the oprah pornfrey show? part 2

Last week I wrote about Oprah’s giggly tribute to the joys of pornography, and I said that it failed the Martian Test. That is, a Martian who just landed on earth and who knew nothing about human sexuality would think that pornography was a normal, if not downright vital, part of relationships.

Fast-forward to yesterday’s show, which dealt with sexual addiction. While it was light years better than last week’s show, I couldn’t help but think of the Martian Test again. Here are a couple of questions I think a curious E.T. might have after watching the two episodes back to back:

In the first episode the actress was a happy multi-millionaire who briefly alluded to ‘lots of terrible things’ that happened to her when she was young, yet asserted that she had ‘no regrets.’ When the happy multi-millionaire was introduced there was silence from the audience. The actress in the second show confessed that promiscuity from age 12 perverted her view of intimacy and that it made her feel like a ‘monster.’ When she said she had been celibate for six months and was no longer acting in porn, there was loud applause.

“Which woman has the healthier attitude about sexuality and relationships?”

“In the first episode, several people who profited from pornography praised its ‘empowering’ benefits to women. Although usage among women was reported, there were no ‘real, actual’ satisfied female porn users interviewed. Yet in the second episode, Dr. Drew Pinsky cautioned against the addictive qualities of porn. Dr. Drew doesn’t make money from porn, but does belong to the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the California Medical Association and the American Society of Internal Medicine. Also in the second episode a married couple spoke about how the husband’s porn addiction led to infidelities with fifty women and almost destroyed their marriage.

“Is pornography harmless entertainment that liberates women or soulless spectacle that destroys intimacy and numbs both performer and viewer?”

Lastly, Oprah prides herself on being America’s trusted confidante, and has played that role for decades. Yet, on top of the mixed messages of these two very different shows came the recent news that she will end her talk show in 2011. Why? Apparently, in part to produce a “sexually charged” television series for pay cable station HBO. To quote the Variety article, it’s about “a woman who leaves her seemingly perfect marriage and children in Santa Monica for the underbelly of L.A., where she indulges her secret fantasies and desires.”

So, to recap: Oprah thinks porn is great when it’s called ‘erotica’ and reviewed for her magazine (except when a Rabbi says it’s dangerous on her radio show, or when Dr. Drew redeems a porn star on her TV show) and nymphomaniacs are more than just damaged people—they’re potential ratings winners for the Harpo brand.

What on earth was I confused about?

the oprah pornfrey show?

The other day ABC aired an infomercial on the joys of pornography and an Oprah Winfrey show almost broke out.

“Why millions of women are using porn and erotica” was the title of the show and after watching it I wonder why they didn’t add, “(Why aren’t you?)” Seriously, about halfway in I was looking for an “expert” to suggest that porn clears up acne and promotes bone density in women. I guess between the fawning interviews Oprah gave to Jenna Jameson (“The Most Famous Porn Star In The World!”) and to the Chicago mother of four/sex shop owner, and the breathless endorsement from a San-Francisco porn reviewer who’d written a column in “O” magazine, there just wasn’t time to explore the medicinal benefits of pornography.

Towards the end of the show, there were literally about five minutes devoted to the ludicrously token efforts at “safe sex” in the adult industry (a little bit more about that here). Aside from that, Oprah’s valentine to libertines failed the journalistic Martian Test. That is to say, a Martian visitor whose only knowledge about human sexuality came from the Oprah show would have to conclude that pornography was the best thing since sliced bread. Granted, the Martian would have to have the concept of ‘sliced bread’ explained to him, but I digress.

If Oprah had really wanted to get provocative and scandalous (i.e., balanced) she might have considered a second show titled, “The dark side of pornography.” She might have spoken with psychologists who increasingly have to try to repair the destruction that internet pornography addiction does to marriage and family relationships. Maybe she could have interviewed David Sherman about his landmark testimony to an Ohio Senate Committee detailing his fourteen years in the adult entertainment industry; the objectification and abuse of dancers is very similar to what happens to most female porn performers.

In one of several unintentionally humorous moments on the show, correspondent Lisa Ling visits the set of a porn movie. The ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ are just meeting for the first time, moments before they are to take their clothes off and have sex for money in front of cameras. “This is just a job. I’m married. This is normal,” says the man and there is an awkward, painful pause that could not have been more uncomfortable if they had all been, well, naked.

