Mr. Chairman, I speak today in support of S.892, The Protection of 
Children from Computer Pornography Act of 1995. In my capacity as 
President of "Enough is Enough!"--a non-profit, non-partisan women's 
organization opposing child pornography and illegal obscenity, I am very 
familiar with the issue of contemporary pornography--its content, 
availability and its harms. I speak not only on behalf of "Enough is 
Enough!" but, on a personal level, as a woman and as a grandmother of 
nine. 

Although we have many caring men involved in our work, our organization 
focuses primarily upon educating and mobilizing women, because women 
speak with a special authority on the issue of pornography--for we, and 
our children are its primary subjects...and its primary victims. 
Pornography demeans and degrades women, victimizes children and ruins 
men. It contributes to domestic and spouse abuse, rape, incest and child 
molestation. And a great share of it is not protected speech, any more 
than libel, slander or false advertising are protected speech; 
therefore, it is not a 1st Amendment issue. It is not legal material. 
Many Americans do not realize this fact.

Today, America finds itself at a point of serious reassessment. 
Americans are coming rapidly to the awareness that the moral fabric of 
our country has become badly frayed. The consequences have become 
apparent. Due to the recent media focus upon "cyberporn," and consequent 
growing public awareness of computer pornography and its availability, 
especially to children, pornography has been thrust into prominence on 
America's reassessment agenda. The problem of pornography is an issue 
whose time has come.

From all sides more and more voices are proclaiming that our culture is 
in crisis--a crisis of character. A second White House Conference on 
Character was convened. Organizations to promote character have been 
formed. For over a year, Bill Bennett's book, The Book of Virtues, has 
been near the top of the New York Times best-seller list. Traditional 
family values are being touted in nationwide political campaigns, by 
both parties. The entertainment industry is being challenged "to clean 
up its act." 

And while Congress and the Administration are wrestling with how to 
balance the budget and reduce the deficit so our children and 
grandchildren will not inherit our debts, there is another issue they 
must address as well...how to provide a protected space in which our 
children and grandchildren can grow up. As our common culture has become 
coarser, children have been robbed of their childhood. A time of 
innocence has been stolen away from today's children. It is time that 
adults of this nation take responsibility to combat the predators who 
are polluting the minds of our nation's most valuable resource--our 
children. The Protection of Children from Computer Pornography Act of 
1995 is a step in that direction, and is needed.

Recently, PRIME TIME did a television program on children and sex, 
starkly revealing that children 10 and younger are being "sexualized" 
due to constant exposure to sexually-oriented materials. In an interview 
with Oprah, discussing sensational TV talk shows, First Lady Hillary 
Clinton asserted, "I'm tired of folks saying we can't change it because 
that's censorship." I, and many other Americans, would agree that tired 
excuse, which is now also being used in reference to any legislation or 
regulation of computer pornography, will no longer work in this country. 
Moms and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers--all responsible citizens, 
will not accept this feeble defense of doing nothing to protect the 
well-being and safety of children.

Clinical studies and life experiences attest to the fact that 
pornography numbs the moral conscience, stunts moral growth and 
encourages anti- social behavior. In our organization's work with 
victims, we continually look into the eyes and hear from the hearts of 
those that have been bruised and broken by the effects of pornography. 
When we allow pornography to be freely available to children, 
pornography is not only an attack upon the present, but an attack upon 
the future as well. Once pornography has been viewed by young, 
vulnerable children, it can start a chain of abuse that carries over 
into their adult and family lives. You cannot simply push the delete 
button and eliminate those pornographic images from their memories; they 
will continue to play over and over again in the theater of their 
minds...perhaps for life.

Over the years the pornography industry has had two basic business 
goals. To remove as much of the social stigma as possible from consuming 
pornography; secondly, to use every advance in technology to lessen the 
difficulty of purchasing and consuming pornography. 

Until the late 1970's, pornography was primarily available in magazines 
and 8mm film loops. It was distributed through the mail, street stalls 
and pornographic bookstores in the "bad part of town." The distasteful 
locations limited the market.

