We the citizens of South Florida want the EXXXOTICA convention out of our area.

Pornography emasculates men, degrades women, destroys marriages, and offends the Lord. You may be thinking: That's going a little overboard, don't you think? I mean, what's wrong with checking out a few Internet sites or going to a pornography convention? Take a look at the effects of pornography, and you will see why real men and women do not use it. 

What does pornography do to men?

For starters, because it cripples his ability to love, it robs him of the capacity to be a man. The essence of manhood consists in readiness to deny oneself for the good of a beloved. This is why Saint Paul reminds husbands in his Letter to the Ephesians that their love must be like that of Christ, who allowed himself to be crucified for the sake of his beloved, the Church (Eph. 5:21-33). Pornography defeats this calling. Instead of denying himself for the good of the woman, a man, through the use of porn, denies the woman her dignity in order to satisfy his lust. In essence, pornography is a rejection of our calling to love as God loves. It is no wonder that those who use it are never satisfied. Only love satisfies. One marriage therapist noted, "People who use pornography feel dead inside, and they are trying to avoid being aware of that pain. There is a sense of liberation, which is temporary: that's why pornography is so repetitive; you have to go back again and again."[1]　

What does pornography do to women?

Since it trains men to think of women as objects to be used instead of persons to be loved, guys speak of them as objects and treat them as objects. One longtime producer in the porn industry admitted "My whole reason for being in this industry is to satisfy the desire of the men in the world who basically don't care much for women and want to see the men in my industry getting even with the women they couldn't have when they were growing up. I strongly believe this, and the Industry hates me for saying it." He added that the porn industry is simply "playpen for the damned."[6] When men learn their concept of intimacy from videos and magazines, they may accept the idea that a woman's no is actually a yes and that she enjoys being used. This can lead to a rapist mentality. Consider, for example, a study done in the Oklahoma City area. When 150 sexually oriented businesses were closed, the rate of rape decreased 27 percent in five years, while the rate in the rest of the country increased 19 percent. In Phoenix, Arizona, neighborhoods with porn outlets had 500 percent more sex offenses than neighborhoods without them. [7]　

What does pornography do to marriages?

To be blunt, pornography is the perfect way to shoot your future marriage in the head. Imagine that a young man has a habit of using pornography, and he does not reveal this to his fiance. He hopes that once he is married, the desires for illicit sexual arousal will subside. But what becomes of his lust once he marries? It does not disappear; it is foisted upon his wife. The pornography has trained him to react to the sexual value of a woman and nothing else. He has trained himself to believe that women should be physically flawless and constantly sexually accessible. Even if he rejects this intellectually, the fact remains that pornography has warped the way he looks at women. You could say that he views the world through porn-goggles. He only knows how to look at women through the lens of lust. One psychologist who specializes in sexuality problems noticed, "The more time you spend in this fantasy world, the more difficult it becomes to make the transition to reality."[8]　

Because the effects of pornography are so severe, Christian communities have an obligation to rid their lives and societies of it. According to Pope John Paul II, God "assigns the dignity of every woman as a task to every man."[10] When we act in a way that is contrary to the dignity of women, we act contrary to our own dignity and vocation as men. For this reason, the Holy Father says, "each man must look within himself to see whether she who was entrusted to him as a sister in humanity, as a spouse, has not become in his heart an object of adultery."[11]　

Even if pornography had no adverse effects on people, we must never forget that sin is not simply a social matter. We owe it to our neighbors to love them, but we also owe it to God to honor him in all our actions and thoughts. To lust after his sons and daughters is a grave sin, even if no one becomes pregnant as a result of another's imagination.

"So shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2:22).

[1]. Estela Welldon, as quoted in Edward Marriott, "Men and Porn" The Guardian (November 8, 2003).

[7]. U.S. Department of Justice, Child Pornography, Obscenity, and Organized Crime (Washington, D.C., February 1988).

[8]. Marriott, "Men and Porn", The Guardian (November 8, 2003).

[11]. Pope John Paul II, apostolic letter, Mulieris Dignitatem 14 (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women) (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 1988

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