At least that’s what Michael Leahy said in a Monday-night presentation entitled “Porn Nation” in Burruss Hall Auditorium.

Leahy said the presentation was not a censorship rant, but an opportunity to hear personal stories about how pornography affects people’s lives.

“It is an issue, and I ask you all to ask yourselves how it affects you as an individual,” Leahy said. “Stop and ask yourselves, how do I view and treat others.”

Many videos were presented that gave the audience a chance to see how pornography can not only be entertainment, but can turn into an obsession.

“I think we need to take at this as a wonderful world of entertainment that uses sexual images to sell,” Leahy said.

One clip shown from a program on E! Entertainment Television said that porn has moved from a sexual oppression to a psychological sexual liberation.

“The fallout is undeniable with an outbreak of eating disorders and sexual crimes,” Leahy said. “For every rape that is reported, five to eight rapes go unreported.”

Leahy presented his own personal story and showed a clip from the news show “20/20” where his wife and him presented their story to the nation. He has also been on various national shows such as “The View” and “Dateline NBC,” he said.

“I saw women objectified and men being dominant, that is what I thought made up a relationship, everything was a game,” Leahy said. “Exposure to that material came to cause a change in my beliefs.”

Many students sat in awe.

“The presentation was really eye-opening, especially about the number of images we encounter compared to the last generation and how these images affect our daily, real relationships,” said Betsy Potter, freshman German and business undecided major.

Leahy and his ex-wife explained how their marriage moved in stages, as they would have intercourse twice a week, which quickly turned to once or twice in a three-month period and reached its worst point when it fell to only once or twice a year.

Leahy said he could have many women anytime, and that he enjoyed sex with his wife, but was getting what he needed everyday through pornography.

“Internet pornography is the crack cocaine of sexual addiction,” Leahy said. “There are 18-22 million sex addicts in this nation today, and there has been an expectation that in five years, one out of every two will be women.”

Leahy said his obsession led him into the arms of another woman and his whole family fell apart when he had an affair that eventually led to divorce.

“It comes down to a relationship, what you feed grows and what you starve dies,” Leahy said.

The event was co-sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, Intervarsity and NLCF.

More of Michael Leahy ...

Porn Addiction Blamed for Failed Marriage

College Heights Herald, 10/25/05 - When Michael Leahy was 11 years old, he got his first look at pornography. It was nothing more than a playing card with a nude woman on it, but the image still remains burned in his mind.

"I could draw it for you," Leahy said last week. "What she looked like, the pose, every dimension of her body."

That was the beginning of what would later turn into an obsession. Leahy's addiction to porn would result in the destruction of his marriage and career.

Leahy told his story to a packed auditorium in DUC Theater last night with his video presentation and lecture, "Porn Nation."

Leahy is the executive director of BraveHearts, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization he founded in order to raise public awareness about porn addiction and how it can affect relationships.

He's been touring the country with "Porn Nation" for more than a year, presenting mostly on college campuses. Last night's event was sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ and the Campus Activities Board.

Randall Davenport, a campus minister for Crusade, said that "Porn Nation" emphasizes not only pornography but also the sex-saturated society we live in.

Tony Arnold, director of media relations for Crusade's national organization, based in Orlando, Fla., said it's always interesting to see people's reactions to "Porn Nation."

"Some people come in very opposed to porn, and some come in hoping to see some porn," he said. "The larger the crowd, the rowdier the crowd are, usually the more fun the event."

Leahy has appeared on ABC's "20/20" and "The View" with his now remarried ex-wife, Patty Onoroto. He said he didn't admit he had a problem until a year after the divorce, but has since reconciled with her and their two sons, Chris and Andrew.

Ultimately, "Porn Nation" is all about confronting how people's views of the opposite sex and relationships in general can be skewed by compulsive porn consumption, Leahy said.

He said one reason his marriage fell apart is that, after watching thousands of women in porn movies, normal sex with his wife couldn't satisfy him. He said that even now, he struggles in relationships.

Although Leahy is a Christian, and he said his relationship with God has helped him overcome his addiction, he doesn't want to limit himself to only Christian audiences.

"I'm not on a religious tirade," he said. "I just don't anyone in my audience to go through what I went through."

Porn Addict Says Media Advertising Causes Sex Addiction

Arizona Daily Wildcat, 10/11/05 - A former pornography addict told students last night that pornography is more than just adult Web sites and nude pictures in magazines, it's any material designed with the purpose to cause sexual excitement.

Michael Leahy, the featured speaker in the Porn Nation presentation, told a crowd of about 800 that advertisers are using porn in their ads in every type of media because sex sells.

"You are ground zero of a culture war," Leahy said.

But this is causing a saturation of sexual images into the media, creating relationship problems, eating disorders, sexual addiction and other societal issues, Leahy said.

Ten percent of the adult population will develop a sexual addiction, with 6 to 8 percent of adults currently living with the problem, Leahy said.

Geoffrey Schultz, a marketing junior, said he identified with Leahy because porn addiction was something he had dealt with before.

"It affected the way I viewed women and the way I viewed myself and I didn't like it," Schultz said.

Schultz said he doesn't watch television anymore because he felt that every commercial he saw was exploiting sex, but that responsibility should be placed on both consumers and advertisers.

"It's difficult because there is freedom of speech, but people should be careful with that freedom and how it affects others," Schultz said.

Amanda Condit, a pre-business freshman, said although she doesn't like seeing pornographic material, she acknowledges other's rights to view it.

"People who find it their way of expressing themselves, then it's their right to do that," Condit said.

Coleen Carnaby, a physiology sophomore, said she never considered the images in media to be porn. She feels there should be regulations on how far advertisers can go with their content, but the magazines should also consider policies about sexually related material.

"High school and middle school students can buy fashion magazines and these girls shouldn't define their worth by how they look or how to please a man," Carnaby said.

Daniel de la Huerta, an undeclared freshman, said he feels the use of sexual images has gone too far.

"It's an epidemic problem that needs to be addressed," de la Huerta said, adding how he also dealt with a porn addiction for five years.

"I felt like I was leading a double life," said de la Huerta, who eventually sought help from his pastor.

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