Jan LaRue received applause from a Salt Lake City audience Saturday morning for her No. 2 ranking on a national list of most-hated people.
LaRue and those who gathered at the Marriott Hotel Salt Lake City Center to hear her speak consider the distinction a badge of honor.
The group that publishes the list is the adult entertainment industry, and LaRue has ascended in the ranking for her tireless fight against pornography in all forms.
In the course of an hour, the keynote speaker at a daylong conference entitled "Protecting Families and Children From Pornography" made it clear why she has been labeled public enemy No. 2 by the porn industry.
LaRue chronicled, in horrific and unapologetic detail, the toll she believes the pornography business — particularly Internet porn — has taken on American society and family life.
As with drug addicts, users of pornography gradually require more and more of the material to achieve gratification and many are eventually driven to commit sexual crimes — often against children — to satisfy their cravings, she said.
Pornography and its wide availability to both adults and children in this country is at the root of an affliction that not only leads to sexual crimes, she said, but works in more subtle ways to break up families and erode the fabric of society.
The answer, said the attorney for the Family Resource Council based in Washington, D.C., is for citizens everywhere to band together and battle pornography's stronghold.
"I hate pornography. I know what it is doing to children," said LaRue, author of "Raising Kids in an X-Rated World."
"I know what it does to the minds of men who take advantage of little boys and girls and women. . . . It's a total abuse of a beautiful thing created by God."
LaRue said pornography has been allowed to saturate the Internet, and society, in part because of several "myths" perpetuated by the industry — that pornography is a victimless, harmless pastime; that it is vital to the American economy because it generates $12 billion in business each year; and that pornography is only "airbrush nudity" that would not be offensive to most people.
LaRue said pornography is more widespread than commonly realized and used by all types of people. For example, she said, a national hotel chain reported its highest use of pay-per-view adult movies was during a youth pastors' conference.
The Internet provides pedophiles with instant access and validation, she said, adding that a Web posting lists public libraries across the country where child pornography can be viewed.
Some public schools still allow students unfiltered access to the Internet, making it possible for them to view pornography, either intentionally or by accident, she said. One pornographic business secretly imbedded the names of popular toys on its Web site so that a search for those toys would lead children to the site, she said.
Adult book stores and other pornographic businesses also take revenues away from adjacent merchants wherever they are located, LaRue said.
"Trust me, pornographers are not part of the Better Business Bureau," she said. "They are the enemy of good business.
"This is a spiritual battle. We need to pray. We need to pray that pornography businesses will fail and for the salvation of the owners."
The evidence of porn's negative influence is growing, she said. In 1983 there were only 22 treatment centers for juvenile sex offenders in the U.S., but now there are more than 1,000, according to LaRue. And the FBI reports 81 percent of "sexual masochistic killers" said hard-core pornography was their primary interest, she said.
"Here's the bottom line," she told a packed convention ballroom. "Either you or the pornography industry will determine what kind of society your children and grandchildren are left with.
"I know what kind of society they want. We're seeing it now. So you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and not leave it to somebody else. It's going to take all of us."
Conference speakers covered a variety of topics, including the effects of Internet pornography on the human brain, challenges faced by the partners of pornography addicts and how to raise community standards.
Paula Houston, Utah's obscenity and pornography ombudsman, said children can become addicted to pornography as well as adults.
"Our children are being exposed to pornography in epidemic proportions," she said. "It is in their bedrooms; it is in your living room — wherever that Internet connection is.
"We need to start fighting back against pornography."
E-mail: zman@desnews.com