Over the - rather quiet as of late - lifetime of this blog, I have written several articles on the topic of This is, of course, not an easy thing to admit. For this admission most likely tarnishes not only my image, but also the purity of those articles that I wrote so long ago, hoping that they would somehow help me turn away from the problems I found so much difficulty facing. However, it is my fervent belief that this saying this will help to convey the gravity of the message I am trying to deliver. It is my hope that, by starting of with sharing this, I will show that not only are good people sucked into this addiction, but also that I understand the effects of what pornography can do to innocent people. For, unlike me, there are so many people out there in this world that did not have family, friends, and resources, to break away from this addiction as I did.
It is for that reason that I have decided to write this article. Further, it is my firm belief that pornography is at the root of many of the problems that we now face in society. Therefore, I will not sit by any longer and remain silent in the face of such an evil, and through this article, I will do my best to outline the magnitude of pornography's hold on our society, its negative effects, and what we can do to turn the tide of complacency towards it.
First and foremost, it is important to understand just how many people watch pornography as this will aid in understanding just how much pornography can potentially effect our society and world. So, to paint the baseline (From Barna Group, U.S. stats from 2014)[1]:
People who watch pornography at least several times a week:
- 63% of 18-30 year old males, and 21% of 18-30 year old females
- 38% of 31-49 year old males, and 5% of 31-49 year old females
- 32% of 50-60 year old males, and 0% of 50-60 year old females
People who watch pornography at least monthly:
- 79% of 18-30 year old males, and 76% of 18-30 year old females
- 67% of 31-49 year old males, and 16% of 31-49 year old females
- 25% of 50-68 year old males, and 4% of 50-68 year old females
First exposure to pornography amongst college students: 12 years old (The Journal of Sex Research , 2011)
Now, at this point, one may be thinking: "So? A lot of people look at pornography. So what?" After all, many sources, including Psychology Today, maintain that pornography is actually a healthy human undertaking. So, what's the big deal if so many people watch it? Isn't it just a normal thing? Well, as it turns out, contrary to much of what a skin deep google search will reveal, pornography is extremely addicting. I realize that this is a strong claim, but I wouldn't have made it if I couldn't back it up with substantial evidence.
First, off, when someone views pornography, the pleasure center of their brain is flooded with dopamine[2], a drug that is meant to help, "rewire the brain so that we remember things we need to for survival."[3] This wouldn't seem to be a bad thing if it weren't for the fact that, unusually high levels of dopamine "leads to a sensitization (reverse tolerance)"[4] of the activity that induced the dopamine to the brain, e.g. pornography. Additionally, "over time, the reward center's dopamine receptors can shrink in response to chronic overstimulation".[5] In other words:
The behaviors just described are extremely similar in nature to those of what most people would regard as an addiction, and this observation is backed by research[7].
However, just because something is addicting, doesn't necessarily mean that it causes harm to you or those around you. Unfortunately, this is not the case with pornography. In fact, pornography is linked to many changes in human behavior. With regards specifically to sexual behavior, a study done in 2004 indicated that more than half of young men believed their sexual behavior had been influenced by pornography use[8]. The opinions of these young men are backed by another study that indicates that sexual behaviors can be rewired (the study specifically studied, amongst other things, how dopamine could effect sexual behaviors)[9], and an additional study indicated that sexual arousal lead to new brain maps for what people believed was sexually attractive or what they wanted from their sexual partner[10]. So it makes sense that pornography, which induces sexual arousal, can also change a users sexual interests.
Influencing sexual interests is thought provoking, but one might still say that it's not necessarily a bad thing. However, the situation gets worse when the fact that pornography attempts to make violence appear sexually pleasing[11]. Coupled with this fact, a pornography user is now being exposed to not only something that will shape their sexual interests, but also portrays harmful sexual interests as a good thing.
