The Link Between Pornography And Violent Sex Crimes
By Robert Peters
President of Morality in Media
March 2004

Introduction

What prompted this article was the publication in 2003 of the book,"Sex-Related Homicide and Death Investigation" (CRC Press) , by Vernon Geberth, a retired NYPD Lieutenant Commander of the Bronx homicide squad who is a nationally renowned homicide investigator.

I learned about the book through an article by David Marzulli, "Ex-cop's gloomy on crime—Serial slays rising" (New York Daily News, 10/15/03). What caught my attention in Marzulli's article were his observation that "Geberth argues that the Internet plays a significant role in the proliferation of…attacks" and these quotes from Geberth's book:

"'The sex-related cases I am encountering today [as a consultant] are more frequent, vicious and despicable than what I ever experienced as a homicide cop.'"

"'There are more serial killers today. In my opinion, we have had a proliferation in serial murder events, as well as sex-related homicides'"

No mention was made in Marzulli's article about the role that pornography might play in all of this, but that was also true of another article, "Finding the Criminal Who Fits the Crime," about the work of retired NYPD detective Ray Pierce that appeared in the New York Times (3/29/00). According to the Times article, Raymond Pierce founded the NYPD's Criminal Assessment and Profiling Unit and was trained in psychological profiling by the FBI.

Since I was aware of an FBI study of 36 serial killers conducted in the 1980s, which revealed that 29 of these killers were attracted to pornography and incorporated it into their criminal sexual activity, including serial rape-murder, I wrote to Mr. Pierce, asking if he had "observed a frequent connection between pornography (including stripping) and sexual crimes" and if he would be willing to share his observations in an interview.

NYPD detective (retired) Raymond Pierce
Mr. Pierce responded affirmatively. The resulting interview appears on Morality in Media's Web site, www.obscenitycrimes.org, on the Porn Problems and Solutions page, under the title, "The sexual criminal's relationship to porn."

Here is an excerpt from that interview:

MIM: What are your definitions of "pornography," and related terms like "soft-core pornography," "hard-core pornography," "violent pornography"?

RMP: I have no need to differentiate between "soft core," or "hard core" pornography. I know what the media defines as "soft core" and "hard core." For me it's anything written, spoken, printed, photographed or videotaped to elicit a sexual response from an individual. What the general public may consider soft-core pornography, that's enough stimulation for a criminal. It depends on what goes on in the individual's mind. If there's enough stimulation for a criminal to use to fantasize before committing a crime; sometimes they use it during a crime and many times they use it afterwards.

MIM:So pornography is one word, essentially, for you.

RMP:For me it is yes.

MIM: Do you believe, from your experience, that there's a greater consumption of pornography among sex offenders in contrast to non-offenders?

RMP: In my experience, offenders in general have a heavy exposure to pornography. I cannot tell you what the general population's exposure is, but it's available for them in different forms.

...

MIM: How many criminal cases involving sexual murders, rapes, or assaults on adults have you consulted on or investigated, and in what percentage of those was there evidence that the perpetrator was a user of pornography?

RMP: I've investigated somewhere between 750 and a thousand cases, but was I looking for it all the time? No, I wasn't. But my estimation would be that pornography is expected by the police in those cases. It's expected that they [the suspects] read pornographic literature and magazines. Anywhere between 60 and 80 percent of the cases, if I were looking for it, I would have found it. But realistically, well over 80 percent.

MIM: What were the percentages of finding porn involved in serial sexual murders, rapes and assaults, in your estimation?

RMP: Almost always. . . . Quite frequently, particularly with serial killers, they have a great problem with power and control. Many times they have hidden away storage areas…

NYPD lieutenant commander (retired) Vernon Geberth
There was no need to interview Vernon Geberth, because he wrote an 800-page book to assist law enforcement officers in investigations of sex-related homicides. He said it all in the book. And I had a hunch his book would show a connection between pornography and sex crimes.

Having purchased a copy and quickly looked through it for passages that mention pornography, I can say that I was not disappointed in my expectations.

Here are excerpts from Geberth's book that link pornography to violent sex crimes.

"In one case on which the author consulted, the victim was an attractive middle-aged single woman . . . . The suspect, who was a fetish burglar, . . . acted out his most perverse fantasies with her body. . . . The suspect made multiple 1-900 sex-line phone calls throughout the day and night from the victim's residence…He also brought pornographic magazines into the scene and a list of 1-900 numbers, which were matched to his calls from the victim's residence by detectives. He engaged in sadistic sexual activities with the victim's body...." [pp. 16-17]

"Sadistic fantasies or acts may involve activities that indicate the dominance of the person over the victim…as in the case depicted in The Perfect Victim (McGuire & Norton 1988). This case involved Cameron Hooker and his wife Janice. Cameron Hooker's fantasy was to dominate and torture nude women who were bound and helpless. His fantasies were fueled by an extensive collection of hard-core pornography that featured bondage, leather and handcuffs, and whips…At one point during this torture, [a victim] was able to see through the bottom of her blindfold. She saw a picture of a naked woman hanging in much the same position that she was hanging. Apparently, Cameron was using this sadistic pornography to script his fantasy into reality." [p. 23 and p. 741] [p.741]

"Fantasy plays a major role in everyone's sexual behavior ... The contrast of these normal fantasies would be the aberrant development of bizarre sexual images involving grotesque unnatural distortions of sexual imagery ... The individual becomes aroused by thoughts and fantasies of sexual aggression ... This paraphilic lovemap is then reinforced through repetition, illustrated by the use of sadistic pornography and fantasy stories featuring sexual sadism ...In Chapter 9, the author presents an offender who fantasized and enhanced his pornography by adding bindings to the female models. ... He then posed the body [of a victim] at the scene with her legs spread apart and held in that position with a vine from the trees. This pose was the same as his pornography with the added bindings." [pp. 36-37]

"Some samples of actual writings of sexual sadists [in order] to present how significant these fantasies become in the actual analysis of the crimes presented here ... Reinforcement of the Fantasy: Case 4 Continued ...'When I got to Denver there were a lot of sex shops. There I found bondage magazines and videos. Magazines of beautiful women and young girls tied, bound and gagged in just about every way possible. I was in heaven. I bought lots of mags and videos. After a year or so of watching I wanted the real thing. I wanted a woman bound up and sexually abused ... I didn't want a willing partner as (name withheld) had been. I wanted an unwilling partner. I would go out and walk the streets and visit clubs looking for the right woman or girl'" [Following the quote, Geberth comments, "In many cases, the offenders used girlfriends or prostitutes to act out their sadistic fantasies…[F]rom an investigative perspective, the sexual crimes committed by the offenders and the activities they engaged in with consenting partners were almost mirror image scenarios."] [pp.44-45]

