“What is going on?” were the only words I could pull from my shaking mouth.
I will never forget the pain in my gut when I opened the door to find my
nine-year-old sister watching a porno. “I found it in Billy’s room and
wanted to see what it was, I’m sorry Jes.” As I watched tears role down her
face, a feeling of rage exploded within me. It was then that I realized that
pornography is not only being watched by adults, but being explored by our youth
as well. What has our society come to, and what role does pornography play in
it? It’s definitely not the positive outlet. I believe pornography can be
dangerous because it dehumanizes family values, and leads to vicious acts of
violence. 1. Family Values The stone first strikes at the very heart of family
values. It presents behavior that is immoral and sinful as acceptable.
Pornography makes premarital sex, adultery, and a variety of other perversions
not only permissible, but attractive. It encourages both male and female
homosexuality, which are lifestyles that are not acceptable to many people. It
is not only those who come into direct contact with pornography that are
affected. The ripples spread, and with them the effects of smut on the community
as a whole. The Pontifical Council’s report cited strong evidence that obscene
materials “corrode human relationships, exploit individuals (especially women
and young people), undermine marriage and family life, foster anti-social
behavior and weaken the moral fiber of society itself.” Even nonviolent
pornography is harmful according to a study by Dr. Dolf Zillman and Dr. Jennings
Bryant. After weeks of exposure to soft-core material, those who participated in
the experiment said they felt “less satisfied with their partner’s sexual
performance, affection and physical appearance.” After assessing the results
of Zillman and Bryant’s study, sex addiction expert Dr. Cline concluded that
“this world suggest that the consumption of pornography erodes material values
and the institution of marriage itself.” This may be borne out by escalating
divorce rates over the years in which pornography has flourished. 2. Young Sex
Offenders Not only does pornography attack family values, but it also leads many
to violence. Dr. Victor Cline conducted a pilot study for the U.S. Department of
Justice on the effects of Dial-A-Porn. He found that “in every case, without
exception, the children became hooked on this sex by phone and kept going back
for more.” He thought the conclusion was inescapable. He believed Dial-A-Porn
had an “addiction effect.” Police statistics indicate that an increasing
number of young people addicted to hard-core pornography are acting out what
they have learned. Recent cases include sexual assault on a two-year-old girl by
two Detroit boys (one was only eleven years old), the rape of a mentally
retarded girl by five New Jersey teenagers using a broomstick and a miniature
baseball bat, and a gang of boys age twelve to seventeen raping and brutally
beating a women jogger in New York City’s Central Park. Many of these young
abusers have themselves been abused. Sometimes occurring when they are very
young, only three to four years old. Sometimes the ones who abused them are
family members, a babysitter, or a friend of the family. Pornography plays a
part in the abuse, either in terms of arousing the molester, attracting the
child’s interest, or showing the child what to do. Former Los Angeles Police
Chief Daryl F. Gates of the Sexually Exploited Child Unit points out that “the
frequent recovery of pornography in sexually exploited child cases is not
considered to be happenstance.” It is a part of the pattern. 3. Pornography
Does Not Incite Violent Sex Crime I have realized that there are people out
there that believe pornography is not bad, and that it doesn’t lead to sex
crimes. However what about the convicted murderer that was seriously involved in
pornography, Ted Bundy. Bundy, who raped and murdered an unknown number of
victims, was executed in 1989 for killing a twelve-year-old girl. Shortly before
his death, Bundy discussed his addiction to pornography with a psychologist.
“I would keep looking for more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of
materials,” Bundy said, adding finally “ you reach the jumping-off point
where you begin to wonder if maybe actually doing it will give you that which is
beyond reading books about it or looking at it.” Studies by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation’s behavior science unit reveal that “about 80 percent of
killers who commit sexual crimes have a taste for violent pornography. A
workshop conducted by the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office has concluded that
“exposure to violent pornography increases punitive behavior towards women.”
And the United States Attorney General’s Commission has found that
“nonviolent pornography whets the appetite for violent forms.” With all of
the evidence shown, how could pornography be good for our society? Seeing my
young and venerable sister exposed to pornography has led me to believe that she
is not the only one being attacked. There are many others out there that are
being exposed as I speak, and maybe tomorrow, just as Ted Bundy, they will
decide that reading and watching it is just not enough. Our nation will stand or
fall depending on its moral values. Pornography, like the larva of a clothes
moth, is eating the fabric of our nation (unseen and generally untouched).
However we have the power to bring the dehumanizing pornography into the light
where it can be destroyed.