"Al Cooper, a California psychologist who recently published a book that explores the Internet's effect on sexuality, said the rise in offensive porn spam may be due in part to some surfers' dwindling interest in mainstream fare. 'There's only so many naked women's breasts you can see until you get tired of it,' Cooper said. 'For sex sites to make money, they need to supply people with new material…something new and exciting'…'We're seeing a tremendous increase in people looking for child porn online, then trying to solicit kids for sex,' Cooper said." ["Porn Spam: It's Getting Raunchier," Wired News, 9/30/02]

"Demand for pornographic images of babies and toddlers on the Internet is soaring, a leading expert has warned. Psychology professor Max Taylor of University College Cork heads COPINE—a project set up to uncover pedophile gangs. The group, Combating Pedophile Information Networks in Europe, held a conference ... to discuss the alarming growth of child porn ... [Taylor] said: 'More babies and toddlers are appearing on the net and the abuse is getting worse. It is more torturous and sadistic than it was before. The typical age of children is between 6 and 12, but the profile is getting younger' ... COPINE's research showed around 20 new children appear on the porn sites every month—many kidnapped or sold into sex." ["Baby pornography soaring," Reuters, 3/4/03]

"Kenneth Lanning, a former FBI profiler, believes many offenders have harbored—and suppressed—deviant urges for years. 'They may never have acted out ... and along comes the Internet ... which is like pouring fuel on smoldering embers,' Lanning said…The deluge of pornographic images and chatter on line is perilous for those struggling to keep their desires in check because it whets their appetite, experts say." ["Net's anonymity cloaks predators," New York Daily News, 11/2/03]

"Pedophiles are swapping thousands of hardcore images of child sex abuse in a new form of computer child pornography [peer-to-peer traffic] that police believe is feeding a demand for more real-time victims of abuse…The images are generally more extreme and at least 20% of the users are what police class as Category One, meaning the suspect is 'of significant risk to children'. . . . The [Metropolitan London police's] child protection hi-tech crime unit has already built a list of 800 suspects involved in file swapping illegal images in the United Kingdom alone. While most are involved only in sharing or downloading the images, a significant proportion are active abusers producing the material for themselves, often using their own children, their neighbor's children or-in rarer cases-by luring strangers." ["Race to save new victims of child porn," The Guardian (London), 11/4/03]

If the so-called cathartic effect were working, then the incidence of violent sexual crimes perpetrated by children should be decreasing, because never before has hardcore pornography been so readily available to children. But there is evidence that the opposite is occurring:

"Teenagers open up to Dr. Ponton, a professor of psychiatry at University of California at San Francisco…[A]s chairwoman of the Disaster and Trauma Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, she works as a consultant to schools on issues of violence and risk taking…Q. [interviewer] A disturbing finding of the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey last year is that one in five high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by her boyfriend. In other words, she has been physically hurt or forced to have intercourse against her will. Why is this happening? A. [Dr. Ponton] …Violence and sexual themes run through media. So many of the sexual and violent images on the Internet and in other media use girls in objectified, sadistic ways…I see boys who are addicted to sex on the Internet that show sadistic behavior toward women. It affects those boys' sexual lives and also what we see with our daughters." ["An Expert's Eye on Teenage Sex, Risk and Abuse," New York Times, 1/15/2002]

"A former policeman who led the fight against Internet child porn warned that the tide of filth in cyberspace is growing and could lead to an abuse 'timebomb.' Terry Jones fears adolescents are being corrupted by exposure to sordid material ... [Jones'] police team was the first to catch a child abuser purely from the images [the abuser] put on the web. The police operation resulted in the man being jailed for 12 years for the systematic rape and indecent assault of a four year old. In 2001, another operation ... trapped a further 48 targets across the country. Disturbingly, many of the suspects turned out to be under 17. One was under 13. 'A third of indecent assaults are carried out by adolescents,' said Jones, who now runs the Internet Pedophilia Training Awareness Consultancy." ["Child Pornography Timebomb," Manchester Evening News, 11/21/03]

"A Canberra (Australia)-based health unit working with abused and abusive children has recorded a significant rise in the number of children aged younger than 10 who are committing sexual offenses, including 'oral sex and forced intercourse,' against other children. ... 'We're not talking about kids playing mummies and daddies together,' [the unit manager Annabel] Wyndham said in a phone interview. 'We're talking about things like one child holding another child up by the neck ... and pulling their pants down and doing things to them.' Most of the children seen in this category came from troubled backgrounds, and 40 percent had been abused themselves. ... Nonetheless, the unit also recorded startling data relating to Internet use. Of the ... sexually-abusive children seen ... 90 percent admitted having seen sexually explicit material online, the report said. A full one-quarter deliberately sought out pornography online as their main use of the Internet, while about 40 percent said they used the Internet for other purposes as well as accessing pornography. . . . Wyndham said her unit did not believe the rise in cases of children behaving in a sexually aggressive manner was merely a matter of increased recognition of a longstanding problem…The research paper was presented by the Canberra unit and a government-funded body called the National Child Protection Clearinghouse. One of its child protection experts, Dr. Janet Stanley, said…'We're suggesting there's an association between children's exposure to inappropriate material on the Internet . . . and their acting out in sexually aggressive behavior, experimenting and modeling what they are seeing.'" ["Online Porn Driving Sexually Aggressive Children," CNSNews.com, 11/26/03]


