Advocating Against Pornography

Advocating Against Pornography The affects of pornography on the individual and society, and how to guard against it.

Writers: Brittney Boucha Sheri Erickson Callie Wingard Editor: Christina Dittmar

Table of Contents Section 1: the History....................................................1 Section 2: the Scope.......................................................3 Section 3: the Ramifications...........................................7 Solution 1...................................................................10 Become comfortable with healthy sexuality. sex between a man and a woman is wonderful, beautiful, sacred and ordained of God. let go of shame related pornography.

Solution 2...................................................................13 Become educated about the many harmful effects of pornography. Understand the effects it has on the heart, the mind, and society as a whole.

Solution 3...................................................................14 Take preventative steps against porgnography and seek professional help if needed.

Appendix................................................................15 Bibliography................................................................22 Additional Resources.................................................24

1

The History The story is told of a young man in the early 1920’s crossing the border from Mexico into the United States. The customs border guard asked, “Son, do you have any pornography in your suitcase or trunks?” The young man responded, “No sir, we don’t even own a pornograph” (Featherstone).

Nowadays, the very young are not so naïve. Pornography is common place and available everywhere. Once relegated to obscure shelves in shops, talked of in hushed secretive tones, and associated with shame, pornography is now flaunted and promoted openly.

The word “pornography” is derived from Greek terms meaning “prostitute” and “to represent” and is defined in the New Oxford American Dictionary as “printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings”. In other words, pornography is the prostitution of sacred, sexual feelings and the evil exploitation of the holy, human body.

2

Pornography is as ancient as David and Bathsheba. Although evidences of pornography and studies of sexuality existed before the 1900’s, modern examples developed more widely during and after WW II. As an attempt to bolster the morale of service men during the war “pin up” girls scantily dressed became common. Paintings of half-naked women on airplane bomber fuselages roared through the skies in the 1940’s. This practice was eventually banned in the military in 1992 after much protest from feminist groups (Wikipedia).

The sexual revolution of the 1960’s fanned the flame of pornography.

Developments in birth control to enable “free sex” led to freethinking about sexual relations for personal fulfillment and not necessarily for bearing children, which also meant marriage was optional (Bronstein). This mindset persuades towards pornography because fidelity is also optional.

discretion, energy and willingness of purveyors’ peers. In California this proved to be beneficial to pornography production as law enforcement often turned a blind eye to the generally mafia controlled industry (Voss).

The feminist movement, previously so vocal about sexual rights for women, became aghast at the damage the sexual revolution and spread of pornography inflicted on women. Instead of their distaste for women being categorized as only housewives and babysitters, feminists saw with horror the objectifying of women into sexual playthings whose only purpose was to please men (Bronstein). As one opponent voiced of that outlook, “To find blasphemy offensive, you would have to believe in God. To find pornography offensive, you would have to believe in women” (Long). A great groundswell of opposition grew. Community law enforcement felt pressured to better monitor and control production of pornography.

“To find blasphemy offensive, you would have to believe in God. To find pornography offensive, you would have to believe in women.” ~Julia Long

Although regulation against pornography was fairly strict, court cases redefined obscenity opening the door for greater latitude in interpretation. A landmark case setting precedents for further actions was the Supreme Court Case in 1973 of Miller v. California, which redefined obscenity. The previous definition stated obscenity was “utterly without socially redeeming value” which now became, “that which lacks ‘serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value’” (Bronstein). The ruling on this case also left legal action against pornography at community and state levels. Thus pornographic films began to have plot lines, musical scores and became full featured length, so it could be contested that there was “artistic value”. Allowing state or local enforcement meant prosecution was left to the

This opposition slowly faded in the mid 1980’s as widespread use of video tapes for home viewing ended the more public screening of pornographic films, thereby making a public target for protest harder to distinguish. “Adult” sections in video stores quickly replaced adult theaters (Voss).

With the invention of the internet, pornography is only a mouse-click away. $3,075 is spent every second of the day on pornography (Borden). The huge financial gains made by producers of pornography is nothing compared to the destruction of human lives.

3

The Scope

Pornography is a very serious problem that is growing worse everyday. It is everywhere.

Pretty much everyone; including children have easy access to pornography due to screens including televisions, smart phones, computers, tablets and more. In the olden days pornography was much harder to get a hold of and children were protected from it. Many times today children are exposed to it accidently as they use technology.

Also, people used to have to go out of their homes to buy pornographic pictures and videos, and had to pay for it. Now it can easily, be viewed for free on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube in homes.

Today innocent children are exposed to pornography more easily, more often, and younger than ever. They are not protected due to pornography being all over the Internet. Children are being exposed to pornography at younger ages. The average age of pornography exposure used to be 11 and now it is 10. Parents may teach their children not to view pornography. However, when children or teens have a smart phone in their back pocket it is like parents give them

a playboy magazine, stick it in their back pocket and tell them not too look at it. Pornography is all over the Internet, on many billboards, commercials, and even today’s music is somewhat pornographic in nature. Just walking in a mall children are exposed to pornographic images.

Also, due to young people’s developing brains and the addictive nature of pornography young people and adults are becoming addicted to it.

The nature of pornography is also getting worse. It is more graphic and violent than ever before. Pornography is also greatly accepted by society today, which worsens the scope of the problem and leads to more children being exposed to it. Pornography affects everyone and is a serious issue that society needs to face and work together to come up with solutions to protect everyone from its evil influence, but especially innocent children. Pornography is also very destructive to marriages and families. Nothing good comes from pornography and communities and government officials need to work together to protect children and society form its evil influence.

