Show I rt Tackle Addiction Aaron Zundel Contributing Writer Michael Leahy had a beautiful wife two sons and a great job Their lives were so seemingly picture picture picture pic pic- pic- pic ture perfect that the neighbors often called them Barbie and Ken Then it all went straight to hell Michael had been secretly nursing a growing pornography addiction since he was eleven years old Starting small Michael slowly moved onto harder and more extreme material until his addiction eventually hit its critical mass In addition to his insatiable appetite for porn Michael started an illicit affair with someone he described as The embodiment of my pornography By the time Michael Leahy had beaten his addiction the collateral damage was vast His wife had remarried he had lost his job and friends and his sons wanted nothing to do with him That was eight years ago In 2001 Leahy founded a profit non-profit organization organization organization that helps people break free from pornography and sex addic addic- tion He is currently on a college 40 tour of the country with his presentation presentation presentation presen presen- tation Porn Nation The presentation took a look into the social emotional and mental impact of pornography which pornography which Leahy defined as any material whose purpose is to provoke sexual arousal arousal and and it landed last Wednesday in a packed room at the Redwood Student Center Campuses are a major focus of Leahy's Porn Nation tour I really really really real real- ly believe that college students are really at ground zero in this battle He went on to state that young adults are subjected to more sexual imagery than any other demographic ic and are therefore more vulnerable ble to addiction The lecture spanned a little over an hour and showcased a multimedia multimedia multimedia multi multi- media presentation as well as Leahy's commentary The multi multi- part multi-media multi presentation featured fea- fea featured featured fea fea- interviews with psychologists former addicts medical doctors and even an advertising consultant They all cautioned about the dangers and negative impact of pornography from their particular point of view The lecture portion chronicled Leahy's snowballing addiction the subsequent denial and the eventual cataclysmic meltdown and redemption redemption redemption tion in which he claims that religion played a major factor I Crowd reactions were mixed to the strong porn anti-porn message I hope he can expose more people people people peo peo- to this Its It's really good info said David Nielson an stu stu- stu- stu dent Others were skeptical I can see his point I think sexuality has been repressed so long that its it's really really really real real- ly become a monster said Robert Devins another student who attended attend attend- ed the lecture But do we really want to go back to Leave it to Beaver Still others were angry A student who would only identify himself as Mike Jr said Its typical Utah to bash something it was such a one one- sided presentation I would like someone to present the other side of the issue because I just didn't see a compromise In an after show interview Leahy maintained that there is no compro compro- mise I dont don't see it healthy in any anyway anyway anyway way possible he said Pornography warps your reality and your expectations making it impossible to have healthy relation relation- ships But the pornography anti-pornography crusader stops short of calling for censorship I am a huge supporter of the first amendment The pornography industry and I agree in this area If you can censor them then you can just as easily censor me too He claimed that the only real solution is self-control self and awareness Compromise or no the lecture was filled with statistics that drew regular murmurs from the spell- spell See Addiction continued on page 3 Addiction cont c nt from front bound crowd like crowd like the fact that pornography is a 14 12 billion dollar a year industry in the US U.S. alone or that it is Americas America's largest market for imports and exports Leahy went on to state that porn cyber-porn is already the crack-cocaine crack of pornography because of its triple A qualities qualities- anonymity affordability and availability but availability but that the internet's porn potential potential potential poten poten- is still in its infancy Audience participation was included as well with a presentation pre-presentation survey and a QA session session session ses ses- ses- ses sion at the end For those who did not arrive early enough or did not attend Leahy is requesting that they go to survey com and answer the questions It is quick and the results are being used to gather information on the prevalence of sex addic addic- tion Despite his turn to religion religion religion reli reli- gion and his battle against addiction Leahy still struggles with it he doesn't doesn't doesn't does does- nt use porn anymore but said that addicts will always be in recovery I have to wake up everyday and make a decision for freedom he said If If you or someone you know has a problem with pornography you can visit the at |