Ruth Institute Blog

People sometimes ask me why I founded the Ruth Institute. I always reply that young people who want lifelong married love need and deserve accurate information and adult support. People sometimes have a hard time believing me when I try to convey just how crazy campus life can be. But now, I don’t need to say anything. Yale University is proving my point for me. Yale (where I taught economics from 1980-85) sets aside the week surrounding Valentines Day to be Sex Week at Yale. Minneapolis Star Tribune Columnist Kathy Kersten tells us about it:

This being Yale, the week started with a veneer of academic respectability: Read more…

Pornography is addictive.  I’ve been pretty sure of that for some time.  Now there is neuroscience on this point:

William M. Struthers of Wheaton College explains, “Men seem to be wired in such a way that pornography hijacks the proper functioning of their brains and has a long-lasting effect on their thoughts and lives.”Struthers is a psychologist with a background in neuroscience and a teaching concentration in the biological bases of human behavior. In Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain, Struthers presents key insights from neuroscience that go a long way toward explaining why pornography is such a temptation for the male mind.

Pornography is “visually magnetic” to the male brain. Struthers presents a fascinating review of the neurobiology involved, with pleasure hormones becoming linked to and released by the experience of a male viewing pornographic images. These experiences with pornography and pleasure hormones create new patterns in the brain’s wiring, and repeated experiences formalize the rewiring.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but still, nice to see some confirmation by someone overtly stating it.

Carolyn Moynihan

A British feminist is sounding the alarm about the effects on teenagers of easy access to pornography, saying that a skewed view of sex is becoming the norm in society and the idea of intimacy is dying. Read more…

Here is a fantastically put together document on all of the far-reaching negative effects of pornography. I knew the stuff was bad, but, wow. (This article originally appeared at FamilyResearchCouncil.org.)

by Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D. and Ruth Institute Academic Advisory Board Member

Pornography is a visual representation of sexuality which distorts an individual’s concept of the nature of conjugal relations. This, in turn, alters both sexual attitudes and behavior. It is a major threat to marriage, to family, to children and to individual happiness. In undermining marriage it is one of the factors in undermining social stability. Read more…

This can’t be a good thing. And why would anyone think that it is?

Pete Chagnon – OneNewsNow -

Fox News has picked up on reports that Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), has been surrounded by controversy concerning his organization as GLSEN has been accused of visiting middle and high schools where spokespersons engage in explicit sexual discussions with students.

In conjunction with the controversial talks, it has been uncovered that GLSEN has recommended an alleged pornographic reading list for underage students. Exact details of the reading list are too explicit for print, but the material includes frank descriptions and the glorification of adult-on-minor homosexual sex.

Continue reading: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=819656

To put it simply, porn will cause the destruction of the universe! Or just marriage and real, meaningful relationships, but it’s just the start, I tell you!

Patrick F. Fagan, Mercatornet.com

By undermining marriage and family life, by assailing them on the internet, pornography is doing serious harm to young people.

“Pornography is a visual representation of sexuality which distorts an individual’s concept of the nature of conjugal relations. This, in turn, alters both sexual attitudes and behaviour. It is a major threat to marriage, to family, to children and to individual happiness. In undermining marriage it is one of the factors in undermining social stability.” Read more…

Marcia Segelstein – Guest Columnist -OneNewsNow

Listen up, parents. The goal of sex education is not to prevent unwanted pregnancies and diseases. The goal is to promote sexual freedom.

That may sound outrageous, but it’s the premise of Dr. Miriam Grossman’s new book, You’re Teaching My Child What?, and it’s backed up by plenty of cold, hard facts.  Here’s what she writes in the introduction: “From a review of many of today’s sex ed curricula and websites, it would appear that a ’sexually healthy’ individual is one who has been ‘desensitized,’ who is without any sense of embarrassment or shame (what some might consider ‘modesty’), whose sexuality is always ‘positive’ and ‘open,’ who respects and accepts ‘diverse’ lifestyles, and who practices ’safer sex’ with every ‘partner.’  This is not about health, folks.  This is about indoctrination.” Read more…