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LA Times New Porn Column another Symptom of Normalization of Pornography in Society

By Terry Vanderheyden

LOS ANGELES, November 15, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Los Angeles Times has added a regular pornography feature to its Entertainment section, prompting a family advocacy group to charge that the paper is adding to the growing problem of the normalization of pornography in society.

The American Family Association warned that the LA Times has since the spring had reporter Ralph Frammolino write a regular column covering the pornography industry. The AFA’s Ed Vitagliano commented: “The obvious next step,” in a society already over-sexualized would be “. . . for pornography just to be considered another part of the entertainment menu.”

The normalization of pornography by the media combined with an increasing trend to allow sexually explicit content in movies and other entertainment has led one author to credit the American Civil Liberties Union for keeping porn legitimate and allowing continued access to all. “Embracing pornography has become almost a new form of political correctness,” said Pamela Paul, the American author of Pornified: How Pornography is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships and Our Families. “Part of the reason for the change is that the anti-porn voices of the early 1980s . . . were considered to be very extreme. When calls began for censorship of porn back then, liberals and moderates became scared that this could be used to censor feminist books. At that stage the tide turned.”

Paul wrote that even internationally-known porn star Jenna Jameson was stunned while on tour promoting her best-selling memoir, when 13-year-old girls were coming to her to tell her she was their role model. A British survey revealed that 25 percent of 1,000 15-19 year olds surveyed aspired to professions as lap dancers, who do naked gyrations against customers.

A study released in 2002 found that viewing pornography leads to several behavioral, psychological and social problems. The authors concluded that exposure to pornography puts viewers at increased risk for developing sexually deviant tendencies, committing sexual offences, experiencing difficulties in intimate relationships, and accepting of the rape myth. Evidence of a causal connection between pornography and violent sex crimes has also been established.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Pre-Teens Aspiring Porn Stars?
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/sep/05092204.html
Columbia House Marketing Now Used to Push Porn in Mega Deal with Playboy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05011105.html
Hamilton School Children Imitating TV and Internet Porn in Sexual "Experiments"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/apr/04040506.html
Child Porn Among Fastest Growing Internet Businesses
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05110905.html

Read the Chicago Tribune article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0511040116nov04,1,4346028.sto...

Contact the LA Times:
http://www.calendarlive.com/services/site/cl-site-content-policies,0,769597.cust...

1-800-528-9998 or (213) 237-5000

John Carroll
Editor-in-Chief
Los Angeles Times
202 W. 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

 

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