Information and Interactive tools on how to put the family back together.
       


 
Family Fragments Blog

News from across the porn-o-sphere

posted on 7:47 AM | permalink

by Justin Hart

I like to start these posts with some positive news:

MySpace

MySpace has agreed with the 50-some-odd Attorney Generals who were knocking at their door: time to get serious about online predators.

You might recall last year a news story where over 10,000 sexual predators were found to have a profile on MySpace. This is not a pretty site.

Fortunately, MySpace has agreed to basic identity checks and age verification to avoid ugly incidents. Other points of the agreement include:
  • Allow parents to submit children's e-mail addresses to MySpace to prevent anyone from misusing the addresses to set up profiles
  • Make the default setting "private" for 16- and 17-year-old users
  • Respond within 72 hours to complaints about inappropriate content and devote more staff and resources to classify photographs and discussion groups
  • Strengthen software to find underage users
  • Create a high school section for users under 18 years old
My guess is that other social networking sites will follow suit. Facebook is currently surpassing MySpace on sign-ups. Arm yourself with our free Facebook guide to protect your kids on this popular site.


The results of addiction

If you haven't noticed already we've redesigned the HerStoryLives.com website. The stories told there are both eye-opening and inspiring. The site is a place to share the tragedies and successes that women have experienced in their lives around pornography addiction. The site allows women to anonymously share these stories.

Here's one story you must read: a stark confession of a teenage addict and his road to recovery.


Porn Taxes

A state senator from Pennsylvania is proposing a tax on the production and distribution of pornography. We applaud her efforts.


China cracks down

China has begun to clean up its image before the Olympics opens its doors:
China's authorities shut down 44,000 domestic websites and homepages and arrested 868 people while investigating 524 criminal cases in a campaign against Internet pornography last year, a national teleconference has heard.

Another 1,911 people involved in 1,609 Internet pornography activities were penalized, while the authorities canceled more than 440,000 pornographic messages online.

I'm worried about what happens to those arrested but I applaud their efforts. Note: North Korea is still the largest producer of pornography from what I understand.


The Family Friendly Airwaves

There's a battle afoot to determine what happens with the next band of wireless communications. One group, the Family Research Council, wants to use this spectrum for family friendly communications.

Other Good Reads

Labels: , , , , ,

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • DiggNews from across the porn-o-sphere
  • Fark:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • Furl:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • Ma.gnolia:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • Netscape:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • NewsVine:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • Reddit:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • Slashdot:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • StumbleUpon:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • TailRank:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • Technorati:News from across the porn-o-sphere
  • YahooMyWeb:News from across the porn-o-sphere

Post a Comment




And the beat goes on

posted on 7:59 AM | permalink

Let's be clear. The fish which we are trying to fry here in America is a big fish. But there are other fish in the sea so to speak. A few weeks ago we noted a report from the UK Dept. of Justice citing research that shows the harmful effects of pornography. Prompted by this official government document, many groups in the UK are now demanding a closer look at the filth that permeates the airwaves.

Down under, the worst case scenario has surfaced. Backwoods aboriginals have gotten hooked on pornography. An epidemic of child abuse has arisen. This has led to serious introspection in Australia and New Zealand. A new report shows that a third of all teenage girls in Australia have been "sexually harassed via the Internet". On top of that, another study showed that teenage girls are copying sex acts from online pornography. A pedophile's dream, a parent's nightmare to be sure.

Of course, in the States, we're hardly exempt from these influences. New Jersey State Troopers arrested an Allentown man last week for arranging prostitution for two teenage girls. Still, many pundits continue to water down the effects of pornography on the nation. Some cite a supposed drop in rape and sexual crimes over the past few years but fail to mention the rise in sexual misconduct across schools in America.

But far worse than the actual crimes committed are the number of marriages destroyed by pornography. Research confirms that a person who views pornography is more than 3 times more likely to have an affair. There are serious ramifications for these issues that we cannot ignore. Quick note: the national Cyber Tip Line has received over 1500 reports of child pornography... just last week.

On the positive side of things, there are those that are still fighting the good fight. The local chapter of the Catholic Daughters of the Americans in Columbus, OH have been doing just that for over 15 years. Morality in Media recently applauded there efforts. Or the relentless Peggie Miller and her efforts to curb the addiction.

We should also note that churches, pastors and parishes across the country are waking up to this serious issue; the business world is taking note of their liabilities and technology companies are stepping up to the plate. Of course, none of the approaches can be taken by itself. A comprehensive approach to tackling pornography addiction is seriously needed.

But we have a mountain to climb to make it happen. There are people who will use all their talents and skills to oppose us. Many simply do not see the danger that they promote. The "porn fairy" defense simply will not fly.

To be clear, we are under no illusion that pornography is going away. Rather, we envision a world where the vice is shunned, spurned and recognized as a serious threat to society. A world where the negative consequences or producing and distributing pornography will far outweigh the financial benefits.

