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Business, Free Enterprise and Constitutional Issues; Pro-Life and Pro Second Amendment. Susan Lynn is a member of the Tennessee General Assembly. She serves as Chairman of the Consumer and Human Resources subcommittee, a member of the Finance Ways and Means Committee and the Ethics Committee. She holds a BS in economics and a minor in history.

Monday, November 05, 2007

White Ribbon Week

Its WRAP week – will you wear a white ribbon?

WRAP stands for white ribbons against pornography. Its founders are fighting the objectification of women and the dehumanization of both female and male participants in pornography.

Sound familiar? The mainstream women’s movement gave up on this idea long ago. Instead, now sending the message it’s not exploitation if a woman exploits herself – It is power.

Many of the founders of WRAP are thirty something’s that have fled the porn industry to turn their lives around. Their heartbreaking testimonies tell of their own exposure as children to pornographic materials their parents had hidden in the house. This led to desensitization, early experimentation, abuse and, for them, careers in the porn industry. Their mission now is to spread the message of how the secret of pornography often leads both children and adults into destructive sexual addictions that tear families apart and destroy careers.

WRAP’s fight is not only against the formal porn industry but the many ways it spills over into the mainstream media today. In fact, the porn industry makes more revenue than all major television and cable news networks combined. No wonder these mainstream TV channels air some of the questionable programming that they do – the numbers tell them that this is what people want to see.

Often promoting rape and other anti-social behaviors, WRAP points to the increasing sexual violence and molestation of children by adults and authority figures as behaviors extending from the porn industry.

The statistics are staggering. Law enforcement tells us that they are able to track the Internet viewing of child pornography. It is a problem that not only endangers children worldwide but right here in our city. They also know that so-called “adult” pornography is commonly used by pedophiles to desensitize their child victim and break down their resistance to sexual acts.

The Supreme Court has ruled that obscenity is not protected speech so we do have laws to protect people that don’t want themselves or their children to be exposed. What WRAP is trying to wake us up to is the addiction, the objectification, the desensitizing effects, and the crimes that extend from the industry. Recognizing the harm to children, women and men worldwide, they’re asking for you and me to think about it and make a commitment not to support this industry.

When we pay to go see or rent many R rated movies, subscribe to cable movie channels such as Showtime, even watching some evening network TV programming we're supporing an extention of this industry.

If I had one wish, I’d wish that I could tell each young woman today, your femininity is a lovely gift that is part of what makes you the special young lady that you are but please know you don’t ever need to exploit your sexuality to prove your worth to anyone.

To mothers, I’d urge them, protect your children from graphic images on the Internet and in the media like a mama bear protecting her cubs. “Not my child!” should be your cry if anyone exposes your children to graphic images.

And to Fathers, guarding your family from every harm is your first priority. It’s important.

Indeed WRAP wants all of us to know that guarding society starts first with guarding ourselves.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Representative Lynn,

I just wanted to say Kudos to you for speaking up about White Ribbons Against Pornography (WRAP Week), and making Tennessee aware. These things that you mentioned are so true, and so sad. 40% of spouses who view porn, will have their marriages destroyed; the average age a child views porn is 11, some say 9 more recently, the effects will last a lifetime and spiral out of control because of it. This isn't something we can just shake our heads at, and then become complacent about, aka: sloth, but this is an epidemic. Porn is tied to human trafficking, money laundering, drugs, moffia, prostitution, the list could go on. I'm so thankful for your governmental leadership, in standing up for morality and letting everyone know about WRAP-its killing our American families, in which some call it the soul cancer-how sad. Thank you for your leadership in letting Tennessee know about the detrimental effects of pornography Representative Lynn, and making people aware that they should guard their families. You should be commended for this & I thank you, and I know many other Tennessee women & American women thank you.
Tiffany
Founder
Girls Against Porn.com

Anonymous said...

I am grateful to Representative Lynn for her courage to stand up for Truth!!
Sarah in Nashville

Anonymous said...

To all the men my age (53) who had their images of women formed for them by the likes of Hugh Hefner, I cannot even measure in retrospect how much damage that level of imprinting wrought in my own life, so there is no way to estimate the amount of havoc that internet pornography now wreaks on the lives of my own children and this entire generation.
If maintaining constitutionally protected freedoms of speech require preservation of the ability to imprint young minds and produce sexual addictions, there must be a continuous effort made to bring this under control.
A friend, who managed one of the largest unified school district computer networks in the country, disclosed to me that more than 30% of the school system's enormous network bandwidth was being used for pornogrphy. That is outrageous.
Thanks for raising this awareness Rep. Lynn, and also for presenting the role model of a woman in leadership for my own daughter to see.

Anonymous said...

Let me first state that I abhor pornography. I agree with Rep. Lynn that it is degrading to all involved.

I am confused, however, as I read over past blog thoughts and consider political involvement in what many consider moral issues.

Rep. Lynn is clearly against pornography, but pornography seems to do wonders for revenue. She is clearly against criminalizing smoking in public (see past blog), because it does wonders for revenue. I am sure we would all agree that both have no redeeming value, that both cause irreversable harm to the individual, but both are legal forms of recreation (if that's the right word?) for those of age.

I just get a weird feeling when politicians choose one vice over another.