by Pamela Paul
48. Gail Gibson, “Jury Finds Man Guilty in Teen-Sex Sting Case,” Baltimore Sun, March 24, 2004.
49. Peter Franceschina, “Ex-Youth Leader Receives 17½ Years for Child Porn,” Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), January 22, 2004.
50. Associated Press, “Former Christian Radio Employee Pleads Guilty in Child Porn Case,” February 13, 2004.
51. Sheridan Lyons, “Halethorpe Man Charged in Child Pornography Case,” Baltimore Sun, February 14, 2004.
52. Nicole Martin, “BT Blocks 20,000 Attempts a Day to Access Child Porn,” Daily Telegraph (London), July 21, 2004.
53. Marc Hansen, “Imprisoned by the Internet,” Des Moines Register, January 16, 2005.
54. Jonathan Athens, “Teen Admits to Downloading Child Porn,” Newark (Ohio) Advocate, January 30, 2004.
55. Patrick Goodenough, “Online Porn Driving Sexually Aggressive Children,” CNS News Web site, November 25, 2003.
56. Richard Oakley and Jan Battles, “Cork to Research Teen Porn Addicts,” Sunday Times (London), January 25, 2004.
57. Martha Linden, “Parents Unaware of Children’s Online Activities,” Press Association News, July 21, 2004.
58. PRNewswire.com, “Global Campaign Against Child Pornography Is Launched.”
59. Pornified/Harris poll.
60. Associated Press, “Couple Sues Blockbuster After Child Views Pornographic Images on Video,” January 24, 2004.
61. T. M. Shultz, “Porn Replaces Youth Football Web Site,” Lansing (Mich.) State Journal, July 26, 2004.
62. Pollet and Hurwitz, “Strip Till You Drop.”
63. Editorial, “Chipping Away at Web Porn,” Los Angeles Times, July 1, 2004.
7. Fantasy and Reality: Pornography Compulsion
1. Christopher S. Stewart, “God Loves Us All, Even You Sex Freaks,” GQ, June 2004, p. 98.
2. Al Cooper, “In-Depth Study Outlines Reasons Men and Women Engage in Online Sexual Activities” (San Jose, Calif.: San Jose Marital and Sexuality Centre, n.d.).
3. www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/pornoff.html.
4. David Mura, “A Male Grief: Notes on Pornography and Addiction,” in Men Confront Pornography, ed. Michael S. Kimmel (New York: Crown Publishers, 1990), p. 125.
5. D. Zillmann, “Pornografie,” in Lehrbuch der Medienpsychologie, ed. R. Mangold, P. Vorderer, and G. Bente (Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe Verlag, 2004), pp. 565–85.
6. Victor B. Cline, “Pornography’s Effects on Adults and Children” (New York: Morality in Media, n.d.).
7. Jennifer Schneider, “Effects of Cybersex Addiction on the Family,” Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity 7 (2000): 31–58.
8. The Truth about Pornography
1. www.extremeasssociates.com.
2. Anne Kingston, “Porn of Another Kind: To Sexually Humiliate Someone Is to Destroy His Sense of Self,” National Post (Ontario), May 11, 2004.
3. Dan Savage, interviewed on CNN, Paula Zahn Now, transcript, March 4, 2004.
4. Amy Dickinson, “Porn Viewing Draws Responses from Readers,” Chicago Tribune, February 6, 2004.
5. D. Zillmann, “Pornografie,” in Lehrbuch der Medienpsychologie, ed. R. Mangold, P. Vorderer, and G. Bente (Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe Verlag, 2004), pp. 565–85.
6. Christopher D. Hunter, “The Dangers of Pornography? A Review of the Effects Literature” (Ph.D. diss., Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania Press, March 2000).
7. T. L. Stanley, “The Porno-ization of American Media and Marketing,” AdAge.com, January 26, 2004.
8. Justin Vann, “Ashcroft Heading Anti-Porn Thrust,” UniversityWire.com, April 14, 2004.
9. Stanley, “The Porno-ization of American Media and Marketing.”
10. “Porn in the U.S.A.,” CBSNews.com, September 5, 2004.