"Porn hyper-activates [a users] wanting system, pumping out dopamine in response to each new image. As a result, the user can get caught in a loop of wanting, using, pumping out a bunch of dopamine...and then wanting even more"[6]
The behaviors just described are extremely similar in nature to those of what most people would regard as an addiction, and this observation is backed by research[7].
However, just because something is addicting, doesn't necessarily mean that it causes harm to you or those around you. Unfortunately, this is not the case with pornography. In fact, pornography is linked to many changes in human behavior. With regards specifically to sexual behavior, a study done in 2004 indicated that more than half of young men believed their sexual behavior had been influenced by pornography use[8]. The opinions of these young men are backed by another study that indicates that sexual behaviors can be rewired (the study specifically studied, amongst other things, how dopamine could effect sexual behaviors)[9], and an additional study indicated that sexual arousal lead to new brain maps for what people believed was sexually attractive or what they wanted from their sexual partner[10]. So it makes sense that pornography, which induces sexual arousal, can also change a users sexual interests.
Influencing sexual interests is thought provoking, but one might still say that it's not necessarily a bad thing. However, the situation gets worse when the fact that pornography attempts to make violence appear sexually pleasing[11]. Coupled with this fact, a pornography user is now being exposed to not only something that will shape their sexual interests, but also portrays harmful sexual interests as a good thing.
"Social cognitive theory suggests that whether an individual will model aggression learned from viewing a media text depends in large part on whether the act they observed was rewarded or punished. By extension, viewers of pornography are learning that aggression during sexual encounter is pleasure-enhancing for both men and women"[12]The effects of this glorification of violence is best summed up by Catherine A. MacKinnon Ph.D.
“Excellent social science research over the past 25 years has documented the effects of exposure to pornography, providing a basis to extrapolate the predictable consequences of mass social saturation. The catharsis hypothesis—the notion that the more pornography men use, the less abusive sex they will seek out elsewhere—has been scientifically disproved. Closer to the reverse has been found: it primes the pump. As women have long known, use of pornography conditions consumers to objectified and aggressive sex, desensitizing them to domination and abuse, requiring escalating levels of violence to achieve a sexual response. Use of pornography is also correlated with increased reports by perpetrators of aggressive sex and with increased inability to perceive that sex is coerced. Consumers thus become increasingly unable to distinguish rape from other sex. Some become addicted, virtually none is unaffected, the evidence as a whole suggests.”[13]
Essentially, pornography normalizes violent sexual behavior, and as a result desensitizes its viewers to what is acceptable sexual human behavior. Additionally, if the effects shown aren't bad enough already, there are a plethora of other things that pornography leads to. So many in fact, that I can't list them all here without substantial effort and time. However, I will provide a few of the ones I find most convincing:
- Married persons who frequently used porn reported lower levels of relationship quality 6 years later[14]
- Pornography use is correlated with depression, anxiety, stress, and social problems[15]
- Pornography use is correlated with lower quality of life and poorer health[16]
- Pornography use is correlated with less grey matter in parts of the brain that affect cognitive function[17]
- Frequent pornography use is corollated with damage to parts of the brain involved with motivation and decision making[18]
- Daily use of pornography is associated with poorer psychosocial function[19]
- Men's use of pornography was negatively linked to body image[20]
- Viewing pornographic images interferes with working memory performance[21]
And the list goes on, and on, for quite some time, but one thing is very clear, the research is overwhelmingly in agreement: Pornography is a detriment to the one who views it, the relationships of the one who views it, and society as a whole (most of these sources, and the many others I mentioned, are all compiled on Truth About Porn).
I hope that it is now clear that pornography is harmful, but what is to be done about it? Well, first, we must all strive to get the word out. Right now, pornography is a lot like cigarettes were not to long ago, it's such a normal thing that nobody even wants to talk about it, much less acknowledge that it might be a problem. So, be bold, spread the word, and don't be afraid to talk about it. If this problem is going to be fixed, then talking about pornography and how unhealthy and harmful it is needs to become as normal as talking about how bad it is not to take a shower.
