Frausto 1 Marisela Frausto Lynn Taylor English 1010 08 December 2011 Pornography, is it now a family thing?

Is our society so aware of pornography that its almost normal to mention it and nobody flinches? Our homes are being affected by porn at an alarming rate. Marriages are being destroyed. Our children are being exposed to this at a much younger age. Our youth according to experts, is at an ultimate high when it comes to being saturated with adult material. Kids are constantly exposed to magazines, TV shows, advertisements, and even video games that have some sort of adult theme in them. The average age in the U.S.A for a child to be exposed to porn for the first time is 5 years of age. Books are being written as well as well as read that warn us about the epidemic of pornography in our country. All of these writers do the research and give us the alarming percentages on how fast pornography is growing. Some writers want to inform readers on what is going on. Others write in the effort to figure out a way of controlling this epidemic.

In 1980, a landmark experiment that is still considered one of the most thorough, balanced and powerful study on pornography was done. This experiment was conducted by Jennings Bryant and Dolf Zillman. Out of the 80 men that volunteered, some claimed that watching porn did provide that rush but overall their lives were not altered by it. Others reported getting completely obsessed with porn to the point of ending up talking to their doctor

Frausto 2 with the fear of erectile dysfunction. All along it was the psychological effect of their addiction to pornography. Other men claimed that they were so affected by pornography that they started looking at females in a different way. They tend to become more selective when they meet women. Men say that if they had met the same women prior to this experiment they would have found them attractive. At the end of the experiment other men were suffering deep psychological issues. Some would report being so affected that they could not get excited enough to have a sexual relationship with their spouse or significant other. Most of the volunteers in this experiment sought professional help to overcome their issues. Others are still working on getting out of their addiction.

In The War on Illegal Pornography the unknown author described how pornography due to human trafficking has also grown at a fast pace. Pornography is created by gangsters when they kidnap young ladies as well as young little girls. They are known to rape then sell these girls online to the highest bidder. The profit they make is anywhere from 1 thousand to 3 thousand a day per girl. All these girls would get from their earnings was the chance to stay alive and a little food and drink too. Once the criminals found out that they were being tracked down they would abandon the girls. Leaving the victims to be treated as if they were the criminals.

In a fierce attempt to help cut down on such vicious crimes against children the Supreme Court attempted to pass a law stating that anybody who raped a child under the age of 18 could

Frausto 3 get the death penalty, but once again the laws were protecting the sex offenders. Although it has been reported that most rapes of children usually happen after the offender has been online looking at pornographic material, on June of 2008 the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty for the rape of a child is unconstitutional. This decision overturned the death penalty on a 5 to 4 final vote. The ruling took place in LA and also 5 other states. Criminals that had been sentenced to the death penalty had their sentence converted to life with no parole. The main issue with passing this law would be that children at a young age are not 100% credible at the witness stand. The second reason was the fear that if of people knew a crime against a child would result in the death penalty, family members were more likely to protect these criminals. The author also states that although there are existing federal laws against distribution of child or illegal pornography, what we need is Presidential leadership on this issue. She reports that the Obama Administration has turned a blind eye to the harm of pornography and has not initiated a single new federal obscenity prosecution since he was inaugurated.

Pamela Paul the author of Pornified did research on the addiction to porn. Most people would say that they always thought this was a problem dealt with by adults. When in reality the most affected by this material are young men and women. These youngsters are more than likely introduced to porn by either accidentally accessing it or being introduced by an older relative. Most of these viewers are so addicted to porn that it becomes boring. They will then go on to darker, deeper, and scarier subjects. Such as bestiality or child pornography. Paul also says that 20 to 30% of internet users do so primarily for sexual purposes.

Frausto 4 In her interviews with women, she states that women are affected in a psychological way by their spouse or significant other being an addict. They feel pressured into acting, feeling, or looking like those characters that the adult industry portrays as normal. The stories in Pornified were all backed up by actual information and the assistance of professionals such as neuroscientist William M. Struthers, professor and neuroscientist James R. Stoner, and psychologist Kevin B. Skinner, PhD.

Those who have written books, articles, and documentaries on this subject are at a loss as to what can be done to overcome this epidemic. As stated by many of the writers and professionals There are laws against Pornography but if they are not being enforced, then it defeats the purpose of having these laws One thing I did notice during my research was the lack of information from the females point of view. We heard from the women whose husbands and partners use of porn was affecting them directly. Yet I did not find any documented information on women that actually confessed to being addicted and how it affected their lives. I also did not find much information on what or how the government is planning on doing to take control of illegal porn. In the attempt to ban internet porn, congress was presented with a law in 1996. This law did not make it very far. In 1997 it was ruled unconstitutionally unfair to the adults right. There have been cases in which a judge let out sex offenders or pedophiles on a very small fine. That person is more than likely going out and repeating that offense.

As I conclude my research on the addiction and effects of porn, the feeling of being disgusted was overwhelming. Even after constantly hearing the damages pornography does, actually

Frausto 5 reading and researching this subject opens up a new window of information that includes percentages and actual stories told by the users as well as some of those who became victims of the offenders. I believe that we should start having these judges held accountable when poor decisions make others the victim of that decision? I believe that it would make the legal system come up with a plan as to how to get the distribution of pornographic material under control.