Posted on 12/09/2004 1:16:14 PM PST by Lindykim
Pornography is Anything But a 'Victimless Crime' 12/8/2004 By Cheri Pierson Yecke How many more expert studies do we need to convince ourselves of this fact?
Jud Fry -- one of the characters in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! lives in a shack that is papered with pornographic images. He is a loner, lacks social skills, and is feared by his neighbors. He is clearly capable of murder. This insight into the character of a porn addict hit the Broadway stage in 1943.
Fast forward to 2004. A sexual assault and several attempted abductions of girls in the St. Paul, Minnesota, area are allegedly the work of 19-year-old Ryan Mely, who has been charged (for starters) with second-degree criminal sexual conduct. He apparently was a loner who was feared by his neighbors. Jud Fry is a fictitious character who bought his porn from an itinerant peddler. How did Ryan Mely get his start? Apparently, pornography was a family pastime. While some dads bond with their kids by fishing or playing hockey together, it appears that Mely and his father (a convicted sex offender) shared an interest in pornography. It was reported that sexually explicit material was found at the family home and on their computer.
Is anyone really surprised that pornography is involved here? It has been 60 years since a Broadway musical portrayed what social scientists and criminal analysis have now found to be true -- addiction to pornography can lead to violent sexual behavior. Dr. Victor Cline, a clinical psychologist and expert on sexual addictions, has identified four stages of progression among his patients.
The first stage is addiction, where the attraction to porn is overpowering and the viewer keeps craving more. The next stage is an escalation to more shocking and deviant images, as the earlier ones have lost their power to stimulate. Third is desensitization, where anything earlier seen as disturbing and repulsive becomes viewed as commonplace. Finally, satisfaction cannot be reached unless the perpetrator begins acting out the activities witnessed in the pornography. In effect, fantasy must become reality.
The events in which Mely was allegedly involved appear to follow this pattern. Perhaps the same is true for Alfonso Rodriguez, the man who allegedly abducted and murdered Dru Sjodin. Rodriguez apparently had an infatuation with Dru, who worked at Victoria's Secret, an upscale lingerie shop. On several occasions he allegedly called the store where she worked, asking for her by name.
Victoria's Secret is well known for its racy, soft-porn "fashion show" where voluptuous young models strut the runways in revealing lingerie. The liberal National Organization for Women called it "exploitative" and the conservative Concerned Women for America condemned it as a "high-tech striptease." Regularly protested by both sides of the political spectrum, the company announced in April that it will no longer air this event
The last Victoria's Secret "fashion show" aired on network television November 19, 2003. Dru was abducted three days later. Could it be that Alfonso Rodriguez, a convicted sex offender, watched the show and was propelled into Dr. Cline's fourth stage of sexual deviance? This is a question his judge and jury may consider.
In an interview the night before his 1989 execution, serial killer Ted Bundy revealed the influence of pornography on his life.
A case study for Cline's four stages of addiction, Bundy started his descent into sexual deviance and murder with magazines he found in the neighbor's trash. His addiction escalated until he felt compelled to act out his desires in more than 30 murders that were accompanied with violent sexual acts.
He warned Americans: "There are those loose in [your] 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."
Abundant evidence has demonstrated the tragic impact of pornography. How many more expert studies do we need to convince ourselves of this fact? The elections of 2004 have sent politicians the message that morals matter, so now is the time to focus on the impact of pornography -- the so-called "victimless crime."
Cheri Pierson Yecke is a Distinguished Senior Fellow for Education and Social Policy at the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank in Minneapolis. She is a former Minnesota commissioner of education and is author of The War Against Excellence. This article first appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Used with permission.
Concerned Women for America 1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20005 Phone: (202) 488-7000 Fax: (202) 488-0806 E-mail: mail@cwfa.org
They most certainly did not protect such behavior! Actions not specifically forbidden by the Constitution are not, as a corollary, protected. The Constitution doesn't prohibit Rape; are we to conclude that it is protected?? These matters are left to the states, which is where they should be decided. There is no Constitutional protection for pornography.
The Japanese are using porn for something else though, its a different thing for them. Still -- as the birth rate shows, not a good thing in total.
Understand what pokeman, what godzilla, etc. are about and, imo, jmo, jmho, you'll have a read on what porn is about for the Japanese.
I think that in a lot of the Jap porn they are coming to subconscious grips with the same forces and dynamics of psyche that drove the rape of Nanking, the sex slaves, etc.
That's true. Also, a lot of porn actresses commit suicide.
WEll I'd like to see all porn sites with a domain of xxx.whateverytheydo.com
Give those sites a prefix of xxx and make the isp's offer to block them from your service. It would put the internet filtering companies out of business but it would provide a solution to those families who don't want the scum in their home. The filters are not much better than having the parent sit in the room with the kids anyway because there are so many domains with the stuff on them it makes it hard for the filters to be 100% safe.
Uh huh, you sound much like most the man-hating Commie Womyn's Studies Professors I've met.
Well, as a matter of fact I have a theory that the level of humiliating, degrading and hateful pornography is in direct relationship to the amount of financial independence and power that women gain.
And it is such a vile picture now--I shudder that my young sons will one day see the depiction of females on the web in such tortuous, mindnumbing and grotesque scenarios--and yes, I've seen it, I've made a point to.
The depth of this is a crime against all of us and we should be horrified and ashamed.
OK... Pornography can be controlled by the states. No protection there.
It just seems like a bad idea to put a bunch of people with the same addiction around each other.
Sorry to hear about your sister-in-law.
AA has helped me one day at a time for 23 years.
If anything, high taxes and the liberal welfare state are responsible for low birth rates.
More government control is almost never the answer.
You need to stop with the hyperbole OR stop downloading alt.sex.teen.
You are an idiot that is intentionally blowing smoke.
Go back to your dear porn.
How do you figure? Does someone aim a gun at the models or their cameramen?
Why is it your type has to resort to being snide, and attacking someone's character? Are you truly so devoid of real arguements?
We're the victims here.
TOuche. I wonder if I can collect SSDI for this as well....
Promoting hedonism is the socialist line---get a life.
Yes, and I have some theories regarding the thermodynamics of dryer lint....But I'm kind enough not to inflict them on random strangers.
Even worse, you expect them to need no foreplay, get all their sexual gratification from ways that feel good to you (but not to her) and basically be satisfied with just about any hair-brained thing a man does in bed ;).
Nothin' more maddening for a RL woman to find herself with a 'porn raised' male mind. They are miffed with you from the get go and you wanna slap them silly for being so gullible. ACK!
Better to date a Buddhist monk. :)
Najida can be as wild as they come, trust me. Ask her about the feathers. ;-)
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