Pornography

Effects of pornography

Pornography influences people in different ways, but there are several effects commonly observed among users.  Pornography may lead to:

1. Early sexual involvement

Research has shown that males who view porn before the age of 14 are more sexually active and try more sexual behaviors than males who don’t view porn.1 

In a study of 600 middle school and high school students, Dr. Jennings Bryant found that 66% of the males and 40% of the females reported wanting to try out some of the sexual behaviors they had witnessed.  And among high schoolers, 31% of the males and 18% of the females admitted actually doing some of the things they had seen within a few days after exposure.2 

2. Unhealthy attitudes about women and men

One of the most obvious features of pornography is the portrayal of human beings as sex objects.  Guys don’t watch porn and think, “Wow, that girl’s got a great… sense of humor.  She seems so intelligent.  I love her personality.”  Porn stars are practically non-persons.  They’re flesh puppets whose only purpose is to sexually gratify the viewer. 

Pornography operates on the principle of dehumanization.  Men and women are turned into commodities to be bought, sold, used and discarded.  One writer described the porn industry as “an unprecedented global trade in human persons.”  And the U.S. Attorney General's Commission on Pornography in 1986 concluded: “It seems clear that the bulk of commercial pornographic modeling... quite simply is a form of prostitution.” 

We should let that sink in.  Pornography is a form of prostitution.  It’s a way of paying people for sex.  And it trains the viewer to look at human beings as impersonal objects, valued and appreciated only for the size and shape of their body parts, and for what they’re able to do with those body parts.  No wonder porn stars wrestle with bulimia and anorexia so often.

Pornography regularly depicts women as nymphomaniacs whose primary purpose is to please men.  They are portrayed in the most degrading and humiliating ways imaginable, while men are often portrayed as aggressive, domineering, and violent.  They measure their manliness solely by their ability to create orgasms. 

Is that a healthy way to look at each other? 

3. Problems with intimacy

Porn addicts frequently complain of loneliness and isolation.  That’s because they spend precious hours in front of a computer screen instead of in real relationships.  Porn trains people to be intimate with a fantasy rather than real people, and the result can be a hard time connecting emotionally in the real world.  People can use porn as a substitute for real sex, because it’s easier.  It’s always available, always willing, always satisfied, demands nothing of the viewer, and requires no commitment.  One woman explained how her long-term boyfriend chose pornography over her: “He had a choice between me and the computer, and he chose the computer.”  It sounds crazy.  Can you imagine that?  Choosing a fake electric fantasy over a real human being.  No love, no joy, no affection.  No soul-connection or real intimacy.  But it happens to people who get hooked on porn.

4. Sexual dysfunction

According to Dr. Mary Anne Layden at the University of Pennsylvania, pornography viewers tend to have problems with premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. She explains: “Having spent so much time in unnatural sexual experiences with paper, celluloid and cyberspace, they seem to find it difficult to have sex with a real human being. Pornography is raising their expectation and demand for types and amounts of sexual experiences at the same time it is reducing their ability to experience sex.”3 

One marriage and family counselor revealed that several of his patients are unable to get an erection and make love to their wives without a pornographic magazine lying open on the bed next to them.  The reason?  Because they have trained their brains to respond to pornographic stimuli and their wives are no longer able to arouse them.  How do you think that makes the wives feel? 

Naomi Wolf, writer for New York Metro, summarized this problem well: “The evidence is in: Greater supply of the stimulant equals diminished capacity.  In the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off to the real thing.”4  

5. Sexual deviancy

Pornography normalizes abnormal sex.  The first time you see it, you’re shocked.  Curiously fascinated, perhaps, but shocked.  The second time you see it, you’re still shocked, but not quite as shocked.  After a while, the strangest things can seem common.  This is a process called desensitization, and it’s how normal, healthy, successful people like doctors, teachers, and priests get sucked into bizarre sexual practices.

Dr. Layden identified two phases of this desensitization process.  The first involves what she calls “Pornography Distortion.”  This is where a person adopts “a set of beliefs based in pornographic imagery, sent to the viewer while they are aroused and reinforced by the orgasm. An example of Pornography Distortion would include beliefs such as ‘Sex is not about intimacy, procreation or marriage. Sex is about predatory self-gratification, casual recreation, body parts, violence, feces, strangers, children, animals and using women as entertainment.’ All of these are messages regularly sent by pornography.”5

The second phase involves what she terms “Permission-Giving Beliefs.”  These are a set of beliefs which imply that a behavior is normal, acceptable, common and/or doesn’t hurt anyone.  The result is that a person gives himself/herself permission to continue to behave in a way they previously believed was unacceptable. In all types of violence and addiction, Permission-Giving Beliefs are involved. Examples would include:

  • “All men go to prostitutes”
  • “Women like sex mixed with violence”
  • “Children enjoy sex with adults”

These and many other destructive Permission-Giving Beliefs are common in pornography.6 

6. Addiction

Research indicates that pornography can be as addictive as cocaine, especially when coupled with masturbation.7, 8

 These behaviors release powerful chemicals in the body that affect the neurochemistry of the brain.  Other factors that may contribute to sexual addiction are emotional pain stemming from childhood abuse and feelings of isolation, rejection, or inadequacy. 