4

Easy Access • “Pornography has become increasingly acceptable, accessible, and freely available, and it is one of the biggest threats to our children’s online safety. Today, any child with unrestricted Internet access is just a mouse click away from viewing, either intentionally or accidentally, sexually explicit material online, from adult pornography (the kind of images that appear in Playboy) to prosecutable material depicting graphic sex acts, live sex shows, orgies, bestiality, and violence” (“Internet is Safety 101).

• “In 1993, when Internet pornography became public, there was this huge shift; that protective barrier between the sex industry and youth dissolved. There used to be restricted movie houses, order catalogues with brown paper that came in the mail, and all those types of things, where a youth had a difficult time, if not impossible time, accessing pornography. Now, through the Internet, if you have the Internet, you have pornography in your home.”

— Jill Manning, Ph.D., Marriage and Family Therapist (“Internet Safety 101”).

• “Once porn hit the Web in the 1990s, suddenly there was nothing but a few keystrokes between anyone with an Internet connection and the most graphic material available. [5] The online porn industry exploded. Between 1998 and 2007, the number of pornographic websites grew by 1,800%. [6] By 2004, porn sites were getting three

times more visitors than Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Search put together. [7] It was “big business” in a way the world had never seen before.

Thirty percent of all Internet data was related to porn, [8] and worldwide porn revenues (including Internet, sex shops, videos rented in hotel rooms, etc.) grew to exceed the incomes of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix, and Earthlink combined!” (“Fight the New Drug”)

Children’s Easy Access • “Finally, there’s the access. As early as 2002 the London School of Economics reported that 90 percent of children ages 8 to 16 years old had viewed pornography online, in most cases unintentionally” (Thomson, 2015).

• “Before the days of the Internet, children were typically between the ages of 11 to 13 when they began by viewing soft-core pornography found in magazines” (Jackson, 2004) • “Eleven years old is the average age of exposure to pornography” (“LDS Hope and Recovery”, 2012) • “Today’s child lives in a culture where hard-core pornography abounds. Our children are being seduced daily, and we need to bear this fact in mind whenever we have the occasion to redirect them away from pornography” (Jackson, 2004).

5

Teens Access

The Content Decline

• “Even material depicting the actual sexual abuse of a child (child pornography)—once only found on the black market—is instantly available and accessible on the Internet. Through the Internet, much of this aberrant material has entered the mainstream, directly impacting our chil• “Data from the PEW Internet and American Life dren’s healthy sexual development” (“Enough is Project suggest that 70% of 15-17 year old InterEnough”). net users accidently view pornography “very” or “Somewhat” often” (Enough is Enough”).

• “As Internet porn grew more popular; it also turned darker, more graphic, and more extreme.

• “Technology has changed not only the content Between 1998 and 2005, the number of sex scenes of the porn young people watch, but also how, on American TV shows nearly doubled, [15] and when, and at what age they watch it. By the time it wasn’t just happening on adult programs. In a they turn 14 years old, two out of three boys in study conducted in 2004 and 2005, 70% of the 20 the U.S. have viewed porn in the last year, [22] TV shows most often watched by teens included and many are watching it on devices they have sexual content, and nearly half showed sexual with them 24 hours a day” (“Fight the New behavior. [16] And for the first time, porn was Drug”). becoming a routine part of teen life and a major way adolescents learned about sex” (“Fight the New Drug”).

• “Findings from the Youth Internet Safety Survey indicate that 15% of 12-17 year olds have purposefully looked at x-rated material online” (“Enough is Enough”).

Social Acceptance • “In a 2008 study of U.S. young adults coauthored

by Carroll and several BYU colleagues, 87 percent of men and 31 percent of women reported using pornography, and 67 percent of men and 49 percent of women thought viewing it was totally okay” (Thomson, 2015).

6

The Problem is Worsening

of the three most popular “porntubes,” the portals that serve as gateways to online porn, and found that they contained 18 million teen–related pages–again, the largest single genre and about one– third of the total content” (“Enough is Enough”).

• “PornHub, one of the industry’s biggest providers, claim their site streamed 75 GB of data a second last year—enough to fill 175 million 16 GB iP• “The words “sex” and “porn” rank fourth and hones—a total of 87.8 billion views, up ten billion sixth among the top ten most popular search from 2014, another 15 billion over 2013. An estiterms. [15] Symantec. (10 August 2009). School’s mated 87% of college-age men—and around 30% Out and Your Kids are Online: Do you know of women—double click for sex either weekly or what they’ve been searching for this summer? every day. (January 2016) “Falling In Love With Cupperton, CA” (“Enough is Enough”).

Screens: The science behind how double-clicking for sex rewires our brains—and affects us all”.

• “According to the website Paint Bottle, 30 per(“Enough is Enough”). cent of all data transferred online is porn” (Carstensen, 2014).

• “4.3 billion hours of porn is watched on a single website. That is half a million years” (“Fight the New Drug”).

Technology’s Affect

• “Porn Sites Get More Visitors Each Month Than Netflix, Amazon And Twitter Combined” http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/internet– porn–stats_n_3187682.html (accessed June 6, 2014) (“Enough is Enough”).

• “Technology has changed not only the content of the porn young people watch, but also how, when, and at what age they watch it. By the time they turn 14 years old, two out of three boys in the U.S. have viewed porn in the last year, [22] and many are watching it on devices they have with them 24 hours a day” (“Fight the New Drug”).