If the so-called cathartic effect were working, then women should feel safer than ever because never before in human history has so much hardcore pornography been so readily available to persons of all ages. When asked in a 2003 national survey what their "top priorities" were, however, 92% of women 18 and older said reducing domestic violence and sexual assault ("USA's women have 'a new set of priorities,' poll suggests," USA TODAY, 6/24/2003).

And perhaps with very good reason. In February 2003, Lifetime Television aired a documentary, "Together: Stop Violence Against Women." In his article about the documentary, "Putting a Face on Violence" (Newsday, 2/12/03), David Behrens wrote:

'On campuses, one in four women are victims of rape or attempted rape, the film maintainsIn another study, reported in the Commonwealth Fund Survey of Women's Health, 31 percent of American women said they had been physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend sometime in their lives."

If the so-called cathartic effect were working, then the incidence of violent sexual crimes in general should be rapidly decreasing, because there has been an explosion of Web sites featuring bondage, domination, gangbangs, rape, rough sex, and torture. But if Vernon Gerbeth is correct, there has been an "upsurge in sexual violence, stranger rapes, and stranger sex murders."

Sexual violence against prostitutes
My introduction to the problem of sexual violence against prostitutes came about indirectly. I was searching in a file for documentation about the connection between the California porn industry and organized crime when I came across an article, "LIFE ON THE STREET: New Wave of Prostitution With More Violence Is Overwhelming L.A. Authorities" (Los Angeles Times, 12/8/85). What caught my attention in the article were statements like these:

"[M]ore customers, [a madam] said, were beating, torturing and killing out-call prostitutes.

"In addition to serial killers, usually one prostitute a month is murdered in Los Angeles County—twice as many as 10 years ago—estimated L.A. police detective Fred Clapp.

"An increasing number of customers are requesting violent or kinky sexual services ...

"Most of the women who have worked the streets for any length of time have also been assaulted and tortured. Although there are no exact statistics on prostitute killings and abductions, most law enforcement officials agree that the problem has worsened.

"The sexual revolution has contributed to the change prostitutes have seen, said Dr. Michael Grinberg, a psychiatrist, sex therapist and chairman for the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, based in Philadelphia…There are several possible reasons for the change, Grinberg said. Our society is more violent now…Pornography is more graphic and readily available and some behavior displayed 'can become incorporated in one's sexual fantasies.'"

That article prompted me to open a new file, "Prostitutes—Violence," a file which continues to grow, with articles like these about prostitutes murdered in the New York City metropolitan area.

"Joel Rifkin's confirmed body count rose to 13 yesterday—making him the worst serial killer in New York State history. And police believe [correctly!] that the number will rise…There are a multitude of cases that are being reviewed from the surrounding tri-state area…Of the 13 known victims…10 are definitely hookers…When serial killer Joel Rifkin wasn't out stalking prostitutes, he sometimes watched movies about them, according to a Long Island video store owner. 'He rented porno movies about hookers,' said the manager…" ["Unlucky 13 as Ripper's Victim List Grows," New York Post, 7/2/93]

"In the wake of Joel Rifkin's trial and conviction for murder on Long Island, a year after he was arrested and confessed to killing 17 women he claimed were prostitutes working in Manhattan's Lower East Side, street walkers said they felt no safer…Prostitutes working the streets wept as they described the trauma of recent attacks…Ten prostitutes interviewed agreed that some johns like to see blood. Some won't start sex before drawing blood with blows to the face. Others slash with knives….'They killed another girl just the other day,' said a 28-year old, dark-haired prostitute in the Bronx recently. 'It was one of her johns. Another was strangled.'" ["Streets Still Mean for Hookers," Newsday, 5/17/94]

