Month: April 2007

FIRST-PERSON: The culture of pornography

R. Albert Mohler Jr., Baptist Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky.?”For most of my life, I gave little thought to pornography. It was not something I considered relevant to me, nor did I consider it?in the daunting spectrum of social, cultural, and political problems?a particularly pressing issue facing this country,” recalls Pamela Paul, author of “Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.”

Her new book is likely to attract attention as it represents one of the few comprehensive reports on how pornography has transformed American culture.

Paul, a contributor to TIME magazine and other major journals, developed her interest in the cultural impact of pornography when she was asked to write about the subject for TIME.

“Like many Americans, I believed pornography was no big deal,” she explains. Nevertheless, her experience writing about pornography for TIME changed everything. “My eyes were blown open,” Paul now remembers.

What Pamela Paul discovered was that pornography is not merely a major player in the economy. Now, it has become an engine for transforming the entire culture?and corrupting countless lives.

“Pornified” is really an extension of Pamela Paul’s investigative work for TIME magazine. The book is more a journalistic report than a sociological analysis. In one sense, that’s what makes this book all the more significant in terms of impact. Paul has filled her book with anecdotes drawn from her interviews with hundreds of porn users and analysis drawn from a massive study on pornography’s effects, done in partnership with Harris, Interactive.

Paul begins by recalling a conversation with an elderly couple. Explaining that she was writing a book on pornography, the wife responded: “It’s ruining this country. Just terrible. Pornography everywhere. Not like it was when we were young.” Then she asked her husband, “Do you remember your uncle Joe?” Her husband was instantly reminded of his uncle’s collection of “wolf cards”?playing cards that featured explicit sexual images. At least, the images were considered sexually explicit for that day. “But it was so much tamer than what’s out there today,” the wife explained.

Paul quickly takes her reader into the real-life world of modern pornography. In “pornographied” America, millions of men are like the husband described by a 38-year-old woman from a Chicago suburb.

“He would come home from work, slide food around his plate during dinner, play for maybe half an hour with the kids, and then go into his home office, shut the door, and surf Internet porn for hours. I knew?and he knew that I knew.”

Paul describes contemporary American culture as “pornographied” because porn is now literally everywhere. The users are no longer just fraternity boys and those written off as “dirty old men.” Now, the users of virtually unrestricted porn include children, teenagers and adults of all ages. The victims include not only those whose lives, marriages, relationships, careers and sexuality are corrupted, but also everyone involved in the vast pornography industry at every stage.

A sense of historical development adds credibility to Paul’s analysis. She recognizes that some forms of pornography have been a part of human culture since antiquity. A quick look at the various sculpture galleries in the British Museum should be sufficient to prove that point. Nevertheless, she recognizes that today’s pervasively pornified culture represents something new. Even in her own life span, Paul can note the development.

“Men and women who came of age during the sixties, seventies, or eighties, or whose experience with pornography dates to those eras, think of pornography in terms of gauzy centerfolds, outre sexuality, women’s liberation, and the Hugh Hefner lifes

Child porn ruling gets court review

WASHINGTON–The Supreme Court has agreed to review a decision invalidating a federal restriction on child pornography.

The justices announced March 26 they would hear arguments in U.S. v. Williams, which came to them from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The high court will not consider the case until its next term, which begins in October.

The case involves convictions of Michael Williams for possessing child pornography and promoting, or “pandering,” material in a way that signals it consists of illegal child pornography. In 2004, Secret Service agents found on two computer hard drives at Williams’ home more than 20 images of minors engaged in sexually explicit behavior or displaying their private parts. A Florida resident, Williams was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on both counts, with the terms to be served concurrently.

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court, based in Atlanta, unanimously overturned the “pandering” conviction, saying the provision was unconstitutional on its face, being “both substantially overbroad and vague.” The court, however, upheld the five-year sentence for possession of child pornography.

The “pandering” provision invalidated by the 11th Circuit was part of a 2003 law, the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act. That law included a revision of a similar section in the 1996 Child Pornography Prevention Act, which was struck down by the Supreme Court.

Members of Congress designed both measures in an effort to deal with the use of computer-generated or enhanced images that appear to be of children involved in sexually explicit acts.

The 11th Circuit said in its April 2006 opinion that the PROTECT Act’s “pandering” provision still encompassed non-commercial material that deserves free-speech protection.

“Given the unique patterns of deviance inherent in those who sexually covet children and the rapidly advancing technology behind which they hide, we are not unmindful of the difficulties of striking a balance between Congress’ interest in protecting children from harm with constitutional guarantees,” the judges said. “However, the infirmities of the PROTECT Act pandering provision reflect a persistent disregard of time-honored and constitutionally mandated principles relating to the government’s regulation of free speech and its obligation to provide criminal defendants due process.”

The invalidation of the provision in the PROTECT Act is part of a series of setbacks in Congress’ efforts to deal with online indecency and child pornography.

In 1997, the Supreme Court struck down the portion of the Communications Decency Act that barred the online transmission of indecent material but maintained the law’s provision on obscenity. The high court also has ruled against the Child Online Protection Act, a 1998 measure that targeted commercial websites that make sexually explicit material available to minors.

