This is the first in a series of stories examining pornography's influence on the BYU community.

Like many committed members of his faith, "Michael" attended church every Sunday, served a church mission and married his BYU girlfriend. Together, the couple raised four children. But along that path he never quite shook a habit that started when he was twelve years old.

"It hasn't ruined my life," Michael said. "But it's wasted a large portion of it."

In a cycle that suggests nobody is exempt, Michael, a BYU alumnus who talks passionately about his faith and his two years as a church missionary, fought pornography addiction for forty years. It brought him to place he never conceived: divorce and excommunication from his church.

BYU students and pornography

The temptations that pulled Michael away from his faith and family appear to be much greater for BYU students today.

Interviews with 20 bishops of BYU student wards suggest that the number of students looking for counsel about pornography is increasing, and the bishops say it is catered by new technology.

"It represents an escalation in the war between good and evil," said Bishop Jay Moody of the BYU 140th ward.

About half of the ecclesiastical leaders said they deal with new cases at least two to three times a month.

"The whole world knows that the incidents are increasing. That pretty well fits universities all over the world," said Bishop Eric Stephen of the BYU 30th ward.

Pornography on the Internet caught a lot of people by surprise, Moody said.

"It became a bigger problem before any of us knew how to understand it," he said.

The university has shown it is concerned about the issue as well. Earlier this month, President Merrill J. Bateman told the BYU community "there is danger in the land," as he opened a conference on BYU campus to address pornography and raise awareness.

He trumpeted his belief that BYU students are the "most incredible" students in the world. But, President Bateman said, "there are a few who have succumbed to grosser ways."

Just how many students at BYU deal with pornography addiction is anyone's guess. With the bombardment of information streaming through the Internet, it seems students who promised to stay clean from porn are having their values tested on a higher level.

On the first floor of the Wilkinson Center, counselors meet with married and single individuals struggling with pornography.

"Do I see students struggling with Internet pornography? Yes. Are they accessing it on campus? Yes," said David Clayton, an assistant clinical professor of the counseling center.

Clayton said by the time students reach him, they have already realized the magnitude of their problem. The students he and his colleagues see may reflect more students on campus who have not reached the point of submission. "You fool yourself," said Michael.

The addiction seems to fool everyone else as well. Pornography is not like other addictions. It was not detectable on Michael's breath. There were no circles under his eyes. Unlike alcohol or drugs that manifest physical harm, pornography ate away at Michael's spirit, he says.

"Your insides are putrid, but the outside shell is saying 'hey, I'm the same guy,'" he said.

Throughout his life, he used pornography when he felt pressures of society. Even after reforming himself for two years, Michael said he turned back.

"After my mission when stress came into my life again the old pattern came back," Michael said.

It wasn't until seven years ago that Michael revealed his addiction to his family. It came after he realized he "had no control" in his life. His addiction was not only about pictures and videos, but actions.

"It consumes your life," Michael said.

A new era of potential addiction

Bishop Moody, a life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ from Delta, Utah, said he has observed a generation that was first exposed when pornographic magazines were hurled into U.S. culture in the 1960s.

"It has ruined marriages," Moody said. "They were youthful when the magazines hit. Some of these men struggled for 20 or 30 years before it got them. But it did."

The Internet now creates a fertile new ground for addiction. It has made access to pornography discreet and effortless.

Those seeing the problem up close also point at television's progress towards soft pornography.

Lynn Scoresby, a professor and psychologist who works with families that struggle with pornography issues, said the images do not have to be blatant.

"Just because it is subtle it doesn't mean it is any less devastating," Scoresby said.

He compares it to product placement of advertisements that send messages to consumers. Scoresby believes commercials and sitcoms that show provocative images and "even fleeting suggestive postures" unavoidably affect the brain.

"I see more and more problems with cable television," said Bishop Dallas Powell of the BYU 83rd ward, who said the problem is increasing. "Bad shows, bad commercials and vivid images that plant thoughts into people's minds."

All bishops interviewed said the Internet is the medium causing most pornography problems, but addictions usually begin with movies and cable television.

"The looseness of dress, the suggestiveness, the crude humor. These are the things that keep it on people's minds all the time. These are the things that drive people to the Internet," Moody said.

Psychology and religion

Addicts who seek therapy seem to take an approach similar to those who have overcome other types of addictions. In Michael's case, like an alcoholic who will not go near a bar, he is sensitive to mere hints of sexual content in the media.

He wants to relay to others the lessons he has learned through his faith in Jesus Christ. Today Michael serves as an assistant to the full-time missionaries of his ward where he helps spread to others the message of what he believes to be the only true way of overcoming any problem in life, including addictions.

"Everyone needs the Atonement," Michael said, referring to a teaching of the Church of Jesus Christ. "But it has to be real in their lives and they need to say 'as bad as I have been I am not totally lost unless I choose to be.'"

As Michael finds support through therapy and his faith, he said the consequences still linger.

"There are so many opportunities missed that cannot be recaptured," Michael said.

Psychologists at BYU suggest that while BYU students hear the spiritual admonitions to keep clean of pornography, they may not think about the psychology of the problem.

"Like any addiction, people don't realize how powerful it is until they are caught in it," Clayton said.

Scoresby said he believes that students who completely follow the spiritual teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ will be protected.

"We would avoid the problem altogether," Scoresby said.



Copyright Brigham Young University 27 Feb 2001