• “A Google Trends analysis indicates that searches for “Teen Porn” have more than tripled between 2005–2013. Total searches for teen–related porn reached an estimated 500,000 daily in March • “Carroll says mobile devices are the latest front: 2013 — one–third of total daily searches for 78 percent of U.S. teens have a cell phone. “Parpornographic web sites. [23] Gail Dines, “A rare ents are losing this in . . . the cell-phone battles,” defeat for corporate lobbyists,” (August 1, 2013), Carroll says. “Kids are getting a lot of access parhttp://www.counterpunch.org/ 2013/08/01/a– ents are clueless about” (Thomson, 2015). rare–defeat–for–corporate–lobbyists/ (accessed June 6, 2014). Dr. Dines also analyzed the content

7

The Ramifications The Widespread Affects

With the wide spread of pornography and the addiction that it is, the ramifications on the heart, the mind and society as a whole are large and extremely negative. Pornography affects every party involved in a negative way whether that be the relationship between spouses is strained or the user starts to develop an unhealthy view of what a normal sexual relationship should look like.

As prevalent as pornography use and addiction is, the affects are widespread and deeply engrained in many individual’s lives. Pornography usage can warp view points and perspectives in an unhealthy way, depicting a sexual relationship that often shows domination, aggressive violent behavior and women that are treated as objects.

• “Two of the most respected pornography researchers, Jennings Bryant and Dolf Zillman at the University of Alabama, studied the effects of porn and media for more than 30 years. They found that viewing pornography makes many users less satisfied with their own partners’ physical appearance, sexual performance, sexual curiosity, and affection. [4] They also found that, over time, many porn users grow more callous

toward females in general, less likely to value monogamy and marriage, and more likely to develop distorted perceptions of sexuality. [5] Other researchers have confirmed those results and added that porn users tend to be significantly less intimate with their partners, [6] less commitment in their relationships, [7] less satisfied with their romantic and sex lives, [8] and more likely to cheat on their partners. [9]”- Fight the New Drug • “[2] Research shows that pornography use is linked to less stability in relationships, [3] increased risk of infidelity, [4] and greater likelihood of divorce. [5] Men who are exposed to porn find their partners less sexually attractive and rate themselves as less in love with their partners.”- Fight the New Drug • “Research shows that porn users report less love and trust in their relationships, are more prone to separation and divorce, and often see marriage as a “constraint.” [11] Overall, they are less committed to their partners, [12] less satisfied in their relationships, [13] and more cynical about love and relationships in general.”- Fight the New Drug

8

Leads to Violence

With the way that relationships are portrayed in the world of pornography, it has been found that this depiction teaches users that this is acceptable and even lusted after. Pornography users have been reported to be more violent and aggressive towards sexual partners than non-users. Domestic violence is a very prominent problem in our society today and pornography only adds to the problem with its violent and aggressive tone.

• “A few years ago, a team of researchers looked at the most popular porn films—the ones bought and rented most often. From that group, they randomly picked 50 and analyzed them. Of the 304 scenes the movies contained, 88% contained physical violence. On top of that, 49% contained verbal aggression. In total, only one scene in 10 didn’t contain any aggression, and the typical scene averaged 12 physical or verbal attacks. One scene managed to fit in 128. Viewing this type of dehumanizing submission makes dominance seem normal and can set the stage for eventual acceptance of verbal and physical aggression.” – Fight the New Drug • “Study after study has found that watching even non-violent porn is correlated with the user being more likely to use verbal coercion, drugs, and alcohol to push women into sex.”- Fight the New Drug

“By now, porn’s effects have soaked into every aspect~Fight oftheour lives.”

New Drug

Changes the Brain

Pornography can change the chemical makeup of the brain, triggering the release of heavy amounts of the addiction hormone, making it an addiction like any other abused substance. With pornography being an addiction, it has been reported that it is with extreme difficulty, users will attempt to break the cycle and become clean. It also decreases the amount of grey matter in the brain which is linked to decision making and intelligence.

• “German researchers recently found that an association between the number of hours of pornography someone uses each week and less grey matter in their brains. Grey matter is the darker tissue of the brain and spinal cord, consisting mainly of nerve cell bodies and branching dendrites. It is associated with decision making and intelligence.” - Fight the New Drug • “When porn enters the brain, it triggers the reward center to start pumping out dopamine, which sets off a cascade of chemicals including a protein called DeltaFosB. [15] DeltaFosB’s regular job is to build new nerve pathways to mentally connect what you’re doing (i.e. the porn you watch) to the pleasure you feel. [16] Those strong new memories outcompete other connections in the brain, making it easier and easier to return to porn.” – Fight the New Drug • “Approximately 9% of viewers reported that they had made unsuccessful attempts to stop.1 “ Project Know • “But DeltaFosB has another job, and this is why it’s nickname is “the molecular switch for addiction.” [18] If enough DeltaFosB builds up, it flips a genetic switch, causing lasting changes in the brain that leave the user more vulnerable to addiction. [19] For teens, this risk is especially high because a teen brain’s reward center responds two to four times more powerfully than an adult’s brain, releases higher levels of dopamine and produces more DeltaFosB. [20]”-Fight the New Drug

9 • “Overloaded with dopamine, the brain will try to defend itself by releasing another chemical called CREB [21] (It’s called CREB because no one wants to have to say its real name, “cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein!”). CREB is like the brakes on a runaway reward center; it slows the pleasure response. [22] With CREB onboard, porn that once excited a person stops having the same effect. [23] Scientists believe that CREB is partly why viewers have to keep increasing their porn intake to get aroused. [24] That numbed-out state is called “tolerance,” and it’s part of any kind of addiction. [25]”-Fight the New Drug

Sex Trafficking

As pornography continues to spread further and further, coming into our homes with the click of a button or the tap of a screen, it is reaching into the world of sex trafficking and only increasing its demand and spill into the outside world. It has been discovered that sex trafficking individuals use pornography to educate victims of their roles and expectations as well as use pornographic images to “market” what they are selling to their customers.

