An Interesting Article about Porn

WASHINGTON — Recent headlines about pornography use at the Securities and Exchange Commission stirred public disgust with government officials who viewed thousands of hard-core images while Wall Street banks imploded.

Yet experts and religious groups that have struggled for years to raise awareness about the destructive consequences of pornography use hope the news will contribute to a sea change in social attitudes.

In fact, anti-pornography crusaders received another boost from the American Psychiatric Association, which just released new draft diagnostic guidelines that identified pornography addiction as a form of “hypersexual disorder” and thus worthy of serious study and treatment.

The breakthrough at the American Psychiatric Association provides additional context for a new report endorsed by a broad swath of academic leaders: “The Social Costs of Pornography: A Statement of Findings and Recommendations.”

Sponsored by the Princeton University-based Witherspoon Institute, the report cites numerous social-science studies that confirm the often devastating impact of pornography on regular users, their families and broader society. It concludes with proposed guidelines for policy-makers, law enforcement, professional organizations and educators.

“While the cultural shift in attitudes about the harm caused by smoking has been quite rapid, we’re not yet there on pornography. Too many people say, ‘I have a right to it. Everybody does it,’” reported Mary Anne Layden, director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Cognitive Therapy who co-authored the report with Mary Eberstadt, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Americans have become attuned to the suffering and rights of victims of sexual violence, Layden observes, but they can’t explain what fuels sexual violence. Meanwhile, parents and educators are disturbingly ignorant about children’s online activities.

The report summarizes the findings of numerous studies that confirm the potency and pervasiveness of Internet-supplied pornography on demand. In a dramatic departure from past pornography use, adult movies, online images and interactive videos are available in hotel rooms, homes, offices and public libraries, as well as on cell phones, personal laptops and office computers. Pornography use has been linked to sexual violence against women and children, marriage breakups and altered neurological patterns in the brains of addicts.

Dr. Sharon Cooper, a consultant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said she endorsed the report because Americans must be educated to confront an inconvenient truth: Any kind of pornography can contribute to the sexual exploitation of minors. There are an estimated 30 million digital images of children distributed online; the FBI’s cybercrime unit reported a 23-fold increase between 1996 and 2004 alone.

“Child pornography on the Internet is illegal,” noted Cooper, adjunct professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “But its presence results in cognitive distortions for would-be offenders. The online images of children suggest they are fair game.”

College Campuses

Cooper cited several recent studies that establish a direct link between possession of child pornography and sexual contact with minors.

The rise in child pornography is a pressing law-enforcement issue. But Cooper, who co-authored the two-volume textbook Child Exploitation, contends that children who consume a steady diet of adult pornography are also at risk for becoming predators.

“When children access adult pornography, we see an increase in offenses,” she said. “A diet of porn creates ‘disinhibited’ behavior, and that can put their peers and younger relatives at risk.”

Both Layden and Cooper challenge public complacency regarding the dangers of adult pornography. “Most don’t see the connection between the ‘permission giving’ role of rape in adult pornography and the problem of sexual violence directed against women,” said Layden. “They still say, ‘That can’t be true.’”

But the cause-and-effect relationship between pornography and sexual violence is just one issue addressed in the Witherspoon report. It also has reconfigured the social interactions of young Americans in ways that don’t bode well for their future marriage prospects.

According to the report, “Every second, there are approximately 28,258 users viewing pornography. Every day, there are approximately 6,000 online searches for child pornography. In 2005, 13,585 hard-core pornographic video/DVD titles were released in the United States, up from 1,300 titles in 1988. One recent study of undergraduate and graduate students ... found that 69% of men and 10% of women in this sample viewed pornography more than once a month.”

Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, notes that “pornography is one of the popular cultural influences that is undercutting quality and stability of marriages. The mostly male viewers begin to discount the attractiveness of their own wife and become more interested in a great variety of sexual practices and partners, increasing the likelihood of divorce.”

The “mainstreaming” of pornography into American culture is fueled by popular entertainment, particularly music videos targeted at young viewers. U.S. college campuses celebrate pornography as a form of entertainment and creative expression. College administrators typically defend official sponsorship of pornography films and presentations by adult movie stars as a First Amendment right.

Feminist-minded faculty members once repudiated pornography for inciting violence against women. But the anti-pornography alliance forged between feminists and religious groups has largely receded. Today, the drumbeat of values-free female sexual empowerment can be heard in sex columns on university news websites and “sex positive” activities on campus.