"A mild mannered clerk was charged yesterday with being the monster who stalked and killed two Manhattan prostitutes and sexually assaulted four other women. [Defendant] regularly trolled the lower East Side and Chelsea looking for prostitutes with whom he could act out deadly bondage fantasies, cops said…When cops arrested [defendant], they found…a notebook containing amateurish sketches of women in bondage…At the Harlem home of [defendant's] aunt, they found more drawings and a collection of bondage magazines." ["Hooker-slay suspect charged," New York Daily News, 10/25/95] [According to an article, "Hooker Killer Confesses" (New York Post, 10/25/95) defendant had a "bizarre foot fetish that made him want to turn his victims into dead ballerinas…[Defendant] confessed that he made his victims do a grotesque dance of death before sexually attacking and choking them…"]

"A fourth body was pulled last night from the garbage-strewn house of horrors where an alleged serial killer is believed to have murdered and buried up to eight women…As many as 10 prostitutes have now contacted police, reporting cases of 'abusive contact' and 'rough sex' by [defendant]…The eight missing women…all had histories of prostitution and drug use. They had been gradually disappearing from the same gritty Poughkeepsie [New York] neighborhood since October 1966." ["'House of Horror'…," New York Post, 9/4/98]

"A…postal worker was found guilty of…bludgeoning and dismembering 3 women he picked up at a hangout for prostitutes in Jamaica Queens, and disposing the bodies in trash bins…He still faces trial on murder charges in Westchester County, where the bodies of two other women were found." ["Man Convicted of Murdering 3 Prostitutes," New York Times, 3/5/99]

"Two prostitutes have been strangled in Bedford-Stuyvesant [Brooklyn] during the past two weeks, but police say they do not believe the slayings are connected to the recent, related murders of two other prostitutes in Williamsburg [Brooklyn]. Police previously said the [Williamsburg slayings] appeared to have been done by the same killer who…had strangled them with a black shoelace…[One of the Bed-Stuy victims] was found dead on her bedroom floor…feet and hands bound, she had been strangled and her throat deeply slashed, police said." ["Investigation of Killings Intensifying," Newsday, 10/7/99] [On June 23, 2000, a third woman was found strangled with a shoelace. ("Serial killer…" New York Post, 6/23/2000)]

"Authorities believe [defendant] was on his way to becoming New York's next serial killer. The 43-year old suspect psycho killer—busted last February while attempting to rape a streetwalker…—is now suspected of strangling two other hookers in earlier attacks in a chilling pattern of sexual assault and murder…There were uncanny similarities between the suffocation of [the first murder victim, found 11/29/01]… and the strangulation of the [the second murder victim, found 1/26/02]. ["Psycho Sex Fiend, New York Post, 1/21/03]

"Police have identified a headless and handless body dumped on Long Island last year as a 20-year old prostitute…who plied here trade in Manhattan before she was murdered, possibly by a serial killer…A second body of a woman—also without a head or hands—had been found dumped a short distance away almost three years earlier in November 2000…The torso of a third woman, also missing her head and hands, was found in Nassau County in 1997." ["Headless, handless…ID's as prostitute," New York Post, 2/3/04]

Many other U.S. cities have reported killers who prey on prostitutes, including:


Bridgeport, CT ["Accused killer of prostitute a suspect in other slayings," New York Times, 9/1/94]
Chicago, IL ["Decrepit buildings shield crimes of serial killer," New York Times, 7/26/99]
Dallas, TX ["Serial Killer Loose?", Newsday, 11/14/91]
Detroit, MI ["Ex-sailor linked to slayings of prostitutes worldwide," New York Times, 3/9/2001]
Grand Rapids, MI ["Police suspect serial killer on the loose," Detroit News, 10/16/96]
Kansas City, MO ["Body Parts Identified," Newsday, 9/17/94]
Miami, FL ["Prostitutes defy killer by working," New York Times, 12/28/94]
New Bedford, MA ["Killer stalks port: Prostitutes target in Mass.," New York Daily News, 12/2/88]
Newark, NJ ["Suspects seen but no pattern in 14 killings of women," New York Times, 4/3/98]
Philadelphia, PA ["Police link man to stranglings of 9 women," New York Times, 6/27/99]
Riverside, CA ["Californian guilty in killing of 12 prostitutes," New York Times, 7/20/95]
Rochester, NY ["Prostitution called link in Rochester deaths," New York Times, 11/13/90]
Seattle, WA ["Fiend says: I murdered 48 women," New York Post, 11/6/03]
Spokane, WA ["Man admits murdering 13 women," New York Daily News, 10/20/2000]
Trenton, NJ ["Trenton man faces charges in slayings of 4 women," New York Times, 8/9/96]

While reading an article for this article, I also came across the following study:

