The devastating harm from pornography is becoming more evident with each passing day.  Now a website has been launched to provide ready access to credible, peer-reviewed research documenting that harm. “Pornography Harms, http://pornharms.com, is a one-stop location for sound research, news articles and opinion pieces demonstrating the harm from pornography,” said Patrick Trueman, creator of the site.  The site will be of great help to researchers at all academic levels and the press and concerned public.

 

Trueman, the former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, expressed strong concern for the direction of America due to the prominence of pornography in the daily lives of our citizens.  “Since the advent of the internet, pornography has flooded homes, businesses, public libraries, and even schools. The results have been devastating to the social and family fabric of America,” Trueman said. 

 

Trueman observed that, for nearly two decades, a large segment of America's children have had ready access to internet pornography. In the latest trend called, "sexting", children are producing and distributing cell phone child pornography. This phenomenon may well be an outgrowth of the viewing of internet pornography over long periods of time by children resulting in diminishment of their natural inhibitions against such activity. “Pornography, in other words, is altering minds, destroying taboos, and reordering society, Trueman said.

 

Addiction to pornography, Trueman noted, is now common among men, women, and even many children, bringing life-long consequences. Pornography use is a significant factor in divorce; a contributing cause of the spread of prostitution and the sexual trafficking of adults and children.

 

Trueman credited a multi-disciplinary group of professionals and concerned citizens from around the country for the research work on Pornography Harms.

 

“Pornography is a neglected pandemic and it will remain so until knowledge of its destructive forces is widely understood and disseminated. The Pornography Harms website is dedicated to this task of education,” Trueman said.

Sioux Falls, SD, USA -- A new study released today by shows that abstinence education is highly effective in reducing sexual activity among youth. It also showed contraceptive sex ed programs to be ineffective.
 
The decrease is noteworthy; the study followed students a full two years after completion of the abstinence class. One third of students showed a decrease in sexual activity, compared with those who didn't participate in the class. Whereas, condom-promoting programs didn't affect youth behavior at all. Students in these programs showed no reduction in sexual activity and no increase in contraceptive use.
 
"Finally, a report that proves what those of us who have been teaching abstinence have known for years. These programs help develop self control and self esteem, teaching kids that they do not need to fall prey the game of Russian Roulette with condoms," said Leslee Unruh, President and Founder of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse. "Abstinence programs show kids there are too many great things riding on their future to risk it to STDs, pregnancy and broken hearts. Abstinence is a message our kids want to hear - this study shows youth are making healthier choices and changing their behavior to in response to this refreshing message," Unruh said. 
 
The study, involving black middle-school students, appears in the February 2010 Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, published by the American Medical Association. It was compiled and released by Drs. John and Loretta Jemmott from the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Geoffrey Fong from the University of Waterloo and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in Waterloo, Ontario. 
 
This study utilized state-of-the-art evaluation techniques, using random assignment.  For more information on the study and its design, view the following:
 
Click here to view the study.

 

Click here to read the editorial.

 

For more information, please contact Sarah Floro at +1.605.335.3643. 

Why does Kevin Rudd continue to give sanctuary to the X rated, hard core pornographers in Canberra?  It is illegal to sell, hire or display X rated videos/DVDs in any state in Australia.  They are only available from the territories, mainly Canberra in the ACT.

Medicine, Mind and Adolescence in 2000 found pornography plays a determining role in causing sexual deviancy, trouble in intimate personal relationships, sexual assault and rape.  Unlike someone's personal opinion, the scientific results are "clear and consistent" according to the peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The International Journal of Pediatrics (2006), Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (2007), ANNALS of the New York Academy of Sciences(2006), JOURNAL WATCH (2006) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (2006) along with any number of current empirical scientific journals all agree with Dr Claudio Violato from Universita Ambrosiana in Italy, that pornography "has an influence on violence and family functioning."  Even the senior lecturer in psychology at Macquarie University, Prof R Power, says that if visual imagery had no impact on human attitude and behaviour we would not have advertising campaigns.  We all know that's true.

Dr Don Thompson, the director of Forensic Psychology at Monash University in an address to the Victorian Criminal Justice Symposium reported that "pornography is causally related to sexually violent behaviour" and Crown Prosecutor Richard Read, QC, says "there definitely is a very clear link" between pornography and sex crimes. 

