One man thinks it’s time for Iowa State to face the reality of pornography, its effects and the potential for addiction.

Organizers of Mike Leahy’s lecture “Porn Nation,” which will be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union, hope this event will shed light on a formerly taboo subject.

“Whether we want to admit it or not, pornography and a sexual culture is a reality on college campuses today,” said Mike Carlson, staff member of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization co-sponsoring the lecture.

Leahy is a recovering sex addict and founder of BraveHearts LLC, an organization aimed at revealing the long-term consequences and hidden dangers of pornography exposure, according to Iowa State’s lectures Web site.

“The power of a personal testimony is very real,” Carlson said. “We hope that through [Leahy’s lecture] people will have an opportunity to talk about their own struggles.”

Leahy has appeared on numerous NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox News local affiliate programs in addition to ABC News’ “20/20” and “The View,” according to the lectures Web site.

“Pornography is out there, students are looking at it, and it’s time that we talked about it openly,” Carlson said.

Posters and publicity have sparked student discussion about this salacious topic.

“An addiction to porn is definitely possible; if you’re spending several hours of your day viewing, thinking about and obsessing over porn this obviously is a problem,” said Kellie Kendrick, junior in Spanish.

Kendrick said she thinks it will be hard to reach out to people who struggle with a pornography addiction.

“It’s difficult [to help pornography addicts,] because people may be embarrassed to admit to this type of addiction,” Kendrick said.

Local pornography stores and adult entertainment venues were hesitant to be directly quoted in the Daily, but had strong opinions about pornography addiction. Some said pornography addiction was “impossible,” while others admitted to regular customers who seem “unable to help themselves.”

Using the ever-popular Facebook Web site as a trend indicator, a “Porn Nation” group and event have already been created.

By the numbers, this event currently has 75 people who will attend “Porn Nation” with an additional 148 individuals who might show up, according to Facebook.

“[The Great Hall in the Memorial Union] holds between 12 and 14 hundred people, and ideally we’d like to see it packed,” Carlson said.