"The present study ... was aimed at studying sexual abuse of street prostitutes both prior to and following entrance into prostitution. Yet ... unexpected information emerged…that was unfortunately not studied in a systematic manner. ... Such was the case in the present study with regard to the relationship between sexual abuse and pornography…Two-hundred juvenile and adult, current and former, women street prostitutes in the San Francisco Bay area participated in the study. ... The study generated an enormous amount of data, quantitative as well as qualitative documenting stunning amounts of sexual abuse of street prostitutes as part of their job, outside their work environment and in their childhood prior to entering prostitution. Many of the open descriptions of these sexual assaults made reference to the role played by pornography. These references were unsolicited by interviewers. ... Out of the 193 cases of rape, 24% mentioned allusions to pornographic material on the part of the rapist. This is even more significant when it is understood that these comments were made by respondents without any solicitation or reference to the issue of pornography by the Interviewer. The comments followed the same pattern: the assailant referred to pornographic materials he had seen or read and then insisted that the victims not only enjoyed rape but also extreme violence." [Silbert, M. and Pines, A., "Pornography and Sexual Abuse of Women," Sex Roles, 10:857-868, 1984]

It isn't just street walkers and call girls who are the targets of violent sex crimes. In a statement to protest the "Erotica USA" trade show (held in New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center, April 1999), Dr. Mary Anne Layden, Director of Education, Center for Cognitive Therapy, at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote:

"The job that [strippers] do is fraught with dangers and unpleasantry. In one study 100% of the strippers reported some kind of physical or verbal abuse on their jobs. Verbal abuse by customers is extremely common with 91% reporting incidents. They were routinely called degrading names like c--t (52%), w---e (61%), and b---h (85%). Besides the verbal abuse, all endured some type of physical abuse on the job. Despite the fact that it is illegal to touch a stripper, strippers reported that customers grabbed them by the arm (88%), grabbed their breast (73%), or their buttock (91%). Customers at strip clubs often assault the women. Customers pulled their hair (27%), pinched them (58%), slapped them (24%), or bite them (36%). They are often attacked in the strip club in front of bodyguards and other audience members. If men would do this to women in public, what would they do to women in private? Strippers are often raped. Strippers have reported that they have been followed home (70%) and have been stalked (42%)."

Ted Bundy
Every so often I read an article defending media violence—in film, TV, rap/music or videogames—which argues (in so many words) that while the author or others the author is aware frequently consume violent media, he or she or they don't commit violent crimes. Therefore, the argument goes, media violence is not connected to violent crime.

It goes without saying that violent crime is a serious matter. For many reasons, including fear of getting caught and fear of God, most people don't commit violent crimes. Their self-control is stronger than the anger, envy, hate, greed, jealousy, lust, etc. that stirs within.

But for many reasons—including alcohol, media, family breakdown, peer pressure, physical or sexual abuse, pornography, prenatal influences (often working in combination)—either internal restraints are inadequately developed or diminished or the urges become too strong (or both).

Here's how serial killer Ted Bundy described his experience in an interview with Dr. James Dobson (a psychologist who served on the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography and founder of Focus on the Family) on January 23, 1989, the day before Bundy was executed:

Dr. Dobson: "For the record, you are guilty of killing many women and girls."

Bundy: "Yes. Yes. That's true ... Okay, but before I go any further, I think it's important to me that people believe what I'm saying. I'm not blaming pornography. I'm not saying that it caused me to go out and do certain things. And I take full responsibility for whatever I've done ... That's not the question here. The question and the issue is how this kind of literature contributed and helped mold and shape the kinds of violent behavior."

Dobson: "It fueled your fantasies."

Bundy: "In the beginning it fuels this kind of thought process. Then at a certain time it's instrumental in what I would say crystallizing it, making it into something which is almost like a separate entity inside. At that point you're at the verge, or I was at the verge of acting out on these kinds of thoughts."

Dobson: "Now, I really want to understand that. You had gone about as far as you could go in your own fantasy life with printed materials, and then there was the urge to take that little or big step further to a physical event."

Bundy: "Right. And it happened in stages, gradually. It doesn't necessarily, not to me at least, happen overnight. My experience with pornography that deals on a violent level with sexuality is that once you become addicted to it—and I look at this as a kind of addiction—like other kinds of addiction ... I would keep looking for more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of materials. Like an addiction, you keep craving something which is harder, harder. Something which gives you a greater sense of excitement. Until you reach the point where the pornography only goes so far ..."

Dobson: "How long did you stay at this point before you actually assaulted someone?"

...

Bundy: "I would say a couple of years. What I was dealing with were strong inhibitions against criminal behavior—violent behavior—that had been conditioned into me, bred into me, in my environment, in my neighborhood, in my church, in my school. Things which said no, this is wrong. And I'm on that edge, and these last ... you might say, vestiges of restraint—the barriers to actually do something were being tested constantly, and assailed through the kind of fantasy life that was fueled largely by pornography."

Dobson: "Do you remember what pushed you over the edge? ... Would it be accurate to call that a frenzy, a sexual frenzy?"

