By Matt Abbott
Op/Ed
Catholic Online

Harvard. Yale. Vassar. Boston University.

What do they have in common?

Yes, they are indeed known for being prestigious institutions of higher learning. But they have something else in common: Sex magazines flourish in and around their campuses. (Or should I say, campi?)

This according to a March 4, 2007 New York Times Magazine story [warning: contains graphic descriptions], which states: “These days, when anyone can run a virtual media empire out of a dorm room, student-generated sex magazines, some with the imprimatur of university financing and faculty advisers, are becoming a fact of campus life….”

Sad, but true.

Regarding pornography, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states the following:

"[2354] Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials."

Judith Reisman, Ph.D., a longtime vocal opponent of the pornography industry, had this to say in response to the story:

"Women (even most ‘feminist’ women) commonly shape their behavior to increase their market value in the eyes of elite males. If Joe College lusts for Playboy’s ‘Girls of the Ivy League,’ Jill College will strip, strut and flash flesh. Hoping to find ‘love,’ she tells herself she is a ‘free spirit,’ --happily, wildly abandoned. Cashing in on the success of pornography, the pharmaceutical industry sells Jill diet pills to make her thin, all forms of contraception and abortifacient birth control, and, of course, STD medications.

"The Sex Industrial Complex, comprised of the pornography industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the so-called mainstream media and the ACLU, has been colonizing the national mind and memory for over 50 years. The student ‘Sex Week’ is blessed by Yale administrators and a ‘sex aid’ patron. Just how long have college administrators been paid off by the pornography industry?

"Look around. College graduates are current and future clergy, prosecutors, legislators, scientists, educators, judges, fathers and mothers. After 50 years of yawning at ‘adult’ pornography, our spineless justice system is overwhelmed by child pornography and pandemic child sexual abuse. The New York Times reporter says that ‘it wasn’t so long ago that the male collegians of America hid their copies of Playboy deep inside their sock drawers.’

"How long ago? In 1954, Great Grandpa hid Playboy. By 1974, Grandpa hid Penthouse. By 1994, Dad hid Hustler. Now in 2007, Sonny hides child pornography. Where will we be in 2017?

"We paid more than a few pieces of silver to sell out ‘The Greatest Generation’ and the morality they fought and died to preserve. The real victims of that bargain were, and are, inevitably, our children."

Reisman’s Web site is www.drjudithreisman.com.

Bishop Robert Finn’s pastoral letter on the evil of pornography can be found here:
Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph. Click "Our Bishop" on left menu, then scroll down to "Blessed are the Pure in Heart" article.

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(Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic columnist with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, and an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Management from Triton College in River Grove, Ill. He is the former director of public affairs for the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League and the former executive director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee. He was a contributor to The Wanderer Catholic newspaper and had numerous letters to the editor published in major newspapers, including the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.)

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