"Case 5: Serial Rapist's Diary ... [T]he sexual bondage and discipline magazines he purchased were reflected in his behavior with consenting partners as well as his victims ... My review of the [perpetrator's journal] indicated a progression of activities, as the offender repeatedly acted out the scenarios depicted in the magazines and incorporated the pictures of the bound women into his fantasy system ..." [pp.45]

"Case 9 ... This subject ... worked in his mother's clothing store. As the young mother and her daughter walked toward the back of the store, the offender quickly began ushering other customers out of the store ... He was unable to complete the rape, but he did involve himself in sexual conduct with the woman's body ... During a search of the clothing store, police located ... a VCR and three pornographic videos in the backroom of the store. Apparently, he would entertain himself by viewing these tapes ... The police executed a search warrant of his residence. A search of his room revealed obsessive interest in pornography ... The significance of his obsession with pornography, coupled with his previous behavior [sex-related incidents], as well as the triggering mechanism ... are excellent examples of fantasy-driven expression." [pp.51-52]

"Case 11 ... The offender [a serial killer] focused his attacks on specific body regions, particularly the breasts ... Investigation revealed that the offender had an intense interest in bondage and total control and submission of his victims ... When the authorities in this case executed a search warrant at the subject's home, they discovered that he maintained a private room in the house ... Among the many items recovered in this room was an extensive collection of B&D [Bondage & Discipline] materials and other pornography, which indicated the subject's intense interest in sadomasochistic activities ... " [pp.57-58]

Case 12 ... This case involved a serial killer who was killing prostitutes ... Once he completed the sex act, he stripped and tortured them for hours ... The significance of fantasy in this case was graphically revealed when ... detectives went to the killer's home and retrieved a number of items, including one pornographic videotape ... This videotape contained a number of scenes that were similar to what the offender was doing to his victims. The breast assault and paddling activities appeared to be based upon this sadomasochistic videotape, which seemingly fueled his increasingly sadistic activities ... " [pp.61-62]

"Case History ... This case presented a murder/suicide ... Susan's body was in a supine position ... She suffered a number of stab wounds into her chest and breast. The stab wounds continued down her chest into her pubic and pelvic area, and her throat was cut. Telephone cord had been wrapped tightly around her neck ... and it was apparent that Frank had positioned his wife's body in a pose similar to some of the drawings police recovered ... The police discovered 115 drawings and 105 photographs of nude women. There were also 83 men's magazines, including High Society, Gallery and Penthouse. Many of the magazines had pages removed, including pictures of centerfolds with stab marks. Frank also maintained an extensive collection of…pornographic videotapes…The numerous photographs of nude women from magazines with knife holes and simulated bullet holes through the pictures displayed his obsession with sexual mutilation of women. [pp. 68-83]

"Danielle van Dam Kidnap and murder. Seven-year-old Danielle van Dam disappeared from her family home in the middle of the night on February 2, 2003 ... Within 2 days of the abduction, a neighbor of the van Dam family, [defendant], became the prime suspect in the case. The little girl's body was not discovered until February 27 ... The trial lasted 2 ½ months ... The prosecution stressed the DNA evidence and forensic evidence ... The authorities also seized thousands of computer files filled with child pornography from [defendant's] computer, including a cartoon video of the rape of a young girl. The prosecutor said, 'The video represented [defendant's] sexual fantasies and inspired the abduction, rape and murder of Danielle.'" [pp. 602-604]


I would, however, make three general observations about Vernon Geberth's book. First, Geberth didn't write the book to prove a causal link between pornography and violent sex crimes. He wrote the book to help law enforcement investigators solve violent sex crimes.

Second, while Geberth has much to say about the role of pornography in the lives of violent sex offenders, he could have said more. While Geberth discusses the case of serial killer Ted Bundy, he doesn't mention Bundy's experience with pornography. Geberth also discusses the cases of serial killers John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer, both of whom murdered other men, without any mention of pornography. From reports that I have read, both were into pornography.

Scientific data
Third, while Geberth is, in my opinion, a credible expert witness, his observations and opinions about the role of pornography in violent sex crimes do not constitute "scientific data" that conclusively prove that pornography is connected to such crimes. But they don't have to.

Those who defend pornography often make the argument (in so many words) that there is no conclusive scientific proof that pornography causes sex crimes. Their argument is flawed for two reasons. First, it implies that we cannot come to a valid conclusion without "conclusive scientific proof." Second, it implies that government must have "scientific proof" in order to act.

Here's how Nadine Strossen, president of the ACLU, responded to the question, "But how can you defend pornography? Isn't it harmful to women?" ("In Defense of Pornography: A conversation with Nadine Strossen," New York Native, 1/23/95):

"The pro-censorship feminists claim that pornography causes direct harm to women is unsupported by the facts. In writing this book ["In Defense of Pornography"] I searched the social science literature for evidence that exposure to sexually explicit pornographic material causes...violence against women. But I discovered that a causal connection has never been established." [Underlining mine; italics in the original]

Now, had Ms. Strossen been searching the social science literature "for evidence" of a causal connection between pornography and sexual violence, she would have found it. See, e.g., the analysis of social science research in the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography: Final Report (U.S. Department of Justice, 1986, at pp. 901-1035); an abridged version of the Final Report (Rutledge Hill Press, ISBN 0-934395-42-X) is available from Morality in Media.

But Ms. Strossen wanted more than evidence of a causal connection—she wanted research that establishes a connection. Here's how the Supreme Court (Paris Adult Theater I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49) responded to a similar demand:

"But it is argued that there are no scientific data which conclusively demonstrate that exposure to obscene material adversely affects men or women or their society ... We reject this argument ... 'We do not demand of legislatures 'scientifically certain criteria of legislation' ... From the beginning of civilized societies, legislators and judges have acted on various unprovable assumptions." [413 U.S. at pp.60-61]

The Paris Court went on to say [413 U.S. at p.63]:

"If we accept ... the well nigh universal belief that good books, plays and art lift the spirit, improve the mind, enrich the human personality, and develop character, can we then say that a state legislature may not act on the corollary assumption that commerce in obscene books, or public exhibitions focused on obscene conduct, have a tendency to exert a corrupting and debasing impact leading to anti-social behavior? 'Many of these effects may be intangible and indistinct, but they are nonetheless real.'" [Emphasis mine]

'Causative factor'
One reason why the Paris Court did not demand of the Georgia legislature that it demonstrate with "scientifically certain criteria" a connection between antisocial behavior and obscene material is because human behavior cannot easily be studied in a laboratory. There are too many variables to determine to a scientific certainty what role one variable (for example, pornography) plays in a particular behavior (or example, rape).