Pornography is not normal and it is not healthy. Most people know this, deep down, beneath the faux-feminism and empowerment fallacies. Sadly, Oprah wouldn’t even have had to leave her own multimedia empire to find a voice of reason on the subject. If you go to Oprah.com you’ll find an undated transcript from Rabbi Schmuley on Oprah’s satellite radio show entitled “The negative effects of porn.”

Good on you for telling it like it is, Rabbi, even if your platform is just a wee bit smaller than a daytime television talk show. I wonder why the bOss didn’t think your arguments merited a few minutes of exposure on the mother ship?

Inquiring Martians want to know.

heroes deserve better

You never know when you might run into a hero. I actually saw two of them in the checkout line of a supermarket recently. There were two men in front of me, and one noticed a military patch on the other’s hat. As they began to talk one of them identified himself as a Vietnam veteran, and the older gentleman with the hat revealed that he’d served in an all-black company in World War II, and had served in Korea and Vietnam. After hearing where he’d served in Vietnam, the first man used pretty colorful language to tell the older vet, “It was your company that saved my butt during the Tet offensive.”

Although I’ve never served in the military, several of my closest friends are veterans and I have a lot of admiration for the men and women who have served in America’s armed forces. One of the reasons that most people hold veterans in such high regard is the acknowledgement that these people have lived their lives in accordance with a code of conduct that demands the highest levels of discipline and honor. Below are the values statements for each of the armed forces that each soldier, sailor, marine, and airman must memorize:

Army values
Navy and Marines values
Air Force values

I read and re-read those articles of great expectation and I still can’t find anything that matches up with “sell Playboy and Penthouse magazines at the base PX.” In fact, Congress passed the Military Honor and Decency Act (MHaD) in 1996 for the express purpose of prohibiting the sale of pornography on U.S. military installations. The problem is that since the passage of Title 10 Chapter 147 § 2489 (a), the level of enforcement has been about as robust as the dress code at the 4077th. That’s why ROCK and the Alliance Defense Fund wrote a letter to the Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asking him to ensure immediate enforcement of the Act. You can read the response from the DOD Military Community & Family Policy Deputy Under Secretary Leslye Arsht here.

While I appreciate the fact that some of the referenced material was removed, it is obvious that the Department of Defense’s interpretation of “sexually explicit material” leaves much to be desired.

Do you agree? Do you feel embarrassed to know how low the standards for decency have fallen for our best and bravest, and their families? Are you questioning why it is so difficult to enforce the MHaD Act when the criteria seems so clear-cut? Are you wondering why more people aren’t taking a stand for those who volunteer to take a stand for us?

I invite you to do something about it.

Our tax dollars are enabling the availability of pornography to military families, despite legislation having been passed to prevent that very thing from happening. I invite you to write your state senators and representatives and to ask some of these questions. You can also call the PX at Fort Knox at 502-942-0067, or the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) at 1-800-527-6790—or you can e-mail AAFES at commander@aafes.com.

Heroes, and their families, deserve better.

Tony Dungy to teens: “The crowd is common. Be uncommon.”

Tony Dungy, coach of the Super Bowl Champion XLI Indianapolis Colts, spoke to a sold-out crowd of 2,000 people at Northside Christian Church on November 3, and I was fortunate enough to be there.

Coach Dungy is the antithesis of the philosophy behind Charles Barkley’s infamous quote, “I’m not a role model.” In an NFL career that lasted 31 years, Dungy’s faith produced a quiet integrity, a leadership style that didn’t require profanity-laced tirades or showmanship to command the respect of his peers or players. Since retiring from coaching in 2008, he has leveraged his celebrity to share that faith and to encourage fathers and their children. His message last night, part of the Chick-Fil-A “Desire to Inspire” series, included some sobering acknowledgements of what families face today.