11. David Bowman, “Citizen Flynt,” Salon.com, July 8, 2004.
12. Robert Yager, “The Trouble with Larry,” The Independent (London), February 22, 2004.
13. Ibid.
14. David G. Savage, “Court Rejects Law Blocking Internet Porn,” Los Angeles Times, June 30, 2004.
15. Wirthlin Worldwide March 2004 national telephone poll. Question was phrased:
Since 1995, the World Wide Web has expanded rapidly and is now estimated to contain as many as 40 million Web sites. A large number of these Internet Web sites contain hardcore pornography. The Supreme Court has said that those who distribute hardcore pornography can be prosecuted under obscenity laws. In 1996, Congress expanded federal obscenity laws, making it a crime to distribute obscene materials on the Internet. In your opinion should the federal laws against Internet obscenity be vigorously enforced?
16. General Social Survey of the National Opinion Research Center, 2000 and 2002.
17. Warren Richey, “Court Hears Case on Regulating the Web,” Christian Science Monitor, March 2, 2004.
18. Andy Bull, “After the Fall,” The Times Magazine (London), July 17, 2004, p. 39.
19. Anderson Cooper, 360 Degrees, CNN, April 13, 2004.
20. Michael S. Kimmel, Men Confront Pornography (New York: Crown Publishers, 1990), p. 13. Author’s emphasis.
Conclusion: The Censure-Not-Censor Solution
1. Dennis McAlpine, interview, “Porn America,” Frontline, PBS, August 2001.
2. Jonathan A. Knee, “Is That Really Legal?” New York Times, May 2, 2004.
3. Jonathan Prynn, “Vodafone Restricts Sex Sites,” Evening Standard (London), July 2, 2004.
4. Virginia Vitzthum, “Stripped of Our Senses,” Elle, December 2003, p. 188.
5. Carina Chocano, “Scholars of Smut,” Salon.com, October 5, 1998.
6. Neva Chonin, “Pretty in Porn: Alterna-Porn Is Challenging the Playboy Body Ideal,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 25, 2004.
7. In the Zillmann-Bryant experiments, subjects were asked to evaluate a pornographic film following their six weeks of exposure (or nonexposure in the case of the control group) to pornographic movies. Among the high-exposure group, only 26 percent found the selected film to be offensive, compared with 75 percent of those who had not seen any pornographic films during the six-week period. Similarly, only 29 percent of those in the high-exposure group found the films to be pornographic while 70 percent of those in the control group considered the film pornographic.
8. Dolf Zillmann and Jennings Bryant, “Pornography, Sexual Callousness, and the Trivialization of Rape,” Journal of Communication 32 (August 1982): 10–21.
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I am indebted to all those men and women who agreed to spend hours talking to me for my interviews. For many, this was a private and sensitive topic, yet everyone was forthcoming and honest in ways I hardly could have imagined. Many thanks to all those anonymous individuals who gave so generously of their own free time.
I also would like to thank the sociologists, attorneys, psychologists, and other academics and professionals who answered my questions and allowed me to observe them at work. In particular, thanks to Robert Jensen, Bryant Jennings, Gary Brooks, Mark Schwartz, Aline Zoldbrod, Judith Coché, Michael Kimmel, and David Marcus.
Harris Interactive was a tremendous help to me. Thanks to Ria Ignacio, Robyn Bald, Nancy Wong, and, most especially, Humphrey Taylor at Harris. Humphrey, you said yes when you could have very easily said no. This book would not have been the same without your open-mindedness, willingness, and generosity. I cannot thank you enough.
This story began as an article for Time magazine, a publication any writer would dream of writing for, and to which this writer in particular is enormously grateful. This book would not have existed without “The Porn Factor” as impetus. I want to thank Steve Koepp, Priscilla Painton, and Jan Simpson for encouraging me to write for Time. I especially would like to thank Claudia Wallis—without hyperbole, the ideal editor and a valuable mentor.
Many friends, fellow writers, and editors helped me both personally and practically with this book. Thanks to Alysia Abbott, Hilary Black, Victoria Cam
elio, Rachael Combe, Holly Gordon, Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, Ariel Levy, Mindy Lewis, Vanessa Mobley, Annie Murphy Paul, Pauline O’Connor, and Ericka Tullis for providing insight, assistance, and support. I would also like to thank Annie Paul and Alissa Quart as well as fellow members Stacy Sullivan, Heidi Postlewait, Sherri Fink, Susan Burton, Debbie Siegel, Paul Raeburn, Elizabeth DaVita-Raeburn, Rebecca Segall, Christine Kenneally, Abby Ellin, and Katie Orenstein, for our incredible authors’ group.