Most importantly though, we need to educate the young and innocent before they are ensnared unexpectedly by accidentally stumbling upon pornography online. The key to fixing any problem that has been entrenched in society is to teach the young about it. This is why it is of the upmost importance that, as young adults, we educate ourselves on how to inform our future children (or other people who already have children), at the proper time, of the evils that they may encounter if they are not careful when using the internet (or watching movies and reading books for that matter).
But, here's the good news. There's something out there that is infinitely more healthy and attractive: a loving sexual relationship between a man and a woman, and even more so, love itself. As it turns out, for many of the negative effects that pornography has, another positive effect can be found that occurs when human sexuality is used in the way it is meant to be. So, I challenge all of you who read this to take up this mantle with me, lets be the generation that overturns this harmful trend, lets end pornography as we know it and return to a society that is focused on love. Spread the word: know love, not porn.
(Credit to Break The Chain TAMU for the slogan "Know Love, Not Porn")
Sources:
[1] 2014 Pornography Survey and Statistics. Proven Men Ministries. http://www.provenmen.org/2014pornsurvey/
[2] Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, New York: Viking, 2007.
[3] Cathleen Genova, “Learning Addiction: Dopamine Reinforces Drug ¬Associated Memories,” Research Press Release, September 9, 2009, http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/cp¬lad090309.php.
[4] Christopher M. Olsen, “Natural Rewards, Neuroplasticity, and Non-Drug Addictions,” Neuropharmacology 61, no. 7 (2011): 1109–1122.
[5] Paul Kenny, George Voren, and Paul M. Johnson. “Dopamine D2 Receptors and Striatopallidal Transmission in Addiction and Obesity.” Current Opinion in Neurobiology 23, no. 4 (2013): 535–538.
[6] Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, New York: Viking, 2007.
[7] Kuhn, S. & Gallinat, J. (2014). Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption – The Brain on Porn. JAMA Psychiatry. 71(7):827-834.
[8] Tanja Tydén and Christina Rogala, “Sexual Behaviour Among Young Men in Sweden and the Impact of Pornography,” Journal of STD & AIDS 15, no. 9 (2004): 590–593.
[9] Mirte Brom, Stephanie Both, Ellen Laan, Walter Everaerd, and Philip Spinhoven, “The Role of Conditioning, Learning and Dopamine in Sexual Behavior: A Narrative Review of Animal and Human Studies,” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 38 (2014): 38-59.
[10] James G. Pfaus, “Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and Performance,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 41 (2012): 31–62.
[11] Diana E. H. Russell, Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on Pornography (New York: Teachers College Press, 1993).
[12] Ana J. Bridges, Robert Wosnitzer, Erica Scharrer, Chyng Sun, and Rachael Liberman, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis Update,” Violence against Women 16, no. 10 (2010): 1065–1085.1—Albert Bandura. “Social cognitive theory of mass communication.” Media Psychology, 3 (2001): 265-299.
[13] Catharine A. MacKinnon, “X-Underrated: Living in a World the Pornographers Have Made,” in Big Porn Inc., edited by Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray, 9–15. North Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex Press, 2011.
[14] Samuel L. Perry, “Does Viewing Pornography Reduce Marital Quality Over Time? Evidence from Longitudinal Data,” Archives of Sexual Behavior (2016) doi:10.1007/s10508-016-0770-y
[15] Michael E. Levin, Jason Lillis, and Steven C. Hayes, “When is Online Pornography Viewing Problematic Among College Males? Examining the Moderating Role of Experiential Avoidance,” Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 19, no. 3 (2012): 168–80.
[16] James B. Weaver, Stephanie Sargent Weaver, Darren Mays, Gary L. Hopkins, Wendi Kannenberg, and Duane McBride, “Mental- and Physical-Health Indicators and Sexually Explicit Media Use Behavior by Adults,” Journal of Sexual Medicine 8, no. 3 (2011): 764–72.
[17] Simone Kühn and Jürgen Gallinat, “Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn,” JAMA Psychiatry (2014): 827–834.
