The Traveler

Issue date: 2/25/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Lana Hazel UA students look at a poster board - which poses the question, "How does porn affection you?"- on the corner of McIlroy Avenue and Dickson Street.

Media Credit: Veronica Pucci Ashley Friend, a freshman international relations major, and Bailey Young, a freshman journalism major, look over what others have written on "Porn - Love it or hate it?"

With table tents, sidewalk chalk, business cards and giant comment boards about pornography, Porn Nation has created a buzz around campus for the past two weeks. But despite all the hype, many students don't know what to expect.

The teasers for the event, starting with just the initials "P N" around campus, and the gradual release of information has piqued the curiosity of students and become quite a controversial topic.

Porn Nation: The Naked Truth is a presentation revealing the impact of pornography and a hypersexual culture on students and will be 7 and 9 p.m. Thursday in the Arkansas Union Ballroom. It is a free event open to all UA students, faculty and staff.

The speaker, Michael Leahy, is a recovering sex addict and has been featured on 20/20, The View and in USA Today where he talked about the impact Internet pornography has on relationships. He is currently on a 50-campus tour presenting Porn Nation across the United States and even has events planned in other countries.

"Porn is now the norm in our culture, and no one understands that better than today's college students," Michael Leahy said in a press release. "The growing presence of porn in the midst of an already sexually charged campus culture is taking a very real toll on students' lives."

The sponsors describe the event as "a fast-paced 90-minute multimedia and live speaker presentation that incorporates music, videos and personal stories into a gripping, controversial conversation on the impact of pornography on campus."

Many students expressed interest in going to the event just to see what all the hype has been about. However, some were hesitant to say they were definitely planning to attend.

"I think it sounds interesting," UA student Renee Villamaria said. She said she expected a debate between the speaker and people arguing for pornography and was interested to see what points they would make, but whether she attended would just depend on her free time.

Mike Turner said he was all for the event.

"I would definitely go if I didn't already have a conflict," he said. "It will have a good message."

Katie Smith said she might attend Porn Nation for entertainment value.

"I don't have a problem with people looking at pornography, but I want to find out what they have to say," she said.

"The event will provide good information as well as a different viewpoint of the world that people may not have thought of before," said Cassandra Ellington, the president of Circle K, a service organization on campus that is co-sponsoring the event with Campus Crusade for Christ, R.E.S.P.E.C.T., College Republications and Humphreys Hall.

Sponsors said the presentation will begin with video sound bytes of students answering the question, "What do you think about porn?" with humorous and shocking responses.

Another aspect of the presentation will be comparing the UA results of an online sex survey with other campuses. So far, almost 700 UA students have taken the survey, which is available at www.mysexsurvey.com. More information about Leahy and Porn Nation can be found on the Web site www.pornnationthebook.com.

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