So it is with obscene materials and pornography. The johns watch porn, seeing violent and aberrant behaviors on film, then they crave the realization of what they have seen. Those obsessions drive them to the prostituted women and girls to get what they have seen depicted so graphically.

Cultural acceptance of pornography, stripping and prostitution is growing by the day.  There are shows like “Pimp My Ride” and Academy-award winning songs like “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” and they are not considered offensive, they are considered hip. In cities like Chicago and Miami, the “Pimp’s Ball” is a huge event where the pimps arrive in their outrageous limos, decked out in their “bling” and showing off their tattooed girls.

Such events make the point: if we do not enforce obscenity laws stringently, the ripple effect on the rest of the culture will lead to a tidal wave of degradation and destruction.

Stripper poles are now part of some people’s bedroom décor.  Pimp ‘n Ho parties are where the “in” crowd goes to have fun.  Pop Star, Beyonce, has just come out with the line of children’s clothing that looks like “pedophilia chic.” Dressing like a streetwalker is now considered an acceptable Halloween costume for young girls or a prom dress for a teenager.  There is even a line of clothing for infants called “Pimpfants.”  A culture where people have those attitudes and values makes it so much easier for traffickers to set up their business exploiting children, women and men.  

All of this should offend our sensibilities, but in today’s culture, it is no big deal.

Those films that are made in the San Fernando Valley in California?  They are very likely among the training tools used by sex traffickers from Malaysia to Mexico to Madagascar.  There is no escaping the fact that obscenity and pornography produced in the United States damages, demeans and degrades people –– including innocent children –– around the world.  The question is: what are we going to do about it and do we care enough to insist that the laws against obscenity be enforced?