Bundy: "...That's one way to describe it. A compulsion, a building of destructive energy. Again, another fact here that I haven't mentioned is the use of alcohol. But I think that what alcohol did in conjunction with, let's say, my exposure to pornography [is that] alcohol reduced my inhibitions at the same time.

...

Dobson: "Alright, if I can understand it now, there is this battle going on within. There are the conventions you've been taught. There's the right and wrong that you learned as a child. And then there is this unbridled passion fueled by your plunge into hard-core, violent pornography. And those things are at war with each other."

Bundy: "Yes."

Dobson: "And then the alcohol diminishing the inhibitions, you let go."

Bundy: "Well, yes. And you can summarize it that way, and that's accurate, certainly. And it just occurred to me that some people would say that, well, I've seen that stuff, and it doesn't do anything to me ..."

Dobson: "Addictions are like that. They affect some people more than they affect others ..."

Dobson: "...You really feel that hardcore pornography and the doorway to it, soft-core pornography, is doing untold damage to other people, and causing other women to be abused and killed the way you did."

Bundy: "Listen. I'm no social scientist, and I haven't done a survey ... But I've lived in prison for a long time now. And I've met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence like me. And without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography—without exception, without exception—deeply influenced and consumed by an addiction to pornography."

Ted Bundy made quite a "splash" during his brief lifetime. He did so because he killed nice girls—instead of prostitutes. He did so because the night before his execution he spoke with Dr. James Dobson about how pornography had affected his life for the worse. He didn't claim that pornography "made him do it." He didn't ask Dr. Dobson to intervene on his behalf with the Florida governor. Why then did pornography defenders work to discredit what Bundy said?

'Prohibition'
Well, some will say, "Why spoil my fun just because a few sickos commit violent sex crimes. We don't ban alcohol just because some people abuse it. Why ban pornography?"

Here are three good reasons.

First, it isn't just a few "sickos" who are adversely affected by pornography. Millions of Americans, young and old, are addicted to pornography, and violent sexual crimes are not the only rotten fruit of pornography. Other pornography victims include:


"Performers" (many if not most of whom are under 21) who are physically and emotionally abused in the production of hardcore pornography or who acquire sexually transmitted diseases (including AIDS) in the production of hardcore pornography
Wives married to husbands addicted to hardcore pornography (effect on marriage)
Women sexually harassed at their jobs, in part through exposure to hardcore pornography
Children who get a sex miseducation from viewing hardcore pornography, robbing them of the opportunity to develop in a healthy manner psychologically, morally, and spiritually
Children sexually abused by children who imitate what they view in hardcore pornography
Children who are sexually abused by adults who use hardcore pornography to sexually arouse themselves and to entice, desensitize and instruct their child victims

In Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, the Supreme Court also recognized governmental interests (other than sex crimes) that justifying suppression of obscenity. They include:

Protecting "the quality of life and total community environment" (413 U.S. at 58)
Protecting "the tone of commerce" (413 U.S. at 58)
Maintaining "a decent society" (413 U.S. at 59-60)
Protecting the "social interest in order and morality" (413 U.S. at 61)
Protecting "family life" (413 U.S. at 63)

The recent article, "Hard-Core Harm: Why You Can't Be Soft on Porn," by Jan LaRue (Concerned Women for America, October 2003) provides a good overview of various harms linked to hardcore pornography.

Second, obscenity laws prohibit only "hard-core" pornography. Soft-core pornography and sexually explicit materials that, taken as a whole, have serious artistic, literary, political or scientific value are not prohibited under obscenity laws. Before sexual material can be deemed obscene, a jury (or judge), applying contemporary community standards, must first determine that the material depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive manner.

How many violent sex crimes against victims young and old should we tolerate so that libertines and sex addicts can view every form of pornography including—if the ACLU had its way—child pornography? Even with alcohol, we impose penalties on people who drink even small amounts and drive, despite the fact that most people who drink and drive do not cause serious accidents.

Third, Prohibition failed in large measure because most citizens believed that alcohol, used moderately, was not a moral evil. Obscenity, however, like prostitution, has always been considered an evil. As Supreme Court Justice Brennan noted out in Roth v. United States (1957):

"[I]mplicit in the history of the First Amendment, is the rejection of obscenity as utterly without redeeming social importance. This rejection for that reason is mirrored in the universal judgment that obscenity should be restrained, reflected in the international agreement of over 50 nations, in the obscenity laws of 48 States, and in the 20 obscenity laws enacted by Congress from 1842 to 1956."

Since 1956, the Supreme Court has reiterated (see, e.g., Miller v. California, 1973; Sable Communications of California v. FCC, 1989) that the First Amendment does not protect obscene materials. Congress has strengthened federal obscenity laws (Title 18, Chapter 71, U.S. Code) at least four times (1984, 1988, 1996 and 1998).