Here is how Nadine Strossen responded to the question, "What about convicted criminals who claim that viewing pornography led them to crime?" ("Porn's Great Defender?", Gadfly, 7/97):

"Given all the complex factors that make us ... behave as we do, I don't understand how we can single out one and say it is the causative factor." [Emphasis mine]

I am not sure what Ms. Strossen means by the causative factor. If she means a sufficient cause, I would agree because I don't think pornography is ever the sole cause of a violent sexual crime. If she means a necessary cause (i.e., a factor without which the behavior would not have occurred) I would again agree—because we do not possess the means to single out one factor and know to a certainty what influence it had. Unlike Ms. Strossen, however, I think there is ample evidence to support the conclusion that many violent sex crimes would not have occurred (in whole or part) if the perpetrator had not been exposed to or become addicted to pornography.

For a perspective on "causation," see Diana E. Russell, Ph.D., Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm, pp. 113-148, (Berkley, CA: Russell Publications 1994). Both the book itself and an essay, "Pornography as a Cause of Rape," are available at www.dianarussell.com. Dr. Russell is Professor Emerita of Sociology at Mills College.

In her article, "When Words Are Not Enough: The Search for the Effect of Pornography on Abused Women," (Violence Against Women, Vol.10, No.1, January 2004, pp.56-72), Janet Hinson Shope [Associate Professor, Goucher College] analyzes in detail a study conducted from 1988 to 1991 at a New York program for battered women. Of the 46% who reported sexual abuse, 30% said the abuser used pornography. Of those who reported that their abusers used pornography, 58% said the pornography affected their abuse. In her analysis, Hinson Shope said in part (at pp. 88-89):

"Although we may not be able to marshal the evidence needed to constitute 'causal proof,' an elusive criterion for social scientists, we certainly have enough evidence to warrant identifying pornography use as a risk factor, much like alcohol consumption, associated with sexual violence among some populations ... In our attempt to empirically validate the harm of pornography, we have also silenced women's voices ... Women's accounts, such as the ones below, on the effects of pornography are minimized and/or ignored...

"A woman who was raped by her partner recalls:

'He was really into watching porno movies, and he tried to make me do all sorts of things. And I [didn't] like it. He hurt my stomach so bad because I was pregnant, and he was making me do these things.' [Bergen, R.K. (1998), "The reality of wife rape: Women's experience of sexual violence in marriage." In R.K. Bergen (Ed.), Issues in intimate violence, (pp. 237-250). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] (p.242)

"Jensen [Jensen, R. (1998). "Using pornography." In G. Dines, R. Jensen, A. Russo (Eds.), Pornography (pp.101-146). New York: Routledge] described another woman's experience:

'He would bring pornographic magazines, books, and paraphernalia into the bedroom with him and tell her that if she did not perform the sexual acts that were being done in the dirty books and magazines, he would kill her.' (p. 115)

"Women's experiences of pornography are dismissed as anecdotal, nonrepresentative, and unimportant. Falling into the measurement trap, we have turned to science, instead of to women, for answers ... As Kelly pointed out, while we debate it, many people are coping with its unwelcome presence in our lives."

News reports of violent sexual crimes
The reader can judge for him or herself whether in the following cases (all taken from my file on pornography and violent sex crimes), pornography was a causative or "risk" factor, of major or minor importance, in the commission of the violent sex crime or crimes.

"Defendant was convicted of rape, two counts of aggravated sodomy and false imprisonment ... Certain magazines ('Submarine Sadist,' 'Rope Embrace,' etc) seized from appellant's residence were admitted into evidence over appellant's objection. 'In the trial of sexual crimes exhibits having a tendency to show bent of mind toward sexual activity have generally been allowed into evidence' ... especially in light of the victim's testimony concerning acts of bondage." [Yeck v. State, 331 S.E.2d 76 (Ga. App. 1985).]

"Investigators searching for a motive in the brutal slayings of a Townsend mother and her two children will explore the role of 'hard-core pornography' in the [17 year old] suspect's life ... Police sources say accused killer['s] home ... including his bedroom, 'was full of hard-core pornographic magazines. They were all over the place' ... Several torn and crumpled porn magazine pages were found in a wastebasket at the murder scene ... The pornography in [defendant's] home, coupled with his history of violent and sexual crimes has prompted investigators to explore whether [defendant] may have been 'inspired' by or may have copied acts depicted in videos or magazines." ["Porn role probed," Boston Herald, 12/7/87]

"In a little house . . . police believe mild-mannered engineer [defendant], perhaps under the influence of porn-fueled fantasies, assaulted young women while his wife was away. He admitted, police say, to kidnapping and assaulting three girls, killing one of them, and assaulting four others in Georgia and South Carolina. Police in five other states, including Tennessee, want to talk to him. When police searched [defendant's] rented storage unit…they found 935 pornographic books and magazines depicting sexual bondage, horror scenes and nudity. They also found…books about serial killer Ted Bundy, who preyed on attractive young women. . . ." ["Suspect in sex crimes sought," Knoxville Journal, 2/27/89]

"A Circuit Court jury ruled that [defendant] was mentally responsible during the torture and murder of his sister-in-law and an attempt to murder his wife…Psychiatrist Ralph Baker testified that he believed [defendant] had a disorder of sexual sadism but was not suffering from a mental disease…Robert Miller, a psychiatrist…said [defendant] had a problem throughout his life knowing how to direct his anger, and therefore he used pornography and thoughts of torture as a relief…Paul Barnett, Price County Attorney, argued that [defendant]…had a fascination with pornography dating to childhood and who blamed alcoholism for his acts." ["Jury finds [defendant] sane," Milwaukee Journal, 3/18/89]

"In a videotape made this week for police crime-watch programs, the 'Ski Mask Rapist' revealed how he got addresses of some of his 35 victims ... Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Mike Gillett, [defendant] said he watched X-rated videotapes about three or four times a week. 'I would remember the videotapes I would watch when I committed an assault,' he said. 'I would think about the tapes at the time and the different acts in the videos ... '" ["Ski mask rapist details how he picked victims" Dallas Times Herald, 6/1/90]

