De-Porning Our Culture
With only a week until the Australian release of Fifty Shades of Grey, I thought it would be timely to do a round-up of some of the best anti-porn resources available on the web.
Before we go any further, if you’re not familiar with the movie and books by the same name - and which are nothing less than porn masquerading as romance - then you can read some quotes here at goodreads.com. Believe me, you wouldn’t want to read any more than this.
However did ‘mommy porn’ become a genre? That’s what I’d like to know.
Anyway, on to some tools to help roll back this scourge known as pornography.
LifeSiteNews is starting to devote a lot of space to posts about porn, and many include scientific research about the effects of porn on our brains. LSN has a petition to boycott Fifty Shades here and a Facebook page, Say No To Porn, here.
Your Brain on Porn is an informative site which includes thousands of tips for re-setting a porn-addicted brain. This isn’t a Christian site, so expect to find testimonies by people engaging in premarital sex.
Another secular resource is Beauty Redefined. Their website states that ‘Beauty Redefined is dedicated to taking back beauty for females everywhere through teaching people to recognize and reject harmful messages about female bodies in media and cultural discourse.’
This site is especially aimed at young girls who may be struggling with their body image, but it goes a lot deeper than that, exposing anomalies in the media and objectification in general. They are staunchly anti-porn, as you can read here.
Donny’s Ramblings is the website run by former porn-producer, Donny Pauling. Donny knows the porn industry well and as a Christian (and more recently, as a Catholic) now devotes his time to exposing the sleazy workings behind this often glamorised profession.
My friend, Jack Sonnemann, has been trying to alert church leaders and politicians to the dangers of pornography for many years. At his website Australian Federation for the Family, you can find many Australian resources including Jack’s video, “The Proven Link Between Pornography and Sexual Violence”, which is also available as a hard-copy.
The Chastity Project is a great group of resources for parents and teenagers; it is steeped in Catholic teaching and advice in their FAQs always includes prayer and attending Mass. There is info on chastity, as well as vocations, birth control, porn and much more. Most resources are based on JPII’s Theology of the Body.
Fr. Matthew Schnieder has compiled a very practical list of actions any Catholic can take in their battle with porn - it’s actually the most practical advice I’ve come across since reading about this topic. I hope you or someone you know finds it helpful, too.
One of Fr. Matthew’s suggestions is to install accountability software. An American company that provides this service is Covenant Eyes, which offers a filter as well as its accountability software for personal use, families, and groups such as churches. Covenant Eyes also offers a subscription to their helpful emails about related topics including porn statistics, purity tips and family support.
As a mother, I’m sometimes tempted to think that this all-pervading porn-culture is just too big a problem. But, God is bigger. He has given us His grace to overcome evil with good: we just have to start with ourselves. Purity and sanctity are the means to turning this culture around.
