WASHINGTON, D.C. - Enough Is Enough (EIE), a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping
children safe online, commends the Witherspoon Institute on the release of its
new study, The Social Costs of Pornography: A Statement of Findings and Recommendations.
"Any child with unrestricted Internet access is just one click away
from accidentally or intentionally viewing an abundance of free material, from
soft-core pornography to prosecutable material depicting live sex shows,
orgies, bestiality, violence and child sexual abuse," commented EIE President
and former Child Online Protection Act (COPA) Commissioner, Donna Rice Hughes. "For the past fifteen years, Internet
pornography has invaded our homes and pornifed our culture. This important
report serves as a wake-up call to parents and caring adults that no child or
adult is immune to its damaging impact."
The Witherspoon Institute report is the first multidisciplinary
scholarly exploration in the Internet age to chronicle the undeniable evidence
derived from social and neuro-science of the harmful impact and social costs of
pornography, especially Internet pornography. The report found that Internet pornography
is qualitatively and quantitatively different from any of the content that has
come before. Research and data included in the report found that the use of
Internet pornography can have a range of damaging effects on human beings of
all ages and of both sexes, affecting their happiness, their health, their
productivity, their relationships with one another and their functioning in
society, with an especially devastating impact on children and women.
"Pornography is the drug of the millennium and poses a real and present
danger to the mental, emotional and physical health and safety of our
children," Rice Hughes said.
"After having sacrificed an entire generation to the destructive impact
of hard-core pornography, it's time we all collectively say, Enough Is Enough!"
In response to the need to protect children from Internet dangers,
EIE's developed the Internet Safety 101 program to educate, equip and empower
parents, educators and other caring adults to protect children online. The
four-part DVD teaching series, accompanying workbook, and Web site - www.internetsafety101.org - addresses
threats including pornography, sexual predators, cyberbullies. The
high-definition video series includes poignant true stories from young children
and teen victims of Internet pornography as well as critical advice and safety
information from a variety of experts in the field of law enforcement,
technology and psychology about how to keep kids safe in a pornified world.
"It is unprecedented in modern life for parents to shoulder the entire
burden of protecting their children from prosecutable and illegal pornography.
EIE's Internet Safety 101 program serves as a critical resource to equip them
with the knowledge and resources they need to effectively protect their
innocence, " added Dr. Jill Manning, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who served as a featured expert in the
101 video series. Dr. Manning's work was cited heavily in the Witherspoon
report.
The Pornography 101 videos from the series were launched today on
YouTube.
About Enough Is Enough: Enough Is Enough (EIE), a non-partisan, 501(c)(3)
non-profit organization, emerged in 1994 as the national leader on the front
lines to make the Internet safer for children and families. Since then, EIE has
continued to pioneer efforts to confront online pornography, child pornography,
child stalking and sexual predation and other online threats to children by
promoting a three-pronged, preventative approach to create and sustain a safe
and rewarding Internet environment through educating the public, working with the Internet industry and promoting legal solutions to better protect children online.
About The Witherspoon Institute: The Witherspoon Institute is an
independent research center that works to enhance public understanding of the
moral foundations of free and democratic societies. Located in Princeton, New
Jersey, the Institute promotes the application of fundamental principles of
republican government and ordered liberty to contemporary problems. In light of
this purpose, the Institute has a special interest in higher education and the
formation of the next generation of scholars. You can read more about the report at www.socialcostsofpornography.org.
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