WINNIPEG, CANADA — Everybody has a reason why they can’t behave. Michael Leahy wrote the book Porn Nation to explain how an addiction to pornography caused his life to unravel, eventually costing him his career, his wife of 15 years and his two children.Now he’s a celebrity lecturer on college campuses, spreading the anti-porn gospel.
“I couldn’t stop looking at the material,” Leahy told students at the University of Manitoba last week.
And, he said, he’s not alone.
“The increased use of pornographic imagery is having an impact on increasing the sexualization and objectification of people,” he told The Canadian Press. “One of the reasons I come to campuses like the University of Manitoba is students have been soaking in this material ever since they can remember.”
Leahy, 50, said he discovered pornography at age 11. By 1998, he was so obsessed with adult content that he spent too much time on internet porn sites and not enough on his real-world relationships.
“The harm is brought by setting unrealistic expectations in relationships,” he told The Canadian Press. “I just finished a discussion group with some students here, and everyone agreed. It’s like everyone expects a very sexual relationship. They’re not really looking for intimacy anymore. And no one’s really happy with the outcome of that.”
Leahy’s lecture was sponsored by the student group Campus for Christ. One member of the group said although everyone seems to be aware of “the issue,” no one discusses it.
“I think there needs to be an increased awareness of pornography and the effects it’s having on us, how our hypersexual culture is impacting us,” Stacey Hildebrand, 20, told The Canadian Press after the event.
