Articles

Concerned Citizens Take on Metro Area's Porn Industry

By Rosalyn Dailey Shareef
Faith And The City E-Letter
Volume 1 Issue 6
September 6, 2002

A siren sounding in the greater Atlanta community since 1998 is raising awareness of pornography, the adult entertainment industry, and the threat they pose to society, especially to children. Citizens for Community Values/Atlanta is working to make families conscious of the impact of sex-oriented businesses. An adult entertainment store around the corner or the pornography transmitted over the Internet taints young minds and robs them of their youth, according to civic leaders and volunteers active with CCV/Atlanta.

Leading CCV/Atlanta is Executive Director Eli McKenzie, Ph.D. "I am the father of five children, three of whom are girls," said McKenzie. "They're young people subject to these sort of harms [exposure to pornography] because we live in a culture that is saturated by sex and sexual influences."

In metro Atlanta, as elsewhere, sleaze sells. According to one study, the area's adult entertainment industry earns more revenue in one year than the city's three major sports teams combined. According to CCV/Atlanta, the U.S. Attorney General's office ranks pornography third to drugs and gambling as the biggest moneymakers for organized crime.

"Our goal is to try and help the community become empowered, to stand on its rights and enforce [existing] ordinances to preclude the expansion of the sex industry into new areas," said McKenzie. He emphasized that proactive citizens can work now to prevent the sex industry from expanding into their neighborhoods, rather than waiting until, for example, an adult novelty shop opens down the block.

A Gwinnett County community today is at odds with a business owner who is operating an adult entertainment store. "The neighbors became very upset and tried to deter the owner and wanted the facility to close," said McKenzie. However, the owner has a license and a right to operate. "The problem we run into is that the ordinances many times are not drafted [to] preclude such a business from opening or existing in a given area."

Sex industry products often encourage sexual predators, according to McKenzie, who cited studies by law enforcement and legal experts. "Pornography many times is a part of [sexual predators'] culture and their mental condition." According to statistics published by CCV/Atlanta, 85 percent of the molesters of girls and 77 percent of the molesters of boys admit to regular use of hard-core pornography.

In 2001, CCV/Atlanta joined forces with the Fulton County Juvenile Court system and Judge Nina Hickson. The resulting work with the faith and business communities, along with neighborhood groups and political leaders, helped pass the state anti-pimping bill, the Child Sexual Commerce Prevention Act of 2001, which went into effect March 27, 2001. Before the bill, pimping was considered a misdemeanor, according to McKenzie. Now, it is a felony. The legislation's goal is to strike a blow against the child prostitution trade and eventually stop the pimping of young girls.

CCV/Atlanta is also warning families that personal computers can bring pornography into the home via the Internet, which includes thousands of pornography web sites. The organization encourages the use of filters on computers to prevent access to certain types of pornographic sites.

Karen Finley, a CCV/Atlanta board member, hopes that more people will get involved throughout the metro community. "A lot of times it's just something that needs to be talked about and needs to be exposed, especially in our churches and different organizations."

CCV/Atlanta is a four-year-old non-profit initiative that started from the model city campaign, an outgrowth of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families (NCPCF), headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. According to McKenzie, Cincinnati has done one of the best jobs among communities actively working to prevent the expansion of sexually oriented businesses and control the availability of pornography in family shopping areas. With enough local community support, McKenzie and CCV/Atlanta are committed to replicating that success throughout the Atlanta metro area.

CCV/Atlanta can be reached at 404-523-7625 or http://www.ccvatlanta.org.

Rosalyn Dailey Shareef, an Atlanta-based freelance writer, can be reached at yomashareef@hotmail.com.