by Daniel Gilman:

Everything in me wanted to leave that fight to someone else. I just wanted to combat sexual abuse and human trafficking, when I stumbled upon the brutal reality that meant if I wanted to fight those things, I had to turn my attention to fighting porn. Porn is both private and personal for so many nice and normal people. But I realized that if I was serious about safeguarding Canadians from sexual abuse I had to take on this fight. I didn’t come to this issue because of family values or religion, as much as I may value and embrace both of those. I came to confront porn because I wanted Canadian children safe from sexual abuse.

Here’s some of the research I couldn’t look away from: According to Dr. Robert Jensen of the University of Texas in his paper “Pornography and Sexual Violence” “My own studies and reviews of other examinations of content suggest there are a few basic themes in pornography: (1) All women at all times want sex from all men. (2) women enjoy all the sexual acts that men perform or demand, and; (3) any woman who does not at first realize this can be easily turned with a little force, though force is rarely necessary because most of the women in pornography are the imagined nymphomaniacs; about whom many men fantasize.”

Among perpetrators of sex crimes, adolescent exposure to pornography is a significant predictor of elevated violence and victim humiliation. According to the in-depth Report of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography: “…Clinical and experimental research … [has] focused particularly on sexually violent material, [and] the conclusions have been virtually unanimous. In both clinical and experimental settings, exposure to sexually violent materials has indicated an increase in the likelihood of aggression. More specifically, the research, … shows a causal relationship between exposure to material of this type and aggressive behaviours towards women.”

I have walked with men to the police station and child services to turn themselves in for sexual abuse. They had been addicted to porn and what they watched turned into what they did and in doing so they, just like the statistics warn us, hurt some of the women closest to them. If we want to protect Canadians from sexual abuse we need to take the warning of this research seriously.

It’s sometimes tough to remember, but critically important that there is good news in these dark numbers. Realizing that porn is tied to sexual abuse, means that as we fight porn we can make a meaningful difference against sexual abuse. As men and women choose to find freedom from porn, as you begin pointing others toward freedom from porn as well, we will see a dramatic decrease in abuse. Join me in fighting against sexual abuse and porn. Lets make a difference.