What we learned from Ted Bundy
By Leilani Corpus
Published March 1989
STARKE, FL (FR) – He was once an assistant director of the Seattle Crime Prevention advisory committee and even wrote a pamphlet instructing women on rape prevention. A one-time Boy Scout with a promising career in Washington state politics, Ted Bundy appeared to be an example of a good, upstanding citizen. But behind the congenial facade lurked a force which landed him in an electric chair in January of this year.
In the last few hours prior to his widely-publicized execution for the murder of as many as 50 young women and girls from Utah, Washington, Idaho, Colorado and Florida, the serial killer asked Christian psychologist James Dobson to visit him at the Florida State Prison. Bundy had corresponded with Dr. Dobson – a former member of President Reagan’s Commission on Pornography – for two years prior to their meeting. While anxious reporters waited outside, Bundy told Dobson about the influence of pornography on his behavior.
Bundy said he began casually reading soft-core pornography when he was 12 or 13 years old. His friends found pornographic books in the garbage cans in his neighborhood: “(F)rom time to time we would come across pornographic books of a harder nature … a more graphic, explicit nature than we would encounter at the local grocery store,” he told Dobson in the taped interview. “But slowly throughout the years reading pornography began to become a deadly habit.
“My experience with pornography … is once you become addicted to it, (and I look at this as a kind of addiction like other kinds of addiction), I would keep looking for more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of material. Like an addiction, you keep craving something that is harder, something which gives you a greater sense of excitement. Until you reach a point where the pornography only goes so far, you reach that jumping off point where you begin to wonder if maybe actually doing it would give you that which is beyond just reading or looking at it.”
Within a few years, those latent desires fueled by pornography were expressed through his first murder. Although Bundy said he did not blame pornography, he explained that pornographic materials shaped and molded his behavior. He also warned the nation that “the most damaging kinds of pornography … are those that involve violence and sexual violence. Because the wedding of those two forces, as I know only too well, brings out the hatred that is just, just too terrible to describe.”
Bundy said that pornography “snatched me out of my home 20, 30 years ago … and pornography can reach out and snatch a kid out of any house today.” His religious training and morality initially restrained him from acting out his fantasies, but he confessed that finally, “I couldn’t hold back anymore.”
Alcohol supposedly broke the restraints for him to commit his first murder. “What alcohol did in conjunction with exposure to pornography is (sic) alcohol reduced my inhibitions at the same time the fantasy life that was fueled by pornography eroded them further.”
While committing the murders, Bundy said he felt as if he was possessed by “something … awful and alien. There is just absolutely no way to describe first the brutal urge to do that kind of thing, and then what happens is once it has been more or less satisfied and recedes, you might say, or spent, that energy level recedes and basically I become myself again.”
“But basically I was a normal person. I wasn’t some guy hanging out at bars or a bum. I wasn’t a pervert in the sense that people look at somebody and say, ‘I know there is something wrong with him, you can just tell.’ I was essentially a normal person,” Bundy told Dobson. “The basic humanity and the basic spirit that God gave me was intact, but unfortunately became overwhelmed at times.”
Ted Bundy acknowledged that he deserved the death penalty, even though there were anti-death penalty demonstrators outside his prison cell up until the moment of his execution. “I deserve the most extreme punishment society has,” he said. “But I don’t want to die, I kid you not.”
Dobson said that Bundy wept several times during the interview: “He expressed great regret, remorse for what he had done, for the families that were hurting.” He spent his last night in prayer with a minister from Gainesville, Florida.
Bundy’s last words of confession and warning about pornography are an echo of statistics, research, and reports conducted within the last decade about the link between pornography and sexually violent crime. Unfortunately, many of the warnings in those reports still have not been heeded, and pornography has been taken for granted or considered a necessary evil.
According to a study conducted by a group of psychologists, Neil Malamuth of UCLA, Gene Abel of Columbia University, and William Marshall of Kingston Penitentiary, various forms of pornography can elicit fantasies which may lead to crime. Out of a test group of 18 rapists studied who used ‘consenting pornography’ to instigate a sexual offence, seven of them said that it provided a cue to elicit fantasies of forced sex.
A study released by the University of New Hampshire has proven that the states which have the highest readership of pornographic magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse also have the highest rape rates. The Michigan State Police department found that pornography is used or imitated in 41 percent of the sex crimes they have investigated.
The Free Congress Research and Education Foundation discovered that half of all rapists studied used soft core pornography to arouse themselves prior to seeking out a victim. Although researchers and media analysts may ballyhoo the impact of soft core pornography – claiming protection under the free speech provision of the Constitution – mounting evidence seems to be favoring a national crackdown on porn as a necessary means to stop crime.
