P0rn0graphy. Or perhaps p*rn.
These are ways I’ve seen the word pornography portrayed in LDS blog discussions. Why? The word pornography is often caught in the spam filters (for good reason). But it makes talking about pornography addictions all that much harder. Still, bloggers are determined to address it.
Michelle Linford of Mormonwoman.org e-mailed me, wondering if it were possible to somehow “bring together several resources and stories (and maybe blog discussions) both about facing this trial and also about ways we can prevent and protect ourselves and our families from this plague. It seems to me there are things we could do to be involved in society/communities to be a force to combat all of this.”
Linford has been instrumental on her own blog in compiling resources. In January, the blog hosted several personal stories regarding pornography addiction:
Healing from Pornography Addiction: Hope for addicts, spouses
Forward with Faith: Healing when a spouse has a porn addiction
Forward with Faith: “When Pornography Hits Home,” by Bethany
Two Mormon women’s stories about overcoming pornography addiction
Rachelle Call: “God raised me and my family from the dead”
Forward with Faith: Finding strength and healing in Christ
“(Pornography's) destructive influence is not greater than God”
These stories are heartbreaking and yet full of faith. Linford welcomes more stories in the hope that these can help addicts and families of those stuck in addiction.
Additionally, I’ve seen other bloggers addressing the subject lately. This blogger describes “Emotional Pornography,” which is an often overlooked aspect of pornography often targeted at women: “Where ordinary porn shows unrealistic women, romance novels and movies show unrealistic men — that is to say, 99 percent of men are not like that. Instead of titillating and flattering with the body, it titillates with the emotions. This is a problem because it sets up unrealistic expectations in actual relationships.”
And finally, have you ever thought of this angle: “The Book of Mormon war chapters help us defend against pornography.” In this essay, the blogger shows how fortifications, armor, knowing the enemy and tactics, all points of the Book of Mormon war chapters, relate to fighting pornography: “I believe that Heavenly Father knew about the flood of pornographic filth that would sweep the world. He knew the tactics that would be used to spread it. To help us, He provided a crash course on tactics and defense in the Book of Mormon so that we could become aware of how we may unconsciously put ourselves and our families at risk of attack. Also, many parts of the war chapters give us a fabulous course on defense strategy.”
Now let’s find some more important resources from this last week in the Bloggernacle:
Power pick — Last week I reported that the Cane Creek Massacre historical marker in Lewis County, Tenn., was missing and waited for the Amateur Mormon Historian to travel and “See what was left of the marker.” As you can see from his photos, not much. He explains, “To give you an idea of scale the post is about 4 inches thick. The sign was made of cast iron, and appears to have been snapped off with a considerable amount of force.” It looks like someone really wanted that sign.
Techie tip — General conference will be here before we know it. And while we wait, we can check out these “Classic Conference Quotes: A Valuable Resource” highlighted by Krista Cook. She explains, “One way to clear our thinking and focus our efforts would be to find a fantastic general conference quote or quotes. A good way to do that is to consult BYU's Lee Library Conference Quotes database in their Digital Collections. You can browse by subject or speaker.” Click to try it out.
Techie tip 2 — Feel like testing your Scripture Mastery? Have an iPhone or iPad? Then you need to download the updated (and free) “LDS Scripture Mastery” app, now available.
