“Sex is a great thing, but when it takes over your life, then maybe there’s a problem there,” former pornography addict Michael Leahy said at a “Porn Nation” presentation Thursday night.
About 350 people gathered in the Louis Room to see “Porn Nation,” a presentation which travels to college campuses across the country to show the dangers of a sex-obsessed culture.
Campus Crusade for Christ and Catholic Undergrads brought “Porn Nation” to show students that pornography is very prevalent but not discussed in public settings, Weinberg senior Jacob Chacko said.
“This is a unique opportunity for students to hear something that relates to them,” Chacko said.
The presentation was a mix of Leahy’s personal anecdotes, video clips of pornography in the media, student interviews and commentary.
“Your generation and your group is somewhat of an experiment because no other age group has been exposed to so much sexual imagery,” Leahy said.
He said his obsession with sex grew as he dated in high school and college. He found the “woman of his dreams” and married her, but Leahy said that he later became so addicted to porn that he ended up in an affair, causing his wife to become suicidal and divorce him.
Some students said they walked away from the presentation with a new perspective on pornography and its effects. Before the presentation, students could take an online sex survey called the Sexual Compulsivity Screening Test, designed to help students gauge whether their sexual behavior is healthy. Leahy said the 526 NU student responses were similar to those from other universities nationwide.
“I guess I didn’t realize when I came that porn was such a prominent thing in our country today, and I didn’t know how many people engaged in it every day, ” Medill freshman Cassandra Blohowiak said. “I think that young boys being exposed to porn is detrimental to developing friendships and relationships in later life.”
Many students appreciated the straight-forwardness of learning about the dangers of pornography from a former addict.
“I guess everyone would say that it’s a tough topic, and he has been honest without being too graphic,” McCormick senior Chris Stahl said.
Reach Lauren Levy at [email protected].