In 2003, by unanimous consent, the U.S. Senate adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 77, expressing the "sense of Congress that Federal obscenity laws should be vigorously enforced throughout the United States." As I write this article, an identical House Concurrent Resolution 298, with 79 sponsors, awaits a vote in the House Judiciary Committee.

In the 2000 presidential campaign, both Al Gore and George W. Bush issued statements supporting enforcement of obscenity laws. In 2003, President Bush issued a Proclamation in conjunction with Protection from Pornography Week in which he again expressed his strong support for enforcement of federal obscenity laws.

In a national opinion poll, conducted for Morality in Media by Wirthlin Worldwide in March 2002, 81% of adults supported "vigorous" enforcement of federal Internet obscenity laws. In March 2004, again in a national opinion poll for Morality in Media, Wirthlin Worldwide found that 82% of adults supported "vigorous" enforcement of these laws.

Burden of proof
In debating the issue of whether there is a causal connection between media violence and real life injurious violence, I often say, when common sense, anecdotal evidence and social science research all point in the same direction (as they do with media violence and real life violence), then the burden of proof should shift to those who deny a connection.

Common sense should also inform us that when individuals (often beginning at early ages) feed their minds (often for years) on hardcore pornographic material that depicts, among other things, bestiality, bondage, "domination" (humiliation & degradation), gangbangs, "golden showers" (urine), incest, marital infidelity, prostitution, rape, "rough sex" (strangulation and slapping), "scat" (feces), "school girls" (grade school through college), sexual murders, teen promiscuity, torture, and unsafe sex, their sexual "appetites" can become warped—often to the extreme.

There is also a mountain of anecdotal evidence—from the perpetrators themselves, victims, law enforcement agents, mental health professionals and others—that indicates that pornography adversely affects vulnerable individuals of all ages. The anecdotal evidence set forth in this article is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

There is also a substantial body of social science research that indicates a causal relationship between exposure to pornography and sexual violence. The already noted article by Janet Hinson Shope "When Words Are Not Enough: The Search for the Effect of Pornography on Abused Women," discusses some of that research. See also, E. Oddone-Paolucci, M. Genuis, and C. Violato, "A Meta-Analysis of the Published Research on the Effects of Pornography," published in the Italian journal, Medicine, Mind and Adolescence, 2000, Vol. XII, 1-2, pp. 101-112. To obtain a copy of the meta-analysis of 46 studies, contact University of Calgary Professor Claudio Violato at 403-220-7296 or at violato@ucalgary.ca

Just as non-sexual media violence ranges from slapstick comedy to graphic and sadistic depictions of mayhem, pornography ranges from non-violent and "non-exploitative" consensual sex to rape, torture, murder, bestiality, and on and on (see above). The potential for harmful effects on audiences presumably varies from problematic to severe across those ranges.

But the potential for harm from pornography is never absent. All pornography has the potential of becoming addictive, leading to escalation, desensitization, and predatory acting out of sexual fantasies. Moreover, there is evidence that violent sex offenders are stimulated by hardcore pornography that doesn't depict forced sex.

For example, in a study [Marshall, W.L., "The Use of Sexually Explicit Materials by Rapists, Child Molesters and Nonoffenders," Journal of Sex Research, 25, No. 2, pp. 267-288 (1988)] of patients at the Kingston Sexual Offenders Clinic in Canada, conducted over a period of 6 years, researchers made "an unexpected finding, and one not explicitly sought after"—namely, that:

"One of rapists reported that he characteristically used consenting sex depictions to incite rape images in the process of preparing himself to attack a woman. Subsequent questioning…revealed a further five rapists who made similar claims and 10 of the 19 rapists who currently used consenting sex depictions for enjoyment (not necessarily preparatory to offending) also said they used it to incite rape fantasies."

Even assuming, however, that what some call "non-exploitive," nonviolent pornography is rarely linked to violent sexual crimes, we still have a major problem.

The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography: Final Report (1986) found that "increasingly, the most prevalent forms of pornography" fit the description of "sexually violent material" (p. 323) and that "an enormous amount of the most sexually explicit material available" can be categorized as "degrading, the term we use to encompass the undeniably linked characteristics of degradation, domination, subordination, and humiliation. The degradation we refer to is degradation of people, most often women…" (p. 331).

To give the reader a better idea of what "sexually violent" and "degrading" mean, examples of promotional material found on pornographic Web sites that citizens reported to MIM's www.obscenitycrimes.org Web site (usually as a result of porn spam) are reprinted here.


