A local Christian group has criticised the appetite for some in the society for  pornography, saying it is has destructive psychological effects on children and adults, while it continues to fuel human trafficking in order to support the multi-billion-dollar global  pornographic industry.

The Christian group, which refers to itself as the Love March Movement, staged a peaceful protest in front of the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre in St Andrew on Friday evening to raise awareness about the dangers of porn.

One female member of the movement made emotional shouts to the public, encouraging them to “say no to pornography” and to take a stand for the children.

President of the Love March Movement Daniel Thomas told the Jamaica Observer that the group is supporting a global campaign called ‘NoPornovember 2021’, to fight the new drug, saying his group views pornography as a drug.

“… Porn destroys the brain, relationships. There is an overwhelming amount of scientific proof that demonstrates that it can significantly impact the brain.  

“It causes things in relationships like sexual and erectile dysfunction and persons have to be going down a pathway of perverseness. There is a correlation between pornography and human trafficking. Everytime you click and watch pornography, there is no way of telling whether or not these women were forced into these sexual acts. That cannot be okay. Right now in Jamaica we have a human trafficking problem.”

Thomas implored the Government and churches to tackle the issue more robustly. He recommended that mental health experts need to speak up more about porn because “it causes anxiety and fuels loneliness and a mental health epidemic that we want to challenge”.

Added Thomas: ”Pornography is a drug, based on MRI studies. Many of these women in pornographic videos are forced in this direction and sometimes they were not told about the violent acts that are to take place. Porn is very addictive. More than 90 per cent of men and over 60 per cent of women have watched pornography before. Addiction is real and so the first thing is to want to quit.

“Many persons across the globe are quitting porn because they realise the impact it has been having on their bodies, relationships and the world. A lot of websites have been shut down because they have been linked to human trafficking and so we really need to organise ourselves and think about the negative impacts this is having. Fight for freedom and love. Even children have perpetrated heinous crimes due to the influence of pornography.”