Tell Univ. of Hawaii to Denounce Professor's Push to Legalize Child Porn

Tell Univ. of Hawaii to Denounce Professor's Push to Legalize Child Porn

Started
December 2, 2010
Petition to
University Relations and 5 others
Confirmed victory
This petition made change with 359 supporters!

Why this petition matters

Started by Amanda Kloer
Update: The University of Hawaii denounced this recommendation after receiving letters from 250 Change.org members. Thanks to everyone who signed!

A recently released study from a retired University of Hawaii professor recommends legalizing child pornography as a technique to reduce child sexual abuse and child prostitution. The study not only makes a dangerous recommendation that could lead to the assault of millions of children, it forgets one critical thing: child pornography is a form of child sexual abuse.

Milton Diamond, a University of Hawaii professor who retired in 2009, still used his university credentials when he published his recent study Pornography and Sex Crimes in the Czech Republic. In it, he studies the legalization of adult pornography in the Czech Republic and concludes that when adult pornography was legalized, sex crimes against adults did not increase. It also claims that when child pornography was made legal, sex crimes against children decreased. Therefore, he reasons, child pornography should be made legal  -- for the good of children.

 

However, the study fails to consider that child pornography is child sexual abuse. Child pornography is nothing more than pictorial or video evidence of a child being sexually exploited and harmed. So not only does child pornography not reduce child sexual abuse, it includes child sexual abuse in its production. Furthermore, child pornography is used to groom children for trafficking, and traffickers' threats to send dirty images to kids' families have kept them there.

 

Since Diamond used his University of Hawaii credentials to publish his recommendation to legalize child pornography, the university is implicated in this dangerous suggestion based on fuzzy science. Tell the University of Hawaii to publicly denounce Diamond's policy recommendation that child pornography be legalized and let the world know his views are not their own. No credible academic institution should support facilitating the rape and abuse of children through legalizing child pornography.

Confirmed victory

This petition made change with 359 supporters!

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Decision Makers

  • University Relations
  • Tina SheltonCommunications and Community Engagement
  • Gregg TakayamaDirector of Media Relations
  • Children's Center
  • Alumni Relations