October 27, 2010

Column #1,522

Porn Addiction & Answers

by Mike McManus

                “He was obsessed with porn,” commented Lillian McEwen of Clarence Thomas about the years he was Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “He would talk about what he had seen in magazines and films.”

 She should know, having had a torrid affair with him from 1981-86. “He was always actively watching the women he worked with to see if they could be potential partners. It was a hobby of his,” she told The Washington Post.

Anita Hill made similar charges in the 1991 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about Thomas’s nomination to be a Justice oo the Supreme Court: “He spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes. He talked about pornographic materials depicting individuals with large penises or large breasts involved in various sex acts.” He was also constantly asking Hill out, which she refused. 

Thomas stoutly denied the charges: “If I used that kind of grotesque language with one person, it would seem to me that there would be traces of it throughout the employees who worked closely with me.” 

No doubt, McEwen could have provided corroborating testimony, which would might have torpedoed his nomination.  She now regrets having remaining silent and has written a book.   Twice married and twice divorced, she had a career as a prosecutor, a Senate Judiciary Committee lawyer, administrative law judge, and a law professor and is now retired, declaring, “I have nothing to be afraid of.”

What matters about the Thomas story is that it shows the power of porn addiction, that led him to take dangerous risks, even as a very visible EEOC Chairman.

 Millions of men are addicted to pornography.  It is a marriage killer.  The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers published an article, stating that more than half of those with internet-related divorces acknowledge “an obsessive interest in porn sites.”

A woman wrote to GirlsAgainstPorn.com: “My husband has looked at porn our whole marriage, and I’m finally done with this BS.  We are no longer sexual and I am just so sick I could puke.  I can’t stand him being next to me in bed…or touching me.”

Good news! There are solutions: personal change and law enforcement.

PureLifeMinistries.org has helped thousands to deal with sexual sin.  It offers a 12-week phone counseling service, courses and practical materials such as “Be Secure,” to block porn from a computer for only $30 a year.  In addition to addicted men, some wives take courses.

Men often do not understand the extent of their problem or its root issue, says Pure Life’s Jeff Colon.  “They need to experience repentance. If they want to change, they have to do something to change their life.”

The courses are taught from a Biblical perspective. “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil lusts. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God,” Romans 6:12-13.

Change can be so difficult that some men need residential treatment.  Pure Life has 70 men in treatment, the cost of which is only $175 a week, including room and board.

The larger answer is that laws against hard core porn must be enforced.  The Supreme Court declared in Miller v. California that “Obscene material is unprotected by the First Amendment.” 

Bob Peters, President of Morality in Media, co-authored a letter with the leaders of Concerned Women for America, the Family Research Council, American Family Association and others -- asking for an appointment with Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder.

They got no appointment, only a one paragraph letter of blather saying, “We value your input and will consider your views carefully.” 

What rot!  Like the Clinton Administration, Obama is not interested in enforcing the law.

The average citizen can be effective.  Consider Citizens for Community Values in Cincinnati, which has been so effective, there are no adult book stores or strip bars in a county of 2 million people.  Its President, Phil Burress, has mobilized citizens who have gotten strong law enforcement from dedicated local officials. The group also persuaded Ohio’s legislature to shut down all sex businesses from midnight to 6 am, costing pornographers $3.6 million.

Girls Against Porn persuaded American Airlines and Delta to screen out pornography from its Internet service, and convinced Steve Jobs to limit porn on his Iphone.

Why not help one of these groups fight pornography?