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A “tsunami” of obscene, violent and degrading pornography is harming children, women, men and the American culture, a panel of experts told a Capitol Hill briefing Tuesday.
The standing-room-only event was organized by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and led by NCSE officials Patrick Trueman and Dawn Hawkins.
Panelists urged members of Congress to see that pornography is linked to sexual victimization, prostitution, human trafficking, child abuse and addiction — and hold hearings on these topics.
All of this makes pornography “a public health crisis,” said therapist Cordelia Anderson, an advocate for child abuse victims. It’s a “sexual tsunami,” said psychotherapist Mary Anne Layden, a specialist in treatment of sexual abuse victims and perpetrators.
Public education is needed about modern-day pornography and how it is impacting people, said Ms. Anderson. She described a young adult man who uses pornography and now has premature erectile dysfunction, and a child rape victim, now a mother, who is worried about her stubborn addiction to violent pornography.