But while we're focused like a laser on our unique mission at the Lighted Candle Society we will be challenging certain egregious efforts that cannot be ignored.

Labels:

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us:And the beat goes on
  • DiggAnd the beat goes on
  • Fark:And the beat goes on
  • Furl:And the beat goes on
  • Ma.gnolia:And the beat goes on
  • Netscape:And the beat goes on
  • NewsVine:And the beat goes on
  • Reddit:And the beat goes on
  • Slashdot:And the beat goes on
  • StumbleUpon:And the beat goes on
  • TailRank:And the beat goes on
  • Technorati:And the beat goes on
  • YahooMyWeb:And the beat goes on

Post a Comment




The ugly news behind the ugly news

posted on 7:33 AM | permalink

Nazi Porn

As if Nazism didn't have enough of a bad reputation. A new documentary examines booklets published in the 1960s (in Israel of all places) depicting pornography, rapes and killings at the hands of SS soldiers. The New York Times notes:
Mr. Libsker’s 60-minute documentary puts the Stalags under a spotlight for the first time and exposes some uncomfortable truths. One is that the Stalags were a distinctly Israeli genre, created by Israeli publishers and penned by Israeli authors, although they had masqueraded as translations from English and were written in the first person as if they were genuine memoirs.

When Political Correctness goes very badly

A homosexual couple, posing as model foster parents, were finally found to be sexually abusing the young males put in their care and producing child pornography videos to boot. As the investigative panel concluded:
Despite growing reservations by staff and complaints from the mother of two of the boys, the two men were treated by the authorities as "trophy carers" who, because of their status as homosexuals were regarded as beyond scrutiny. An independent investigative panel has found that officials of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, controlled by the Labour Party, allowed "the fear of being discriminatory" to lead them to "fail to discriminate between the appropriate and the abusive."

Chalk one local win up for decency

Fairview Heights, Il voted to deny adult businesses in their community. Kudos.


"It's all in my defense"

A defense lawyer was accused of letting his client, an accused pedophile and child pornographer, spend too much time examining the evidence against him. In other words, the accused was ogling the porn he created that got his arrested. Ugly.


Speaking of ugly. How about some stats.

One software platform for family internet use put out some stats that should wake up any concerned parent:

* The average age when the children encounter pornography in the internet is 11.

* The age of the largest pornography consumer group in the internet is Between 12 to 17.

* 85% of children between the ages 6-16 encountered pornographic content intentionally or unintentionally (most of them while preparing their homework).

* 25% of children between ages 9-17 will freely disclose their home address in the internet.

* 60% of children who committed suicide, declared their intentions online directly or indirectly.

* One in five children who use the computer chat rooms has been approached over the internet by pedophiles.

* Only 25% of youth who received sexual solicitation told a parent.


Salary for appraising pornography: $300/hr

Laura Henkel spends her days living on a houseboat and appraising erotic art. Nice work if you can get it? But I really don't get it.

Henkel worked for 18 years as a legal secretary in Miami and San Francisco before changing careers and getting a doctorate in human sexuality at San Francisco's Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.

She is now leading an effort by the Exodus Trust, the institute's parent organization, to set up the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas by next January.


In other unspeakable news


A man faces extradition to the United States after filming the rape of his daughter. While we can all disagree on the effect of pornography we can at least agree what should happen to this guy.


Google Brazil: Help us fix it


In a first for Google, Sao Paulo authorities will be able to help monitor and capture illegal content on Orkut, Google's social networking platform.

Labels: , , , , , ,

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • DiggThe ugly news behind the ugly news
  • Fark:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • Furl:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • Ma.gnolia:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • Netscape:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • NewsVine:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • Reddit:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • Slashdot:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • StumbleUpon:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • TailRank:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • Technorati:The ugly news behind the ugly news
  • YahooMyWeb:The ugly news behind the ugly news

Post a Comment




You know that porn is bad for you when...

posted on 8:07 AM | permalink

You know porn is a bad for you when...

This week in the New Yorker magazine, Naomi Wolfe vindicates her feminist anti-pornography counterpart Andrea Dworkin. In a stunning a admission for the queen of American sexualization, Wolf declares:
As she [Dvorkin] foretold, pornography did breach the dike that separated a marginal, adult, private pursuit from the mainstream public arena. The whole world, post-Internet, did become pornographized. Young men and women are indeed being taught what sex is, how it looks, what its etiquette and expectations are, by pornographic training—and this is having a huge effect on how they interact.
As always, Wolf is a bit more nuanced in her denunciation of pornography but we welcome her to the fight. Like Professor Jensen, Wolf asserts that Pornogrpahy strips men of their masculinity.

