Missouri- A packed audience waited in Graham Chapel Friday afternoon for two speakers to take stage: a porn actor and a pastor.
Standing with ease in front of their audience, adult film star Ron Jeremy and Craig Gross, pastor of a ministry that seeks to help people who have been negatively affected by pornography, went head-to-head in the controversial dispute known as the Great Porn Debate.
The 55-year-old Jeremy, who has starred in more than 1,800 adult films, argued in defense of the multibillion-dollar pornography industry, while Gross criticized it for its desensitizing effect on real-life sexual relationships and for exploiting women and youths.
Hosted by the Student Health Advisory Committee as part of Sex Week, the debate opened with remarks from both sides and ended with questions from the audience.
Gross, 33, spoke first and did not present himself as a “porn scholar.” Instead, he described himself as a pastor with seven years of direct experience with what he believes to be the debilitating effects of the adult film industry.
“I’ve seen the devastation of what porn does to people,” Gross said. “I’ve seen marriages destroyed. I’ve seen people in jail and people who lose everything. Porn will take you to a place that you don’t want to go.”
Gross contended against the adult film industry, claiming it misrepresents sexual relationships between real men and women. These false relationships, according to Gross, then become construed by young people as images of true relationships.
“Porn is fantasy,” the southern Californian pastor said. “It is not real. It’s not what you’ll find in a real, normal, healthy sexual relationship.”
Gross also discussed the industry’s exploitation of and accessibility for youths and its demeaning, humiliating portrayal of women.
“Porn teaches a man that sex means using and penetrating a woman’s body how ever he likes, assuming she will love it as much as he does. Porn is degrading, not empowering for women.”
Jeremy defended the industry and its entertainment value, waving aside Gross’ argument of porn addiction and sexual abuse. Jeremy compared blaming the porn industry for problems of addiction to blaming the alcohol industry for alcoholism.
“No one is telling Smirnoff to get out of business,” said Jeremy, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and track pants. “No one is saying don’t drive a car, because other[s] aren’t doing it correctly.”
Jeremy also argued that the porn industry is not catering to minors but cannot prevent its accessibility to underage viewers. He added that bad parenting may simply be the cause for children watching porn.
“We tell the people who own the video stores, ‘Don’t sell to minors.’ Can we be there to protect that all the time? No. We can’t stop it, but we don’t cater to that.”
Stacked on Jeremy’s podium was a small stack of magazine clippings and articles, which he brought along as pieces of social evidence to enhance his argument.
Jeremy came to the debate with a bachelor’s degree in theater and education and a master’s degree in special education.
Gross, on the other hand, is no stranger to publicity, having appeared in GQ magazine, “Good Morning America,” Newsweek, CNN and The New York Times.
Seven years ago, Gross launched xxxchurch.com, an anti-porn Web site frequented by more than 60 million viewers.
The topic of contention may have spurned heated remarks from both sides, but the two men’s comfort levels and jests betrayed camaraderie and history while debating each other.
Gross read from a list of names of adult films in which Jeremy has starred—each title eliciting laughter from the audience—while Jeremy looked on with an unabashed smile at the audience.
“For some reason, there is a film he’s in called ‘Young and Innocent,’ but it doesn’t look like they’re talking about him,” Gross said.
Despite Jeremy’s fame, some students, like juniors Alana Miller and Kayla Dalle Molle, said they would not be so quick to deem him the winner of the debate.
“I think neither of them really won. There were parts I agreed with and parts that I disagreed with,” Miller said.
Molle, on the other hand, felt there was a true winner.
“Not that I necessarily agree exactly with his viewpoints, but in terms of actually looking at the debate, I think [Gross] completely won,” Molle said.
