To Really Protect Children - Stop Purveyors of Porn

Toni Meyer, Sr. Research Analyst, NJ Family Policy Council

Newspapers are filled with an alarmingly growing number of reports of children, toddlers and even infants being sexually violated, abused, and raped. But what is fueling the increase in these sick appetites and subsequent crimes? A new study conducted by psychologists at the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) suggests the answer is what has long been debated and even suppressed – pornography triggers acting out on victims. The study reveals that out of 155 convicted child pornography users in a voluntary treatment program at a federal prison in Butner, N.C., a whopping 85% (132 men) later confessed to sexually abusing children, resulting in 1,177 young victims. At the time of their arrest however, only 26% (40) of these convicted pornography users admitted to being child molesters and only admitted to victimizing 75 children.

The NY Times reported on a leaked copy of this study in July, yet reports in New Jersey newspapers are seemingly non-existent. That may be in part due to the fact that the assistant general counsel at the BOP, Judith Simon Garrett is heavily involved in squelching the study and has prevented it from being printed in the peer-reviewed Journal of Family Violence.

Unfortunately, the link to sexual crimes and the pornography and obscenity that feeds the appetites of perpetrators is most often covered up. Back in 1986, Judith Reisman, Ph.D. author of Kinsey, Crimes and Consequences, and former principal Investigator for the Office of Juvenile Justice, authored a federally funded analysis entitled, “Images of Children, Crime & Violence in Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler. It was suppressed by Verne Spiers who was then director of the US Department of Juvenile Justice, and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) because the research, like Butner, also identified a strong link between pornography and child abuse. It wasn’t until 1994 after the study was endorsed by OJJDP Director Robert Sweet that in-depth investigations proved that “Big Porno” had invested significantly in discrediting the study findings.

Researchers have also shown that pornography has a very real effect on the brain chemistry of the viewer and the evidence shows overwhelming harm as the brain eventually wants more and greater stimulus. We are now seeing that harm all around us; men from all walks of life – legislators, teachers, prosecutors, judges, doctors, ACLU lawyers, therapists, psychologists, priests and rabbis – being convicted of child sexual abuse and child pornography. Dr. Reisman succinctly explains:

“After 50 years of yawning at 'adult' pornography, our spineless justice system is overwhelmed by child pornography and pandemic child sexual abuse. A New York Times reporter rightly stated that 'it wasn't so long ago that the male collegians of America hid their copies of Playboy deep inside their sock drawers.' In 1954, Great Grandpa hid Playboy. By 1974, Grandpa hid Penthouse. By 1994, Dad hid Hustler. Now in 2007, Sonny hides child pornography. Where will we be in 2017? We’re paying a high price having sold out 'The Greatest Generation' and the morality they fought and died to preserve. The real victims of that bargain were, and are, inevitably, our children.”¹

There is something radically wrong with a society and legal system that continues to tolerate the amount of pornography that floods the internet and print media at the expense of children. A few other countries including Germany, Scotland and Australia have begun to seriously limit pornography. On September 14th, the Australian government put into effect a new ban of pornography for Aboriginal communities, in response to a recent government report, “The Little Children are Sacred” which identified pornography as a major factor behind child abuse, and found that a daily diet of sexually explicit material encourages young children to act out the sexual fantasies they see in films or magazines. Hardcore pornography is completely banned and computers that are publicly funded will be seized and checked for pornography. Attorney General Phillip Ruddock stated “these bans help create a safer place for the children, a living environment where they are not exposed to sexually explicit material.” ²

Yet in the US no attempts of this magnitude are being made. Over the past seven years there have been fewer than 20 obscenity prosecutions against commercial distributors of 'adult' pornography; while the volume of seized child pornography from computers seems to be doubling each year³. The FBI and state authorities expend tremendous resources combating crimes linked to the spread of obscenity - namely, sexual abuse of children and trafficking in women and children - while on the other hand, refuse to devote more than token resources to combat obscenity.

When the NJ legislature reconvenes, the NJ Family Policy Council strongly urges them to not only pass stricter laws to keep sexual predators behind bars, but to make a concerted effort to strike at the root of the problem by prosecuting the purveyors of the pornography and obscenity that fuels these crimes.

Word Count = 804

¹ Noted Porn Foe Blasts College Sex “Rags”, Matt C. Abbott, March 8, 2007, http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/070308 .

² Aussie Porn Ban Takes Effect Sept. 14, Eddie Adams, Canaberra Australia, AVN Media Network., www.avn.com.

³ USA – Debate on Child Pornography’s Link to Molesting, Julian Scher and Benedict Carey, NY Times, July 19, 2007.

back to Editorials