"RAPE FANTASIES! WARNING! Uncensored Videos! All Extreme! All About Forced Sex!"
"HOT YOUNG TEENS WITH DOGS, HORSES, COWS, CHICKEN, SHEEP, SNAKES, AND MORE ... "
"Next time you need a leak, don't use a urinal, use a urinal slut" ... "The original human piss trough."
"RAPED SCHOOL GIRLS" ... "VIRGIN GIRLS RAPED" ... "RAPE AN INNOCENT GIRL"
"EXPLOITED BITCHES" ... "Sometimes even the sweetest girls can really be disgusting bitches."
"WATCH HOW BEAUTIFUL WOMEN ARE HELD DOWN BY FORCE, HUMILIATED AND DEGRADED"
"Hell Bondage" ... "Domination" ... "Fetish" ... "Masters and Slaves"
"REAL FAMILY INCEST SITE" ... "THE BEST INCEST SITE IN THE ADULT WEB"
"Barely Legal Teens in Live Sex Shows" ... "INNOCENT BABYSITTERS" ... "YOUNG SLUTS"
"Teen Toilet Sex" ... "Rape & Torture Porn" ... "Scat [feces] Teen Bondage..."
"pain gang bang" ... "pissing orgy" ... "animal lovers" ... "wicked insertions" ... "pregnant" ... "fisting"

The Supreme Court got it right when it said in Miller v. California (413 U.S. at pp. 34-35):

"[T]o equate the free and robust exchange of ideas and political debate with commercial exploitation of obscene material demeans the grand conception of the First Amendment and its high purposes in the historic struggle for freedom. It is a 'misuse of the great guarantees of free speech and free press'…'The protection given speech and press was fashioned to assure unfettered interchange of ideas to bring about political and social changes desired by the people'…But the public portrayal of hardcore sexual conduct for its own sake, and the ensuing commercial gain, is a different matter."

Not all are convinced
The effect that pornography has in the commission of violent sexual crimes is difficult, if not impossible, to measure scientifically. Perhaps in part for that reason, the link between pornography and violent sex crimes is often omitted or not taken seriously by the secular news media in their coverage of pornography, the pornography industry or violent sexual crimes.

For example, in his article, "Analysis: Obscenity crusade's flawed logic" (UPI, 12/6/03), Christian Bourge gives little weight to the statement of Bruce Taylor, a federal prosecutor, that "We are seeing much more treatment and therapy and social cost going into community health, domestic violence, rape and child crime that is related to pornography."

In her otherwise excellent article, "The Porn Myth" (New York, 10/20/03), Naomi Wolf summarily dismisses the notion that pornography is linked to rape and sexual mayhem

"[T]he other night, I saw Andrea Dworkin, the anti-porn activist…If we did not limit pornography, she argued…most men would come to objectify women…and treat them accordingly. In a kind of domino theory, she predicted, rape and other kinds of sexual mayhem would surely follow…She was…wrong about the outcome."

While N.R. Kleifield and Erica Goode do note in their article "Serial Killing's Squarest Pegs…" (New York Times, 10/28/02), that "[t]he majority of serial killers, experts say, use their crimes to act out elaborate sexual fantasies, sometimes involving rape and torture," they do not mention the frequent connection between those violent sexual fantasies and addiction to pornography. [I note, however, that in another New York Times article, "Who Would Abduct a Child? Previous Cases Offer Clues" (8/27/02), Mary Duenwald writes: "Many abductors harbor sexual fantasies that involve children and may exercise these fantasies by using child pornography."]

In his review of the book, "The Evil That Men Do: F.B.I. Profiler Roy Hazelwood's Journey Into the Minds of Sexual Predators," by Stephen G. Michaud with Roy Hazelwood, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt ("Finding Out What Is Standard About Deviants," New York Times, 2/4/99), had this to say about the connection between pornography and violent sex crimes:

"In the opening pages…Stephen G. Michaud drops several intriguing comments like these: …'Aberrant offenders use pornography to validate their deviance…The more they see of it, and masturbate to it, the more their behavior is reinforced.' Since these are all controversial observations, the reader is drawn to learn what more Mr. Michaud has to say on these subjects…" [Emphasis mine]

Final thoughts
In writing this article, it was not my intention to prove scientifically, or otherwise, that behind every violent sex crime there is a pornography problem. Clearly, violent sexual crimes existed long before the advent of the printing press and photography. If rape had not been a problem in "Biblical times," the Law of Moses would not have prohibited it (Deuteronomy 22: 25-27).

I wrote this article because defenders of pornography are misleading the public by saying either that pornography is harmless or by saying that we lack the necessary "conclusive scientific data" that pornography causes sex crimes to justify suppressing pornography.

"Conclusive scientific data" is not necessary. There is already enough evidence of a causal link between pornography and sex crimes to justify enforcement of obscenity laws; and there would be much more if we would listen more to the people who deal with pornography first hand.