Perhaps the smartest decision I made with this book was to publish with Times Books. Everyone there—Paul Golob, Christine Ball, Denise Cronin, Heather Florence, Chris O’Connell, Eva Diaz, Richard Rhorer, Maggie Richards, and especially my editor Robin Dennis—has been accommodating, generous and very, very smart about how this book should be handled. And of course, many thanks to the brilliant Lydia Wills, who led me there. I’m absolutely convinced I have the best agent there is.
Finally, I would like to thank those closest to me, my family—Mom, Dad, Carol, Roger, Brian and Suzanne, Nick, Erik and Debbie, and Kirsten—and the memory of my beloved late aunt Madelyn. Many thanks to my new family—Debra and David, Emily and Jeremy, Jessica and Sina. And to my own family, for now and forever, Michael and Beatrice. Michael, you know this book literally could not have been written without you. As I said on a certain special day in July, words cannot suffice. I’m just so glad you and Bee have been right here to keep me company along the way.
Index
abstinence-only education, 189
Abu Ghraib, 8, 240
ACLU, 206, 251, 253
Adam & Eve Web site, 122
addiction to pornography, 46–47, 70–71, 76, 96, 211–39
children and teens and, 180–81, 198–99
as cyberaddiction syndrome, 60
dealing with, 200
deception of family about, 233–36
desensitization and, 225–29
difficulty relating to real women caused by, 221–25, 230–33
harmfulness of, for men, 267
Internet and increase in, 213–18
questionnaire to evaluate, 213–14
recovery from, 199–200, 236–39
rush and, 218–20
self-esteem problems as cause of, 223–25
taking habits to real world, 226
12-step programs, 199–201
types of men susceptible to, 217–18
adrenaline, 216
adult film industry, 5, 22, 54, 64
adult video industry, 54
Adult Video News, 6, 54, 87, 184
advertising, 79
Aguilera, Christina, 4, 5, 109, 184
Alba, Jessica, 23
American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 166–67
anal sex, 78, 86, 160, 161, 188
Analyze That (film), 7
Anderson, Pamela, 59, 109, 184
anime, 26
anonymity, 255
anti-porn feminists, 109, 127, 270, 272–74
anti-porn forces, 4
anti-porn women, 124–27, 258–59
art, 241
ARUSH Entertainment, 185
Ashcroft, John, 246, 251, 257
“at risk” users, 215–16
AT&T Broadband, 55, 64
Australia, 264
automobiles, 62–63
Average Girls genre, 76–77
Baldegg, Katherina C., 114
Banks, Brianna, 94, 185
Barbach, Lonnie, 157
Barely Legal, 64
Barron, Michael, 36
Barry, Richard, 167
BearShare, 190
Beaver Hunt, 64
Be Broken Ministries, 20
Beeson, Ann, 251
Behind the Green Door (film), 51
bestiality, 78, 178, 226, 227, 228
Big Champagne, 60
birth control education, 258
Bit Torrent, 59
Black Entertainment Television, 6
Blink 182, 5
Bliss TV, 111
BMX XXX (video games), 185
body image, of women, 2–3, 158, 188
Boink magazine, 114
Bon Jovi, 5
Booble.com, 60
Boogie Nights (film), 7, 266, 270
boredom, 83–85, 91, 224
boys, 16–17, 180–82
access to adult Web sites, 240
conditioned to be visual, 242
first encounters with porn, 174
negative effects on, 187–88, 199
Boy Scouts, 17
brain, male vs. female, 118–19
Bravo (cable network), 6
breast implants, 159–60, 184, 230
Bridges, Jeff, 7
Britain, 264
British Telecom, 196
broadband, 59, 228
Brokester, 59
Brooks, Gary, 80, 95, 186–87, 242
Brown, Randy, 196–97
Bryant, Jennings, 73, 77–78, 80, 89–90, 141, 226, 245
bukkake, 61, 86
Bull, Andy, 254–55
Bundy, Ted, 257
Burt, David, 175–76
Burton Snowboards, 185
Bush, George W., 189
Butts, Seymour, 118, 136
cable TV, 6, 18, 64, 68, 245
