CYBERSPACE – Conservative columnist Nathan Tabor argued this week in The Conservative Voice that adult entertainment professionals are responsible for breeding a nation of sex addicts and fueling demand for child sex slaves. Tabor said that law enforcement should consider people who sell adult entertainment to be the same as drug pushers. Tabor suggested prison time for adult entertainment providers, and he also advocated censorship of mainstream Hollywood movies.Although Tabor began his column talking about the serious problem of human trafficking, his rhetoric quickly turned towards attacking the adult entertainment industry.
“What fans the flames of this wildfire of sex slavery and child sex abuse? I personally think it’s the combined influence of the American entertainment and pornography industries,” Tabor wrote.
In recent months, conservative pro-censorship groups have increasingly argued that legal adult pornography is responsible for increasing worldwide demand for child sex slaves. This newest line of rhetoric from pro-censorship businesses seems to be aimed at helping censorship laws get around First Amendment challenges. The sex slavery angle was also brought up at a recent Senate subcommittee hearing on pornography that was organized by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), a hearing that featured only speakers hostile to adult entertainment.
“Pornography is just as addictive as any narcotic drug, as serial sex killer Ted Bundy notoriously admitted just before his execution,” Tabor wrote.
The Ted Bundy case is often referenced by pro-censorship businesses, yet few mention that although Bundy, an active member of the Methodist Church and a former campaign volunteer for the Republican Party, did in fact blame pornography for fueling his crimes, he also blamed violent content in the media and other scapegoats for his murders before he switched to blaming adult entertainment. Bundy did not blame pornography until a final interview right before his death that he granted to staunch anti-pornography activist James Dobson of Morality in Media, an organization that for decades has made its living lobbying Congress to censor adult expression. Yet no pornographic images were found at Bundy’s home.
“Just as drug addictions start small and escalate until they are out of control, so do sexual perversions triggered by pornography,” Tabor continued. “I believe we will see an increase in violent sexual crimes so long as the addictive narcotic of hardcore pornography is readily available on newsstands and TV and the internet.”
At the Brownback hearing earlier this year, activist Judith Reisman, a staunch censorship proponent and well-known pornography foe that Tabor calls “an acknowledged expert in the field of pornography and sex addiction,” testified that pornography is as addictive as crack cocaine. According to Reisman, endorphins (which she calls “erototoxins”) are released into the brain when adult entertainment is viewed, and she claims these endorphins make pornography as addictive as the most addictive illegal drugs.
Endorphins are produced naturally by the body, and can have a number of effects. They are known to reduce stress and fight aging, enhance the immune system, relieve pain and improve memory. Although they can be produced through sexual stimulation, including through the viewing of adult entertainment, they are also produced by exercising, yoga, and acupuncture. They have even been called “the most precious gift to human beings from God.”
Yet according to Tabor’s column, porn addiction is a serious problem and jailing pornographers is the appropriate response.
“The greedy purveyors of pornography are creating more and more sex addicts whose depraved desires ultimately result in carnal crimes against women and children,” Tabor wrote. “Their insatiable demands stimulate amoral slave-traders to increase the supply of helpless victims. The sinful cycle of fleshly lust and greed feeds upon itself and grows.”
“We judge drug traffickers, and especially so-called kingpins, deserving of more severe criminal punishment than casual drug users precisely because their personal greed produces so many human victims. We used to take the same approach toward pornographers, before some misguided ‘free speech’ zealots distorted the original meaning of the First Amendment,” Tabor continued.
Tabor argued last week that dot-xxx domain names should be embraced by conservatives as a means for censoring adult entertainment.
“I am a conservative who believes that we should both welcome and fight FOR the .XXX domain designations,” he wrote. “I believe we should use the tactics of the liberals, who always love to tax and regulate everything, and make ALL porn sites drop their current .COM domains and go to the .XXX URL exclusively.”
This week, however, his solution was more censorship and prison time.
“It’s time we come back to common sense before more irreversible damage is done to countless human lives. If that means “censorship” of Hollywood movies – and stiff prison sentences and heavy fines for those who appear in, produce and distribute hardcore pornography – so be it.”