• “ It is commonly known in the anti-trafficking field that 80 percent of survivors report that their customers showed them pornography to illustrate the kinds of sexual acts they want performed.”

Human Trafficking Search • “A recent report that held Interviews with 854 women in prostitution in nine countries…made it clear that pornography is integral to prostitution. In every country, almost half of the respondents said that they were forced to make pornography while enslaved in sex trafficking.”- Human Trafficking Search

10

Solution 1: • Prepare children for the battle against pornography.

• Teach children healthy sexuality, the dangers of pornography, healthy coping skills, and to take personal responsibility.

• Stay away from pornography to be free of it’s grasp.

1. Teach healthy Sexuality by word and example • Let go of shame with pornography. Talk to children about sex and being comfortable with sexuality. Educate selves, children, and society about sexuality and the dangers of pornography. Teach that sex is part of God’s plan. Sex is beautiful, sacred, divinely ordained by God between a man and a woman lawfully wed, and can be spiritual and should stay that way. Pornography destroys and degrades sex when it should be one of the most beautiful things between a married man, woman, and God. (Bob Davis, LMFT 2017) • “The ultimate goal for our children’s sexuality is that they will be able to see the dynamic interplay between sexuality and spirituality. As Christians, we want to help them understand, for example, that sexual intercourse is an act of love shared between a husband and wife. This sacred act symbolizes the spiritual union that will occur between Christ and His bride, the

Church, upon His return to earth. We hope our sons will see themselves as a type of Christ as they relate to their wives, and that our daughters will see themselves as a type of the church as they relate to their husbands. What we model today in our marriages will likely reproduce itself in our children’s marriages. By helping our children to see the big picture about the sanctity of sex, we are better prepared to confront the problem of pornography when and if it occurs in our children’s lives” (Jackson, 2004).

• “BYU researchers say it’s not enough to simply label pornography as bad; parents also need to teach their children what is good. “As we talk about pornography as bad and horrible, children and teens can hear us sending the message that sex in and of itself is bad and horrible,” says BYU professor of teacher education Bradley R. Wilcox (BS ’85), who has taught maturation clinics and authored several books on discussing sexual development with children. “Our kids need to understand the role of real love in a real

11 marriage, creating and strengthening a real family.”

Butler says teachings about sexuality should contain both a witness and a warning. “The sexual-response cycle exists naturally in us as human beings,” he explains. “The desire and drive we have is a God-given endowment which blesses us, drawing us naturally and affectionately toward the opposite sex, toward marriage, and toward family life. That is the witness” (Thomson, 2015).

2. Teach the facts and dangers about pornography in an honest way with open dialogue

or slips that they have made. Align yourself with them. Let them know that you are on their team fighting with them. Be curious not condescending. Be firm on your stance against it but open and loving in your response about fighting it. Ask them how they dealt with it? What have they learned? What support do they need?

We can make our discussions age-appropriate but still communicate principles of support, openness, love and accountability” (“LDS Hope and Recovery,” 2012).

3. Protect children from accidental exposure

• “It all starts with education. When we live in a state • Put filters on all electronic devices. Monitor of ignorant bliss it’s dangerous for our children. children’s technology use. Have a family rule If our children were going to get that electronic devices are kept in attacked by a hungry grizzly bear common areas of the home. At what would we do? We wouldn’t night have children turn in their talk ourselves into the bear being electronic devise. Keep an openmuch smaller than it actually is. book policy where parents can Or pretend it’s not even there. check children’s devices, texts, We would fight with everything phone history, and all their apps that we had to understand how to (Thomson, 2015). defeat that bear and protect our children. We must equip ourselves with the weapons to fight.

4. Teach healthy copThis is done through education ing skills and Emotionabout pornography, addiction, and co-dependency. There are al Management a growing number of resources • “Beyond natural curiosity, including books, helpful websites, experts say kids often turn to support groups, and professionals pornography out of an inability ~Jason S. Carroll that are full of helpful information to productively cope with negaabout the topic. Once we educate tive emotion. Butler explains it ourselves it’s much easier to address the problem in terms of triggers. “At some point, a young and talk openly with confidence” (“LDS Hope and man or woman has a difficult or distressing Recovery,” 2012). psychological, relational, or spiritual experience,” he says. And for youth there are a host • “Open, honest, straight forward and ongoing diaof potential triggers. These triggers lead the logue about pornography and sex is essential. The adolescent brain to seek out feel-good experi“talk” that parents use to have with their children ences to replace or mask distressing emotions. about sex is far inadequate to protect children in And therein lies the danger: “The person,” says the current environment, which we live. If we aren’t Butler, “moves . . . into a psychological-depenactively teaching and talking about pornography dency orientation. Now he or she is using the then a computer, magazine, or smart-phone probbehavior as a way of managing life.” And this can lead to a downward spiral for a youth who ably is. Set aside some time regularly to discuss is viewing pornography and engaging in temptations, risky situations, and yes even mistakes

“Parents need to accept that kids will and must confront and deal with pornography.

It won’t be enough for us to cocoon them. We must pre-arm them.”

12 related behaviors, such as masturbation, says Tyler R. Pedersen (BS ’94), a clinical professor and the associate director of the BYU Counseling and Career Center. “The individual feels shame over his or her behavior, which leads to more attempts to feel better—including [viewing] pornography—which in turn creates more negative feelings that have to be coped with.”

(Thomson, 2015).

• Children need to be taught healthy coping skills.

Parents can teach children that everyone has good and bad emotions and that is normal and ok. They can teach children how to deal with the negative emotions and feelings in healthy and constructive ways such as talking and or writing about them, exercising, listening to uplifting music, and reading a book or doing something they enjoy. Some people may need one on one therapy to learn healthy coping skills (Thomson, 2015).