“It’s ironic and sad that liberals rush to defend pornography. If other minority groups were portrayed in media as women are in pornography, there would be an outcry,” observed Pamela Paul, author of Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.

“Traditionally, liberals have been wary of corporate maneuvering of popular opinion, but they don’t see how the porn industry has dictated to young men and women what is ‘sex positive,’” said Paul, who hopes the American Psychiatric Association’s policy shift will lead to a more informed consensus on the dangers of pornography use.

Addressing Addiction

The Witherspoon report states that “both adolescent boys and girls who are exposed to a sexualized media environment are more likely to view women as sexual objects.” The report cites a 2009 study at Princeton that used MRI scans to document how pornography encourages men to perceive women “more as objects than as humans.” Other research suggests that exposure to sexually explicit material can harm the emotional health and encourage “sexually risky behavior” in teenagers of both sexes.

This isn’t news to Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo. He has collaborated with Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., to establish outreach programs for adult Catholics, theology-of-the-body study groups, and 12-step programs for pornography addicts and support groups for their wives, who often blame themselves for their husbands’ behavior.

“Pornography can cause a physical addiction as powerful as cocaine and has proven to cause people to act out sexually against others,” said Bishop Finn. It “takes advantage of loneliness, sadness, poor self-image and lust. Use of pornography intensifies all these hurts and increases secretive behavior and isolation from loved ones.”

Bishop Finn applauds the decision by some local hotel owners to exclude pay-per-view adult movies: “They have accepted less profit so they can spare their patrons from these temptations.” (See this related Register column). But he knows the ultimate goal — the eradication of pornography — requires a power greater than good intentions. “This is a spiritual battleground that requires supernatural help and every human effort to break,” he said.

Still, Mary Anne Layden believes the Witherspoon report is positioned to reshape the national conversation about pornography, and that should bolster the local outreach of religious leaders like Bishop Finn.

The signatories of the Witherspoon report offer wide-ranging proposals that encourage therapists, educators and law enforcement to rethink their tolerance of pornography and become better informed about its dangers.

“Obscenity laws are not being enforced — except regarding child porn. If you only penalize the extreme elements of pornography, people assume that everything is okay,” Layden pointed out. “We need to learn that this is undermining the very foundation of the culture and that we want to target the most typical, accessible images.”


Joan Frawley Desmond writes from Chevy Chase, Maryland.


Copyright © 2010 Circle Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

No sex?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/19/college.anti.hookup.culture/?hpt=Sbin

Check out this article about how one college junior is taking matters into her own hands.

Almost There

So I'm almost a college graduate.

It's really mind boggling to me that these four years have flown by. I already have a job lined up for the fall and a job to start saving some money for when my parents cut the cord. It's kind of nerve racking but I know God will take care of me as He always has.

If you haven't heard, I'll be working at Elon University in the fall as the Peer Ministry Coordinator. Basically, I'll be in charge of getting people involved with campus ministry and creating a vibrant, engaging Catholic presence on campus. I'll be coming up with fun stuff to do like cookouts and capture the flag as well as spiritual stuff like Adoration and Bible studies. I'll also be motivating the CCM Eboard who I'll be living with in the Newman Center on campus.

It's going to be a great transition from learning Catholic theology here at the Abbey to effectively applying my knowledge to my career in ministry. I'm pumped!

As I look back on my years at the Abbey, it's kind of bittersweet. I have gotten to know some great people and learned some fantastic things but at the same time I'm ready to move on. I have changed a lot (hopefully for the better) while being here at the Abbey and I have been told that I will change a lot in the next 3-4 years as I become a professional youth minister.

Big things are happening. Please keep me in your prayers. You are in mine.

Matt Merry

Can you trust birth control?

Hey guys,

Here is a video that reveals the truth about abortion and planned parenthood. Did you know that "the pill" doesn't necessarily stop ovulation? Sometimes it thins the lining of the uterus so that a conceived baby will be unable to receive nutrients and will be aborted without the mother even knowing that a baby has died in the womb. Please watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYaTywSDmls

Feast day of John Bosco

Today is the feast day of John Bosco, the patron saint of one of my very close friends. Here is the link for New Advent's brief biography of Don Bosco:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02689d.htm

Feel free to visit and boost your knowledge of awesome Catholic saints!