In a limited victory for foes of online indecency, the justices upheld in 2003 the Children’s Internet Protection Act, which requires public and school libraries that receive government Internet discounts to install filters on their computers to block pornography.

The final oral arguments for this term of the Supreme Court are scheduled for April 25. The justices are expected to release the last of this term’s opinions by late June or early July.

SPECIAL REPORT: Flood of pornography breaching the church door

Dallas-based company a first step out for pornography and sexual addiction

“…a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.” 2 Peter 2:19 (NIV)

DALLAS–The statistics are unnerving, though Jason Illian admits the damage to the kingdom of God is hard to quantify just yet.
It is in the secret places–behind closed office doors, locked studies–that Americans, mostly teen and adult men, are seeking and very easily finding access to a proliferation of Internet porn.
Pure Online (www.pureonline.com) is a fairly new resource aimed at being a first step for Christians with sex addictions, especially porn. Through a partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources, the company offers an online Bible study to help men and women seek sexual purity one day at a time.
In the two years since the company went online, more than 10,000 clients have logged on and purchased the workshop materials. Although millions are drawn to porn on the Internet, Illian, the Pure Online CEO, said his company is helping to redeem some of those souls one at a time.
Through streaming videos and downloadable workbooks, clients can, in private and complete confidentiality, begin the journey to freedom. It begins with repentance, Illian said.

He said Pure Online is unique on the Internet in its approach to providing Christian resources for sexually addicted men and women. The goal is to route clients back onto the path of righteousness. The workshops, developed by author and Christian counselor Joe Dallas, use the acronym ROUTE–Repentance, Order, Understanding, Training, and Endurance.

In an overview of its resources, Pure Online states: “The program was created by a team of men who understand what you are going through–and specifically the unbelievable barriers to getting help. We understand the need for confidentiality and the need for a program that can help without you having to tell four different people that you need help.”

Created and founded two years ago by Brandon Cotter, Pure Online is now steered by Illian. Both men, graduates of Texas Christian University, were drawn to the issues surrounding sexual sin and how it is damaging society. Though they were walking a similar path, speaking God’s truth regarding sex and relationships, it wasn’t until after graduation that the two men met and realized they had a common concern and a unique opportunity to help the healing.

“Anyway you look at it, it’s bad,” Illian said of the proliferation of porn in the last decade.

He said a recent study he reviewed stated that one-third to as much as one-half of Americans view porn on a daily basis.

And the problem is not an “other people” experience. It is in the church and the church, he stated, is not dealing with it.

“The reality is we need to speak openly and honestly about this so lives can be healed. Here’s the problem. If we don’t talk about it [godly sexual relations] on the healthy side, we’ll have to deal with it on the porn side.”

Illian noted the recent disgrace of Ted Haggard, pastor of megachurch New Life Ministries in Colorado Springs, Colo., who was fired last November after it was revealed he had a relationship with a male prostitute. Illian said the pastor probably had several opportunities over the years to seek help, but he didn’t. Other pastors, hiding sexual sins, have little or no accountability and therefore no one to turn to for help.

“This sin,” he said, “trails behind and affects everything you do.”

That is where Pure Online becomes a lifeline for renewal and reconciliation. Illian said a person may log onto the website and select one of the four workshops and begin. Each workshop is geared to a specific user: single men, married men, single women, and a workshop with counseling for married men. There are also resources for pastors, wives, and parents. The workshops range in cost from $140 for a 15-chapter session to $450 for a similar session that includes personal phone counseling.

Illian said all the material points to Scripture. “What did our Lord intend our relationships to be?”

Beginning the healing is not easy, Illian admitted. So many men deny they even have a problem and have to hit rock bottom before seeking help, while others are too embarrassed to confess to a confidant.

Sexual sin seems to draw a more repulsive response from the church than other sins such as alcohol and drug addiction, Illian said. But having a Christian accountability partner is one of the goals for Pure Online clients. Such a friend keeps the client focused on the process of healing and helps prevent further excursions into the darker side of cyberspace.

“Isn’t that what being a Christian is all about? Grace?” Illian asked.

He said the pureonline.com site gets thousands of hits and about 200 new clients a month.

“We’ll take them one at a time if that is God’s desire.” But, Illian’s hopes are to broaden the website’s scope of influence in order to make the site more accessible.

Churches and ministries with websites can choose to post a Pure Online banner. The advertisement would be a direct link to the self-help website. LifeWay has posted the site under its Christian Resources section.

Illian said the pornography industry has not only been prolific in its production of filth but has been on the cutting edge of technology, creating new ways to disseminate their product. Thanks to them, Illian said, films and still images can be downloaded to cell phones and iPods. It is Illian’s goal to give the porn industry a run for its money in the arena of accessibility.

“For once we can’t let the porn industry get ahead. We want to be just as accessible, and have an equal number of resources.”

Pornography: What’s a wife to do?

Erin Roach, Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn.?Resources to help men deal with pornography addictions are common, but how should a woman deal with the devastating pain of knowing her husband has been ensnared in one of Satan’s most lethal traps?

