Military Porn Addictions Growing

Agape Press ^ | January 5, 2007 | AFA journal

[balch3]

(AgapePress) - An increasing number of servicemen and women are confessing to pornography addictions and most government-run military base and post exchanges are only adding to the problem by selling it.

In 1996, Congress enacted the Military Honor and Decency Act, which bans military stores from selling sexually explicit material, but according to Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, the act is not being enforced.

"Congress is going to have to take a look at this," Donnelly said. "Certainly the Pentagon is going to have to enforce those rules. It's a matter of good order and discipline and not just a matter of religion or free speech. It's a matter that the military itself needs to be concerned about."

Such concern is apparent among military chaplains like Father Mark Reilly, who recently returned from a Marine Corps tour in Iraq.

"I don't think I've ever been confronted as much face-to-face with men and women -- in and out of confessional -- saying, 'I'm addicted to porn and I don't know how to get out of it,'" Reilly said. "They're looking for a life preserver. It's wrecking their marriages. Like any addiction, they lose control."

Reilly said it's the combination of war stress and being away from loved ones that ignite the lust for pornography. Lust turns to addiction and addiction results in imitative behavior as seen in the Abu Ghraib photos -- made for and by porn addicts.

In The New Republic, Rochelle Gurstein described the Abu Ghraib photos as ones that "speak to the coercive and brutalizing nature of the pornographic imaginations so prevalent in our world today."

Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, who leads the U.S. military archdiocese, believes chaplains can play a big role in military porn sobriety by influencing "what is sold in the [exchanges], what's allowed in a public space, an office or a barracks, and I think a chaplain can have great leverage here."

The pornography that is sold at military exchanges is part of a $57 billion-a-year worldwide industry.

[RockinRight]

Heck, what else are they supposed to do?

[ichabod1]

I have a feeling that in WWII, Command would have recognized that porn reduces VD rates and quietly condoned it.

[Charlespg]

have a feeling that in WWII, Command would have recognized that porn reduces VD rates and quietly condoned it.

There was a program on the history channel once about gov sanctioned bordellos in Honolulu during WWII

[RedEyeJack]

I can assure you that those serving in combat and combat support units operating in the field do not have the time nor the access to see a lot of porn if at all. They sure have no privacy. Personnel in rear echelon support units and headquarters units have more access but, where I am, they don't have the time to do much more than work, eat, and sleep 24X7.

[RebelBanker]

Where do you think the term "hooker" came from. General Joe Hooker's staff got tired of the reporters asking about the 'soiled doves' in his entourage to the point of simply replying, "The ladies? They're Hooker's."

That was in 1864 by the way.

[dighton]

From one source,

Often traced to the disreputable morals of the Army of the Potomac (American Civil War) under the tenure of Gen. “Fighting Joe” Hooker (1863), and the word probably was popularized by this association at that time. But it is said to have been in use in North Carolina c.1845 (“If he comes by way of Norfolk he will find any number of pretty Hookers in the Brick row not far from French's hotel.”).

[GATOR NAVY]

An increasing number of servicemen and women are confessing to pornography addictions and most government-run military base and post exchanges are only adding to the problem by selling it.

What a crock. Yeah, the exchanges sell "porn" if you're so prudish your definition of porn is "Maxim" and "Easy Rider". Give me a break.

[GOPJ]

I don't feel comfortable with a Catholic Chaplin speaking outside the chain of command on what he hears in confession. If he hasn't brought this to the attention of commanders then he has no creditability. If he has and they found it to be true and took no action then there is a problem. Don't see it with the Marines I am working with every day.

Bingo - facts trump fear one more time... Thanks.

[SZonian]

Is that Navy for BS?

SZ

[GATOR NAVY]

Yep- Bravo Sierra.

[Sword_Svalbardt]

Exciting! I'm addicted.

[SZonian]

Just a guess, what with your screen name and all.;-)

Cheers,
SZ

[NYCynic]

That theory's been debunked. This is from the Online Etymology Dictionary:

hooker - "prostitute," often traced to the disreputable morals of the Army of the Potomac (American Civil War) under the tenure of Gen. "Fighting Joe" Hooker (1863), and the word probably was popularized by this association at that time. But it is said to have been in use in North Carolina c.1845 ("If he comes by way of Norfolk he will find any number of pretty Hookers in the Brick row not far from French's hotel."). One theory traces it to Corlear's Hook, a disreputable section of New York City. Perhaps related to hooker "thief, pickpocket" (1567), but most likely an allusion to prostitutes hooking or snaring clients. Hook in the figurative sense of "that by which anyone is attracted or caught" is recorded from 1430; and hook (v.) in the figurative sense of "catch hold of and draw in" is attested from 1577; in reference to "fishing" for a husband or a wife, it was in common use from c.1800. All of which makes the modern sense seem a natural step. The family name Hooker (attested from c.975 C.E.) would mean "maker of hooks," or else refer to an agricultural laborer who used a hook (cf. O.E. weodhoc "weed-hook").

[greedo]

I haven't watched network t.v. in years, but I have seen
R. Lee Ermey on "Mail Call" and he just cracks me up.

[rmlew]

Porn weakens our military. Not a victimelss crime
Damn straight. These men are lossing their precious bodily fluids.

We was cold hardened sexually-repressed killers. Heaven forbid that men, deprived from contact with their wives girlfrieds etc, would seek to relieve themselves.


In the real world, these men will either releive their prostates themselves or find a prostitute. US servicemen hiring Arab women would create real problems!

[California Patriot]

Oh, please. This is not porn. It's sexy female entertainment. There's a big difference.

Funny how liberal laws are enforced to the point of mega-lawsuits, huge settlements, firings, and the like, for those who don't carry them out with sufficient enthusiasm. Whereas complete nonenforcement of conservative laws gets a complete pass. Just another example of liberal rule in this country. The fact is, Congress made a judgment about the availability of porn on military bases. It reflects a general ideal and sense of right conduct and human psychology in our society. One can argue (wrongly, in my view) that such a law should be repealed. But it is very unconservative and undemocratic not to enforce the law.

[VxH]

Tyranny of the appetite.

[VxH]

>>Allowing them this release is the least we can do for them.

True enough - but there's a big difference between, "release", and being preyed upon by an unscrupulous industry whose executives have discovered the lucrative nature of what Plato referred to as "the tyranny of the appetite".

[JasonC]

There isn't a problem, and the article makes too much of it. But it is possible for it to be a problem, and the dismissiveness is not warranted without definite knowledge of the facts on the ground. The reason to be concerned is not our men's emotional health or moral purity. It is what men with wild fantasies, guns in their hands, and a populace at their mercy are sometimes capable of. As long as that isn't happening, no problem. But imagining it can't, is denying too much ugly human history.

[Doohickey]

Oh, please. Everyone has a choice. I was in the Navy for 13 years; if you removed every scrap of porn from every ship in the Navy the oceans would acutally recede a couple of inches. I find religious busibodies to be every bit as annoying as the political ones.