For now, I would like to share a story with you from back when I was in Italy. My friend (Adam Trufant) and I ventured via train to Turin in the Northernmost part of Italy. Our destination, aside from eating delicious swordfish and drinking white wine in the piazza, was a pilgrimage to St. John Bosco's grave in the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians.

Upon arriving in Turin at night, we were diligently adventuring for a youth hostel to rest up for the night when we got lost. Downtrodden and nearly hopeless, we came upon a wall containing a sculpture of Mary, help of Christians and Adam says, "hey, I've been praying to Mary for guidance tonight" and a feeling of comfort filled the two weary travelers.

We strolled up to the gate of what appeared to be a boy's school (Don Bosco founded a series of boy's schools as orphanages) and we gazed inside. A car of three men dressed in black rolled up behind us and said "Are you looking for the hostel?"... "yes sir"... "well, this isn't it". Wait a second, are those priests? Hold up, is this one of Don Bosco's schools? Adam quickly explains, "sir, Don Bosco is my patron saint and we're here on a pilgrimage to his grave." The men shuffle around inside the car and say some brief phrases in Italian and then invite us in for some delicious soup and drinks. What a huge blessing!

But that's not it.

After about an hour or two of food and fellowship with two peculiar french Salesian priests, we were offered a very unique experience. They took us to Don Bosco's first grave where he had been prior to his current resting place in Our Lady Help of Christians Basilica. Then they showed us a PHENOMENAL church built by Don Bosco with vibrant blues and purples, golds and greens, and glorious statues of saints lining the walls giving us a feeling of being in the communion of saints. This was no typical tourist trip.

After all of this, they gave us a ride to the hostel and got yelled at by the security guard for blasting their 90's American rock music as we pulled up.

The next day, Adam and myself took our trip across Turin to visit the beautiful church where Don Bosco rests, incorrupt. We spent over two hours praying and soaking up the splendor of the environment before heading out for some swordfish and white wine. Happy ending :)

Happy feast day of Don Bosco! God bless you.

Matt

The Angelus

Dear readers,

Please enjoy this short history of the Angelus that I found today. The Angelus is a short prayer that can be prayed around noon and shows us how Mary was chosen to bring God into humanity. The Angelus is a short prayer and it is BEAUTIFUL! Enjoy

http://www.ewtn.com/library/Prayer/ANGELUS.HTM

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary; and she conceived by the Holy Spirit. (Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee...)

Behold the handmaid of the Lord; Be it done unto me according to your word. (Hail Mary...)

And the Word was made flesh, And dwelt among us. (Hail Mary...)

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, you Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by his passion and cross be brought to the glory of his resurrection, though the same Christ our Lord. Amen!

Christmas is coming. Prepare for our Savior!

Blessings on you and your family!

The wonderful Savior of the world is almost here. The most important birthday of the year is upon us! What are you doing to prepare? God will become man, humbled in a manger for all to see. Here is a very beautiful message from our holy father Pope Benedict XVI.

“He stoops down – he himself comes down as a child to the lowly stable, the symbol of all humanity’s neediness and forsakenness. God truly comes down. He becomes a child and puts himself in the state of complete dependence typical of a newborn child. The Creator who holds all things in his hands, on whom we all depend, makes himself small and in need of human love. God is in the stable. (…) God is in the cloud of the poverty of a homeless child: an impenetrable cloud, and yet – a cloud of glory! How, indeed, could his love for humanity, his solicitude for us, have appeared greater and more pure? The cloud of hiddenness, the cloud of the poverty of a child totally in need of love, is at the same time the cloud of glory. For nothing can be more sublime, nothing greater than the love which thus stoops down, descends, becomes dependent. The glory of the true God becomes visible when the eyes of our hearts are opened before the stable of Bethlehem. (…)God – from the time of Adam – saw that his grandeur provoked resistance in man, that we felt limited in our own being and threatened in our freedom. Therefore God chose a new way. He became a child. He made himself dependent and weak, in need of our love. Now – this God who has become a child says to us – you can no longer fear me, you can only love me.”
Pope Benedict XVI Christmas Mass 2008

I pray that the Lord's birth blesses you with renewed vigor and a strengthening of spirit for the new year. Make a worthwhile new year's resolution like praying a meditation or a rosary every day. There is no joy like hope in the Lord. God bless you and your family during this holiday season!