Wilkerson, J. Dr. James Dobson’s interview of convicted murderer, Ted Bundy. S. Hamilton, MA: Center for Youth Studies.

OVERVIEW

Just twenty-four hours before his scheduled execution, Ted Bundy, convicted of twenty-eight sexual murders, called Dr. James Dobson to come interview him in prison. On the interview tape, Dr. Dobson spends some time on recounting that this request seemed bizarre to him and that he had doubted if Bundy was sincere. When he accepted the offer, the record of the event was distributed free to the press and the community at large.

Ted Bundy requested an interview for the sole purpose of warning viewers about the dangers of pornography. Bundy shared about his childhood; he was raised in a Christian household with loving, righteous parents. While out playing or running around, he would sometimes take the long road home (as kids do). One day, he sifted through some magazines in the neighbor’s trash. It was there that he was first introduced to pornography: he found a Playboy magazine, took it home, and kept it.

Through the years, he became more interested in pornographic material. He viewed the films and bought the books and magazines. Eventually, just viewing pornography didn’t satisfy him; he became interested in performing these acts as well. He added that not everyone who views pornography will eventually act it out—there are just a few who do that. Repeatedly during the interview, Mr. Bundy asserted that he knew—and he wanted others to know—that he was fully responsible for each of his actions and crimes. Pornography was not to blame, and even the alcohol that accompanied each killing was not at fault. These variables were used only to reduce his inhibitions of the urge deep inside of him.. What is alarming to Bundy is what could have been. In a tense moment, near crying, Bundy maintains that had it not been for the material articulating his desires at such an early age, he would not be on death row.

Bundy described that emerging from each killing episode was similar to coming out of a dream. He reiterated that while he was not laying aside his guilt, it sometimes felt like another person was doing the things that he did.

He had already apologized to the victims’ parents, but through this interview, he wanted to stress the effects of pornography—specifically violent pornography—on the people who read it. Perhaps the most striking feature of the interview was when he discussed the effects of pornography. He looked straight into the camera and said, "of all the people I met in prison, now I’m no social scientist, but without exception, each one of the people I met that committed a violent crime had a link to pornography." There is an indissoluble link between violent crime and pornography. The whole purpose of his interview was to communicate that correlation and lobby for an elimination of pornographic material.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Why doesn’t everyone involved in hard pornography turn become a "Ted Bundy"?
2. Why is there no a ban on violent pornography? How can we view this material in light of the first amendment?
3. What can be done to stop other people from becoming such gruesome murderers?

IMPLICATIONS

• Pornography addiction can begin in the smallest forms. Violent pornography tastes develop after using soft porn. There always has to be something new and more provacative to satisfy the desire.
• Violent pornography inherently suggests that if the acts seen on the page are performed, the consumer of the pornography will achieve a deeper high.
• There is an irrefutable link between violent crime offenders and violent pornography abusers.

John Wilkerson cCYS