Pornography: Social Carcinogen

I send this to express my resentment of the insinuations inherent in Lederer’s article. My resentment stems in part from Lederer’s description of the common characteristics of men who commit sexually violent crimes.

I meet many of the criteria, being white, fairly intelligent, the eldest son of an average two-parent household that had the problem of an absent father, and, shame of shames, I read Playboy magazine. And yet, I feel that child molestation and violent sexual crimes are among the most abhorrent deviate acts committed in our society. So while I share Lederer’s concern, I fail to understand how my participating in passive censorship (which her call to boycott Playboy is) will help solve the problem.

As is all too common with such matters, Lederer is attacking the symptoms and not the cause of the dilemma. She feels, “we should ask if pornographic media contribute, even in a small measure” to such crimes.

Using this logic, shouldn’t we monitor all of the factors that so contribute? Should men such as myself, who match the above description, be placed under surveillance? What of the multitude of other factors that contribute to the problem? Are we to censor all material that may contain aspects deemed to promote such behavior? Most important, who will be granted this awesome authority?

The answer does not lie in limiting discourse. I count myself among those “who are trying to make the world a better place for all of us,” and firmly believe that is an apt description of many of those who write for Playboy. It is not inconceivable that the more open discussion of sexual matters found in that publication may indeed foster a healthy, balanced view of human sexuality. Censoring this, in whatever manner, will not alleviate violent sexual crime.

ANTHONY J. SOLARE

San Diego