Erototoxins = brain rot?

[fullygoldy]

This was posted to a yahoogroup I belong to. *head*desk*head*desk*head*desk*

Subject: more lunacy - time to circle the wagons

http://www.overlawyered.com/archives/002575.html
July 21, 2005 "Erototoxins" as next tobacco

Judith Reisman, a peripheral yet oddly influential figure in social-conservative circles who is perhaps best known for her attacks on the late sex researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey, has taken up a new cause: proving that exposure to pornography causes the release of injurious "erototoxins" in the human brain.
Reports Britain's Guardian: Under the auspices of Utah's Lighted Candle Society (LCS), Reisman and Victor Cline, a clinical psychologist at the University of Utah, began raising money from American conservative and religious organisations. They hope to raise at least $3m to conduct MRI scans on victims under the influence of porn and so prove their theories correct. They foresee two possible outcomes: if they can demonstrate that porn physically "damages" the brain, that might open the floodgates for "big tobacco"-style lawsuits against porn publishers and distributors; second, and more insidiously, if porn can be shown to "subvert cognition" and affect the parts of the brain involved in reasoning and speech, then "these toxic media should be legally outlawed, as is all other toxic waste, and eliminated from our societal structure".

(Mark Pilkington, "Sex on the brain", Jul. 14). Rogier Van Bakel (Nobody's Business) has much more on Reisman (Jul. 21). (& welcome Andrew Sullivan, Instapundit readers). Posted by Walter Olson at July 21, 2005 07:58 PM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/farout/story/0,13028,1527638,00.html
Sex on the brain
Mark Pilkington
Thursday July 14, 2005
The Guardian

It is all around us, seeping into our brains, via magazines, newspapers and television. Once there, it gets to work, "reflexively and mechanically restructuring the brain "; terrifyingly, "involuntary cellular change takes place even during sleep, resisting informed consent."
According to Dr Judith Reisman, pornography affects the physical structure of your brain turning you into a porno-zombie. Porn, she says, is an "erototoxin ", producing an addictive "drug cocktail " of testosterone, oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin with a measurable organic effect on the brain.
Some of us might consider this a good thing. Not Reisman: erototoxins aren't about pleasure, they're a "fear-sex-shame-and-anger stimulant". Reisman's paper on the subject The Psychopharmacology of Pictorial Pornography Restructuring Brain, Mind & Memory & Subverting Freedom of Speech has helped make her the darling of the anti-pornography crusade, and in November last year she presented her erototoxin theory to the US senate.
Under the auspices of Utah's Lighted Candle Society (LCS), Reisman and Victor Cline, a clinical psychologist at the University of Utah, began raising money from American conservative and religious organisations. They hope to raise at least $3m to conduct MRI scans on victims under the influence of porn and so prove their theories correct. They foresee two possible outcomes: if they can demonstrate that porn physically "damages " the brain, that might open the floodgates for "big tobacco"-style lawsuits against porn publishers and distributors; second, and more insidiously, if porn can be shown to "subvert cognition " and affect the parts of the brain involved in reasoning and speech, then "these toxic media should be legally outlawed, as is all other toxic waste, and eliminated from our societal structure."
What's more, people whose brains have been rotted by pornography are no longer expressing "free speech " and, for their own good, shouldn't be protected under the First Amendment.
But there's a catch. Much of Reisman's research in developing her theory has necessitated examining hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pornographic magazines and films. By her own reasoning her brain ought, by now, to be a seething mass of toxic smutmulch ...

http://www.bakelblog.com/nobodys_business/2005/07/judith_reismans.html
Judith Reisman's Sex Demons

According to this U.K. newspaper article (by way of Boing Boing), anti-pornography researcher and über-Nanny Judith Reisman is trying to prove that porn physically damages viewers' brains through the release of "erototoxins." Such a finding ...might open the floodgates for "big tobacco"-style lawsuits against porn publishers and distributors. Second, and more insidiously, if porn can be shown to "subvert cognition" and affect the parts of the brain involved in reasoning and speech, then "these toxic media should be legally outlawed, as is all other toxic waste, and eliminated from our societal structure."
By way of a can't-top-this encore, Reisman argues that ...people whose brains have been rotted by pornography are no longer expressing "free speech" and, for their own good, shouldn't be protected under the First Amendment.
Delve into Reisman's past and you find plenty of such howlers. For instance, she believes that great hordes of homosexuals "recruit" children via schools and mainstream media; and that pioneering sex researcher Alfred Kinsey pretty much masturbated himself to death (what, he didn't go blind first?). Sure, she might seem a few jokers short of a full deck, but don't underestimate Reisman's influence and pull: she frequently testifies before government committees in the U.S. and abroad.
Alternet's Max Blumenthal reminds us that through friends in the Justice Department, Reisman has helped push for an increased focus on prosecuting porn. ... [Her] anti-porn crusade gained steam with the February, 2003 appointment of her longtime friend Bruce Taylor to senior counsel to the assistant attorney general. Taylor has prosecuted over 700 obscenity cases in his career, including the famed 1981 Ohio vs. Larry Flynt trial.
Indefatigable at 70, Reisman continues her crusade against "the sexindustrial complex" mostly by trying to prove the existence of those elusive "erototoxins." Right now, only she knows what those are - she coined the word herself, and it seems it has yet to make it into anyone else's medical vocabulary. In fact, though she consistently identifies herself as "Dr. Reisman," that title refers to a degree in communication, not to any expert medical knowledge. (This echoes her fondness for reminding people that her maiden name, Gelernter, is German for "learned one." Indeed.)
A Wikipedia entry notes that what Reisman means when she carries on about erototoxins is endorphins: pleasure-signaling neurotransmitters that are released during running and other physical exercise, as well as during sex, laughing, and acupuncture. Who knows, she might be against all of those things too, given that endorphins have mildly addictive properties. In any case, the Wikipedia article concludes correctly that there is currently no scientific evidence for the existence of erototoxins, nor has any link between pornography and sex crimes been scientifically proven.
But rather than rely on others' assessments, perhaps it's best to let Reisman paint herself with her own words - which supply lots of prima facie evidence that there's a fine line between spirited advocacy and downright nastiness.
In a recent New Yorker piece, she is quoted as saying that ...the Nazi Party and the Holocaust itself were largely the creation of "the German homosexual movement." Thanks to Alfred Kinsey, she warns, the American homosexual movement is poised to repeat those crimes. "Idealistic 'gay youth' groups are being formed and staffed in classrooms nationwide by recruiters too similar to those who formed the original 'Hitler youth.' "
Then there's this beauty, from a speech Reisman gave at a 1994 conference of Christian Right leaders: "I would suggest to you that while the homosexual population may right now be one to two percent, hold your breath, people, because the recruitment is loud; it is clear; it is everywhere. You'll be seeing, I would say, 20 percent or more, probably 30 percent, or even more than that, of the young population will be moving into homosexual activity."
A few years later, she declared: "Everyone knows Jews do lead the abortion industry, and I'll thank B'nai B'rith from the bottom of my heart if they can prove otherwise."

AW, Man!  Does this mean I have to give up my slash?  Actually, I'm pretty much speechless at this point, because really, what kind of meaningful commentary could I make about this?