"A young FBI agent who helped nab a sadistic New Jersey serial killer Wednesday is a real-life version of the Jodie Foster character in 'The Silence of the Lambs' ... As she tries to catch the maniac, Foster relies on the intricate methods she learns at the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes in Quantico, Va. That's where FBI Agent Drucilla Wells received the training she used to zero in on serial-murder suspect [defendant] ... Wells learned that [defendant] collected porn and kept women's panties in his car. She then put together a profile of [defendant] that expedited his capture by the FBI and local authorities." ["How FBI's 'Jodie' Got Her Man," New York Post, 3/30/91)]

"A judge sentenced [defendant] to 20 years in prison for trying to rape a Wesleyan student, and attacking her housemate, saying [defendant's] 'whole life is dominated by pornographic fantasies that he was prone to act on ... Police searched [defendant's] room after the incident and found open pornographic magazines ... In 1987, [defendant] was convicted of a similar attack after he sexually assaulted a housemate in East Haddam ... Then, in 1989, he was sentenced to six months for violation of probation; prosecutors said [defendant] ran up $500 worth of telephone bills to pornographic and sex related groups." ["Man sentenced to 20 years in sexual assault," Hartford Courant, 5/2/91]

"The evidence adduced at trial viewed in the light most favorable to the state's case . . . reveals the following. . . . Schiro was serving a three-year suspended sentence for robbery. … While in the work-release program [in Evansville, IN], Schiro worked across the street from [the victim's] house. . . . Schiro went to a liquor store and stole an alcoholic beverage…He took the liquor with him and went to see 'quarter movies,' which were characterized as hard-core pornography. . . . A woman who worked as a cashier at the quarter movie porn shop threw Schiro out when Schiro exposed himself to her ... From there Schiro went directly to [the victim's] apartment ... Schiro knocked on [the victim's] door and asked if he could use her phone on the pretext that his car would not start ... Schiro asked to use the bathroom ... When he came out of the bathroom Schiro was exposed and [the victim] became frightened ... Schiro then raped her ... and raped her a second time. ... Schiro raped her a third time. ... Schiro decided he had to kill her so she couldn't report the rapes. ... She was still fighting him when he strangled her to death. ... He then dragged her body across the living room where he performed vaginal and anal intercourse on the corpse and chewed on several parts of her body. ..." [Schiro v. Clark, 963 F.2d 962 (7th Cir. 1992)]

"Daily beatings, crude sexual acts and constant threats marked the 18-day imprisonment of a woman accusing [the defendant] of kidnapping and rape ... The woman, 22, cried as she described some of the things she accuses [the defendant] of doing. She said that in addition to raping and sodomizing her, [defendant] forced her to use her mouth to clean feces off his genitals. [Defendant] also asked her to perform sex acts depicted in pornographic magazines, the woman said ... " ["Woman: Threats, beatings held me," Miami Herald, 4/23/93]

"In December 1992, [Defendant] guided authorities to the [victim's] body ... As he stated in court, he said [in the interview with the newspaper] he participated in the rape but did not shoot, strangle or mutilate her ... 'Part of me wanted the rape to occur,' [defendant] said. 'I wanted to experience what it was like. I was curious about it.' He said he became fascinated with the idea of rape by watching X-rated movies and reading pornography." ["Night of Miss Harms' Murder Still Haunts [Defendant]," Omaha World Herald, 9/28/94]

"A search of [defendant's] home ... turned up bags and boxes of pornographic books, magazines and videotapes about sexual bondage ... In the room where the woman said she escaped, investigators found a plastic sack filled with 'bondage straps, restraints, chains' and other items ... The victim said her captor also used an electronic stun gun to shock her after she was bound, gagged and blindfolded and carried to the trunk of a waiting car. The woman said she was taken to a home and left alone in an upstairs bedroom. The attacker apparently left the house and the woman managed to escape." ["Bondage items found where woman was held," Grand Rapids Press, 11/29/94]

"A former security guard dubbed 'Dr. Smell' for his foot fetish was found guilty of murdering a college student who was found barefoot, her socks and sneakers missing…He was…on duty at the Drexel University [Philadelphia] computer laboratory where she was working the night she was beaten and strangled ... Police raided [defendant's] apartment and storage locker and discovered 20 pair of white women's sneakers ... and 77 foot-fetish videos. [The victim's] sneakers were white." ["Sneaker Slaying," Associated Press, 12/2/95]

"In the weeks before [defendant] allegedly began savaging women, he spent whole days mesmerized watching porn videos showing women being raped and tortured, a roommate said yesterday. As he grew increasingly despondent at the loss of his Japanese girlfriend, [defendant] bought and rented sadistic Japanese porn flicks, said [the roommate] ... Occasionally, excited by the copulation he saw on film, [defendant] would ask [the roommate] to accompany him to a sex club in Times Square ... [Defendant's] obsession goes back to his teen years, said another friend ... 'He used to have some porno games on his computer. He used to be able to take off these women's clothes on the computer,' said the old classmate ... " ["Porn Haze filled days," New York Daily News, 6/15/96]

"[Defendant], a [South Dakota] teen, was convicted of raping a Readers Den employee ... 'The Mitchell Police Department definitely thought pornography was a factor in [defendant's] rape,' said Assistant Police Chief Lyndon Overweg. 'The defendant had been looking at the covers of pornographic magazines in the bookstore, pulling the film away from the covers ... We also were aware that [defendant] had used pornography in the past and felt that was a contributing factor to his crime' ... Overweg said it is difficult to determine how much of an influence pornography has on people ... Pornography, however, is a common denominator that usually is present, he said. 'Whenever I've investigated a sex crime, a search ... will almost always reveal pornography at the attacker's residence or ... pornography in their backgrounds,' Overweg said." ["Officials: Set limits on explicit material," Mitchell Daily Republic, 4/13/99]

"The disappearance of eight women and a baby girl have been linked to a Kansas man law enforcement officials say used the Internet to meet his victims for kinky sex. [Defendant] is a suspect in the deaths of five women whose bodies were found stuffed in 55 gallon drums in Kansas and Missouri ... [Defendant] apparently met his victims through sadomasochistic chat rooms and e-mail on the Internet using the screen name 'slavemaster.' Police confiscated pornographic material ... from his mobile home..." ["Nine disappearances linked to 'Slavemaster,'" UPI, 6/8/2000]

"[Defendant] was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the brutal murder of a Rockville [MD] woman ... [Defendant's] attorney ... said Tuesday that [defendant] suffers from untreated mental disorders ... But prosecutors rejected the idea that [defendant's] mental disorders led him to kill [the victim]. 'The attack didn't have anything to do with the disorders,' said Deputy State's Attorney John McCarthy. 'It was inspired by pornographic movies.' McCarthy said [defendant] was watching pornographic movies in his home the day of the attack." ["Murderer gets life sentence," Montgomery Journal, 5/8/02]