5. Do not Shame

• “Although it is natural for a youth to feel guilt after viewing pornography, parents should take care not to add to the child’s burden by shaming.

BYU family life professor James M. Harper (BS ’74, MS ’76) wrote in the book Confronting Pornography (Deseret Book, 2005) on the difference between guilt and shame. He notes that guilt—a recognition that one’s behavior has violated an important standard or value and caused harm to self or others—is a natural, healthy response to mistakes that can motivate change. He contrasts that with shame, which, when internalized, can lead to a sense of hopelessness. “People who experience strong internalized shame view the world through negative, shame-tinted glasses.

Every incident in their lives is seen as validation of how worthless they are.”

• Harper calls this outlook “an enemy to our belief that all of us are spiritual children of God” and says “it leads to a loss of hope that behavior change can make a difference.”

• In addition, shame inhibits the ability to cope with strong emotions or successfully change

behavior. “Because shame-prone people doubt emotions and feelings in general, they also doubt spiritual influences,” he writes.

• In other words, creating or exacerbating a feeling of shame in a child damages the child’s ability both to develop positive emotional responses and to recognize the influence of the Spirit, which is ultimately the most powerful ally in the prevention of and recovery from pornography use.

• One BYU student who struggled with pornography remembered clearly how his parents responded when his challenge came to light: “My mother reacted strongly, yelling and screaming, and it made me feel worse about it rather than hopeful of overcoming it,” he says. “The most helpful was my dad telling me repeatedly how much he loved me” (Thomson, 2015).

The Drawbacks to this Solution • The Drawbacks to this solution are that parents, teachers, and leaders must learn to become open and comfortable with their own sexuality in order to be able to talk openly about sexuality and pornography with their children. They need to take the time to become educated on pornography and filters to help teach children about pornography and protect the children from it.

Parents also need to work hard to teach their children healthy coping skills and understand that they cannot control their children especially when it comes to pornography. Parents can teach their children how to stay safe from pornography, but ultimately children must make their own decisions and take responsibility for keeping themselves from looking at pornography. Finally, parents have to work to control their own emotions if they discover their children have viewed pornography and make sure they love and support their children without shaming them.

13

Solution 2: • Become educated about the many harmful effects of pornography.

• Understand the effects it has on the heart, the mind, and society as a whole.

1. Educate the Public

• Implement programs in public schools and church programs to educate young children about the effects.

• Make pornography a public health crisis.

• Publish easy to understand research and spread it.

2. The Affect on the Heart

• Negative impact on relationship intimacy.

• Changes sexual preferences to something unrealistic.

• Hurts the people the user cares about.

• Causes user to view women as less and as objects to be used.

3. The Affect on the Mind

• Changes the neural pathways in your brain.

• Overproduces the addiction hormone in your brain.

• Causes increased depression/anxiety in the user.

4. The Affects on Society

• As porn is viewed, you get bored with what you’re watching and you need something more intense or new to get the same adrenaline rush so you look for more and more as the addiction continues. This pushes society to continue to create more and more intense versions of pornography to satisfy the viewers craving for new.

• Pornography starts to break down relationships and hurt family units. The family is the core of society and without strong, unified families, we get further and further from a strong moral compass.

14

Solution 3: • Take pornography prevention steps to guard yourself against pornography.

• Join “Fight the New Drug.”

• Seek professional help.

1. Start with Yourself

• Avoid all pornography.

• Don’t buy, rent or subscribe to any type of pornography.

• Walk or even run away from any enticement whether it’s quicly closing a web page pop-up or walking away from a friends phone.

2. “Fight the New Drug”

• After taking the steps to avoid pornography, as you’re able, join forces with others to “Fight the New Drug” either by promoting that group or a similar group battling this evil.

3. Educate Others

• Teach family and friends about the horrendous harm pornography brings.

• Be strong for others and let them feel of your strength and vigilant example.

4. Seek Professional Help

• For those who have a problem seek strong professional and ecclesiastical counseling and help.

15

Appendix Brittney Boucha Writer of The Scope, and Solution 1 I am Brittney Boucha. I am 31 years old and live in Valencia, CA where I grew up. I was born in Southern California in Santa Clarita, CA. After graduating high school I attended Brigham Young University-Idaho where I met and married my husband Mark Boucha. Since being married I have lived in Idaho, Connecticut, and different parts of Central and Southern California. I am the oldest of four children and the proud mother of four children.

I am a strong and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a huge marriage and family advocate and believe that marriage and family need to be promoted and protected all over the world, but especially in the United States of America. I am finishing my University Studies degree with a minor in Marriage and Family Studies, a cluster in Child Development and a cluster in Communications. I chose this degree because it allowed me to study multiple subjects to increase my knowledge and understanding in multiple areas. I plan to use my degree to strengthen my own marriage and family and as many others as I can. I want to make a difference in the world and I feel the best way I can bless lives is to help people have happy and successful marriages and families.

Selection of issue: My team chose the

issue of pornography because it is a very serious issue that is negatively affecting individuals, marriages, and families. Parents, families, schools, communities, and governments need to work together to stop pornography from being so easily accessible to children and adolescents. I personally was drawn to this topic because I have multiple family members who have been caught in pornography’s addictive trap. Some have been able to get out of its grasp while others have been taken slowly down to places they cannot believe they have gone.

I have multiple friends’ husbands who have pornography addictions that have led to affairs and prostitution. I wanted to learn more about pornography, how it is affecting individuals, marriages, families, and society, and what I can do to help fight it and get others involved in fighting it as well.