à la carte subscriptions, 207
children and, 187
obscenity laws and, 264
porn profits and, 54–56
CAKE, 112, 270
California Supreme Court, 192
Caligula (film), 22
Campbell, Robin, 174
Can You Be a Porn Star? (TV show), 6
Carey, Mary, 6, 69
Carl’s Jr fast-food chain, 7
Carroll, E. Jean, 170
Cathouse (cable TV series), 6
cell phones, 63, 264
censorship, 56, 255, 256
Center for Online Addiction, 213
Cerberian, 29
Chambers, George Paul, 195
Chantrel, Cobe, 247
chat rooms, 179
cheating
lap dance as, 139
online sexual activity as, 163–65
porn as, 236, 246
porn as alternative to, 27–28, 57
Cherry, Donald Eric, 177
Chicago Sun-Times, 123
Chicago Tribune, 242
child molestation, 187, 192, 200, 201, 238
child pornography, 59, 177, 190–201, 254, 255
escalation to, 226–27
first encounters with, 196–98
who uses, 193–98
Child Pornography Prevention Act (1996), 191
children, 172–211. See also
boys
girls addiction to porn in, 180–81, 211–12
effect of porn on, 89, 93, 185–90, 198–99, 203–4, 262
fathers and, 168
first encounter with porn and, 173–78
Internet and, 60, 174–77, 180–81, 203–4, 208–10
need to protect, 202–5
online solicitations of, 202
parent’s porn addiction and, 229, 237–38
porn use by, 51, 56–57
regulation and, 205–10, 261
talking to, about porn, 208–9
Children Online Protection Act (COPA, 1998), 206–7, 251
Christianity Today/Leadership survey, 20
civil liberties, 4, 87, 238, 244, 249, 258. See also First Amendment
Cline, Victor B., 217, 227
CNN (cable TV network), 54
Coché, Judith, 146, 180
Cole, Susan B., 113
college campuses, 114–16, 125–26, 181–82
Columbia House, 54
Comcast, 54–55
Communications Decency Act (1997), 206
community standards, 252
competition, 37, 159–61
Computer Addiction Center (McLean Hospital), 60
comScore, 15, 116
Concerned Women of America, 258
Connelly,
Tom, 184
conservatives, 246, 257–59, 261
Cool Sex (e-mail service), 117, 129
Cooper, Al, 208, 213, 215–16
CosmoGirl!, 4
Cosmopolitan, 110
couples counseling, 144–45, 154–55, 161
couples porn, 122–23, 142–45
Couric, Katie, 142–43
Cowan, Gloria, 174
Cowan-Campbell study, 186
“cum shots,” 14, 95
Cuthbert, Elisha, 7, 110
Cybersex Exposed, 60
cybersex sociology, 60
CyberSmuggling Center (U.S. Customs Department), 175
CyberTipline, 190
Dahmer, Jeffrey, 257
dating, porn as substitute for, 25, 34, 42, 228
Daugherty, Jonathan, 20
Davis, Cynthia, 35–36
Deep Throat, 7
degradation, 88, 123
of men, 267–68
of women, 145, 161, 233, 248, 271–72
dehumanization, 240
Delia’s, 184
demand, need to control, 265–66
Democrats, 249, 252
Denby, David, 217
desensitization, 88–92, 227–29
desperation, 223–25
Detroit Rock City (film), 7
Deyo, David, 195
Digital Playground, 111
Disney World, 8
dissatisfaction, 91, 227–29
distribution regulation, 264
divorce, 166–68, 233
dominance, 86–87, 121. See also sadomasochism
Do Not Call registry, 253
Downes, Sue, 202
drugs, 220
DVDs, 8, 54, 62–63, 181
Dworkin, Andrea, 258
Eagle Forum, 258
eating disorders, 158
EchoStar, 54
ejaculation
delayed, 75, 95, 97–98
on faces of women, 161
focus on, 179
outside of body, 232
Electra, Carmen, 109
Elle, 67, 110, 125, 169–70
Elle-MSNBC.com poll, 15, 82, 87, 91, 106, 116, 117, 125, 136, 147, 153, 155, 160, 166, 216
e-mail, 4, 30, 207
Eminem, 5
Emmanuelle (film), 74
emotions
as component of porn, 223–25, 269
distant, caused by porn, 155–56, 224
lack of, in porn, 41, 61–62
Emotions of Jenna Jameson (DVD), 28
Employment Law Alliance survey, 29–30
entrapment porn, 184
erectile dysfunction, 42, 70, 82, 98, 103, 158, 159
erotica
couples and, 145