He also referenced his new book “Uncommon,” in which he challenges young men especially to be distinctive in their behavior and their standards. Speaking directly to the teens in the audience, Dungy said, “I know that for some of you, doing the right thing means getting called ‘nerd’ or ‘geek’ by “the crowd,” and there is a lot of pressure on you.” He then went on to cite some statistics that “the crowd” doesn’t want to talk about:
• Studies initiated by President Bush and Colin Powell revealed declining high school graduation rates, with Indianapolis singled out as one of the worst large cities.
• Teen drinking is also pervasive, and trending younger. Dungy cited a 2005 study that showed 1 out of 5 eighth grade students had tried alcohol at least once. He also said that 1,700 college students die each year from alcohol-related causes such as drunk driving or alcohol poisoning.
• There are 1.6 million babies born out of wedlock each year. Dungy said, “The studies I’ve seen list single parent homes and watching TV shows with an excessive amount of sexual content as two of the highest factors that contribute to teen pregnancy. Parents, know what your children are watching.”

Dungy said he was blessed to have grown up in a family with deep spiritual roots. “My Mom was a great Bible scholar and one of the verses that she drilled into me was from Matthew 7: 13 and 14, which says ‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’” He pointed out that the verses can be applied to practical aspects of life as well as spiritual.

“We have to be the role models for these kids; not just parents but grandparents, coaches, youth groups. It is up to us to keep our kids on the narrow road. The crowd isn’t always right. The crowd might not think school is important but the crowd doesn’t tell you that the person without a high school degree earns an average of one million dollars less than the high school graduate over their lifetime,” he said.

To the crowd at Northside Christian Church last night, Tony Dungy was an encouraging reminder that there are indeed positive role models out there for our children. Yet ultimately it is up to those of us raising these children to impart our values and to keep them on the narrow road. I think many families last night were inspired to do just that.

run for your life! it’s a christian!

The nights are getting longer and the temperature is dropping. Otherwise sane and peaceful people are taking butcher knives and mutilating large, defenseless squash-like fruit. Candy companies and dentists are gearing up for peak season. In other words, Happy Halloween.

I have mixed feelings about All Hallow’s Eve. While I’m not thrilled with the occult aspects and other negative effects of this holiday (which is a topic for another post on another day), I must confess to having a weakness for a good, scary monster movie. One of the fun things about this time of year is seeing all of the “Best horror movies of all time” lists that pop up on the internet. Killer sharks, zombies, vampires, charismatic Christians, evil aliens, werewolves, and all other manner of baleful beasties prowl these lists, in search of their next victim.

Pardon me? You’re questioning one of the candidates for carnage on the preceding list? You must have missed the memo put out by The Boston Globe newspaper, which has declared the documentary “Jesus Camp” the 17th “Scariest Movie of All Time.” The caption for the film ends with, “Religious zealotry and brainwashing has never been this frightening.”

Full disclosure: I have not seen “Jesus Camp,” which follows counselors and child campers from a Pentecostal summer camp in North Dakota. But I have viewed clips from it and I’ve read quite a bit about it since its release in 2006. I also have not seen any of the “Saw” movies, but my keen intuition guides me to the belief than none of them belong on a “50 Greatest Inspiration Films of All Time” list.

What’s really scary here is the casual contempt for Christianity on display by a so-called mainstream media outlet, and the fact that it isn’t really an anomaly. I’m willing to play along, though. If “religious zealotry and brainwashing” constitutes the new horror movie criteria, might I humbly offer a few suggestions for next year’s Top 50 list:

Scary movie suggestion #1
Scary movie suggestion #2
Scary movie suggestion #3
Scary movie suggestion #4
Scary movie suggestion #5

The thing is, religious zealotry exists in a variety of forms today, and some of those forms aren’t even tied to a traditional religion. Memo to the Boston Globe and others who would lump Christians in with Creatures That Go Bump in the Night: Try to imagine a world completely bereft of the influence of the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, or any of the tenets of Judeo-Christianity. And into that vacuum push any of the worldviews represented by the movies above.

Now THAT’S scary.