"Investigators looking into the killings of 10 women in the St. Louis area have accused a paroled robber in two of the killings after tracking him using the Internet ... The complaint ... accused [the defendant] of kidnapping, torturing and killing two prostitutes ... Four days later [after finding a body], investigators determined that the return address on the letter [showing the location of the body], 'I THRALLDOM,' was a Web site featuring bondage and sexual torture ... " ["Internet Used to Find Man Who Is Charged in 2 of 10 Killings," New York Times, 6/11/02]

"A prowler climbed through the bathroom window of a Lower East Side apartment ... shot a sleeping man in the head, police officials said, then drank the dead man's whiskey and watched sex videos before heading downstairs, where he killed an elderly couple. The woman's body was left naked in a living room chair, and she had been sexually abused." ["Burglar Slays Man in One Apartment, Then Kills Elderly Couple," New York Times, 6/13/02]

"Police have charged a man in the slaying of a nun who was attacked as she recited the rosary while on a walk with another nun. Both women were sexually assaulted, police said ... Klamath County District Attorney Ed Caleb said [defendant] had just left 'the only strip joint in Klamath Falls' before he attacked the women. 'He then came down there, ran into them, attacked them, beat them severely to weaken them, then proceeded to sexually assault both of them, and we believe strangle one of them,' Caleb said." ["Man charged in Oregon nun's murder," Associated Press, 9/3/2002]

"A military jury gave a 25-year prison sentence to a lieutenant colonel who admitted killing his wife during an argument about pornography, an army spokesman said ... [Defendant] pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder ... saying he beat and strangled his wife as they fought about his use of the Internet to view pornography." ["Colonel sentenced in wife's death," Associated Press, 10/30/2002]

"[A]ccused rapist and fugitive from the law [the defendant] has simple needs. 'He likes sex and surf,' defense lawyer Roger Jon Diamond told the Post ... Diamond claims his client was hooked on having sex with unconscious women—and that his girlfriends willingly took GHB [a date rape drug] to grant his sexual fantasies. 'There are actually Web sites about this,' Diamond said. 'It's a new fetish out there. Some guys like to see unconscious women getting raped.'" ["Fugitive Scion's 'Sex & Surf' Life, New York Post, 1/12/03]

"A teenage baby sitter ... has been charged with raping and sodomizing three children he was watching in their home ... The youth had been abusing the children since the summer of 2002, when he began watching pornographic videos with the eldest child, a boy who was then 12, the warrant said. He eventually abused all three children, the [Connecticut] state police charged. He intimidated the children by telling them he would assault other members of the family ... and tortured them with a knife, among other items, the warrant said." ["Baby Sitter, 17, Raped and Tortured Three Children," New York Times, 2/27/04]

Other law enforcement personnel
As noted above, the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography (Final Report, 1986) relied in part on social science research. But the Commission also heard testimony from many witnesses, including more than 100 law enforcement personnel. Among the physical harms the Commission looked at were: Rape (pp. 773-780), Forced sexual performance (pp. 780-786), Battery, Torture (pp. 786-793), Murder (pp. 793-794), and Imprisonment (pp. 794-795).

On September 16, 1987, Darrell E. Pope, Commanding Officer (retired), Sex Crimes Unit, Michigan State Police, testified before the U.S. House Select Committee on Youth and Families, which was reviewing the incidence of violence against women. Lieutenant Pope testified in part:

"I was commanding officer of the Sex Crimes Unit of the Michigan State Police for 12 years prior to my retirement. During that time we had a law that requires law enforcement agencies, upon arrest and conviction of a sexually deviant person, to submit forms to…that Sex Crimes Unit. During this period of time, we accumulated, from 1956 to the time that I did my research in 1977, some 38,000 case histories, which included everything from exhibitionism to lust murders. The research that I did was based on that, plus the opportunity that I had…to work with agencies within the State of Michigan, as well as our own investigations of sexual assaults on women and children…We dealt with, in those 12 years…I am estimating the number-around 4000 cases…so we had the opportunity to talk not only to the victims and, in some cases, the offender, but also to the police officer…

…

"The number two issue is the issue does porno, in fact, affect sexual assault, and my answer very explicitly is yes. Being commanding officer of the unit, and having the availability of these sexual reports, in 1977, I did a research project where I looked at 38,000 case histories and found 41% reports indicated that, in fact, pornographic materials were used just prior to or during the sexual act…

"In 1978, we began to develop what we call a crime scene behavior analysis, in which we would profile the sexually motivated homicide and tell you what kind of people who did it. Again, in doing this, in talking, I had the opportunity to talk to some of these people who had committed lust murders. It was very fascinating. When you asked the perpetrator, the sex offender who would indicate or admit that he had used it, almost to a man, his answer was, 'I used it for one of several reasons: One, to encourage me.' He said-in some cases, I remember talking to one young man who was 19 years old, he said, 'It excited me and then I got to thinking about it and I wanted to know how it felt.'

"This is this young man's answer. He wanted to know how it felt to rape a woman and kill her. By the way, this was his girl friend. So he did it. And when we arrested this young man and searched his home, we found a pornographic magazine depicting this very thing that he had done. By the way, he had stabbed her 57 times."

In an address, "Pornography, Depicted Violence and Crime," to the Second Melbourne Criminal Justice Symposium held at the University of Melbourne on March 16, 1991, Richard M. Reade, Prosecutor for the Queen, State of Victoria, recounted the following the following case (among others):

"In my opinion, the first case is a graphic example of the serious problem our community faces as a result of the hardcore pornographic material being made freely available since the early 1970s. ... At about 1 a.m. on Sunday the 5th April, 1981, a young woman then aged 31 was walking on the upper esplanade ... A man walked up to her, pushed a knife into her ribs, and demanded her money. He then forced her at knife point into a car park where he tied her up with rope and adhesive tape ... He gagged her and said, '...Just do as I say, because if you don't I will have no alternative to cut you up, especially your boobs.' He then touched her breasts and inserted his finger into her anus and vagina ...

"Having tied her up again and having torn her clothes off, he stuffed her underpants in her mouth, placed a pillowcase over her head and pulled her to the ground. While 'squeezing her breasts like a sponge,' he had vaginal and anal intercourse with her...

