Spring Break
Is America a "Porn Nation"?
Brendan Berube
Issue date: 2/25/05 Section: Arts & Living
You can tell within five minutes of watching Michael Leahy mount a stage that public speaking is not his strong suit. The former IBM software designer presents a disarmingly casual persona, delivering his message in jeans and a sweater, rather than in a suit and tie. And for all his technological expertise, he appears not to have the faintest idea how a wireless microphone operates, if his habit of playing off audio malfunctions with nervous, self-deprecating apologies is any indication.
There is nothing at all remarkable about Michael Leahy, save for one thing: his courage.
Leahy is a self-confessed sex addict on the road to recovery, and he is taking his personal struggle to college campuses across the country in hopes of preventing today's twenty-somethings from falling victim to his fate. On Wednesday, Feb. 16, Leahy's crusade came to UNH as part of the ongoing MUB lecture series.
The Strafford room was filled to capacity by the time Leahy took the stage at 7:15 p.m. amid a steady hum of excited, anticipatory conversation. No one knew quite what to expect from a multimedia presentation entitled "Porn Nation."
"I'm here tonight for one reason: freedom," Leahy said at the start of his introduction. He was not, however, referring to freedom in the traditional, first amendment sense of the term. He came to provide his audience with the hope of freedom from the control of American media. He feels the media is providing the 12 to 25-year-old demographic with a gluttony of pornographic messages and imagery.
Leahy bases his analysis of America's over-sexed culture on a broad definition of what constitutes pornography, claiming that "any material designed with the express purpose of arousing people sexually" is inherently pornographic. Leahy feels that this loose definition allows him to include in his analysis television shows, music videos and films which are not usually classified as pornographic, but which he feels send out sexual messages just as strong as those found on late night cable.
There is nothing at all remarkable about Michael Leahy, save for one thing: his courage.
Leahy is a self-confessed sex addict on the road to recovery, and he is taking his personal struggle to college campuses across the country in hopes of preventing today's twenty-somethings from falling victim to his fate. On Wednesday, Feb. 16, Leahy's crusade came to UNH as part of the ongoing MUB lecture series.
The Strafford room was filled to capacity by the time Leahy took the stage at 7:15 p.m. amid a steady hum of excited, anticipatory conversation. No one knew quite what to expect from a multimedia presentation entitled "Porn Nation."
"I'm here tonight for one reason: freedom," Leahy said at the start of his introduction. He was not, however, referring to freedom in the traditional, first amendment sense of the term. He came to provide his audience with the hope of freedom from the control of American media. He feels the media is providing the 12 to 25-year-old demographic with a gluttony of pornographic messages and imagery.
Leahy bases his analysis of America's over-sexed culture on a broad definition of what constitutes pornography, claiming that "any material designed with the express purpose of arousing people sexually" is inherently pornographic. Leahy feels that this loose definition allows him to include in his analysis television shows, music videos and films which are not usually classified as pornographic, but which he feels send out sexual messages just as strong as those found on late night cable.