Team member tasks: I contributed to

the project by researching all about pornography, but especially the scope of pornography. After I researched pornography and the affects of pornography on society I wrote up on the scope of pornography and came up with a solution that could help individuals, couples, and parents fight this horrible plague of pornography. I worked with my team members to create an important issue book about pornography to get people talking about it and working together to protect individuals, marriages, families, and society from its destructiveness.

16 Personal reflection:

This was one of best assignments I have done. I have learned so much about the far-reaching negative effects of pornography on individuals, marriages, families, and society. My understanding of pornography and how important it is to protect not only my children and family from it, but all children, adolescents, and people from it has grown tremendously from this assignment.

Pornography has been growing in accessibility and getting worse over the past twenty years and is getting worse. Many scientists believe that pornography is addictive and leads individuals to do things they loathe. Pornography is not good for individuals, marriages, families, or societies.

There is nothing good about it. Some people believe it is harmless, but researchers have found it to be extremely harmful in many ways.

Pornography has been spreading like the plague and is getting worse and worse and snatching more and more people in its wake. Individuals, families, schools, communities, and government officials need to understand how harmful pornography is and the full effects it is having on people and society. People need to work together to spread the truth about the dangers and destructiveness of pornography and how to stop it from being so easily accessible. The people who watch pornography are not the only ones harmed by it either. Those who are in pornographic materials are very hurt. I think individuals, families, schools, communities, and government officials need to talk about and work together to stop pornography from being so violent, evil, and from being so easily accessible. Children and adolescents should not be able to access it easily and need to be protected from it.

One of the things that I learned the most from this assignment came from interviewing Bob Davis who is a marriage and family therapist who specializes in helping people overcome sex addictions. He told me that he and others in this profession pretty much believe that 95 percent of men look at pornography and the other 5 percent

lie about it because it is everywhere due to people being on screens all the time and pornography is very addictive. He thinks that filters on electronic devices and monitoring children are important, but they will see pornography. The way parents help and protect children from pornography is by being open and comfortable with their own sexuality and talking with children about it openly and honestly. Children need to be able to talk to their parents about sex questions they will have and especially when they see pornographic material and not feel shame about it. He believes that shame is what feeds addiction and keeps people trapped in pornography addictions. Shame involved with pornography needs to be lessened to help people not get trapped in pornography addiction.

17 Strategic research: My information came from the following sources and websites: Sources o The Social Cost of Pornography. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2017. http://www.socialcostsofpornography.com/index.php o Olsen, Clay, Gail Dines, Mary Anne Layden, Gary Wilson, Jill Manning, Donald Hilton, and John Foubert. N.p., n.d. Web. file://localhost/<https/::www.yourbrainonporn.com:op-ed-who-exactly-misrepresenting-science-pornography>. o Malika, Anna. “How Porn Affects the Brain.” Treasures. N.p., 06 Feb. 2017. Web. 23 June 2017. file://localhost/<http/::iamatreasure.com:how-porn-affects-the-brain:>. o “OUR MISSION.” Enough Is Enough:. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. file://localhost/<http/::enough. org:>. o “What is Pornography? An Introduction.” Internet Safety 101:. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. http:// internetsafety101.org/whatispornography. o “Porn’s Harm is Changing Fast.” Fight the New Drug. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. http://fightthenewdrug.org/ ( http://fightthenewdrug.org/porns-harm-is-changing-fast/) o “21 Lies Porn Uses to Keep You in Bondage.” Covenant Eyes. N.p., 25 May 2017. Web. 23 June 2017. <http://www.covenanteyes.com/2017/05/24/porn-lies-21-ways-to-keep-you-in-bondage/>./.latest_citation_text o Carstensen, Melinda. “Is Pornography a Public Health Threat?” Fox News. FOX News Network, n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. file://localhost/<http/::www.foxnews.com:health:2017:02:16:is-pornography-public-health-threat.html>. o Jackson, Rob. “When Children View Pornography.” Focus on the Family. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. <http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/parenting-challenges/when-children-view-pornography/when-children-view-pornography>. o Thomson, Lisa Ann Jackson. “Arm Your Kids for the Battle.” Editorial. BYU Magazine 2015: n. pag.

BYU Magazine. Web. 11 July 2017. Retrieved from: https://magazine.byu.edu/article/arm-your-kids-forthe-battle/ Websites: o https://thinkprogress.org/this-is-the-way-the-war-on-pornography-ends-466fc4b53109 o http://www.pluckeye.net/organizations.html#sec-3 o http://endsexualexploitation.org o https://ldshopeandrecovery.com/the-“talk”-is-not-enough-protecting-our-children-from-pornography-addiction/ o http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/04/pornography.aspx o http://internetsafety101.org/whatispornography Organizations: o http://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/divorce-and-infidelity/dealing-with-pornography/ dealing-with-pornography-addiction o https://www.josh.org o http://www.accounseling.org/page.cfm?p=1556 o http://www.purelifeministries.org o http://fightthenewdrug. o http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/sexaddictiontips.html

18

Sheri Erickson Writer of The History and Solution 3 I am Sheri Erickson from Star Valley, Wyoming. I am a BYU-Idaho student majoring in Marriage and Family Studies. I am a mother of 10, grandmother of 20, with one on the way. My interests include spending time with family, outdoor activities, traveling, reading, writing, and baking. I was raised in Southern California, and I love and often long for the beach and ocean, but I also love the beautiful mountains of Star Valley.

Selection of Issue: We all brainstormed

to choose the topic of pornography. All of us know how important prevention is.

Team Member Tasks: I am Writer #1.

Tina Stevens had experience with the Adobe InDesign so we nominated her to be editor. I chose #1 because I like doing introductions and history.