Keeping porn off the cellphone


Last week AT&T launched parental controls for cell phones. While it might seem a silly and pithy thing consider this man busted after he list his PDA which contained over 500 child pornography images. The article points out that the software is not full proof but it does provide some decent controls for concerned parents.

HBO welcomes the Full Monty

We're not talking about Monty Python either. In a first for primetime paid cable, HBO is launching a new series called "Tell Me You Love Me" depicting the sex life of several couples and featuring full frontal male nudity. I'm sure the polling indicates some demand for this? One media pundit notes that there has been nothing like this before, not even on HBO.

50 Cents, Model Father?

In a revealing interview with an Aussie magazine, 50 Cents, the renown rap artist, had this to say about his son, his lyrics and pornography:
His son now attends a private school. Is he a strict father? "You know, his mom runs his life right now. But I'll allow him to listen to my music because he knows it is just entertainment. He knows what the difference between me and what is being said on my records is. If you were worried about my lyrics, you should also be worried about what your kid's watching on television. Same with magazines. I look in your magazines and I see women topless and it's great. But in the States, they consider it soft pornography. They have a whole different vibe over there. The Bible belt."
His attitude is not at all surprising considering the content of his last hit. Personally, I like topless cars.

"He hasn't been able to really answer that"

The above quote is from the lawyer of a man who took explicit picture of his own pre-teen daughter trying to answer the question "why" he did it. That seems to be the answer of many men who have been addicted to pornography. Of course, Dr. Reisman can tell you exactly why this response is so frequently cited by porn addicts.

A bad, bad combination

At the Lighted Candle Society we often compare the addiction of pornography to drug addiction or alcohol abuse. The sad combination of these three led to the violent and terrible rape and murder of a nursing student in Canada last year. It appears that the murderer was drunk, high on marijuana and "consult[ed] the Internet for violent pornography" at the time of the offence. I should note that not all porn addicts are rapists but almost all rapists are porn addicts. The combination of even two of these elements is quite enough. We would argue that porn alone can do you in.

When all else fails?

We've mentioned before the unique approaches that churches are employing to help people with porn addiction. This Decatur, IL church uses a slightly suggestive billboard and registered the domain: mybestsexlife.com" to bring awareness to the issue. A good debate can be had pro- and con- this approach but it certainly indicates that what has gone before hasn't worked. Which is why the Lighted Candle Society is business.

The Top Ten List

I love making top ten lists... but this is one I plan to avoid. Jon Schillaci is the 488th person to join the FBI's top ten most wanted list. This is one of the first wanted persons whose crime is pedophilia. Read about this case here and if you see this man get him locked up now!


Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • DiggYou know that porn is bad for you when...
  • Fark:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • Furl:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • Ma.gnolia:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • Netscape:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • NewsVine:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • Reddit:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • Slashdot:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • StumbleUpon:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • TailRank:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • Technorati:You know that porn is bad for you when...
  • YahooMyWeb:You know that porn is bad for you when...

Post a Comment




Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS

posted on 11:37 AM | permalink

The AVN Media Network, the news arm for the adult pornography industry, has taken notice of the Lighted Candle Society and our efforts supporting civil litigation against the pornography industry.

As someone once told me, "you know you've arrived when they mock up a photo of you!"

Superimposing the LCS logo on a lock is tame stuff for what they could do.

We welcome the debate.

Labels: ,

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • DiggAdult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • Fark:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • Furl:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • Ma.gnolia:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • Netscape:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • NewsVine:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • Reddit:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • Slashdot:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • StumbleUpon:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • TailRank:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • Technorati:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS
  • YahooMyWeb:Adult Video Industry Takes Note of LCS

Post a Comment




Porn 2.0

posted on 11:48 AM | permalink

Recent developments in the online Porn industry are not surprising but terribly disconcerting. Note these recent startups:
  • One start-up attempts to replicate the popular video sharing website YouTube but with a porn twist of course
  • Capitalizing on the increasing trends of voyeurism and amateur porn, another site allows anyone to upload their own porn.
  • A virtual reality world focused almost solely on pornography and virtual sex.
  • As if college kids didn't have enough sex on the brain... Playboy steps in with a user-sharing website for pornography restricted to college-age kids. See here.
  • A new private investment site promising high quality pictures of women screening for content. Essentially, a high end virtual men's club.
What does all of this mean? Well, with the recent news that the Porn industry is losing out to homemade porn... they had to do something.

Labels: ,

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us:Porn 2.0
  • DiggPorn 2.0
  • Fark:Porn 2.0
  • Furl:Porn 2.0
  • Ma.gnolia:Porn 2.0
  • Netscape:Porn 2.0
  • NewsVine:Porn 2.0
  • Reddit:Porn 2.0
  • Slashdot:Porn 2.0
  • StumbleUpon:Porn 2.0
  • TailRank:Porn 2.0
  • Technorati:Porn 2.0
  • YahooMyWeb:Porn 2.0

Post a Comment