'Perfect storm'
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SANDY, UTAH
There is currently a "perfect storm" for pornography proliferation: cyber-savvy kids online, a burgeoning porn industry, sexual predators online and cyber-challenged adults, said the opening keynote speaker at a conference sponsored by the Utah Coalition Against Pornography on April 25.
"Almost half of parents with kids online are not using any kind of safety rule or software tool," said Donna Rice Hughes, president of Enough Is Enough, a nonprofit organization working to make the Internet safer for children and families.
Offering opening remarks at the eighth annual Conference on Protecting Children and Families From Pornography and Other Harmful Material, she said people across the nation are banding together to fight pornography. "We can do this one child at a time, one community at a time, one state at a time," she said.
More than 700 people attended the conference at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy, Utah. Utah's first lady, Mary Kaye Huntsman, welcomed attendees and praised them for wanting to learn more about the issue of pornography and how to deal with it.
Ten presenters spoke at the conference, offering counsel, direction and guidance for those dealing with pornography and those who want to fight it. (Highlights from some of the talks are on this page.)
Giving closing remarks at the conference, Wendy Maltz, a therapist, educator and lecturer, said research supports a simple premise: "Staying away from pornography is a very smart thing to do."
The drive to view pornography, she said, is so strong that people continue to use it in spite of negative consequences.
"What I see pornography as is as a sexual predator," she said. "It actually is a form of sexual abuse. Sexual abuse can be defined as when someone is exploited or dominated through sexual activity or suggestion."