Personal Reflection:

I had no idea the scope of pornography before researching for this paper. I’ve heard repeated warnings. I’ve heard pornography compared to a “plague”, a “raging storm” and an “evil monster.” Now I see more clearly how very evil it is. I have a dear niece whose marriage recently ended due to her husband’s pornography use and sexual addiction. A neighborhood couple just separated for the same reason. I totally agree with President Hinckley’s assessment that “all who are involved become victims”.

I’ve learned that there is much mafia control with pornography. This is evidence of secret combinations that seek control, gain, and the de-

struction of society. Evil and conspiring men who are profiting at the expense and exploitation of the innocent.

I also agree with Elder Oaks who taught, “The body has defenses to rid itself of unwholesome food. With a few fatal exceptions, bad food will only make you sick but do no permanent harm. In contrast, a person who feasts upon filthy stories or pornographic or erotic pictures and literature records them in this marvelous retrieval system we call a brain. The brain won’t vomit back filth. Once recorded, it will always remain subject to recall, flashing its perverted images across your mind and drawing you away from the wholesome things in life”.

I feel the importance of raising a warning voice first to my family and then all I meet when opportunities present themselves. The non-profit group, “Fight the New Drug” is doing an admirable work. Maybe I will be able to do something more concrete in an educational or certified way.

At the very least I will be more valiant in the defense of my family and friends.

I also know that a pornography addiction cannot be overcome without much work, consistent vigilance and reliance on God. Sheer willpower will not accomplish it. There must be full disclosure to all those whose lives have been effected. Even if a person does not believe in God, they must believe in a higher power beyond themselves in order to conquer a pornography addiction. I believe full recovery is possible if proper steps are followed, most notably a 12 step program with total dependence on God. Careful guarding against future temptation must also be enacted.

God wants to help. He is there. Reach out to Him to be free.

19 Strategic Research: •

Following are all the sources I used.

BYU-I Scroll Campus News “Pornography: Will You Join the Fight?”

By Sydney Jensen May 16, 2017 Retrieved from: https://www.byui.edu/search/result?q=the+new+drug

• Catholic Digest “Fighting the New Drug: Pornography” by Sue Haggerty. May 1, 2017 Retrieved from: https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=97c530b2-ae37-45b9-b4f b-b503beec9b2d%40sessionmgr4010&vid=7&hid=119 • Cambridge University Press, “Battling Pornography” by Carolyn Bronstein. June 27, 2011. Retrieved from: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/lib/byui/reader.action?docID=691810 • Zed Books, “Anti-Porn – The Resurgence of Anti-Pornography Feminism” by Julia Long September 2012. Retrieved from: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/lib/byui/reader.action?docID=1026922 • Forward Press Publishing, “What Can I Do About Me?” Rhyll Anne Croshaw. 2012 • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Pornography” Dallin H. Oaks. April 2005. Retrieved from: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/pornography?lang=eng • Britannica Encyclopedia “Pornography” by John Phillip Jenkins. April 2017. Retrieved from: https:// www.britannica.com/topic/pornography • Google Books. “Stigma and The Shaping of the Pornography Industry” Georgina Voss. 2015.

Retrieved from: https://books.google.com/books?id=25NhCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=pornography+after+WWII&source=bl&ots=cLv5TiIgOF&sig=KR2N3BnnQieZEi6HsZ4rLeEryfE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxy5C3lPPUAhUri1QKHcZ6DvU4ChDoAQgjMAA#v=onepage&q=pornography%20after%20WWII&f=false

20

Callie Wingard Writer of The Ramifications and Solution 2 I am Callie Wingard, a junior at BYU-Idaho studying Business Management.

I live in Rexburg with my husband, Bret and our daughter, Mara. I have had family members that have struggled with the addiction of pornography and this study allowed me the opportunity to become familiar with the information as well as solutions to the problem that I can now share with my family.

Selection of Issue: We selected this issue

because of itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prominence throughout our society and its extremely negative affects that arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t discussed openly. We wanted to draw light to the problem and open up the discussion on the harmful affects of pornography on the individual, relationships and society as a whole.

Team Member Tasks: I was asked to re-

search the ramifications of pornography as well as what a potential solution would be to the problem.

Personal Reflection:

While completing my research for the issue book on pornography, I was able to learn more about the ramifications and affects that this practice has on our hearts, minds and society as a whole. Something that impressed me while reading the many research articles I found was that more often than not, the female in the relationship felt more negatively towards the use of pornography than the male is. I wonder how we can bring understanding to the male counterpart of the relationship and help them grasp the negative affects that pornography usage has on them and their partners, families and friends. I hope that through this issue book and the research my group and I conducted, we can open up a dialogue about the harmfulness of the use of pornography and start to work towards a world where pornography is a thing of the past.

21 Strategic research: • "Fight the New Drug." Brain, Heart, World. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017.

• "Negative Effects of Pornography." Dr. Syras Derksen. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017.

• Tolley, Ann. "10 toxic side effects of pornography use." FamilyShare – Discover How to Improve Your Family Life and More. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017.

• "What Is Porn Addiction?" Project Know. N.p., 14 June 2017. Web. 23 June 2017.

• "5 ways porn affects the brain." Fox News. FOX News Network, n.d. Web. 23 June 2017.

• "The Connection Between Sex Trafficking and Pornography." Human Trafficking Search. N.p., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 June 2017.

• "Home." RescueFreedom. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017.

• Wetzstein, Cheryl. "Pornography use affects ‘real’ relationships." The Washington Times. The Washington Times, 11 Dec. 2014. Web. 23 June 2017.

