It has been a great sigh of relief for many Alabama citizens after the state declared pornography a public health crisis, which was unanimously passed in the Senate.
Practicing marriage and family therapist Melea Stephens has published an article in AL.com, in which she explained the importance of the Alabama Resolution to Declare Pornography a Public Health Crisis.
She explained that declaring pornography a public health crisis has not been a moral, political, or religious statement. She also said it has nothing to do with the censorship of legal material.
In fact, she said the declaration would equip people with important facts and raise awareness on the health or justice issues caused by illegal pornography.
Stephens, who is the founder of the Rescue Innocence Movement, said, “As a marriage and family therapist in private practice for 20 years, I have become intimately familiar with the devastating effects associated with today’s easily accessible internet pornography.”
“Because I frequently focus on infidelity recovery and sexual intimacy enhancement cases, I have become very familiar with the often long-term negative effects of hardcore internet pornography on sexual intimacy, sexual performance, trust, fidelity, and self-esteem in committed relationships,” she continued.
“I am also familiar with the isolation, anxiety, depression, compulsive sexual behavior, and erectile dysfunction associated with pornography addiction. I know very well the challenges and benefits of recovery,” she added. “What I did not know about hardcore pornography until halfway through my career was the often immediate and damaging effects of exposure to hardcore internet pornography on the developing brain of a child.”
Stephens also said she has seen families bringing their kids to her clinic who are addicted to internet pornography and those kids would go to any extent to gain access.
The family therapist explained that our federal obscenity laws are not being enforced, leaving people, especially the youth, more vulnerable to the devastating health effects of pornography.
Stephens, who is also a board member of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said, “Numerous neuroscience-based studies have revealed the potentially harmful effects of pornography on the brain, in particular, the developing brain of children and adolescents.”
“Today’s mainstream pornography is no longer the softcore centerfold of past decades but is child-, incest-, and rape-themed, hardcore, violent, highly degrading material. Exposing a child to this material can have traumatic effects and is tantamount to a form of child sexual abuse,” she added. You can read more about her clinical experiences related to illegal pornography on AL.com.