Used for the benefit of mankind, the scientific method is a marvelous tool, but it has limitations. Unlike laboratory rats, humans cannot be observed constantly, as in The Truman Show or Nineteen Eighty Four style, and controlled from birth to death.

Pornography addiction typically begins in childhood, but we can't therefore randomly select a group of ten-year olds and expose half of them to hardcore pornography to determine what effects this exposure has on them. Even assuming that it is ethical to observe over a period of time individuals ages 18 and over who have agreed to view pornography on a regular basis, it is unlikely they will commit violent sexual crimes, knowing that they are part of a study.

Not too many years ago tobacco executives defended their products by arguing that there was no conclusive scientific data that smoking causes cancer. To my knowledge, they were right! To my knowledge, we still don't have conclusive scientific proof that smoking causes cancer. But we certainly do have a large body of evidence linking smoking to cancer and other ailments, which in my opinion more than justifies governmental efforts to curb smoking.

Dr. Reo M. Christianson, Professor of Political Science (retired), Miami University, Ohio, provided valuable insights in his article, "Political scientist calls for common sense in porn issue," published in March 1989 and November 1998 issues of the AFA Journal:

"I agree with Professor Wilson of Harvard who states that social science does not have sufficiently sensitive and sophisticated techniques and tools for definitively proving what damage pornography does or doesn't do. Especially when it comes to its long range impact and its impact on people who are not emotionally healthy and hence are particularly prone to commit anti social acts……Conclusive proof? No. Persuasive evidence, yes…

"But if science cannot give us assured answers, let us use our common sense ... As has often been said, if destructive material can do no harm, then constructive material can do no good-and everything conscientious parents have believed from the dawn of the family is wrong ... But whatever conditions people to regard destructive sexual behaviors as harmless, or worse, as desirable will inevitably weaken those barriers which society erects against irresponsible sexual conduct…

"I would emphasize the significance of the study by professors at the University of Indiana and the University of Evansville showing that persons who see a lot of pornography believe that rapists should be treated more indulgently than those who don't. Charles Peters summarized earlier research ... as indicating that violent pornography inspires violence. ... Conclusive proof? No. Persuasive evidence? Yes.

"I might add that the ACLU ... has become shrill, dogmatic and closed-minded on the issue of pornography ... No censorship, it cries, hoping that buzz word will frighten people from exercising independent thought in this field ... Parenthetically, doctrinaire liberals ... worship only one god, and its name is the ACLU. When this deity speaks, they ... suspend critical judgment and parrot its lines. And feel smug and superior to the great and unenlightened masses who, being clear-eyed rather than dogma ridden, regard pornography as a disgrace which ought to be curbed.

"I think the time is come to act…Time for the nation to realize…that communities have a right to set minimal standards of decency and the right to enforce them."

A final word from retired FBI Agent Roger Young:

"If anyone is to reach an honest fundamental understanding about obscenity, that person needs to seek the truth and see the total picture. In so doing it becomes clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no such thing as just an obscenity case. Crimes associated with obscenity crimes include the following—arson, bribery, conspiracy, drugs, extortion, involuntary servitude, jury tampering, kidnapping, mail fraud, laundering, murder, obstruction of justice, prostitution, public corruption, racketeering, rape, robbery, sexual assault, sexual exploitation of children, tax evasion, and witness intimidation. Obscenity's impact on the quality of life and commerce, and its relation to violations of other criminal and civil laws (including public health laws), is resulting in devastating and harmful consequences to individuals, families, communities and our nation."

To learn more about the obscenity problem and what you can do about it, contact:



MORALITY IN MEDIA, INC., 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 239, New York, NY 10115
Phone: (212) 870-3222 fax: (212) 870-2765 e-mail: mim@moralityinmedia.org
Web sites: www.moralityinmedia.org www.obscenitycrimes.org


MIM operates the ObscenityCrimes.org Web site, which provides citizens with a means online to report possible violations of federal Internet obscenity laws. Reports to the site are forwarded by MIM to the Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in Washington and to U.S. Attorneys around the country. There is no other comparable tool for filing citizen complaints on Internet obscenity.
Morality in Media operates the National Obscenity Law Center (NOLC), a clearinghouse of information on obscenity and related laws, with a library that includes published obscenity cases, federal state, and local anti-pornography laws, and monographs on legal questions that are the subject of recurring inquiries. NOLC materials are utilized by prosecutors, law enforcement agents, municipal attorneys and others. The NOLC also runs the Safe States and Cities project, which has been distributing model statutes on sexually-oriented businesses to hundreds of municipalities across the U.S. The NOLC has its own website pages atwww.moralityinmedia.org/nolc/