[18] Simone Kühn and Jürgen Gallinat, “Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn,” JAMA Psychiatry (2014): 827–834.
[19] Cody Harper and David C. Hodgins, “Examining Correlates of Problematic Internet Pornography Use among University Students,” Journal of Behavioral Addictions 5, no. 2 (2016): 179-191.
[20] Tracy L. Tylka, “No Harm in Looking, Right? Men’s Pornography Consumption, Body Image, and Well-Being,” Psychology of Men & Masculinity 16, no. 1 (2015): 97-107.
[21] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23167900
[3] Cathleen Genova, “Learning Addiction: Dopamine Reinforces Drug ¬Associated Memories,” Research Press Release, September 9, 2009, http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/cp¬lad090309.php.
[4] Christopher M. Olsen, “Natural Rewards, Neuroplasticity, and Non-Drug Addictions,” Neuropharmacology 61, no. 7 (2011): 1109–1122.
[5] Paul Kenny, George Voren, and Paul M. Johnson. “Dopamine D2 Receptors and Striatopallidal Transmission in Addiction and Obesity.” Current Opinion in Neurobiology 23, no. 4 (2013): 535–538.
[6] Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, New York: Viking, 2007.
[7] Kuhn, S. & Gallinat, J. (2014). Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption – The Brain on Porn. JAMA Psychiatry. 71(7):827-834.
[8] Tanja Tydén and Christina Rogala, “Sexual Behaviour Among Young Men in Sweden and the Impact of Pornography,” Journal of STD & AIDS 15, no. 9 (2004): 590–593.
[9] Mirte Brom, Stephanie Both, Ellen Laan, Walter Everaerd, and Philip Spinhoven, “The Role of Conditioning, Learning and Dopamine in Sexual Behavior: A Narrative Review of Animal and Human Studies,” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 38 (2014): 38-59.
[10] James G. Pfaus, “Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and Performance,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 41 (2012): 31–62.
[11] Diana E. H. Russell, Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on Pornography (New York: Teachers College Press, 1993).
[12] Ana J. Bridges, Robert Wosnitzer, Erica Scharrer, Chyng Sun, and Rachael Liberman, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis Update,” Violence against Women 16, no. 10 (2010): 1065–1085.1—Albert Bandura. “Social cognitive theory of mass communication.” Media Psychology, 3 (2001): 265-299.
[13] Catharine A. MacKinnon, “X-Underrated: Living in a World the Pornographers Have Made,” in Big Porn Inc., edited by Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray, 9–15. North Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex Press, 2011.
[14] Samuel L. Perry, “Does Viewing Pornography Reduce Marital Quality Over Time? Evidence from Longitudinal Data,” Archives of Sexual Behavior (2016) doi:10.1007/s10508-016-0770-y
[15] Michael E. Levin, Jason Lillis, and Steven C. Hayes, “When is Online Pornography Viewing Problematic Among College Males? Examining the Moderating Role of Experiential Avoidance,” Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 19, no. 3 (2012): 168–80.
[16] James B. Weaver, Stephanie Sargent Weaver, Darren Mays, Gary L. Hopkins, Wendi Kannenberg, and Duane McBride, “Mental- and Physical-Health Indicators and Sexually Explicit Media Use Behavior by Adults,” Journal of Sexual Medicine 8, no. 3 (2011): 764–72.
[17] Simone Kühn and Jürgen Gallinat, “Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn,” JAMA Psychiatry (2014): 827–834.
[18] Simone Kühn and Jürgen Gallinat, “Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn,” JAMA Psychiatry (2014): 827–834.
[19] Cody Harper and David C. Hodgins, “Examining Correlates of Problematic Internet Pornography Use among University Students,” Journal of Behavioral Addictions 5, no. 2 (2016): 179-191.
[20] Tracy L. Tylka, “No Harm in Looking, Right? Men’s Pornography Consumption, Body Image, and Well-Being,” Psychology of Men & Masculinity 16, no. 1 (2015): 97-107.
[21] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23167900
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