I could go on, but I have to go practice my diabolical cackle. The trick is gargling with warm salt water first. . .

yes, whoopi, it really is rape-rape

“I know it wasn’t rape-rape. I think it was something else, but I don’t believe it was rape-rape.”—Whoopi Goldberg on The View, commenting on what director Roman Polanski admitted to doing to a then-13 year-old girl in 1978.
Every once in a while, moral relativism and the hyper-sexualization of American culture collide in ways so spectacularly offensive that it actually gives liberals and conservatives something to agree on. The stunningly passionate defense of a child rapist by many of Hollywood’s biggest players has a lot of Average Joe’s and Jane’s contemplating the ever-growing chasm between their values and ours.
There’s a reason that pedophiles and child rapists are despised even in prison. When an adult abuses a child, they also violate one of the most sacred tenets of a civil society. When the cultural elite begin coining new terms to justify a sliding scale of depravity, they become accessories after the fact. (By the way, I’m waiting for other heinous activities to be christened with their own Whoopi-isms: “Abortion isn’t murder-murder. I think it’s something else, but I don’t believe it’s murder-murder.”)
As disgusting as the show of support for Polanski is, the problem is bigger than that. I see other troubling signs of how casually and quickly our culture tries to ‘grow up’ children, especially girls. If you tune in to the TLC channel’s “Toddlers & Tiaras” you can see five year-old girls get spray-tanned and told to “shake your booty!” Recently, a photograph of actress Brooke Shields was closed to the public at a London art museum right before it was to be exhibited. Why the controversy? In the photo, Shields was 10 years old, nude, and heavily made up.
As the father of young girls, this issue is beginning to hit a little closer to home. Just a few days ago, I was introduced to a couple of songs which I had never heard before: “Yes,” by LMFAO, and “Good girls go bad,” by Cobra Starship. Feel free to look up the lyrics if you want to; I won’t dignify them with a reprint here. I heard these 2 only slightly edited songs at a public middle school. Specifically, they were used as loud background music while two teams of 11 year-old girls warmed up for their volleyball game.
Who selected these odes to fornication and deflowering? The teen girls who were running the public address system, or some oblivious adult who couldn’t be bothered to listen to the words? I mean after all, both tunes had SLAMMIN’ beats.
Herbert Hoover said, “Children are our most precious natural resource.” If that is true, then why in the world are so many of us in such a rush to turn them into adults, regardless of the consequences? Parents and Grownups (and I use that second term advisedly): The children in your care are children, despite their own protestations and the siren call of pop culture. Protect their innocence fiercely and speak out when it is threatened. To do anything else is not just wrong; it’s wrong-wrong.

Jersey tougher on illegal sex shops than Clarksville? fuhgeddaboudit.

Maybe you heard about the sexually-oriented business in New Jersey that made headlines recently. I bring it up because of the eerie similarities between it and Clarksville’s Theatair X—except for the whole “Elected officials and local law enforcement step up to do the right thing” angle, of course. Aside from that, it’s a mirror image.

Are you kidding me?

New Jersey. Home of “The Sopranos,” and Jimmy Hoffa’s eternal resting place (or places).

New Jersey. Perpetual punch-line repository. Proud founder of Las Vegas East, otherwise known as Atlantic City. A state where political corruption is so pervasive and bizarre it would make, well, a Soprano blush.

And I haven’t even mentioned Jon Bon Jovi.

So, to summarize: Hamilton, New Jersey has the moral clarity and infrastructure in place to take action against a smut palace which is in clear violation of local law, and somehow Clarksville, Indiana. . .doesn’t?

Come on, Clarksville. I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.

don’t be deluded; Christian students have rights!

It has been said that as long as there are math tests there will be prayer in schools. While that may be true, there is no denying that the role of religion in public education today is a far cry from what the Founders envisioned more than two hundred years ago. With the new school year well underway, it seems appropriate to say a few words about the heritage of America’s public education system, and to remind students (and their parents and teachers) that they probably have more First Amendment rights to express their faith in public schools than they realize.

The institutionalized prejudice against Christianity that exists in current academia is profoundly ironic when seen in the context of history. Of the first 100 universities founded in America, the overwhelming majority were distinguished by 3 characteristics:
(1)They were founded and controlled by one particular denomination.
(2)They housed a theological seminary for that denomination.
(3)They had a minister from that denomination serving as president of the university.