22

Bibliography “21 Lies Porn Uses to Keep You in Bondage.” Covenant Eyes. N.p., 25 May 2017. Web. 23 June 2017. <http://www.covenanteyes. com/2017/05/24/porn-lies-21-ways-to-keep-you-in-bondage/“Fight the New Drug.” Brain, Heart, World. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017.

“5 ways porn affects the brain.” Fox News. FOX News Network, n.d. Web. 23 June 2017.

Britannica Encyclopedia “Pornography” by John Phillip Jenkins. April 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/ pornography BYU-I Scroll Campus News “Pornography: Will You Join the Fight?”

By Sydney Jensen May 16, 2017 Retrieved from: https://www.byui.edu/search/result?q=the+new+drug Cambridge University Press, “Battling Pornography” by Carolyn Bronstein. June 27, 2011. Retrieved from: http://ebookcentral. proquest.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/lib/byui/reader.action?docID=691810 Carstensen, Melinda. “Is Pornography a Public Health Threat?” Fox News. FOX News Network, n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. file://localhost/<http/::www.foxnews.com:health:2017:02:16:is-pornography-public-health-threat.html>.

Catholic Digest “Fighting the New Drug: Pornography” by Sue Haggerty. May 1, 2017 Retrieved from: https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=97c530b2-ae37-45b9-b4fb-b503beec9b2d%40sessionmgr4010&vid=7&hid=119 Forward Press Publishing, “What Can I Do About Me?” Rhyll Anne Croshaw. 2012 Google Books. “Stigma and The Shaping of the Pornography Industry” Georgina Voss. 2015. Retrieved from: https://books. google.com/books?id=25NhCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=pornography+after+WWII&source=bl&ots=cLv5TiIgOF&sig=KR2N3BnnQieZEi6HsZ4rLeEryfE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxy5C3lPPUAhUri1QKHcZ6DvU4ChDoAQgjMAA#v=onepage&q=pornography%20after%20WWII&f=false “Home.” RescueFreedom. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. http://endsexualexploitation.org https://ldshopeandrecovery.com/the-“talk”-is-not-enough-protecting-our-children-from-pornography-addiction/ https://thinkprogress.org/this-is-the-way-the-war-on-pornography-ends-466fc4b53109 http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/04/pornography.aspx http://www.pluckeye.net/organizations.html#sec-3 Jackson, Rob. “When Children View Pornography.” Focus on the Family. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. <http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/parenting-challenges/when-children-view-pornography/when-children-view-pornography>.

Malika, Anna. “How Porn Affects the Brain.” Treasures. N.p., 06 Feb. 2017. Web. 23 June 2017. file://localhost/<http/::iamatreasure. com:how-porn-affects-the-brain:>.

“Negative Effects of Pornography.” Dr. Syras Derksen. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017.

23 Olsen, Clay, Gail Dines, Mary Anne Layden, Gary Wilson, Jill Manning, Donald Hilton, and John Foubert. N.p., n.d. Web. file:// localhost/<https/::www.yourbrainonporn.com:op-ed-who-exactly-misrepresenting-science-pornography>.

“OUR MISSION.” Enough Is Enough:. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. file://localhost/<http/::enough.org:>.

“Porn’s Harm is Changing Fast.” Fight the New Drug. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017. http://fightthenewdrug.org/ ( http://fightthenewdrug.org/porns-harm-is-changing-fast/) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Pornography” Dallin H. Oaks. April 2005. Retrieved from: https://www.lds.org/ general-conference/2005/04/pornography?lang=eng “The Connection Between Sex Trafficking and Pornography.” Human Trafficking Search. N.p., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 June 2017.

The Social Cost of Pornography. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2017. http://www.socialcostsofpornography.com/index.php Tolley, Ann. “10 toxic side effects of pornography use.” FamilyShare – Discover How to Improve Your Family Life and More. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2017.

Wetzstein, Cheryl. “Pornography use affects ‘real’ relationships.” The Washington Times. The Washington Times, 11 Dec. 2014.

Web. 23 June 2017.

“What Is Porn Addiction?” Project Know. N.p., 14 June 2017. Web. 23 June 2017.

Zed Books, “Anti-Porn – The Resurgence of Anti-Pornography Feminism” by Julia Long September 2012. Retrieved from: http:// ebookcentral.proquest.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/lib/byui/reader.action?docID=1026922 Images obtained from: http://enough.org/stats_porn_industry https://familyshare.com/20532/12-ways-pornography-is-destroying-your-future http://fightthenewdrug.org/buzzfeed-porn-is-good-for-you-what-a-joke/#sthash.Sds8O1St.dpbs http://www.littlevivekananda.com/to-raise-kids-who-respect-women-a-fathers-declaration/ https://www.powerofpositivity.com/5-secrets-to-a-happier-family/ https://www.stevenaitchison.co.uk/5-super-effective-ways-happy-couples-deal-with-disputes/ http://www.texashealthoptions.com/artwork/slide-01.jpg https://www.theodysseyonline.com/your-guide-to-healthy-relationships Google images Unsplash.com

24

Additonal Resources Websites: www.ftnd.org www.covenanteyes.com www.lds.org https://thinkprogress.org/this-is-the-way-the-war-on-pornography-ends-466fc4b53109 http://www.pluckeye.net/organizations.html#sec-3 http://endsexualexploitation.org https://ldshopeandrecovery.com/the-â&#x20AC;&#x153;talkâ&#x20AC;?-is-not-enough-protecting-our-children-frompornography-addiction/

Organizations: American Psychological Association Apostolic Christian Conseling and Family Services Christian Answers Fight the New Drug Focus on the Family Josh McDowell Ministries LDS Church Morality in Media Pure Life Ministries