Elizabeth Smart reveals that her kidnapper treated her worse because of pornography
Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped in June 2002 at age 14, recently appeared in a video talking about how her male captor's addiction to pornography made her experience much worse. In the video released by Fight the New Drug, Smart revealed that her captor would rape her after viewing pornographic material.
Smart began by narrating how she was kidnapped from her bedroom while her younger sister was in bed next to her. She went on to describe how her captor forced her to drink alcohol which led her to vomit and lose consciousness.
She recounted that her kidnapper would become excited while looking at pornographic magazines and would persuade her to look at the images as well. "He would just sit and look at it and stare at it, and he would just talk about these women, and then when he was done, he would turn and look at me, and he would be like, 'Now we're going to do this,'" Smart said.
Smart revealed that her captor raped her numerous times and this was triggered by her captor's obsession with pornography.
"Looking at pornography wasn't enough for him. Having sex with his wife after looking at pornography, it wasn't enough for him. And then it led him to finally going out and kidnapping me," she said.
She further stated, "I can't say that he would not have gone out and kidnapped me had he not looked at pornography. All I know is that pornography made my living hell worse."
Smart's ordeal ended when she was seen walking with her captors on a street in Sandy, Utah in March 2003. Her captors, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Eileen Barzee, were charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault. They were also charged for allegedly trying to break into the home of Smart's cousin, Jessica Wright, according to CNN.
Fight the New Drug actively campaigns against pornography by pointing out its harmful effects rather than citing morality. The group's mission statement read, "With an all-inclusive approach, we carry our anti-pornography message across borders of religious beliefs, political agenda, and social backgrounds by presenting it as a public health issue, rather than as a moral, political or religious argument."
