Thomas Mott Osborne: “Many times, defenders of the first amendment claim that what we hear and see has no bearing on our behavior; hence…”

“Many times, defenders of the first amendment claim that what we hear and see has no bearing on our behavior; hence, pornography is harmless. If this is true, why is it that advertisers spend billions of dollars annually? Obviously, there is a strong connection between what we see and what we hear and what we do. A recent study indicates that 80 percent of molesters of boys regularly use hard-core pornography, and 90 percent of molesters of girls use hard-core pornography. The important thing to realize here is that these people, these perpetrators, are incited by an image. It does not make any difference whether that image is real or virtual. They are incited by that image, and real children are hurt. That is the whole issue, that real children are being hurt by this practice. Pornography is a $15 billion business or industry in our Nation. There were 1 million porn sites on the Internet. This has become a real threat to our young people, and it has become a national disgrace. The courts have consistently allowed more and more obscene material under first amendment protection.”