In the 1980's the advent of the VCR was exploited by pornographers. 
Consumers could purchase videos and watch pornography right in their own 
homes. In addition, the ability to charge customers for special phone 
numbers led to the development of dial-a-porn. Satellite technology and 
the growth of cable led to further inroads by pornographers world-wide. 

Then came the advent of personal computers (PCs), and a whole new world 
of pornography access rushed in through its floodgate. Computer related 
developments will shape how the pornography industry seeks to market its 
products over the next quarter-century. And who will suffer the 
most?...the children!

Today, we face an insidious threat---hard-core, child pornography and 
"indecent" material, which is harmful to minors, are being transmitted 
over the Internet directly into our homes. The Information Super Highway 
has been invaded by morally-irresponsible, reckless drivers, who travel 
the Highway with total disregard for the damage inflicted on young minds 
through the pornography they provide. Children are usually more adept 
than adults at operating computers, and today, with little effort, a 
child with a computer and a modem can download the most vile and 
perverse, often violent, hard-core pornography ever produced. This 
material includes such themes as incest, rape, bestiality (actual sex 
with most of the animals in Noah's Ark), torture and mutilation. This 
material can be accessed in full and clear color with just a few 
computer key clicks. This is pornography that the Supreme Court has 
ruled not to be protected speech, and is illegal for adults as well as 
children. There is federal legislation outlawing it. We need S.892, 
however, to provide federal legislation outlawing "indecent" material. 
This material is not protected speech and is already legislated against 
in most states and many local communities under the rubric of "material 
harmful to minors." With the advent of computers which send indecent 
material across state lines this federal legislation is needed.

Pornography is harmful and destructive in the following ways: 

* it plays a major role in the molestation of children, serving as an
  instruction manual for these crimes;
* it exposes children at an impressionable age to attitudes and 
  behaviors that warp and twist their view of human dignity and 
  sexuality; 
* it shapes negative, degrading attitudes about women, erotizing 
  inequality;
* it encourages rape and the rape myth, that women say "no" but mean 
  "yes" and they like violence;
*  it erotizes violence and then fuels sexual violence; 
*  it holds an addictive and fatal attraction for many men and teenage 
   boys, it invades their thoughts and manipulates their behavior; 
*  it encourages the transmission of STD's (sexually transmitted 
   diseases) and
*  it lowers community standards, which has a denigrating affect upon 
   our entire culture.

Some say that pornography is a victimless crime; this is a myth 
perpetrated by those profiting through this multi-billion dollar 
industry and pornography consumers. What we see, and what we hear and 
read affect how we think and how we act. That is why companies spend 
millions of dollars on advertising each year...it works. And, of course, 
this premise is the very basis of all education. 

Not only is any child with a computer and a modem at risk of exposure to 
pornography on the Internet, but they are at risk of being exposed to 
pedophiles there as well. Pedophiles are those adults who have a sexual 
appetite for young children. They now electronically lurk on the 
Information Super Highway, as in schoolyards, to stalk their prey, 
unsuspecting children. Let me give you a real life example. 

A friend of one of the "Enough is Enough!" staff members tells how her 
husband intercepted a suspicious letter from a distant state addressed 
to their 16-year-old daughter. The letter proved to be from an adult man 
to whom the young girl had given her real name and address over her 
computer.

This electronic predator began his letter by asking the girl to describe 
her fantasies, and then described his. He went into graphic, vulgar 
sexual detail. At first the teen-ager laughed about it, but quickly 
realized that it was no laughing matter, for her obscene "pen pal" could 
show up on her doorstep one day to fulfill his fantasy. She had made the 
dangerous mistake of giving out her real name and address to an unknown 
person through her home computer.

