For men, they begin to view sex and women as a conquest, and seek it out as a way to prove their adequacy. For women, they see sex as a way of showing love or as a kind of relationship security.

Whether weve enjoyed it or not, most of us have seen some form of pornographic material at one point in our lives.

This controversial form of entertainment was the topic of a Feb. 22 presentation, Porn Nation, which was given by recovered sex addict Michael Leahy.

The presentation, which was sponsored by the Campus Crusade for Christ, began with a video which interviewed 20 college students about their feelings about pornography. Most of the students felt that viewing pornographic material was a personal choice, and a fairly common thing on most college campuses.

Leahy was 11 years old when he first encountered porn on a deck of playing cards. From that point on, he began to look at porn every now and then. By the time he got to college, he was using it recreationally.

This may not seem like such a big deal, but there are serious emotional effects of this so-called sex addiction.

For men, they begin to view sex and women as a conquest, and seek it out as a way to prove their adequacy.

For women, they see sex as a way of showing love or as a kind of relationship security. In both cases, these people are being set up for failure. Having sex doesnt prove how much of a man you are any more than it proves how much someone loves you.

This isnt to say that pornography always leads to a sex addiction, but the hyper-sexed media of today is influencing our lives and our decisions, like it or not.

Leahy learned this the hard way. He met his wife in his last year of college and married her soon after graduating. They moved to the suburbs and started their life together. Leahy assumed he would leave the porn and sex-based relationships behind. Unfortunately, he couldnt. This eventually led to an affair and heart-breaking divorce.

Dictionary.com defines pornography as sexually explicit pictures, writing or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal.

According to this, porn is not just the typical sex video or naked pictures on the Internet, but includes all the things we see in the media everyday, such as scenes from shows like The Real World, racy pictures of half-naked women in magazine ads, or even those cheesy romance novels so many of us girls have enjoyed. If this is the case, then each and every one of us comes in contact with some form of pornography numerous times in our everyday life.

And really, how could we not? The porn industry makes $57 billion per year worldwide, and the country that produces and exports the most porn in the world? Well surprise, surprise, its America. The United States has more adult stores than McDonalds, by a two to one ratio.

Leahy managed to come past his addiction. The thing that changed his life may not be what you expect.

Leahy came back to the stage after a break and told us hed tried talking to therapists, but they were no help. He lost his wife and family, but that didnt stop his problem. He said he couldnt get past his addiction until the day he found God.

And thats when I couldnt be open-minded anymore. Really, its fine if thats what you believe in, but to come to a college and tell a huge group of students that finding God solved your problems, I think thats ridiculous. Are you trying to tell me that if I start reading the Bible and believing in creationism that I can fix anything thats wrong in my life?

There was even a video segment for this portion of the program, during which one woman said that Jesus was like her invisible friend. What? Are you telling me that now youre going from sex addition to hallucinations? Can that really be healthy?

I dont feel that a presentation like this has any place on a college campus. Yes, we are supposed to be open-minded, and yes, this is a place for all people, any race and any religion. But to talk about a problem as serious as sex addition and then to say that God saved you, well what about me, what if I dont believe in God? Does that mean theres no hope?

Before the intermission, Leahy didnt really mention anything about how he got better, other than a few segments of interviews with therapists during the videos. So if I had left, I wouldnt have known how this man actually recovered, and what a disappointing ending that would have been.

Going into the presentation, I had no idea there would be any religious aspect. I wasnt even aware it was sponsored by the Campus Crusade for Christ until right before I went.

To me, this is misleading and although there was an intermission allowing students to leave, there should have been some warning that the whole thing was going to revolve around certain religious beliefs.

The presentation would have been great, it provided a lot of good information about an important topic, but when I left the Wisconsin Room that night, all I felt was frustration. How disappointing that such a promising presentation had to end with, and finding God saved my life.

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