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
Well if a local priest said it, then it must be true.
Seriously, if a marriage is ruined, its not because of porn. Its more likely that the husband turned to porn to ease the pain of his miserable life with his prudish wife.
Wow, bravo!
A real man...be still my heart :-)
The girls say thanks!!
You have been informed numerous times that 14 year old children cannot give consent. Why do you keep trying to build this strawman?
>>Seriously, if a marriage is ruined, its not because of porn. Its more likely that the husband turned to porn to ease the pain of his miserable life with his prudish wife.>>
YIKES.
Denial is not a river in Egypt...
aarrrgghh
Golly, gee whiz, I guess I am just not living in some parallel universe that actully thinks porn merchants are honest about THE AGES of those they exploit!!!
Sheesh. Do I have to explain everything to you?
The strawman cometh my friend, wise up.
The old "denial is one of the symptoms" could be said about anything. For example, a person could say "Anti-porn crusaders always deny any deleterious effects or bondage to their obsession to control others." If you try to deny it, a person could come back and say "aha - those addicted always deny it".
Drugs, alcohol, food, sex, gambling, work, adrenaline...the hole can't be filled because only God fits in there.
Now you're making sense, except for the anomoly part. It's a decade long trend. I think the fact that more women are arming themselves, more attention by LE, and a greater awareness of the danger explains a lot of it.
How does that explain what is happening with teens, girls pressured to perform sex acts on boys--mutilating themselves ('cutting' is big in high schools now) and rising teen suicide rates--
It doesn't expain it and nobody said it was supposed to. The point was that the DOJ stats tend to refute the contention that porn causes sex crimes. That's all. I already gave you my opinion on some of the reasons for the depravity you described.
>>I wish you success.>> Clever.
Thanks.
Do you even read replies to your posts? It was stated probably 200 posts ago by multiple users that producers of porn have no incentive to use underage women and tons of reasons not to.
Porn is a huge money maker - why would someone jeopardize their business and face serious prison time when there is an abundance of 18+ women wanting to do porn?
Again, why do you keep trying to build this strawman?
As has been posted on this thread many times, child pornography and providing "dope" to minors are both serious crimes and are prosecuted vigorously. I am sorry that you can not seem to understand that some (perhaps even a majority) of men enjoy the sight of an attractive woman's body. NO, I am not excusing, supporting or otherwise promoting kiddie porn or any of the other sick stuff you insist on bringing up, but instead asking you to understand that many of us prefer bikinis to burkas.
"obsession to control others"?
Porn has immmediate victims and untold far-reaching casualties of all varieties, it's not just about somebody trying to keep you from getting your rocks off. Good grief.
I'm pragmatic. I despise it but my real mission is to see it less mainstreamed. Harder to access. Not in my world even peripherly.
.porn type extentions online etc---in other words-- YES, regulations on this content on the web...69% of web content is porn today and it is corrupting an otherwise incredibly valuable tool.
I only look at it briefly when I delete those terrible pop-ups..I swear!
>>child pornography and providing "dope" to minors are both serious crimes >>
Yes, and very much part of the porn industry--what on earth is the Pollyanna "good citizen " porn merchant bit?
As if these model citizens are "above" duplicity...what a crazy line of discussion.
I have already stated WAY back in this thread I am not speaking of nudity....I'm speaking of hard core degradation.
'Course, there's the old, "everything is relative" adage, which provides cover for every argument in the world...
The evidence is overwhelming that porn mutates and corrodes the dignity of the human soul, while widening the gulf with God is irrefutable.
pr0n is anything but positive for our society, I will agree there. However, I don't see it as the government's place to tell us what we can and can't look at.
Porn may be a slippery slope, but creating laws against what 51% of our society sees as "items or behavior that leeds to breaking the law" is a much more slippery slope.
Liberals believe that Christianity leads to being racist, bigoted, homophobes. If 51% of our nation were to eventually feel that way, under your litmus test for laws, they could make Christianity illegal.
You are obsessed to the point of possibly being a troll..
Jeff:
A HUGE incentive is that there is a crop of underage severly fractured types on the street that are easy pickins to control, mold, and then cast off as desired.
The younger they are, the longer run, the easier to control--they do as told--plus the big market demand--it loves 'em young.
All your illustrious porn merchant has to say if he gets busted is, "She said she was 18! She had an ID!" (the one he made for her..) Doh!
These guys operate in a cesspool mentality--you really think they have legit practices?
Btw, I'm in Atlanta too...
Your opinion.
Just trying to break thruogh the fog, pal.
You're a woman, I presume?
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