Among those academic lightweights founded more or less as ministerial training schools were Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth (Congregationalist), William and Mary and the University of Pennsylvania (Anglicans), Princeton and Dickinson (Presbyterians), and the College of Rhode Island (now Brown University, Baptists). Harvard’s original motto was Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae “Truth for Christ and the Church.” Today that motto has been abbreviated to the politically correct Veritas. I think a more intellectually honest motto for Harvard and most universities in 2009 America would be, Quid Est Veritas? “What Is Truth?”

Of course, prejudice against Christianity isn’t limited to colleges. In fact, the argument could be made that hostility towards expression of faith is more pervasive at the elementary and the secondary levels. Again, the bitter irony here is that local public schools were originally instituted as places where children would learn Christian principles along with reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic. The Massachusetts Bay settlement passed the “Old Deluder Act” in 1647, which reads in part:

“It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times by keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times by persuading from the use of tongues, that so that at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded and corrupted with false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers; and to the end that learning may not be buried in the grave of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors.
It is therefore ordered that every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to fifty households shall forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as the major part of those that order the prudentials of the town shall appoint; provided those that send their children be not oppressed by paying much more than they can have them taught for in other towns.”

Today, court dockets all over the country are deluged with lawsuits from the ACLU, People for the Separation of Church and State, atheists, and others who seek to eradicate any trace of religious expression from public education. In many instances it only takes a saber-rattling letter from the ACLU to send school boards and superintendents scurrying, without doing their own homework on students’ First Amendment rights. I’m grateful for the Alliance Defense Fund, American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), and others for defending those rights in the face of increasingly litigious and deep-pocketed opposition ( go to the “Victories” tab on the ADF web site to see just how hard the ADF is working).

Ultimately, the best thing parents and teachers can do is educate themselves on their rights in the classroom. I recommend starting with the U.S. Department of Education’s official position on the matter. Specifically, read the section titled, “APPLYING THE GOVERNING PRINCIPLES IN PARTICULAR CONTEXTS,” which speaks to prayer, Bible study, and establishing religious-themed clubs. What is most interesting is what you WON’T find, which is a prohibition against any of those activities. Here is a great resource from the ADF which illustrates just how much freedom Christian students have in public schools.

Make no mistake; there is a war raging over the Judeo-Christian heritage of our culture. The intersection of the First Amendment and public education is an important front in that larger struggle. The next time your child limps home from the front line having been told they can’t quote the Bible, can’t wear a Christian T-shirt, or must take part in a program that offends their deeply held beliefs—don’t be deluded into thinking you have to take it. Do your homework, and fight back.

“harmless fun?” part 2

You’ve probably heard the recent tourism advertising campaign touting Louisville as “Possibility City.” I was born and raised in the ‘Ville, and I love my home town. Unfortunately, if recent trends continue, a more appropriate slogan for Louisville might be “Predatory City.”

As reported in the Courier-Journal, local and state agencies worked together to arrest 14 Louisville men in a sting in which 12 of the men met with who they thought were 12-to-15-year old children. In related news, Louisville was crowned the U.S.’s “most obscene city” by Google. The search engine measured internet searches for pornography, including child pornography, and concluded the River City is head and shoulders below the rest. To complete the triple crown of dubious distinction, only a few years ago a former FBI agent with over 20 years of experience investigating sex crimes cited our fair metropolis as one of the 5 worst U.S. cities in terms of sexually-oriented businesses. Uneasy is the head indeed.

Once again pornography advocates (who dreams of being a pornography advocate when they grow up?) will roll their eyes and rail against us uptight prudes who are letting a few bad apples tarnish the rest of the fun-loving bunch. I think the ladies and gentlemen protest too much. While not all people who regularly view pornography become pedophiles or rapists, nearly all pedophiles and rapists have a history of pornography addiction. Often it starts in adolescence, and often it starts with so-called “soft porn” like Playboy. But as with any addiction, the law of diminishing returns is triggered in many users. Eventually, the imagery needed to produce the desired effect must become more and more aberrant and depraved, until eventually imagery is no longer enough to satisfy.

I guarantee that if interviewed, virtually every one of those 14 men arrested would recount a history of pornography addiction. Does this mean they are not to be held responsible for their own actions? Of course not. Just as the alcoholic cannot blame Jack Daniels for making him drive drunk and kill someone, when an adult makes the decision to harm another adult or, God forbid, a child, he or she should be punished to the full extent of the law.

