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Living in a ‘Porn Nation’

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by Pedro Oliveira Jr.

Friday, February 8, 2008

For many of the nearly 1,300 University of Wisconsin students who attended “Porn Nation” at the Memorial Union Theater Thursday the anti-pornography theme was a surprise.

According to the presenter, some attendees could have thought it was going to be a pro-pornography presentation.

But Michael Leahy, a recovered sex addict who spoke about the effects of hyper- sexualized American culture, said he was “sorry to disappoint,” for the lecture was neither for nor against porn.

During his 90-minute multimedia presentation, Leahy shared his story about recovering from sexual addiction. In addition, he discussed how he came back from a nearly destroyed relationship with his wife, mentioning the risks of a deep immersion into sexual imagery.

According to Leahy, Americans are exposed to more than 14,000 sexual images every year beginning around age 11, and nearly 87 percent of 15 to 17-year-olds have been exposed to hardcore porn. The United States’ pornography industry generates $57 billion per year, making it the largest in the world.

“Sexual addiction is not the problem, but the problem is people who are being sexualized by the culture,” Leahy said.

He said the biggest problem the porn industry creates is that it causes women to think they need to give their bodies to men in order to obtain love and that, accordingly, men need to conquer women in order to be accepted.

Leahy said his first encounter with porn happened around the age of 11, when a group of teenage boys showed him a deck of cards featuring naked women.

“I found that masturbation plus porn equals orgasm,” Leahy said. “I felt like I had invented electricity.”

According to Leahy, the important aspect of the presentation is to start a dialogue about porn, because for so long it has been a taboo subject.

He said he wants people to be educated about porn before they saturate themselves in it, “because there is an underlying message that goes with porn — it makes sex more of a commodity instead of an extremely powerful component of a relationship.”

Some of the students present were surprised with the content of the presentation.

“I learned something; I thought it was going to be a boring presentation on how sex is bad,” UW freshman Brady Cavanuagh said. “It was very interesting.”

Leahy has been featured on several reports including ABC’s 20/20 and The View. He has presented Porn Nation on more than 120 college campuses across the nation.

Madison’s chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ sponsored the event.

— Laura Sexauer and Ken Harris contributed to this report.

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