The latest OECD figures show that Australia leads the developed world in rape and violent assault.  The Home Office in London, the Japanese Foreign Ministry, the European Union, the Australian Institute of Criminology and even ABC TV have all reported that "Australia leads the developed world in rape".  It is now proven that pornography contributes to this societal dysfunction and indeed even "causes" it.

Concerned Australians would do well to heed the scientific data instead of ill-informed, self styled 'experts' and demand that the Rudd government place the same simple restrictions on X rated porn in Canberra and the Northern Territory as already exists in all of our states.  

Boys who see porn more likely to harass girls
Maurice Chittenden and Matthew Holehouse
 
BOYS exposed to porn are more likely to indulge in casual sex and less likely to form successful relationships when they grow older, according to research carried out in a dozen countries.

The report, Harms of Pornography Exposure Among Children and Young People, also found that young boys who see pornography are more inclined to believe there is nothing wrong with pinning down or sexually harassing a girl.

Michael Flood, who carried out the study at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, said: “There is compelling evidence from around the world that pornography has negative effects on individuals and communities.

“We know it is shaping sexual knowledge. Some people may think that is good. But porn is a very poor sex educator because it shows sex in unrealistic ways and fails to address intimacy, love, connection or romance. Often it is quite callous and hostile in its depictions of women.

“It doesn’t mean that every young person is going out to rape somebody but it does increase the likelihood that will happen.”

Research in the UK suggests that 60% of boys under 16 have been exposed to pornography, accidentally or deliberately. The average age at which they first saw porn has dropped from 15 to 11 in less than a decade. The average amount of time they watch porn on the internet is 90 minutes a week.

John Carr, an adviser to the government and secretary of the Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety (CHIS), said: “We had a case in west London where a boy in the first year of primary school was bringing pictures to school and was acting them out in the playground during the break. When they did a home visit the dad was downloading it and it was all over the house.

“It is not an argument for banning it but it is an argument to find better ways to make it harder for kids to get hold of it.”

Such is the international spread of porn through the internet that youngsters in Asian and African countries see blonde white women on screen and then regard tourists with the same attributes as sex objects, Flood says.

However, Thaddeus Birchard, a psychotherapist who runs a sex addiction practice in London, said: “We are entering a period of moral panic and this is part of it. Children are not receiving sex education at home. Sexually explicit material on the net can even help educate them.

“The internet is a way of being sexually addicted but it does not cause the addiction. What causes it is the relationship between the child and their parents. Almost always they are maternally deprived.”

Petra Boynton, a psychologist, said: “Children are not necessarily looking at porn for gratification. They are doing so because they are bored and not supervised. Often when children look at more extreme porn it is done for bravado so they can laugh and say how disgusting it is.”

The Archives of General Psychiatry, in Oct of 1999, followed over 1000 gays, lesbians and bisexuals and found that "they were significantly more likely to have had mental health problems" than the general population.

The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology documents some negative health implications associated with homosexuality.  They found that 75% of nearly 2,000 respondents had pursued psychological counseling many for treatment of long-term depression.   

In the book Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them it is said that "the incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population".

The U S Centres for Disease Control says "HPV, a collection of more than 70 types of viruses, is almost universal among homosexual men."  At the Fourth International AIDS Malignancy Conference at the American National Institutes for Health, Dr Andrew Gurlich announced that "HPV infects over 90% of HIV-positive gay men and 65% of HIV-negative gay men."

The Journal of Interpersonal Violence examined violence and conflict in lesbian relationships and found that 1/3 had reported incidents of physical abuse by their partner.  The Journal of Social Science Research found that "slightly more than 1/2 of the lesbians reported they had been abused by a female lover/partner".  The Journal of Infectious Diseases even found that "most women who have sex with women also have had sex with men."

Nursing Research  magazine was more exact.  Lesbians are three times more likely to abuse alcohol and suffer from other compulsive behaviours.  Of the lesbians studied "91% had had abused other drugs such as alcohol, and many reported compulsive difficulties with food, codependency, sex, and money.  46% had been heavy drinkers with frequent drunkenness."

A study in the International Journal of Epidemiology on the mortality rates of homosexuals.  They concluded, "... life expectancy at age 20 for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men."

Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men quotes homosexual author Urvashi Vaid who says, "We have an agenda to create a society in which homosexuality is regarded as healthy, natural and normal."

Seriously, do gay couples represent a good environment for raising and nurturing children?