Former porn addict questions the ‘naked truth’ about sex habit

Pornography ruined Michael Leahy’s marriage, made him lose the respect of his children and ultimately made him suicidal at one point.\n“I made a decision to choose life instead,” Leahy said. “I needed to pull myself away from the triggers.”\nLeahy spoke to the full audience gathered Thursday in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union in a speech titled “Porn Nation – The Naked Truth” about his struggle with pornography and the potential harmful effects it can have. He used science and spirituality to explain those effects.\nThe presentation encompassed multimedia elements displaying pictures of scantily-clad women and men in music videos, advertisements and television, which Leahy said qualifies as a type of pornography.\nSenior Josiah Newmaster said he felt the message of the speech was conflicting because of the images Leahy displayed. \n“He defined porn according to a certain standard,” Newmaster said. “Then he showed it to us, after saying it was pornography.” \nThe images shown to the audience were not the average type of porn students normally think about, Leahy said. \n“It’s just porn, right? Bad plot lines, worse actors, but that’s not what you’re looking for,” Leahy said. “As I continued to go back to the material over and over, it started to have an impact on my relationships.”\nLeahy’s encounters with pornography grew more frequent and necessary for him to function, he said. It ended up numbing him to feeling intimacy with his wife at the time, Patty Onorato, and although Leahy said she was absolutely beautiful, he just wasn’t getting his sexual desires met. \nThis was because he was a victim of the “sex syndrome,” a title Leahy invented to describe weakness sometimes brought on by the hyper-sexed media and pornography.\n“(Pornography) is just out of control, and it’s not harmless,” said Campus Crusade for Christ intern Ruth Haffenden. “This really hit home with a lot of people.” \nLeahy said his addiction left him wanting more and different pornography more frequently.\n“I was becoming desensitized over time where it wasn’t enough to even be with Patty,” Leahy said. “I was looking for a higher high. I wasn’t really meeting that need.” \nHis addiction escalated into an affair with his ideal “porn woman” that eventually led to his divorce. About a year later, he said he turned to God for help and has been recovering ever since. \n“I cheated on my wife, I broke my kid’s hearts, I lied pathologically for years,” Leahy said. “I knew what it meant to say you’re a sinner.” \nFor this reason, Leahy said he feels the call to talk to students, because anywhere from 6 to 8 percent of them might be in the same position he was, and he wants them to know they are not alone.\n“Sex is front and center in our world today,” Leahy said. “What you feed grows and what you starve dies.”