On August 6-9, 1998, a "World Pornography Conference" was held at Universal City, Calif., at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. In these terribly liberated times, especially in the state of California, what is the problem with that you might ask? Well, on July 6, 1999, the California Joint Legislative Audit Committee decided something was perhaps terribly wrong with what some state senators referred to as "a pornography tradeshow." The bipartisan committee unanimously authorized an audit of the use of public taxpayer funds for this porno-fest not because it was sponsored by Playboy or Hustler; it wasn't. Rather, it was conducted under the auspices of the Center for Sex Research at the very publicly funded California State University at Northridge.

Senator Raymond N. Haynes, R-Riverside, requested the audit, and Judith Reisman, Ph.D., Susan Carpenter McMillan and James Lambert testified to the Audit Committee about the effects of pornography on adults and children.

To give taxpayers a sampling of the offerings at the CSUN-sponsored conference, it included such workshops as "Visual and Carnal Pleasures in Hard-Core Pornography," "Daddy, Make Me a Star" (a film), "What Sex Offenders Think About Pornography," "Rape Hysteria and Censorship," "Apes, Our Species, and Pornography," "Get Up, Get In, Get Off, Get Out? On Cue."

If that is not enough, also presented were workshops entitled "Child Pornography: Forbidden Thoughts and Images in an Erotic Landscape" (a three hour session), "The Forbidden Image: Child Pornography" and finally "Sexual Abuse, Anti-Sexuality and the Pornography of Power," given by Ralph Underwager, who also doubles as a courtroom expert in child custody cases. Isn't that a comforting thought?

Susan Carpenter McMillan, counselor to Paula Jones, first described to the committee the effects of "adult" pornography upon one small victim she is currently aiding, who was brutally abused by her grandmother and father using pornography. McMillan said, the pornography was a "how-to manual" for the abusers. James Lambert, a man once bedeviled by porno use, announced that he contacted all of the "anti-pornography groups" and found only one person had been asked to participate in the conference of roughly 200 participants. So much for academic freedom! Northridge's view of societal impact of porno is all positive, it would seem. No users previously burned by pornography were invited to speak of ills or harms associated with the pornographers' product.

Perhaps the most disturbing charges heard by the committee were provided by Dr. Reisman, who documented that the "founder" of the "Center for Sex Research," Dr. Vern Bullough, was a self-admitted pedophile as an editor of the very academic Journal of Pedophilia. Dr. Reisman, whose research spans 30 years, was also able to point out to the California legislators a score of other pedophiles and pedophile advocates on the porno conference "faculty." Their pedophilia is something these otherwise respectable gentlemen do not boast of in public. In fact, Dr. Reisman presented an original copy of the Journal of Pedophilia in which Ungerwager, speaking on the California State University-sponsored child pornography panel, declared:

Pedophiles can boldly and courageously affirm what they choose. They can say that what they want is to find the best way to love ... an acceptable expression of God's will for love and unity among human beings. It may take people being arrested. Revolutionaries have always risked arrest.

Reisman described the pernicious spread of pornography, the "how to" manuals of the Kinseyan sexual revolution, in the United States since the early 1950s. Until then it was unlawful to send obscenity through the U.S. Post, certain death for periodicals -- like the ground-breaking Playboy -- dependent upon monthly subscribers in order to garner the magazine's life blood, that is, advertising revenues. Dr. Alfred Kinsey's fraudulent human sexuality research was used by revolutionary lawyers to dismantle the Comstock laws and thereby open the U.S. Post to them as a smut delivery system. Dr. Reisman's mission after 30 years of research into Kinsey's fraudulent science is to help parents and public officials see Kinsey's connection to the consequences today through the "RSVP America" campaign.

Kinsey promised America would be better off if we would follow his sexual revolution to sexual liberation. The extent of pornography's cancerous growth on the American corpus is evident at California State University. Coming from a non-position of no legal production or distribution of obscenity and pornography in America from its founding until Kinsey, now -- 50 years later -- publicly funded colleges and universities are sponsoring conferences, programs and courses for college credits. But at Northridge, the very geographic center of the world porno industry, CSUN, like a band of carnies, promoted a trade show promoting the pornography industry, using state facilities, personnel and prestige.

The legislators on the committee were stunned by this sordid reality of what happened at Northridge and the predominant part pedophiles played in its production. Senator Steve Peace, D-El Cajon, pointed out to the Audit Committee that he was more than a little concerned with the reply from the Northridge Chancellor to the inquiries made by the legislators: "As long as no state money was used, what was the problem?" Senator Peace responded that promoting any private industry within the university was more than problematic -- much less the porno industry.

Senator Charles Poochigian, R-Fresno, went further declaring that, besides the problem of taxpayer funds being used for such a reason, it was most important to question if this is an activity that diminishes the university. He then asked if the Center for Sex Research is consistent with the mission and standards of the university and wondered out loud if our institutions are for purchase. Assembly member Hannah Beth Jackson, D-35th District, weighed in saying that pornography is degrading to women and human beings; the subject is disgusting. Jackson wanted to go further than the auditing issues, to look deeper into the impact of pornography. She clarified that a genuine scientific study is quite different from a trade show and promotion of something that is outrageous to most Americans.

Possibly the most poignant statements were made by Senator Richard Alarcon, D-San Fernando Valley. He commended Senator Haynes for bringing this matter to the attention of the largely Democratic Committee, and asked for an investigation into the individual who wrote the press release and the others who were paid by state funds. Alarcon said that he had just given a commencement speech at that university and was, for the first time in 18 years, embarrassed to be a graduate from Cal State Northridge. Alarcon said "this very, very liberal" committeeman was sending a message to the Cal State Chancellor, that he was appalled at this information.

Alarcon stated that he too thought it was a stain on the university system to get in bed with the porn industry. It diminishes the fabric of the institution. His admonishment to the porn industry, "Don't use the university system to promote your agenda." In conclusion, all six senators and six assembly members voted to audit for the use of state funds for "World Pornography Conference." Beyond this, if state funds were used, some would argue, refunds are due and owing.