In case you didn't know it yet, May has been designated as Victims of Pornography Month. (We're not making this up.) And there's a national press conference with alleged victims set for May 2, 10 a.m. EDT at the National Press Club, according to the Free Speech Coalition - which is hosting, ironically enough, Celebrate Free Speech in Sacramento, Calif. the following weekend.
The press conference will, reportedly, show off the so-called secondary effects syndrome in full regalia: porn's presumed relationship to sexual violence and exploitation, as well as announcing new bids "to protect children, women and men from the (alleged) harmful effects" of porn, the FSC said.
"Pornography is not a victimless crime," Vickie Burress, national coordinator of the Victims of Pornography campaign, told various media groups. "It is the most vulnerable of our population who are at risk from pornography's damaging effects."
Plans for Victims of Pornography Month include some anti-porn groups releasing a 30-second broadcast spot in 10 major U.S. cities. "Perhaps we can demand equal time," the FSC said wryly. The stated goal of the spot is to inform people of "the harms of pornography," as well as "steps (they) can take to protect themselves and their communities."
"We should demand equal time, though I think we'd have a hard time getting our spots up as public service announcements," said FSC lobbyist Kat Sunlove. "But I think it's sad that these folks have such a twisted view of the kind of material that so many other Americans fully enjoy and appreciate."
They've even got a Website - www.victimsofpornography.org - to offer online help.
And just who are the "victims of pornography?" According to the Website, they are
- Wives of men pre-occupied with pornography and the sex industry \n- Women who are being treated with disrespect and sexually abused \n- Young women trapped in an industry that exploits them and uses them as mere sex objects \n- Boys and girls who have lost their innocence by viewing pornography at an early age \n- Children used for the sexual satisfaction of fathers, stepfathers, and men they trusted \n- Young men exposed to a false image of sexuality \n- Men who just can't stop using pornography or stimulating themselves while recalling those images \n- Society that has become desensitized to the pure nature of sexuality
"As pro-family groups representing over 30 million families met to discuss the issue of pornography in America today, we could not forget the many victims," organizers say on the Website. "Many of these pro-family groups decided to recognize these victims during the month of May each year through a variety of efforts.
"... [There is] an entire generation of people, who in many instances have become desensitized and robbed of decency, conscience, morality and compassion for others," they continue. "The situation can be attributed to the secular media who is confused about First Amendment rights. Therefore, society is often unaware that innocent people are hurt and becoming victims of pornography. The general public is unaware that the skyrocketing number of people who are effected in their own neighborhoods by rape, molestation, disrespect and crime is, in most part, due to the tidal wave of pornography and sexually oriented businesses in their community."
Sunlove called that "backward logic" with no real connection to porn.
"Pornography is not alive," she said. "It is not capable of doing harm to people. People harm people.... If one of those victims was somehow forced into producing, or being in, or looking at, sexual material, it is nothing to do with the sexual material itself; force is the problem. Violence is the problem. Coercion is the problem. And we have laws to deal with those things, and I'm all for [those laws]."