As the public debate about computer pornography has intensified in 
recent weeks, there has often been misinformation, or partial 
information appearing in print. The detractors of efforts to address the 
issue legislatively have taken to various forms of attack in defense of 
electronic pornography. Their desperation is apparent as the truth about 
this situation has been brought to light. Seldom, even in these times of 
hyper-scrutiny and scathing criticism, does the level of viciousness 
reach the level it has on this issue. These detractors have tried to 
discredit and "beat-up" the messengers when they haven't liked the 
message. They have contested the exact percentages of various types of 
computer pornography available and how many people consume it. For those 
of us who are battling this vile and degrading material, that is exactly 
where we would like to stage the debate. Does it really matter what the 
exact percentage is of material that is available by computer, to 
children as well as adults -- material that degrades and tortures women, 
sexually uses children and debases human beings (and, in the view of 
animal lovers, even animals). Any is too much. One child's life 
misdirected into unhealthy sexual behavior is too much.

If we do nothing to stem this flood of pornography available to children 
by computer, we will be changing the base line on the availability of 
illegal material. It will be comparable to inviting children to have 
free access into adult x-rated bookstores and theaters. 

In reality, we will never be able to eliminate all illegal pornography 
and protect all children from exposure to pornography. It is, however, 
imperative that we do all we can and we should do it in a reasoned, 
reasonable, yet responsible manner. It will take everyone working 
together to produce the best answer, or answers, to the problems of 
cyberporn.

Some are saying that this problem is totally the parents responsibility. 
Parents must become educated about the dangers present in unmonitored 
computer use by their children. Parents also need to learn more about 
computer technology in order to do so. But to place all the 
responsibility upon the parents not only is unfair, it is inadequate to 
protect children. Parents can't be present 100% of the time to monitor 
their children, and they certainly cannot monitor what happens when they 
are at the homes of friends, whose parents may not be as informed or 
vigilant. Bringing a computer into your home for your child's use under 
this proposed solution is like having them bring home a rabid dog for 
the kids to play with, sitting him in a corner and then having to watch 
them constantly so the dog won't bite them.

Some suggest technical screening "fixes". There are some developed now 
and more are being worked upon. These are goods ideas, but to say that 
this is the total answer is once again unfair and inadequate. Prior to 
this time those who wanted to consume pornography had to pay for it. Are 
we now going to say those who do not want pornography for their kids 
have pay not to get it? This would be a major shift of policy and 
approach. In addition, those who have in-depth computer understanding 
acknowledge that there is no way to screen all pornographic material. 

It is often asked that if much of this material is illegal (not 
protected speech) isn't it up to law enforcement to simply enforce the 
law? There should be aggressive enforcement of the pornography laws in 
the area of computer porn. The reality is, however, that law enforcement 
resources are limited and it is difficult to monitor and enforce this 
electronic outlet.

To find effective solutions to the pornography problem, it will take the 
combination of education, legislative action, public policy initiatives 
and aggressive law enforcement, as well as the exercise of corporate and 
individual responsibility. The answer is everyone working together-- 
parents, individual citizens, schools, legislators, law enforcement and 
the corporate electronic business community. We must all take the 
responsibility to protect the welfare of our nation's children. Those in 
the technology community should be encouraged to work diligently to find 
every way possible to protect children from destructive pornographic 
material via computer. Yet we must all be committed to protecting both 
the free flow of material on the Information Superhighway and the 
children of the country. The Grassley bill does not place an unfair 
burden upon the access providers, but it does place responsibility upon 
them to do what they can do to protect the nation's computer-using 
children. 

Serial killer Ted Bundy said just hours before he was executed in 1989 
for his heinous, sex crimes against women and children, "...I take full 
responsibility for what I've done...My experience with pornography that 
deals on a violent level with sexuality you become addicted to it...the 
barriers to really doing something were being tested constantly, and 
assailed through the kind of fantasy life that was fueled by 
pornography...pornography, which was an indispensable link to the chain 
of behavior, the chain of events that led to the behavior, to the 
assaults, to the murders. I have met a lot of men who were motivated to 
commit violence just like me. Without exception, every one of them was 
deeply involved in pornography..."

I am urging the passage of the Grassley Bill S.892, The Protection of 
Children from Computer Pornography Act of 1995 because it will help to 
protect children from exposure to pornography and suffering its life- 
changing impact. I am hopeful that members of both parties will check 
their other differences at the door and join ranks on this issue...for 
the sake of the children.