On April 9, 2021, Covenant Eyes lost a friend and ally in the fight against pornography, Dr. Judith Reisman, Ph.D.
Dr. Reisman was one of the leading intellectuals in the fight against pornography and one of the first to conduct research into the dangers it presents. She wrote and lectured extensively on the sexual revolution, pornography, and the sexologist Alfred Kinsey.
Covenant Eyes founder and CEO Ron DeHaas said:
“Judith Reisman was a matriarch of the movement against sexual exploitation and pornography. And like a true matriarch, she was in the life of the movement, but also of the movement, the movement was her child, her family. She was so passionate about this child that you literally could not stop her. When she spoke at a conference, she was so full of informed vigor that she would still be talking as she was gently moved offstage. This movement, this family, her child, will have a lonely empty spot at our gatherings from now on.”
Dr. Reisman’s early research into the effects and dangers of pornography helped fuel later explorations into the brain science of porn.
Testifying before a senate committee in 2004, Dr. Reisman coined the term “erototoxin. “Pornography triggers myriad kinds of internal, natural drugs that mimic the “high” from a street drug. Addiction to pornography is addiction to what I dub erototoxins—mind-altering drugs produced by the viewer’s own brain.”
Years later, numerous studies corroborate Dr. Reisman’s claims.
In 2011, Covenant Eyes interviewed Dr. Reisman. She explained to us the ideological justification for pornography that was developed in the 1950s, which was based on academically questionable and ethically reprehensible research.
Despite this, it’s the same basis that’s used today to justify the tsunami of porn that flooding our homes through the internet. Not surprisingly, Dr. Reisman received much vitriolic criticism from porn advocates. Marriage and family therapist Dr. Jill Manning said, “She was truly one of a kind. She took many slings and arrows for our movement.”
In 2016, Dr. Reisman joined Covenant Eyes for the Global Set Free Summit, an international gathering of nearly 1000 pastors, recovery experts, and concerned lay leaders from around the world. The purpose of the summit was to sound the alarm on the problem of pornography in the church. “You don’t need to be an addict to be harmed by pornography,” said Dr. Reisman. Porn is “a social contagion that fuses fear, shame, and lust.”
Dr. Reisman’s work will not be forgotten.
Many other researchers, medical professionals, and advocates have taken up the torch that she carried for so many years.
Neurosurgeon and porn addiction expert Dr. Donald Hilton commented, “We will be forever indebted to her for her knowledge and her example of courage. She will be greatly missed.”
Ron DeHaas concluded, “For those of us who count ourselves among her children, we must not now relax, but rather hear her charge echoing among us. Mother, may you be proud of what is yet to come.”
I was addicted to pornography from the age of 15 to 57, I am now 63. Without God’s Grace, attending therapy sessions the first year twice a week and the following year once a month. I also attended two group sessions; Every Man’s Battle for one year, and SA for one year. My freedom from bondage came from surrendering my addiction to Jesus, then walking out my addiction one day at a time. Accountability plays a critical role in recovery, then finding new healthy habits to build on, replacing the negative routine. The real battle begins once I was able to tell my wife, who was completely devastated, angry, hurt, disillusioned, feeling of betrayal, and had know idea who she married. It has destroyed my intimacy, her trust, our marriage and the guilt and shame I had to face straight on. My heart goes out to every man, who has been snared by the demonic next of addiction and bondage. Surrender to Jesus forget will power its no power.