TESTIMONY OF DR. SUSAN ELLIOT, MOTHER FROM MCLEAN VA

I am a parent of three teenage children - a girl, age 17, and boys age 
14 and 12. Our brush with CyberPorn was, happily, not devastating or 
dramatic, but it was disturbing. It was, I think, an experience shared 
by many families before the public became aware of pornography on the 
Internet.

First, I must say that my children are normal, intelligent, well- 
adjusted individuals. They get good grades, participate year-round in 
sports activities, and have never been involved with drugs or alcohol. 
Their sexual experiences have, I hope, been limited to viewing the swim 
suit issue of Sports Illustrated and thwarted attempts at making out. In 
short, they were not predisposed to search for pornography on the 
Internet, nor are they computer hackers. 

A respected teacher suggested that they might benefit from information 
sharing in the Internet. Our household had been inundated by promotional 
discs from America-On-Line and so we logged on line. At first the boys, 
along with many classmates, participates in the public chat rooms. I sat 
with them while the "chatted" and found it harmless, if somewhat silly. 
However, one cannot sit with teenagers twenty-four hours a day and soon, 
without my knowledge, the boys ventured into the more exciting realm of 
the "private" chat rooms, Many of these rooms are private because they 
are specialized or technical, but some are private because they pertain 
to human sexuality. Being normal boys, my children were curious about 
these rooms. While "chatting" they were offered "pictures" by other 
participants. They accepted a few of these, as did their classmates. 
With great ease these children were able to E-Mail hard core pornography 
in full color back and forth to each other. This might have gone on for 
some time if my husband had not noted that the memory of our computer 
was rapidly filling up. We opened up the "trash" file and found the 
graphics in question. They portrayed varying numbers of humans and 
animals engaged in a horrifying gamut of sexual activities. The pictures 
were lewd and obscene by any standards. 

We immediately confronted the children with questions about the pictures 
and they confessed all. We shared out experience with many of our 
friends and severed our relations with America On-Line. Many long 
discussions about sexuality and appropriate expectations and behavior 
have ensued and our family has benefitted from these talks. 

That, in a nutshell, was our experience with pornography on the 
Internet. Was any lasting damage done? My boys would say "Yes." They 
were asked to pay $38 from their allowances for on-line time. (Color 
graphics are expensive). I, too, would say "Yes" - not because my 
children have become victims or sexual predators - but because on of 
their early sexual images will, forever, be something which is not 
tender, or beautiful, or even harmlessly titillating; but something 
which is coarse, vile, and ugly.