Provoking presentation pushes buttons on Mall
Students voiced their opinions with a marker and a message board yesterday about how pornography can push the buttons of pleasure or go overboard on the boundaries of purity.
Students from Campus Crusade for Christ set up a table and message board workshop on the UA Mall to promote "Porn Nation - The Naked Truth", a multimedia presentation about the effects of pornography.
Three two-sided billboards were set up for students to write their opinions of pornography. One billboard had to be put face down, however, because of inappropriate writing.
On one of the boards, labeled "You have a constitutional right to whatever gets you off," Jordana South, a nursing sophomore, shared her dissenting opinion.
"You don't have the right to involve kids in your own sick fantasy," South wrote. "It's not right to involve children and people who don't want to be in pornography."
On a board that said, "Pornography exploits those who most need our protection," Robert Clauer, an economics freshman, expressed his dissenting opinion in the matters of choice.
"It's about an individual's choice," Clauer said.
The boards will be on the Mall again today and Monday to get people thinking about the issue and effects of pornography, said Ryan Kemmet, a materials science and engineering junior and member of Campus Crusade for Christ.
The boards are a preliminary part of a discussion next week, "Porn Nation - The Naked Truth," which is a presentation featuring a video and discussion about "the normalization of pornography in the mainstream" and its effects on individuals and relationships.
The presentation will deal with spiritual issues related to the topic after the intermission, according to a Porn Nation flier.
Michael Leahy, founder and executive director of BraveHearts Inc., an Atlanta-based nonprofit Christian organization, will be the primary speaker at the presentation, Kemmet said.
Leahy "has devoted his life to raising public awareness of the hidden dangers and long-term consequences of pornography consumption" since recovering from his own sexual addiction, according to the Porn Nation Web site.
"Porn Nation - The Naked Truth" will be presented by Campus Crusade for Christ, Greek Venture and Athletes in Action at 8:30 p.m. Monday in the Grand Ballroom in the Student Union Memorial Center.
The Associated Students of the University of Arizona helped fund the program.