"Still not satisfied he commented that her stomach was 'cute', and with that, he cut all over her stomach with a knife. He also cut her thighs and neck, telling her that if she wanted to speak to him she was to call him 'Master.' He took her to a nearby tree and sliced her under the breast with the knife. He again had vaginal intercourse and cut her all over her body particularly in the area of her breasts ... He then cut off her right nipple saying, 'Now you won't be able to breast feed your baby'...

"When this man was arrested, he was interviewed by Police and explained his strong sexual drive and why he took the rope and the knife etc. with him that night:

'Because I have been reading books on bondage and I felt a strong urge to act out what was in the books. I knew it was wrong but I couldn't help myself ... It's those bondage books, sex feeds on sex, that's what has done it, those rotten books ... The books show women need to be dominated, and that to grab a woman off the street and tie her up and rape her isn't really wrong; and I said to her that night that I had to do it once to get it out of my system you know...'

"The court was told that a large number of books and magazines on sex were found in his bungalow. They included, 'Robbed and Raped,' 'Bondage Love,' 'Kidnapped.' His counsel described 'Bondage Love' as being 'almost a blueprint of what actually occurred.'"

In a July 23, 1991 hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary to address the Pornography Victims' Compensation Act of 1991 (which passed through Committee but died on the floor of the Senate), Robert H. Macy, district attorney in Oklahoma City, testified as follows:

"Back in 1984, I was contacted by citizens in Oklahoma County wanting to do something about the sex crimes problem and pornography. Up until that time, I was truly a Doubting Thomas as to the correlation between sex crimes and pornography ... However ... we put together a strategy to try to as much as we could eliminate pornography or obscenity and sex-oriented businesses in Oklahoma County ... We did it rather quietly, but we went out and systematically closed 12 out of 13 pornographic bookstores, 11 peep show operations. We had the porno films taken off of cable TV. With the help of a city ordinance, we closed 75 topless and bottomless bars. We shut down 21 houses of prostitution. We closed 27 out of 42 telephone escort services and eliminated 3 hardcore pornographic theaters ... They try to tell you that you can't prosecute pornography cases and obscenity cases. I am here to tell you that you can ... But to give you an idea of what happened when we cracked down, in 1984 we had 565 rapes reported in our county. In 1985, it dropped to 542; 479 in 1986; 439 in 1987; 435 in 1988; and 427 in 1989. So in 5 years, the number of rapes dropped by 138, or almost 25 percent, and the only thing we did different in Oklahoma County was the crackdown on obscenity and ... sex oriented businesses."

In a letter, dated October 5, 1995, to Dallas Erickson, President of Montana Citizens for Decency through Law, John C. Moe wrote:

"My hopes and prayers are with you in your efforts to pass effective anti-pornography (obscene matter) laws for Montana ... "For 11 years, 1952-1963, as an FBI agent in Southern California, I investigated organized crime, including its control of pornography, prostitution, illegal drugs, gambling, racketeering and related crimes. I found that these crimes as well as sex crimes and sexually transmitted diseases are all closely inter-related ... I served as Sheriff of Missoula County for 8 years, 1970-1978 ... Following are some cases involving obscenity that I handled while I was Sheriff, 1970-1978:

"A 15 year old arrested for sexual assaults on girls 5 to 8 years old. He stated that he became sexually aroused by viewing a pornographic magazine kept under his bed.

"A 47 year old deviate with a lengthy criminal record who had numerous obscene books and movies in his possession when arrested. He admitted becoming sexually aroused by these items following which he would seek out female victims to rob and rape in unnatural ways. He admitted that while on parole he had sexually assaulted and robbed 21 females from 8 years of age and older."

…[Other cases omitted]

According to the article, "Sex Offenders Test Parole Officers," (New York Times, 6/8/97), "paroled sex offenders must obey strict rules depending on the nature of their crimes, such as rape, incest or pedophiliac crimes. Here are some of the conditions parole officers impose:

"May not frequent adult bookstores, massage parlors, topless bars and sex shops.

"Cannot participate in on-line computer services that exchange pornographic messages or establish sexual encounters or liaisons ...

"Cannot buy or posses pornographic magazines, pictures or films.

"Cannot call sexually explicit telephone services ... "

According to an article by Peter Landesman, "Sex Slaves on Main Street" (New York Times Magazine, 1/25/04), the United States has not only become a major importer of sex slaves, many of whom are children, but the sex is now "harder." Landesman reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Cyber Crimes Center in Fairfax, Va., are "finding that when it comes to sex, what was once considered abnormal is now the norm. They are tracking a clear spike in the demand for harder-core pornography on the Internet." According to Landsman, when a special agent brought up a Web site that supposedly offered sex slaves for purchase to individuals, "a hush came over the room." The article continues:

"'That sure looks like the real thing,' [I.C.E. Special Agent] Daufenbach said. There were streams of Web pages of thumbnail images of young women of every ethnicity in obvious distress, bound, gagged, contorted. The agents pointed out probable injuries from torture. Cyberauctions for some of the women were in progress; one had exceeded $300,000."

In a February 24, 2004 speech before the 2nd e-Crime Congress (held in London), Detective Chief Superintendent Len Hynds, head of the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, said that for the Internet to "take the final step to adulthood, it must first deal with those fringe elements that chose to promote abhorrent activities like cannibalism and necrophilia." Hynds's comments were apparently related to a murder conviction reported in "Killer was obsessed by porn websites," The Guardian (London), 2/5/04:

"During the trial, the jury heard that [the defendant], who kept the woman's body for almost a month and visited it frequently while it was in a storage unit, was an avid user of [Internet] sites devoted to snuff movies and necrophilia. The court heard he had been examining such sites the day before he strangled the teacher with a pair of nylon tights…The prosecution said he had killed [the teacher] and kept her body as a 'trophy' to play out a 'bizarre and macabre' sexual fantasy…Police…traced former girlfriends, who described how he liked to tie them up and apply pressure to their necks during sex until they almost passed out. One [former girlfriend] told officers [the defendant] once admitted, 'I get the most awful feelings that I am going to kill and rape a woman.' [She] also revealed she had discovered a stash of pornographic pictures of women. Around their necks [defendant] had drawn nooses."

In 2002 Morality in Media retained the services of two recently retired law enforcement agents, Roger Young and Tom Rodgers, to follow up on complaints about pornographic Web sites submitted by citizens to MIM's www.obscenitycrimes.org site.

