are told the facts about sex in a void of moral guidance.

 

But a new revolution is on the way! A new sexual revolution is starting in the United States with the abstinence movement. Currently I am attending the 12^th annual abstinence clearinghouse conference in Orlando, a national gathering of abstinence educators. Speakers have spoken about the virtues of character education, the emotional dangers of pre marital sex and the need to communicate amusingly and effectively the message to save sex for marriage. Medical statistics have been delivered with considerable reliability and integrity, clearly showing the emotional dangers of pre marital sex, the rise of sexually transmitted diseases and the effectiveness of abstinence education.

 

Yet there is still a long way to go. For every $12 spent on sex education only $1 is spent on abstinence education.[1] There are a proliferation of pro choice organisations that are willing to undermine the efforts of these educators on all fronts, from the promotion of legislation mandating a new HPV vaccine in California to ensuring that the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision is upheld in South Dakota. The advantage pro choice organisations have is that their products and services (e.g. abortion, contraception and drugs) are financially self supporting- whereas the chastity message does not have that immediate advantage. To counteract this problem in such a dollar driven environment, groups such as the silver ring thing have invested heavily in merchandise to help promote their message.

 

Gladwell describes some popular phenomena as being like viruses or epidemics. With the proliferation of a great number of STDs since the 1960s, will the chastity message be able to spread at such a similar speed? For some teenagers in the midst of AIDS pandemic in Africa, this message as important as life and death. To be told to save sex until marriage will quite literally save their lives.

 

The success of abstinence education in Uganda clearly shows that with the support of friends in politics and culture, the abstinence message can become main-stream, transform the culture and save a new generation from disease, death and the depo-provera shot. But this success involved the support of the President, religious leaders, the government and business. Building such a coalition takes considerable networking skills, diplomacy, continuation of political support from election to election and sustainable financial viability. In recent years there have been continued successful efforts to keep the Title V abstinence education program financed by the Senate finance committee. Yet the danger of accepting government money is that it always is provided with strings attached and can be revoked at a later date.

 

For the abstinence message to become main-stream, educators will also have to find a method of connecting with teens, piercing youth culture with a message that will resonate with the hearts and minds of a new media generation. Educators at the conference have tried dance, theatre, fashionable internet websites, comedy, film and even a skydiving analogy to get this message across. But as Lakita Garth has pointed out (having attended a ‘what teens want’ conference), teens don’t really know what they want and adults largely determine boundaries and preferences of teenagers. The large number of teenagers and men at the conference is a considerable joy to the organisers, who have also provided a youth and Spanish series of talks.

 

It has been observed that pro-life advocates will eventually win arguments in America because their opponents will have aborted too many of their future supporters to be able to win the opinion polls. But building a culture of life will need slightly more insightful and hasty tactics if a chastity message is able to reach the mainstream culture which is saturated by fornication and pornography. Educators at this conference have shown good signs of building solid foundations for this cultural change, but have a long way to go. One particular problem has been the false definition and caricature of abstinence that opponents have created. This attempts to show that such education is ineffective and does not work. Many of these studies have had serious flaws and concentrate on microscopic statistics. Nevertheless a media frenzy has been created out of some of these anachronistic studies.[2]

 

The critical turning point

 

Yet where does the all important catalyst for becoming mainstream lie for the abstinence movement? It has been said that if you change the way people think, you can change the way people speak. If you can change the way they speak, you can change the way they act. If you can change the way people act, you can change the world. The importance of language, media and thought are therefore of utmost importance in bringing cultural change. Cultural imperatives lie deeper therefore than legislative reform which in theory remains reactive to culture.

 

One particularly successful method has been to get famous stars to embrace the chastity message and articulate their beliefs and views to the public. This helps to create healthy role models for young people who they can follow. The NFL quarterback Philip Rivers has spoken about his married life and decision to remain a virgin until marriage.

 

I believe the crucial turning point will be provided by credible medical evidence for a rational generation, fostering the support of government and culture and having an army of good speakers spreading the message of wait until marriage in every space possible. At some point this will help to overcome the lust dominated culture to help rebuild the culture of life and love that is desperately needed.

Two Ethical Questions

Q1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, and she had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis; would you recommend that she have an abortion?

If you said yes, you just killed Beethoven.

Q2: It is time to elect the world leader, and your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates:
Which of these candidates would be your choice?

    * Candidate A associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
    * Candidate B was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whisky every evening.
    * Candidate C is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and hasn't had any extramarital affairs.

Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt
Candidate B is Winston Churchill
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler

 

(Apparently the Beethoven story is a slight exaggeration on what really happened here as the story has been slightly adjusted).