In recent years, as more of this type of research has been published, significant gains have been made against pornographers as major retailers have removed porn from their shelves. Ted Bundy’s confessions to Dr. James Dobson – a leader of the largest segment of pro-family forces in the U.S. – promises to fuel the nationwide efforts being made on the state and local levels to eliminate the pornography problem.
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Your comments are welcome!
I’m kind of skeptical of what the author says. I had a pornography addiction for many years and never contemplated violence. I think Bundy’s turning to violence had to be based on more than looking at pornography.
The article says there’s a correlation between the amount of pornography available in an area and crime. I think there probably is a correlation, but I don’t think it shows causation. I think they’re both independently related to something else: urbanization. The bigger the city, normally the more pornography and the more crime there is. But those things don’t cause each other. Big cities have more availability of pornography because they have a great deal of diversity.
I remember when I lived in San Francisco, it seemed you could buy pornography on almost every block. Particularly, I remember a mom-and-pop store in my neighborhood run by some Asian immigrants who I assume were quite religious, because they had religious pictures behind the checkout stand. But right across from it was a rack full of pornography for sale. Though they were religious and probably wouldn’t have looked at the magazines themselves, they lived in an environment where there were all kinds of different lifestyles, and they figured, “what’s so bad about letting people buy these things?” I’m sure they also figured that if people didn’t buy them from them, they would from others. So why lose the potential sales?
As for crime, big cities have more because of the element of anonymity. In a big city you can’t know everybody, so it’s a lot easier to get away with crimes than it is in small towns or in the country. Big cities are also places of concentration of money, so criminals have more of a motive to operate there than they do in small towns.
So I think you can show that while there’s a correlation, there’s no causation between abundance of pornography and crime. Or at least not a very strong one. I don’t want to deny that pornography did play a role in Bundy’s crimes, but I don’t think it was enough to make him kill women.
The thing that really cured my pornography addiction was taking antidepressants. Addiction is a compulsive behavior, and they helped me get over that.
Posted by arnold on 11/19/2008 11:49 PM #
I agree with the post by arnold 11/19/2008.The real pornography is that of Bush & CO who cover up their perverted deeds all over the world. The lack of a proper Health system for the poor in the USA is perversion of the worst kind. The false modesty of Americans, while encouraging war is a perversion. The support for Talmudic Judaism in Israel is a perversion. www.theawarenesscenter.org is a Jewish site well worth studying. The Talmud is a perversion, but its laws are being implemented in your courts. Type in Jewish Talmud on your PC & be amazed at what you will find. This is the leaven which Jesus spoke in Matthew 15; Matthew 23 & John 8. The Quran is a comic book compared to the Talmud. Your courts, your media & your political parties are run by Talmudic Jews, the anti-Christs of the modernday world. Bush is a Marrano. Look up Jews who fought in your war of Independence & you will see the Jewish Bush’s. America is a daughter of the Whore of Babylon- Israel. The foolish evangelicals expose another daughter – Rome & think they know what their Bible teaches.
Posted by Leonardo de la Paor on 01/05/2009 07:41 AM #
If satan can’t steal your life, he will steal your purpose in life. We do have to behave our way out of behaviors, it’s not an easy task. God is merciful and will help if we choose to fall on our knees with each impulse, read God’s Word instead of Satan’s word, and cry out for deliverance from that which has so methotically lulled our thoughts and behaviors into believing “a little bit won’t hurt,” “this isn’t so bad, what were thy talking about”
God has made provision and most people choose to pass it by.
Karen
Posted by Karen on 02/14/2009 11:18 AM #
well first off i dont believe that porn or drink can contribute to the killing of women.i know some one who is like kinda nuts. he talks about murder and watches sick images on the net when he has been drinkin. so iv any one has any coments on this could you pleas contact me at. chantellebundy@hotmail.com
Posted by chantelle on 03/13/2009 10:56 AM #
Arnold’s comment about reading porn and never contemplating violence is not valid. He states there is no causation. This is not true. The author of the article already states the statistical evidence in several States.
Just because EVERY person doesn’t experience it doesn’t mean it isn’t a valid claim. Think about it:
- Smoking and lung cancer are still linked even though everyone who smokes doesn’t get lung cancer
- Wearing a seat belt is still the law even though everyone without a seat belt doesn’t dies in a car accident
- And high cholesteral and heart disease are still linked even though everyone with high cholesteral doesn’t die of a heart attack.