Roger Young joined the FBI in 1975 and began working obscenity, child pornography, and prostitution cases in 1977. From the mid 1980s until his retirement in June 2001 he was recognized nationally as one of the leading authorities in the FBI regarding the investigation of obscenity cases. Roger Young had this to say about pornography and violent sex crimes:

"It is my professional and personal opinion that there is a direct correlation between pornography and violent sex crimes. Individuals who commit these crimes receive reinforcement, motivation, encouragement and validation of their sexual fantasies from the pornography they view and read. This material then becomes a catalyst for acting out their fantasies. One case that comes to mind is the Gary Bishop case. Bishop sexually assaulted and murdered a number of children in Utah. Bishop began viewing pornography prior to high school. Prior to his execution, Bishop stated that the pornography he viewed and read affected him and was a factor in the crimes that he committed.

"In addition to the Gary Bishop case, another investigation in which I was involved was the Jeremy Strohmeyer case. Strohmeyer, a high school senior at the time of his crime, sexually assaulted and murdered a prepubescent female at a hotel/casino at the California/Nevada state line. During the investigation it was discovered that he had a large amount of pornography in his computer, and that just prior to his crime, he received an audiovisual image (AVI) on his computer from another individual. This AVI depicted an adult male engaged in sexual intercourse with a prepubescent female. Evidence in this case also revealed that Strohmeyer expressed an interest and a desire to engage in sexual intercourse with a prepubescent female. Before trial was to begin, Strohmeyer changed his plea from not guilty to guilty. Had the case gone to trial, the Las Vegas District Attorney planned to use the pornography in Strohmeyer's computer to demonstrate premeditation for his crime."

Tom Rodgers was a detective lieutenant from the Indianapolis Police Department. During his 28 years with the Department, Lt. Rodgers received many awards, including awards for fighting child pornography. He also helped lead the fight against "adult" bookstores during the period when Stephen Goldsmith (who later became Mayor) served as Prosecuting Attorney. Lt. Rodgers had this to say about pornography and violent sex crimes:

"As an Indianapolis Police Department Detective Lieutenant, I was assigned to the Sex Crimes Branch where we investigated forcible rapes involving adult victims as well as sex crimes against children. I can recall many cases involving suspects who used pornography just prior to committing their sex crimes, including violent sexual crimes. One particular suspect would view his pornography before going out to prowl at night and identify vulnerable victims who felt they were secure in their homes. He would then break into their homes as they slept to commit his rapes, causing physical injury to all his victims."

"In the early 1980's I was called to consult on a case with a Colorado police department while I was detailed to assist that police agency. The case involved a middle-age grandfather who frequented adult bookstores and was infatuated with adult pornography. Although he claimed to have no actual sexual attraction to children, he was accused of sadomasochistically molesting his granddaughters in acts so vile; it would defy your imagination.

"The grandfather photographed himself performing many sexual sex acts on his five-year old grandchild. In some of the photographs he would require her to pose nude with a blood spattered genitalia and abdomen. The child was also depicted in the photographs with a grimacing face as if experiencing severe pain. In one photography session, he hanged the child upside down by her ankles on the inside of a closet door. In this scene, the child was depicted wearing a skirt and her panties pulled down exposing her genitals. The final photograph in this series, depicted the child lying on a floor, nude from the waist down, bloodied and with a blunt instrument positioned between her legs. It appeared as if the little girl was unconscious or perhaps dead. The perpetrator was arrested when he sold copies of the photographs to an adult bookstore clerk who in turn sold them to an undercover agent."

Many other current and former federal and state prosecutors and law enforcement agents across the nation (and in other countries) could and would describe similar cases where pornography did or may have contributed to violent sexual crimes, if they were asked to do so.

Clinical case studies and common sense
Dr. Victor B. Cline, a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Utah, has treated approximately 300 sex addicts, sex offenders, or other individuals (96% males) with sexual illnesses. In his monograph "Pornography's Effects on Adults and Children" [available from Morality in Media in booklet form for $4 and free of charge, in an abridged version, on the www.obscenitycrimes.org web site (Help for Porn Victims and Addicts page)], Dr. Cline has this to say about a "four factor syndrome" common to nearly all of his clients, "especially in their involvement with pornography:"

"The first change that happened was an addiction-effect. The porn-consumers got hooked. Once involved in pornographic materials, they kept coming back for more and still more. The material seemed to provide a very powerful sexual stimulant or aphrodisiac effect, followed by sexual release, most often through masturbation. The pornography provided very exciting and powerful imagery that they frequently recalled to mind and elaborated on in their fantasies ... It is difficult for non-addicts to comprehend the totally driven nature of a sex addict. When the 'wave' hits them, nothing can stand in the way of getting what they want, whether that be pornography accompanied by masturbation, sex from a prostitute, molesting a child, or raping a woman. These men are consumed by their appetite, regardless of the cost or consequences. Their addiction virtually rules their lives.

"The second phase was an escalation-effect. With the passage of time, the addicted person required rougher, more explicit, more deviant, and 'kinky' kinds of sexual material to get their 'highs' and 'sexual turn-ons.' It was reminiscent of individuals afflicted with drug addictions. Over time there is nearly always an increasing need for more of the stimulant to get the same initial effect. Being married or in a relationship with a willing sexual partner did not solve their problem. Their addiction and escalation were mainly due to the powerful sexual imagery in their minds, implanted there by the exposure to pornography ...

"The third phase was desensitization. Material (in books, magazines, or films/videos) which was originally perceived as shocking, taboo-breaking, illegal, repulsive, or immoral, in time came to be seen as acceptable and commonplace. The sexual activity depicted in the pornography (no matter how anti-social or deviant) became legitimized ...

"The fourth phase was an increasing tendency to act out sexually the behaviors viewed in the pornography, including compulsive promiscuity, exhibitionism, group sex, voyeurism, frequenting massage parlors, having sex with minor children, rape, and inflicting pain on themselves or a partner during sex. This behavior frequently grew into a sexual addiction that they found themselves locked into and unable to change or reverse no matter what the negative consequences were in their life. Many examples of the negative effects of pornography-use come from the private or clinical practice of psychotherapists, physicians, counselors, attorneys, and ministers. Here we come face to face with real people who are in some kind of significant trouble or pain. One example from my practice might illustrate this.

"I was asked to consult on a case where a Phoenix-Tucson area professional person, president of his firm and head of his church's committee on helping troubled children, was found to be a serial rapist who had violently raped a number of women at gun- or knife-point ... The only significant negative factor in his life was an early adolescent addiction to pornography which, for the most part, was kept secret from others. This gradually escalated over a period of years, eventually leading to spending many hours and incurring great expense at 'adult' bookstores, looking at violent video-porn movies and masturbating to these. His first rape was triggered by seeing a close resemblance in the woman he assaulted to the leading character in a porn movie he had seen earlier in the day. Reality and fantasy had become extremely blurred for him as he acted out his pathological sexual fantasies."

