News Release
For Immediate Release: March 16, 2011
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
Pro-Decency Group Contacts all PA Congressmen and US Senators
(Harrisburg) – As the member of a coalition of national and state groups which have come together to address the problem of illegal adult pornography, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA) contacted each of Pennsylvania’s nineteen Congressmen and Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey. The purpose of the fax, except for one, was to ask the Congressmen and Senators to sign onto a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking that he vigorously enforce the laws against illegal adult pornography.
“One Congressman, Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania’s 16th District, has signed onto the Holder letter. Our fax to him was a thank you for his stand to protect not only Pennsylvania families, but families throughout America. He understands the dangers of the scourge of pornography on this country. Our hope is the other 20 who were elected to represent Pennsylvanians in Washington, DC will also see the need to enforce the law,” commented Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
The faxes included information from the Final Report of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography:
1.) We have reached the conclusion, unanimously and confidentially … that substantial exposure to sexually violent materials … bears a causal relationship to anti-social acts of sexual violence and, for some subgroups, possibly to unlawful acts of sexual violence (page 39).
2.) “The non-violent … material studies … portray women as ‘masochistic, subservient … nymphomaniacs and overresponsive to serving the male interest” (page 41). “Substantial exposure to materials of this (non-violent) variety is likely to increase the extent to which those exposed will view rape or other forms of sexual violence as less serious than they otherwise would have and will view the victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence as significantly more responsible … and will increase the acceptance of the proposition that women like to be forced into sexual practices” (page 42).
3.) Perhaps the most significant potential harm in non-violent materials exists with respect to children … much, probably most, and maybe even all material in this category … is harmful when it falls into the hands of children. We have little doubt that much of this material finds its way into the hands of children. For children to be taught by these materials that sex is public, that sex is commercial and that sex can be divorced from any degree of affection, love, commitment or marriage is the wrong message at the wrong time (page 45).
4.) Studies by social scientist Dr. W.L. Marshall found that almost half of rapists used pornography depicting consenting sex to arouse themselves preparatory to seeking out a victim to rape. Other investigators have reported that rapists and child molesters use pornography both immediately prior to their crimes and during the actual assault.
In Paris Adult Theater I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49 (1973), the Supreme Court recognized that there are “legitimate” governmental interests at stake in “stemming the tide of commercialized obscenity” (at 57).
These governmental interests include:
1.) Protecting the quality of life and total community environment (at 58)
2.) Protecting public safety (at 58)
3.) Maintaining a decent society (at 59-60)
4.) Protecting the social interest in order and morality (at 61)
5.) Protecting family life (at 63)
“We also informed the Congressmen and Senators that display of porn is a frequent factor in sexual harassment and viewing porn reduces productivity. Our faxes noted the 2009 case where the Gettysburg Park Superintendent was found accessing porn on a government computer. Now is the time for the other 18 Congressman, Senator Bob Casey, Jr. and Senator Pat Toomey to sign onto the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder,” Gramley stated.
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