The STOPLight

Porn distributor earns new rating

Bill is a pretty typical 51-year-old guy; he has a wife, four children, a home in the suburbs. As a Christian he volunteers for two groups affiliated with his church -- Purity in Action and Morality in Media -- both with anti-pornography missions. But just 2 years ago, Bill was part owner of the largest telemarketing porn video distribution company in the United States. Bill tells why he left the adult video business...

When it started, I was not a Christian; I didn't even understand what it meant to be saved.

For over 20 years, my partners and I sold industrial tools to manufacturers and metal forming shops across the country. We had several offices and a wide network of salespeople. One of our tool customers told us he bought a lot of pornographic videos and suggested we look into selling them.

As businessmen, we investigated the market and spoke to others in the adult video industry like we would for any other new product. That's how we got into the x-rated video business.

Instead of looking for new customers, we had our existing salespeople ask the tool customers if they bought or watched adult videos. It was surprising how many of them did. Our first batch of videos quickly sold out; soon we were cutting deals directly with the studios and big distributors.

I was truly amazed by how wide the market for pornographic videos is. I personally didn't have this desire in my life; I was not stimulated by them. My motivation was monetary. I looked at adult videos as a commodity -- a product that almost everybody we talked to was buying.

After several months, we created a separate company with its own name because some of our tool customers were, thank the Lord, offended by us selling the videos. If a tool customer complained, we'd lie and say it was "some renegade salesperson trying to start something. You've known us for years. Why would we ruin our relationship with you? We know you're a pillar in the community." That successfully stopped most negative questions. But a few customers told us never to call them again. To their credit, some of our salespeople also had a problem with it and said, "I don't want to sell this for you."

For the first several years, it seemed like a win-win situation. We had a product with seemingly unlimited demand, reasonable wholesale costs and high resale prices, thus a wide profit margin. We made an obscene amount of money in the video business which allowed us to open opulent offices and pay staggering wages. In the early days, it felt very rewarding and satisfying. At that time in my life I didn't realize the separation between me and God had grown even wider. It was really the devil at work, allowing us so much success with such an evil product.

The videos we sold dealt with every kind of sex -- couples, gay, lesbian, group -- every fetish, almost every subject. We decided not to sell child pornography or bestiality because it seemed rational to say, "Bestiality is disgusting so that's out. It's okay to sell the adult stuff, but because of our kids we won't get into child pornography. There's a big difference between adult and child pornography." I said that then, but I know better now. One is just as bad as the other -- one leads to the other.

Unfortunately, that's the problem -- the rationalization that adults viewing pornography doesn't hurt anyone. "It's okay to watch it or not; to act out what you see or not; it doesn't lead to anything more; it doesn't affect your intimacy with the person you watch it with." People don't realize the hundreds of other problems that stem from viewing pornography. For example, a man who watches it becomes less and less satisfied with just looking and is more and more tempted to experience it himself. Watching x-rated videos encourages people to seek ever more erotic stimulation -- which leads to viewing child pornography. Not only pedophiles get stimulated by it; so do other adult males who think back on their early teens when they were first finding out about sex but were unable to explore it firsthand. They dream of that first 12- or 13-year-old girl they had a crush on back then, which also leads to desiring pornography that involves children.

The fastest-growing segment of the pornographic video market today is amateur videos made by people in their own homes, then marketed through a large distributor.

When it came to selling x-rated videos, we soon learned that men responded better to female salespeople, so we hired mostly 18-25 year-old females to approach our predominantly male customers. We found that the more erotic the girls talked, the more sales they made. They offered free phone sex around the sales pitch and would refine their sex talk to please individual customers after finding out their particular fetishes. It was not at all difficult to get the men to buy; determining how much they would spend and how often was the variable.

We created a family-type atmosphere for the girls to work in. No desks, just couches or tables and chairs -- it was like sitting in your own living room talking to a friend on the phone. These girls felt warmth for and security among the other girls at work. It was much like the cults you hear about where you know it's wrong, but when you're living it, you understand how people get caught up in it. There are so many evils in society today that anything that even remotely resembles acceptance (such as gangs) is embraced. It becomes their security blanket. In prostitution, pimps create a family atmosphere among their girls, too. I now understand more clearly how a girl can feel the safety of prostitution while she's in it; why she thinks and rationalizes that at least she has a "family" who loves and cares for her. I know this is all rationalization, but these were my feelings at the time.

A question not asked enough is whether there were changes over time in the behavior of the men who bought videos. Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Incredibly, it got to the point where we could actually predict when a guy was going to stop buying from us. We didn't have anything erotic enough to satisfy him anymore.

How I got out of the pornography business is a happy story. One of my daughters went on a Christian retreat with a friend who belonged to a large, non-denominational church. When they returned, our daughter invited us to meet her friend's parents. They, in turn, invited us to their church. Our daughter had dedicated her life to the Lord and she wanted us to share in that. But it took several weeks of encouragement from her before we finally went.

As we listened to the pastor, we knew something was not quite right in our life. We went through the new membership classes and decided to devote ourselves to the Lord. We became saved.

After that, it became nearly impossible for me to deal with the adult video portion of our business. It was God's way of saying, "No! No! No! No!" My partners and I reached an agreement where I stopped receiving financial remuneration from them.

Pornography is an evil thing. In some way, shape or form, pornography touches every person's life. it is very oppressive, widespread, and evil. Satan cleverly provides rationalizations that allow it to continue. "This is what men do. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just good clean sex. God gave us this gift; why wouldn't he allow us to partake?" This is how they rationalize their behavior. I've heard thousands of these excuses and invented some myself.

I'm thankful I found the Lord and am no longer involved in pornography. The Lord has given me the desire to fight against it, and I can speak from a little different perspective. People say this is a First Amendment issue -- freedom of speech. But it's not about speech. Pornography really does enslave you, so it's freedom of our soul, freedom from the devil we're talking about.

Pornography is the worst addiction to have. Once addicted, a person is never cured. The best they can hope is to be in control of it. When the triggers take place, they can understand and deal with them in a manner that doesn't lead to looking at pornography or acting out. The vivid mental images cannot be erased but the urges can be controlled. Almost all of today's social ills -- spousal abuse, child abuse, broken marriages, the abortion issue, sexual abuse -- can be linked to pornography.

I challenge all clergy to speak about pornography from the pulpit. Among those sitting in your congregation are people who view and are addicted to pornography. Urge them not to keep this as a secret sin like Satan wants them to. Shine a spotlight on pornography. Let them know our Lord still loves them.

Adults need to admit the pornography problem exists. Men must realize it is not macho to look at pornography. Quite the opposite-it is very wimpy because it's fantasy rather than reality. A real man deals with a woman in a natural and loving intimacy. Women who know the men in their lives use pornography must not enable them by sweeping it under the carpet and not facing it. It is degrading to women. I urge you to share the problems and concerns you have, to seek relief and help from your church. Even very young teens have access to pornography. Parents need to teach their kids it is not okay.

I would like to tell youth not to be fooled by the media. You don't need to hit 70 homeruns or throw four touchdowns or be a rock star to be a role model. There are many true and good role models in your life: teachers, pastors, youth ministers, neighbor, friends' parents. They live normal lives with values and concerns about you and society's ills. They truly care about you.

In 2002 our organization changed its name to Adults Saving Kids. Prior to that we were called A-STOP (Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution), STOP (Speaking Truths On Prostitution), or Grassroots Ministry Alliance.