Rebekah Land, a Southern Baptist psychotherapist in private practice in Nashville, Tenn., told Baptist Press that Internet pornography is considered the “crack cocaine” of pornography these days because it’s so addicting and easily accessible. Pastors are not immune to its deceitful allure, tearing apart families every day.

“It used to be that if a guy wanted to look at pornography he’d have to go to some seedy, XXX theater and watch awful B-grade or C-grade films,” Land said.

But today, the most common pornography users wouldn’t dare go to a theater or creepy bookstore; the average man can be swept up and his marriage shattered without even leaving his office.

In this kind of environment, it’s all the more necessary that wives become armed with the knowledge of how to respond to such potential infidelity before they’re taken down by despair.

“A lot of times the first thing that happens when a wife finds out, they’re just devastated,” Land said. “Before they can even get to what they need to do as far as their husband is concerned, they need to deal with it themselves. They have to deal with the hurt, the devastation, the embarrassment, the anger. It feels like a betrayal, it feels like he’s had an affair. Probably the first thing they have to do is try to get their own head together and identify their feelings and what it means to them.”

Land said pornography use is not an instant justification for divorce because God says in his Word to forgive no matter how hard it seems. Situations vary, she said, and something a woman needs to consider is the reason why her husband has turned to pornography.

If the husband’s sin is an indiscretion, Land said, that’s different than if it’s an indication of a pattern of addiction. Some men simply fall into the trap of lusting after multiple women, while for others their addiction is the result of a deeper, lifelong pattern of sin, she said.

“If you uncovered what looked like maybe a lifelong pattern, it would be a little harder to accept that he’s going to get over it because that’s one of the issues,” Land said. “The behavior has to stop. So if you realize that he’s got maybe multiple addictions and you didn’t realize he did, if it looks like a pattern that’s been there for years and years?I’m not saying that justifies you leaving, it’s just realistically you may have a whole lot bigger mountain to climb than somebody else.”

Women almost automatically think that if their husbands use pornography it’s because the wife doesn’t measure up physically. But Land said that’s not always the case.

“That may not be what he’s saying. The problem with Internet stuff or just print pornography, what happens is it’s easier to do that than to work at a relationship with your wife,” she said. “It’s not necessarily that it’s more satisfying than she is, that may not be what he’s saying. It’s more convenient, a picture doesn’t talk back to you.”

One factor that can lead men into pornography use as adults is if they were exposed to it at an early age, Land said.

“If he finds a stack of magazines that his dad has under the bed or in the closet or something, what can happen is that awakens sexual feelings and attaches them to a picture as opposed to a person,” she said. “That is a very difficult thing to pry loose.”

Mobile porn poses an increasing threat

NASHVILLE?You have the computer in a very public area of your home so you can monitor its use, and you’ve subscribed to the best Internet filtering system available. Think you’ve safeguarded your family against the threat of pornography?

Think again.

New technology allows users to download material from the Internet directly to wireless handheld devices, such as the new generation of cell phones and iPods. This “third generation” of mobile devices provides access to digital video content including games, real-time news, and entertainment options, among other advanced features. To make this development even more harmful, it is typically young people who are the most technically sophisticated and the prime users of such equipment.

The technology itself is not dangerous; the danger is that there are no regulations or safeguards in place to protect children and teens from being exposed to unwanted, explicit pornographic content that is downloadable to these wireless handheld devices.

Privacy and anonymity are even greater when individuals use wireless devices instead of computers to search and view pornography.

“Mobile phones and other personal devices that either connect to the Internet or allow a user to download pictures are vastly more private and personal than even a ‘personal’ computer,” says Daniel Panetti, in a white paper for the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families. (The paper, “What every parent needs to know about emerging technology,” is available at www.nationalcoalition.org.)

Some telecommunication experts speculate that, unlike most other countries, until U.S. cell phone carriers provide filtering and the means for parents to block the Internet on phones, adult content will not be readily available here.

Yet in a Jan. 24, 2006, Scripps Howard release, Pamela Paul, author of “Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships and Our Families,” told USA Today the mobile delivery of pornography will soon be an industry unto itself.

“It’s happening,” she said in the news report. “People say, ‘Oh well, porn will never take off because the image is too small.’ Fifteen years ago, if you asked people if they looked at pornography at their desks, they would be horrified. But today a huge number of men and women look at pornography in their office over the Internet.”

Steve Hirsch, an executive with an adult film production company, expects “mobile porn” to eventually account for 30 percent of their sales, notes the USA Today report. “This is going to explode. People want porn in their pocket,” the article quoted Hirsch as saying.

The adult-entertainment industry is not the only group excited about the new technology; the gambling industry is exploring ways to expand its virtual operations.

It is not a matter of if, but when, graphic sexual content will be readily accessible from wireless handheld electronic devices in the U.S.

In anticipation of that day, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention is working closely with the Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission, and the wireless industry’s trade association through the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families to demand parental education, filters to block adult content, and means to restrict Internet access be provided by the carriers and phone manufacturers.