Battling a sex and pornography addiction was something Michael Leahy never thought he would have to endure.
“It led to me being unfaithful to my wife, having to go through a divorce and having to rebuild a relationship with my kids,” Leahy said. “(My current wife and I) were both on the brink of suicide, and we’re hoping we can help students avoid that.”
Since struggling with his addictions and learning how to combat them, Leahy has been on a mission to help others fighting similar situations.
After the success of his critically acclaimed book Porn Nation, Leahy — an author, activist and expert on sex in media — wanted to open up a box of avoided topics such as abortion, father abandonment, divorce, depression and body image issues.
So with the help of his wife Christine, he created “Seduce Me,” a presentation that features an honest, authentic and unexpected love story that also explores issues he and his wife dealt with throughout their lives and how they’ve managed to conquer them.
“The bottom line is that we all get seduced every day, by media, advertisers, friends and family members,” he said. “They try to sell us on their version of our hopes and dreams.”
Leahy said Wednesday’s presentation is a pilot for the event, which will officially launch this spring.
“We had our first event at Florida State last week with about 350 to 400 students in attendance,” he said. “Ohio University will be the second stop.”
Ian Machir, the event coordinator and a senior studying finance and economics, said the idea to have Leahy come down and host an event started with the success of Porn Nation at the University of Toledo.
“(Leahy) had gone to the University of Toledo,” he said. “Some of my friends told me how great it was, and so I decided to try and bring Michael down to OU. We’ve been planning this since last year, and I’m excited for him to come and speak.”
The event is partially funded and sponsored by Cru with additional funding by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Jessica Lohner, Cru’s PR coordinator and a senior studying public relations, said she is looking forward to hear what Leahy and his wife have to say.
“If you look at society and the world today, people are drawn in by so many temptations like alcohol, drugs, and even success with grades in school and making it big,” she said. “There is more to life than just those things. It is cool that this program is going to look at what is seducing people, how they are being seduced and what they can do about it.”
ao007510@ohiou.edu
