Especially for Parents

News and Commentary by Sharon Secor
December 2003

Choice, Culture and Youth

Pornography has saturated our society, its influence touching almost every aspect of our popular culture. Because in both essence and effect, pornography is so much more than offensive images and words, its proliferation in our culture negatively impacts the quality of life—in real and measurable ways—of the vast majority, those who find it offensive.

It is important to note here that, according to a March 2002 poll by survey research company Wirthlin Worldwide, for Morality in Media, "eight out of ten Americans (81%) believe that federal laws against Internet obscenity should be vigorously enforced, and (70%) believe that strongly. Significantly, the poll also found that this objection to hardcore pornographic material "transcended political, denominational, race and other demographic categories."

Those who oppose restrictions on such materials, arguing concepts of free speech, personal freedom and individual choice, would have us believe that the matter is simple. They claim that the private choices of those who use pornography do not affect the lives of those who do not. After all, those who are offended by such material can turn the channel, use the on-off switch, leave the theater or close the book. This concept, however, in addition to being simplistic, and perhaps deliberately so, is also untrue.

There are, indeed, many personal choices that do not affect the ability of others to live according to their own choices or beliefs. Vegetarians do not affect what is served at their neighbors' tables. Alternative medicine enthusiasts do not interfere with the ability of others to obtain surgery, nor do Hindu families interfere with the ability of others to raise children in a Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist home.

Pornography is very different in this regard. The pornographers and their clientele most certainly do interfere with our ability to raise and protect our children according our beliefs, the fundamental values held by most Americans.

For those that produce and distribute pornography—including such mainstream businesses as hotels and credit card companies that aid in the distribution process—the bottom line is making money. In order to do so successfully, certain things must occur. Pornography must be normalized, with saturation being one method and connection to mainstream businesses and forums being another. A continuous supply of consumers (many of whom become addicted to pornography) must be cultivated. Like the tobacco and alcohol companies before them, pornographers target youth, some overtly and others covertly.

John Zuccarini is a prime example of those who lure children to pornography. As reported by USA Today (12/11/03), Zuccarini was the first to be convicted under the Truth in Domain Names Act, passed in April of 2003, pleading guilty "to 49 counts of using domain names to direct minors to nudity or sexually explicit content." A CNET News.com Reuters report (12/10/03) indicated that Zuccarini owned approximately 3,000 domain names, with a large proportion of these being misspelled versions of names that would appeal to children, including Britney Spears, Disneyland, and cartoon favorite Bob the Builder. He even set up a domain name with a misspelling of Teletubbies, a TV show that is a great favorite of preschoolers, kindergarteners and first and second graders.

Hugh Hefner, of Playboy fame, representing the Carl's Jr. restaurants in advertisements, the lingerie-clad models 'playing' full body contact football for a Chrysler ad and the recently defeated Abercrombie and Fitch soft-porn styled advertising catalogues are just a few of the almost countless marketing campaigns that capitalize on degrading sexual allusions and more to sell their products. Porn stars show up everywhere, linked with products and music that are popular among youth. Rap music glorifies the pimp. Broadcast television and radio have reached new lows of language and content. Children, and the values we try to instill, are assaulted constantly and from every angle.

This is a difficult situation for many parents. In the past, the basic values of the majority were affirmed by most of our popular culture. Now, what most parents try to teach their children is regularly mocked and disrespected. Children can see clearly that the messages and values they are receiving from their parents are in direct conflict with what seems to be the social norm of society at large, as represented by media, particularly in the realm of what men and women are and how they should behave. A hostile and frustrating environment for childrearing has been created by a greedy and exploitive minority at the expense of the majority.

The individual's choice to use pornography does, in fact, impact the lives of others. With the glut of online pornography, the vast reaches of the pornographic video industry and other media outlets, children now have more access than ever before to the most destructive pornography imaginable. In the homes of parents and other individuals indulging in their personal choice to use pornography, children can easily encounter images so vile that they simply could not occur in the minds of ordinary people that have not been led step-by-step by the pornographer's progressively more deviant images to the depths of depravity.

This spills out onto our own children, as - to put it quite bluntly - these are too often the children that molest and sexually assault our children. Many studies and reports have highlighted this disturbing trend in sexual crimes.

According to a May 7 special report by KSL-TV News, "right now, adolescents account for more than half of all sex offenders in Utah." Canada's National Clearinghouse on Family Violence Publication reports that up to 33% of all sex offences in Canada are committed by people, primarily males, under the age of 21. It comes as no surprise that Canada's report also indicated that "adolescent sex offenders sometimes attempt to copy scenes they have seen in pornography media."

In Australia, on November 26, 2003, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on the findings of the Ninth Australasian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. Reporter Natasha Wallace wrote that according to child protection experts "Internet pornography was helping to spawn a new generation of sexual predators as young as six." In addition to being supported by "American research", this conclusion is supported by the "alarming" and "dramatic" increase in children being treated at facilities like the Child At Risk Assessment Unit, located at Canberra Hospital.

This unit works with children under 10 years of age, with some being as young as six. Of the sex offenders treated there, for acts including "oral sex and forced intercourse with other children or forced intercourse with other [sic] animals", according to Cassandra Tinning, a social worker at the unit, "almost all of them went online to access pornography and many of them thought that was the Internet's sole purpose."

According to data from the 2001 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Juveniles Who Have Sexually Offended report, "only 11 percent of the juvenile sex offenders studied said they did not use sexually explicit materials."

Clearly, the issues related to pornography reach far beyond free speech, personal choice or the rights of the individual. Pornography poisons the environment in which all of our children grow and is a real and present danger to the physical, mental and sexual health of all of our children. 2003 brought some successes to pro-family and anti-pornography groups. Let us make 2004 the year that the "silent majority" was silent no more. Let us make it the year that we took back our culture for our children. Persistence and unity will pay off.