Posted by slinkywoman on 05/30/2009 02:06 PM #
Ted Bundy deserved something worst than a death penalty. I believe it was just to easy on him. He should have kept alive and be tortured to death like how he did to those pitiful young girls.
I wish him nothing but the worst in hell and in his next life. I hope he will get his karma back from those he tortured and killed in his next life. God, please, let it happen coz otherwise life is just too unfair.
Posted by DankyB on 08/25/2009 08:06 AM #
He’s talking about VIOLENT pornography, not all pornography.
Posted by adasdsf on 09/24/2009 07:21 PM #
the heart is desparately wicked and decietful above all things…who can know it? This is what the Lord says about the heart of man. (male & female) Therefore the so called good people along with the Ted Bundy’s of this world all end up in hell unless they repent and become born again, this is a new life from God, and a regenerated heart and mind.A gift from a merciful God who sent His own Son to die in our place. We are all wicked and deserve what Ted Bundy got, but I thank God for His mercy and the gift of His Son, he who has the Son has life he who has not the Son the wrath of God abides on him….therefore he shall die in his sins and be thrown into hell forever. Anyone who believes they are good will surely end up in hell since they deny what God has said about all men. All have sinned.
Posted by donna on 11/07/2009 03:50 AM #
First, I think those posting here should consider that the article is not saying that all those who view pornography WILL commit sexual crimes. It does not state that. The author simply stated that there is a real correlation between sexual offenses and pornography use. This is a fact whether some here want to hear it or not. There was surely something going on in Bundy’s life beyond pornography that lead him to a life of crime. Most people face something in life that damage them in some way. These damages leave them susceptible to certain weaknesses they must constantly fight to resist. The point being made here is that pornography fuels the fantasies of those who are pre-disposed to committing sexual crimes. Essentially, pornography acts as the straw that broke the camels back. Slinkywoman’s post is right on. Just because you use something that has a relationship to some bad outcome doesn’t guarantee that the results of that use will be bad, but it surely increases the odds that it will be.
“The Michigan State Police department found that pornography is used or imitated in 41 percent of the sex crimes they have investigated.” Forty-one percent is not a majority of the population but it is someone’s daughter, sister, mother, aunt, friend, wife……
You can’t base a solid argument off the fact that you view pornography and never became a sexual predator. YOU are just one case. Like it or not, it is the collection of facts that we must as rational human beings base our conclusions on.
Posted by Bodean on 11/09/2009 06:08 PM #
I don’t believe Ted’s “addiction” to pornography has or had anything to do with murdering young women. Ted was incapable of telling the unvarnished truth. The man was an extremely good manipulator and actor, and that most rare of individuals: a true psychopath. Ted’s putting the cart before the horse in making the claim that violent pornography is the cause. I say nonsense. Its the symptom. People who seek out violent pornography already have something unique in their makeup. As someone who’s watched quite a bit of porno and seen my share of bondage and dominance and done a little myself I’ve never felt compelled to hurt anyone. As for S&M its about the eroticism of submission and control. People who engage in such activities with no regard to the other participants feelings, ie torture people against their will are at best criminals. Most people who watch “rape” porn are engaging in fantasy. If they’re so inclined they’re going to do it in the real world anyway, porno or no porno. Rape and violence have occurred throughout human history without benefit or stimulus of porn.
I’ve also read that Ted later admitted that his last video interview was a show and that alcohol played a much greater role in his murders than pornography. Once again he was giving people what they wanted to hear and manipulating his audience like the psychopath he was.
Btw, most men I know and quite a few of the women enjoy looking at pornography and guess what? None of them are rapists or murderers.
Posted by Al Bundy on 11/12/2009 01:13 PM #
We are all different. Some are addicted to food, others to beer, some to porn. There are other factors involved that enhance these addictions. You might not murder or rape, but you don’t have your freedome to choose- it drives you, you have to have a fix… but part of an addiction is denial and lying to yourself so even if your addicted to porn, you will justify it. Get help as you can’t kick it alone. www.celebraterecovery.com
Posted by JeffTN on 12/30/2009 06:40 PM #
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I was married to a porn addict and have felt the devastation it causes. I want to know why our government isn’t taking more drastic measures at controlling this problem. There is no doubt in my mind that satan is the root of this, and he is destroying us all, one family at a time, the very fabric that holds our nation together. We are at war and it can not be faught with weapons, because it is all around us in the shadows, like a disease. And… it has bled through the small cracks without us noticing.
Posted by cindy on 10/16/2008 09:54 PM #