Panel discusses effects of porn “on both sides of the screen”

On a rainy Tuesday, 150 students and faculty crowded into 102 Debartolo Hall to listen to former porn star Chrissy Moran talk about her experience in the industry and Melody and Traylor Lovvorn discuss the effect of porn on their marriage. The panel began with opening remarks by Leonard DeLorenzo, a Theology Professor at Notre Dame.

“The porn industry generates $15 billion per year. This is more than NFL, NBA, and Major League baseball combined…but what also goes unseen are the real people, the real relationships, the real stories from both sides of the screen.”

DeLorenzo continued, “When we talk about statistics, we don’t see these people….What we want to do tonight is focus not on a topic, actually, but on stories—stories from people who come from both sides of that screen.”

From there, Chrissy Moran and DeLorenzo engaged in a Q&A style discussion about Chrissy’s experience in the industry.

Moran spoke of her childhood, recalling her molestation at the age of 4 and how significantly this impacted the rest of her life. With great difficulty, Chrissy struggled to speak about her first pregnancy and abortion, and her boyfriend’s empty words of potential marriage and family. “Everyone told me that it’s not a big deal, and I needed to get an abortion in order to graduate high school.”

She said that at the time, “in order to feel loved [she] had to have a man in her life.”

After being fired from Hooters for “not being outgoing,” Moran “started believing that as a woman, [she] wasn’t worth anything unless [she] was sexy.”

She mentioned being raped several times and was “roofied” by a former football player. This caused her to “buy into the lie that men cannot control themselves and this is just how they were programmed. And I accepted it as my reality.”

Moran first entered the industry when Playboy reached out to her through modeling websites. She said yes to porn because “it was the next best thing to having someone love me.”

Moran ultimately left the industry after her boyfriend at the time cheated on her. That was compounded with the realization that she was “was the perfect fantasy girl and was still not enough, that was what crushed me,” she said.

Moran then began her path to depart from the industry and deepen her relationship with God. She reflected that no females are ever happy when they do porn. They are coerced by financial need, drug addictions, or other factors.

The panel then transitioned to the Lovvorns: Traylor and Melody live in Birmingham with their four children. As Professor DeLorenzo mentioned in his introduction, Melody and Traylor were married for 11 years before Traylor’s struggle with pornography and sex addiction ripped their family apart. This tragic upheaval left their family reeling and their “perfect life” came crashing down. Then, after six years of divorce, they remarried. According to DeLorenzo, their story confirms what a wise person once said: “adversity introduces us to ourselves.” The Lovvorns are co-founders of the organization “Undone Redone,” which helps men struggling with sexual addiction.

In the Q&A, Notre Dame alumnus Nathaniel Hannan asked Moran how she escaped the industry, as he personally knew a former porn star who was brutally raped and murdered by one of his “fans.” Moran responded that it is important to never shut anyone out and try to help all who call out in need.   

After the event, Notre Dame senior Michael Sinanian expressed amazement at how genuine Moran and the Lovvorns were, given the topic of discussion: “I liked how Traylor talked about how shame hides a porn addiction, but when people come together in a group setting, it sheds light on the issue and helps us to overcome it.”

Another senior, John Schuele, appreciated how the Lovvorns brought to life the “misconception of marriage as the solution to porn addiction.”

This event was part of White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Week, a national campaign to foster honest discussions about pornography’s effects on people and relationships. WRAP Week is presented by the Students for Child-Oriented Policy (SCOP) and is cosponsored by the McGrath Institute for Church Life, Love and Fidelity Network, the Center for Ethics and Culture, Campus Ministry, Sycamore Trust, Gender Relations Center, ND Right to Life, Department of Theology, Militia Immaculata, Knights of Columbus Council 1477, and the Irish Rover.

To sign the petition to filter wifi networks at Notre Dame, go to http://bit.ly/ndpornfilter

Jim Martinson is a Notre Dame junior majoring in Economics. Originally from New Jersey, he is a proud resident of O’Neill Family Hall. Jim can be reached at jmartins@nd.edu.