Where the alcohol analogy breaks down is that, regardless of my personal opinion of alcohol, it is a legal substance. Obscenity is not (click on “A quick primer on pornography and the first amendment”). Why the laws restricting the production and distribution of porn are not enforced is the subject for another blog on another day. Also unlike alcohol, there is no such thing as moderation when it comes to Porn. By definition the act of producing it debases the participants and the act of viewing it debases the user.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the citizens of Louisville and southern Indiana have worked hard for years to ensure that the local sex industry is regulated and that those regulations are enforced. As is so often the case, when sex businesses are forced to operate under health codes and zoning parameters (i.e., legally) they see their profit margins shrink dramatically.

The significant reduction in sexually-oriented businesses in Louisville in the past five years is heartening. However, the arrests of those 14 men provide a sobering reminder of the incredible potential for destruction inherent in the sex industry today.

“harmless fun”?

One of the arguments I hear most often used in defense of pornography, prostitution, and the sex industry is, “If adults want to do or view that stuff, what’s the big deal? Nobody’s getting hurt.” For folks who really believe that, there is a very sobering article from National Review Online that is worth a read. To summarize: Rhode Island decriminalized prostitution in 1980. In the ensuing decades (and especially in recent years) the state’s sex industry has flourished, but apparently at least in part due to human trafficking. Young women, and oftentimes teenage girls, are being coerced or lured into “Asian massage parlors” or strip clubs (which often double as brothels) and are enslaved into prostitution.

To make matters worse, the absence of laws to prosecute prostitution in Rhode Island makes it understandably difficult to bring traffickers to justice. As the article explains, there is now a situation in which trafficking has become a political football being tossed back and forth between those who want more enforcement, and groups like the state ACLU chapter who oppose prostitution criminalization on “ideological grounds.” I’d really like to see an ACLU elitist try to explain “sex-positive values” and “the freedom to choose” to the bleeding, 16-year-old Boston girl mentioned in the article. Or her family.

The Rhode Island story, while profoundly disturbing, is also instructive. I look at Rhode Island and I see Louisville and southern Indiana on a slippery slope towards that future several years ago. In 2004, there were an estimated 180 or so sexually-oriented business in the Metro Louisville area. Among those were dozens of so-called “massage parlors” that had as much to do with legitimate muscle therapy as “adult book stores” have to do with Faulkner or Shakespeare. Thankfully, a group of concerned citizens finally said, “Enough!” and started asking questions. Why are these places allowed to run rampant? Why don’t they have to conform to zoning and health code ordinances like other businesses do? What can we do to restrain the deleterious effects of these establishments, such as reduced property values, increased ancillary crime such as racketeering, drug use, and prostitution? Why aren’t more people aware of the causal connection between pornography and trafficking, rape, and other sex crimes?

In 2009, thanks to the efforts of many residents, local law enforcement agencies, a constitutionally sound ordinance, and groups like ROCK, the number of sex businesses in the Metro Louisville area is estimated to be roughly a third of what it was five years ago. To its credit, the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper helped close down many of the Asian “massage parlors” a couple of years ago through a series of investigative reports.

The Louisville and Rhode Island stories are like two sides of a mirror. In Rhode Island (whose state motto, ironically, is “Hope”), misguided permissiveness has led to a culture that breeds an entire industry of predators while shackling attempts to protect their victims. Here in Louisville, however, a line was drawn. Enough people saw the sex industry for what it is—prostitution by another name—and decided that our communities and our families deserve better. While we are not entirely free from sexually-oriented businesses, they are rapidly becoming the regrettable exception rather than the rule.

If you think porno shops and strip clubs are a simple matter of “fun between consenting adults,” take another long look at Rhode Island. The only people having fun are the predators who line their pockets with the profits from objectified men, women, and children, broken families and compromised communities. In Louisville and southern Indiana, our eyes are wide open. As long as places like Theatair X exist and perpetuate their lies, ROCK and concern citizens will be here to debunk them. And to offer the kind of hope that is exceedingly rare in Rhode Island.