In addition to covering clinical case history data, field studies and experimental laboratory type studies, Dr. Cline's article also has a section entitled, "Use of Sexually Explicit Films to Change Behavior & Attitudes," where he states in part:

"[S]ex counseling clinics in the United States daily make use of explicit sexual pictures, films, books and videos to change couple's sexual behavior, beliefs and attitudes. Other centers use graphic sex films in an attempt to recondition the sexual behavior of sex offenders. However, these are carefully selected and prescribed as a physician would in writing a prescription for a particular drug to treat a specific illness or infection ... [N]o responsible sex therapist would ever say to a patient who had a specifically focused sexual problem, 'Go down to the adult bookstore and help yourself to anything you can find there.

"You cannot logically argue that the kind of change which takes place in a sex counseling clinic can function only one way (just to make people healthy). The possibility certainly exists that some pornography can harm people through accidental conditioning processes or modeling or imitative learning of destructive, unhealthy, or illegal kinds of sexual activity, which some viewers may later act out."

On occasion, a mental health professional testifies that he or she uses materials in his or her therapy that are similar to the hardcore materials at issue in the trial—therefore, the argument goes, the materials at issue have serious scientific value. But as the Supreme Court pointed out in Miller v. California,413 U.S. 15, at 36, "[C]ivilized people do not allow unregulated access to heroin because it is a derivative of medicinal morphine."

It isn't just defense expert witnesses who find value in viewing hardcore pornographic materials. As reported in Adult Video News (Sept. 1999), Sharon Mitchell, then director of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, said:

"Everyone who watches porn learns something from it, right? It could be a new technique...even a new kind of fantasy. Right? So let's just call this an instructional tape for safety awareness and for the HIV-positive to realize there's ways to have sex safely."

In an editorial, "The Importance of Porn in these Post-Sept. 11 Times" (Adult Video News, March 2002), Heidi Pike-Johnson writes:

"Porn...inspires us to reach out and try things that we had never done before. It challenges us to live up to our desires..."

'Cathartic effect'
Another argument that defenders of pornography make is that pornography provides individuals prone to sexual violence with an outlet for their sexual desires. In other words, it has a cathartic effect on individuals who would otherwise commit sexual crimes.

Perhaps that is part of what Nadine Strossen had in mind when she said:

"In fact, the studies suggest that if anything, the greater availability of sexually explicit materials is positively correlated with ... lower rates of sexual violence against women. Compare, for example, Singapore, which tightly restricts pornography, and Sweden, where pornography is freely available. Singapore has a much higher rape rate than does Sweden ... " ["In Defense of Pornography," New York Native, 1/23/95]

I know little about Singapore, but I did find articles about Sweden, including the following:

Headline: Swedes cleaning up their morality act [New York Daily News, 8/17/86]

"Here in the world capital of sexual permissiveness, the tide of sexual revolution has begun to ebb ... and a public outcry over pornography is growing. Swedish authorities ... outlawed live sex shows four years ago, for example, and now are considering a ban on the sale of violent pornographic videotapes. Sex expert Maj Fant said Swedes were naively idealistic, unaware of pornography's dark side. The new Swedish view seems to echo the recent U.S. [Attorney General's] Commission report on pornography, which contended there is a link between smut and violent sex crimes."

Headline: Sweden to Study Sexual Crime from Women's Viewpoint

"STOCKHOLM, July 1[1993] (Reuters) - Alarmed by a sharp rise in sex crimes, the Swedish government ordered a study of rape, sexual harassment and indecent assault from a female standpoint. Official figures show sexual violence in Sweden rose 25 percent to some 6,000 cases in 1992 against the previous year ..."

Headline: Sweden Porn

"STOCKHOLM, March 25 [2000] (Reuters) - A group of Swedish chambermaids are seeking protection from male hotel customers who become 'over-excited' after watching pornography on television. In an article published in today's Aftonbladet daily, the group ... called for the maids to be given alarms to use in case of attack."

Headline: MEP declares war on porn

"IRISH INDEPENDENT, January 21, 2004: A Swedish Euro-MP fighting the spread of pornography yesterday called for a study into 'the reasons behind sexual behavior of men' ... She is the author of a draft European Parliament report warning that globalization has caused an explosion in the sex industry. The report ... points out that 70pc of the 360m EU citizens spent on the Internet in 2001 went to porn sites."

Headline: Swedes have more and more animal sex

TV2.no NETTAVISEN, January 26, 2004: "Animal sex is not illegal in Sweden, and every year between 200 and 300 pets are injured because of sexual assaults. The estimate was presented by Svenska Veterinarforbundet, the Swedish veterinary organization ... 'We have seen an increase since 1999 when child pornography became illegal,' said Johan Beck-Friis. 'It appears ... as there are some people who have replaced children with animals ... '"

It isn't just Swedes, of course, who have sex with animals. And it isn't just animals that suffer. As reported in "U.S. group campaigns to outlaw animal sex" (Reuters, 3/17/99), experts say some women abused by their husbands are forced to take part in bestiality. According to the article, the wives said that the bestiality is worse than being directly abused by their mates. Said Dr. Frank Ascione, professor of psychology at Utah State University, "Men who have observed bestiality in pornographic material will sometimes force their wives to reenact activity at home."

There are a number of problems with the cathartic theory. As Dr. Victor Cline and others have observed, when individuals become addicted to pornography they often (if not always) reach the point where they act out (or, at bare minimum, long for the opportunity to act out) their sexual fantasies in real life—with dates, wives, prostitutes, or strangers.

If the so-called cathartic effect were working, then the incidence of sexual abuse of children should be decreasing—in proportion to the expansion of traffic in child pornography on the Internet. But experts are concerned that the opposite is happening, experts like these:

"Muireann O'Brian is helping to lock up child pornographers and child traffickers in the world's most deprived countries. The Dublin woman, who heads the Bangkok office of the worldwide organization, End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism, helps police and lawyers nail pedophiles and charts the extent of child sex abuse. . . . Mrs. O'Brien said the number of children being sold for sex each day is staggering. . . . She said disturbing studies show heterosexual men are becoming addicted to child porn through the Internet. She revealed: 'Studies and arrests have shown men with perfectly normal sexual proclivities become seduced, then involved and finally addicted to child pornography. Their addiction may manifest itself by them just keeping and looking at the images . . . But it has been found that the addiction leads many men int