Especially for Parents

News and Commentary by Sharon Secor
March 2005

Pandora's Box Today

Most are familiar with the basic details of the ancient myth of Pandora’s Box. When opened, sorrow, sin and sickness escaped into the world. By the time Pandora realized what the box really held, the damage was done. She was unable to close those things back inside and the world was irrevocably changed. It’s a story that still has meaning today, for if the libertine vanguard of the sexual revolution cracked open our modern day Pandora’s Box, then certainly the Internet has blown the lid right off of it. And, indeed, our culture has been profoundly changed.

While the Internet certainly makes many good things available, it also – almost from its inception – facilitated the distribution of material that is, at best, socially destructive, at worst, vile beyond imagination. Many argue that the growth of the Internet, both in technology and popularity, was and is driven by pornography; and pornography is reportedly the biggest money-maker on the Internet.

It’s a rare word or phrase that can be plugged into an Internet search engine that does not turn up porn links. It is well documented that some purveyors of porn deliberately use misspellings of words sure to attract children to lure underage youth to their sites. Internet pornography is increasingly difficult to avoid, even for youth.

Researchers at the Crimes Against Children Research Center confirmed this – as many studies have -- in a national sample of youth, from age 10 to 17. According to their results, “one in four had an unwanted exposure to pictures of naked people or people having sex in the last year.” Furthermore, the study found that “approximately one in five youth received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet in the last year.”

Many feminists see the story of Pandora’s Box as a misogynistic tale, as it places the responsibility for the release of evil into the world upon a woman. Perhaps the view has merit, perhaps not. But, there is no doubt whatsoever of the misogyny inherent in the pornography that is choking the Internet. Humiliation, degradation, brutality and real pain reflected in the faces of women characterize much if not most hardcore pornography readily available on the Internet.

As ugly and disturbing as that is, it doesn’t stop there. Internet distribution of pornography featuring children has become an international crisis, with hardened sex crime investigators throughout the world expressing deep concern about this trend that continues to spiral upwards.

On March 4, 2005, Reuters reported that Britain has experienced “an explosion in convictions for child pornography offences.” According to the report, the number of arrests and convictions has “quadrupled in two years.” As a simple Google search will reveal, news reports about sexual exploitation of children here in the United States seem never ending, with federal and state law enforcement agents rounding up – in addition to the stereotypical, run-of-the-mill pervert -- teachers, doctors, lawyers, law enforcement, coaches, priests, etc. and so on.

And, as has been repeatedly demonstrated by anecdotal evidence and studies, this vile pornographic material spills out of the realm of fantasy into the lives of real children who are ruthlessly violated.

On March 15, 2005, TheBakersfieldChannel.com reported on a 31-year-old man who allegedly “raped a 3-year-old girl at least five times and broadcast the rape live on the Internet at least twice.” An undercover Secret Service agent allegedly found him offering the video in a Yahoo Internet chat room devoted to preteen, baby and toddler sex. According to a March 16, 2005, ChannelCincinnati.com report, the chat room was still up and running when “News 5's Emily Longnecker logged onto Yahoo and found the same chat room within seconds.”

On February 10, 2005, TXCN.com ran an Associated Press report about the trial of a mother concerning her alleged complicity in the physical and sexual abuse of her infant daughter. According to the report, the infant suffered from “severe internal and external injuries” and “every vital organ in her body was damaged,” in addition to the “vaginal and anal tears” the doctors found, due to the baby “being sexually assaulted.” Other injuries included “two fractured legs, a fractured arm, a fractured skull, a fractured vertebrae and a healing rib fracture,” and her “tongue was sliced down the middle.”

These brutal sex crimes against children are not isolated incidents. Rather, they are examples of a trend showing up more and more in news reports. Related trends include the increase in juvenile sex crimes and the decrease in the age of the juveniles who commit these crimes.

Pornography is a big money maker, and as various media outlets scramble to compete for their share of the entertainment dollar, they mimic pornographers as far as they can get away with, pushing the influence of pornography into every home in the nation that utilizes media. That, in combination with the unfortunate number of adults who’ve decided to sacrifice common sense and logic to their desire to pursue their own selfish and addictive pleasures, no matter what the cost to the individual or society, has resulted in a culture just drowning in ultra-sexualized material that often caters to and perpetuates destructive sexual stereotypes.

And, in turn, our sexualized society has distorted our sense of sexual norms until we have accepted public schools handing out condoms to 6th graders, teaching kindergarteners and first graders about masturbation, teaching elementary students about homosexuality and bisexuality, and high-schoolers about the big thing in porn today, anal sex.

Those of us who choose to home school may not be safe from such bizarre educational standards for much longer. According to a March 16, 2005, report, in Rhode Island House Bill 5354 would, if made law, force homeschoolers to teach the state’s version of sexual education. Bill 5354 mandates, in addition to the usual public school rendering of sexual matters, “that sex education is taught in a manner that "does not teach or promote religion." In other words, Christian parents who put sexual education in context with moral principles from the Bible will be at risk of having their home school rights rescinded.

The last item in Pandora’s box was Hope. And, we too can look around and find signs of it here in our modern world. No longer is the cultural state of affairs relating to the almost unbelievable degree to which pornified sexuality has flooded our society just a concern of those on the political right. Some on the political left are also speaking out.

On January 31, 2005, CommonDreams.org published an article by Dr. Chyng Sun, professor of media studies New York University and producer of the soon to be released documentary Fantasies Matter: Pornography, Sexualities and Relationships. In her article, titled Revisiting the Porn Debate, she wrote of her concerns about currents trends in pornography and how they influence sexuality and relationships between men and women.

“Pornography encourages people to disregard others' pain for one's own pleasure. Many people I interviewed acknowledged that, based on their own experience and knowledge of the human body, certain sex acts they've watched in films likely would have been painful for the female performers. However, they argued that since the performers were paid, it was not the viewers' concern, and they acknowledged that they get aroused watching it,” wrote Sun. She wrote about the increasing degree of separation of affection and sex.

“It is typical that liberal-minded people, when facing censorship, would rush to defend pornographers' right to produce whatever they want, even if the products objectify, humiliate and violate women. But shouldn't we ponder what we are defending and what kind of value system supports that defense?,” wrote Sun, questioning the validity of the common liberal response to attempts regulate pornography.

We’ve seen the release of elements into our culture that would have been unthinkable 50 years ago, and we’ve seen our culture shift before our very eyes. But, like Pandora, we still have hope. The moment that each of us who care take an active stance in bringing this situation to a halt -- by refusing to accept or in any way support those who distribute or profit from the distribution of pornography, by demanding appropriate legislation, by settling for nothing less than our children’s right to a childhood untainted by adult concepts of sexuality – the tide will turn.

Associated Links

(Pandora’s Box)

( Pandora’s Box)

h (scroll down to Pandora’s Box)

Pornography and Internet Technologies

Pornography business

NJOV Info Page

Internet Survey

(the misogyny of porn)

(this article shows how women are abused in the production of hardcore pornography; it includes vulgarity and explicit sex talk)

(an oldie but goodie)

(children as victims)