Among those who developed sex addictions, 90 percent of the men and 77 percent of the women reported that pornography was significant to their addiction.9

Dr. Victor B. Cline described the “four-factor syndrome” of porn addiction:10 

  1. Addiction:  “The porn-consumers got hooked… they kept coming back for more and still more. The material seemed to provide a very powerful sexual stimulant or aphrodisiac effect, followed by sexual release, most often through masturbation.  Once addicted, they could not throw off their dependence on the material by themselves, despite many negative consequences such as divorce, loss of family, and problems with the law ….”
  1. Escalation:  “With the passage of time, the addicted person required rougher, more explicit, more deviant, and 'kinky' kinds of sexual material to get their 'highs' and 'sexual turn-ons.' … Being married or in a relationship with a willing sexual partner did not solve their problem. Their addiction and escalation were mainly due to the powerful sexual imagery in their minds, implanted there by the exposure to pornography. They often prefer this sexual imagery, accompanied by masturbation, to sexual intercourse itself. This nearly always diminished their capacity to love and express affection … Their sex drive is diverted to a degree away from their spouse-and the spouse easily senses this, and often feels very lonely and rejected.”
  1. Desensitization:  “Pornography which was originally perceived as shocking, taboo-breaking, illegal, repulsive, or immoral, though still sexually arousing, in time came to be seen as acceptable and commonplace. … There is an increasing sense that 'everybody does it' and this gave them permission to also do it, even though the activity was possibly illegal and contrary to their previous moral beliefs and personal standards.”
  1. Acting Out Sexually:  “The fourth phase that occurs is an increasing tendency to act out sexually the behaviors viewed in the pornography, including compulsive promiscuity, exhibitionism, group sex, voyeurism, frequenting massage parlors, having sex with minor children, rape, and inflicting pain on themselves or a partner during sex.”

Please contact us for a list of resources if you are struggling with a sexual addiction.

  • 40% of sex addicts will lose their spouse
  • 58% will suffer severe financial losses
  • 27-40% will lose their job or profession11
7. Violent behavior

Not everyone who views pornography turns into a Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer.  Nevertheless, there is a link between regular use of hardcore pornography and violent behavior:

  • One study found that 87% of child molesters were regular consumers of hardcore pornography.12
  • Michigan state police detective Darrell Pope found that in 41 percent of the 38,000 sexual assault cases in Michigan (1956-1979), pornographic material was viewed just prior to or during the crime.13 
  • The FBI reports that the most common interest among serial killers is hardcore pornography.14
  • Empirical research by Dr. Zillman and Dr. Bryant found that subjects exposed to hard-core non-violent pornography over a 6 week period developed an increased callousness toward women and trivialized rape as a crime.15 
8. Problems in marriage

Using pornography within marriage is a form of unfaithfulness.  It’s a way of fantasizing or engaging in imaginary sexual activity with someone other than your spouse.  Most women feel horribly betrayed and ashamed when their husbands look at pornography.  They think: “What’s wrong with me?  Aren’t I beautiful enough for him?”  It violates trust, ruins intimacy, and lessens the beauty and value of a faithful monogamous marriage.

At a 2002 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, two-thirds of the divorce lawyers in attendance said excessive interest in online porn contributed to more than half of the divorces they handled that year. 

Pornography doesn’t bring married couples closer together.  It teaches them that their spouse isn’t enough to be sexually satisfied.  It sews the seeds of discontent in marriage.

 

 

 

 

 

Footnotes:

  1. K.E. Davis and G.N. Braucht, Exposure to Pornography, Character and Sexual Deviance, Technical Reports of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (1970), 7.
  2. Victor B. Cline, Pornography's Effects on Adults and Children (New York: Morality in Media, 1990), 11.
  3. U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportatin, "The Science Behind Pornography Addiction," Nov. 18, 2004. Retrieved Jan. 2007 from http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=1343&wit_id=3912.
  4. Naomi Wolf, New York Magazine, "The Porn Myth," Oct. 20, 2003. Retrieved Jan. 2007 from http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/trends/n_9437/index1.html.
  5. U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportatin, "The Science Behind Pornography Addiction," Nov. 18, 2004. Retrieved Jan. 2007 from http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=1343&wit_id=3912.
  6. Ibid.
  7. Ibid.
  8. Wired, "Internet Porn: Worse Than Crack?" n.d. Retrieved Jan. 2007 from http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65772,00.html.
  9. Patrick Carnes, Don't Call It Love: Recovery from Sexual Addictions (New York: Bantam, 1991).
  10. Victor B. Cline, Ph.D., "Pornography's Effects on Adults and Children," n.d. Retrieved Jan. 2007 from http://www.obscenitycrimes.org/clineart.cfm.
  11. U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportatin, "The Science Behind Pornography Addiction," Nov. 18, 2004. Retrieved Jan. 2007 from http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=1343&wit_id=3912.
  12. W. Marshall, “Report on the Use of Pornography by Sexual Offenders,” Report to the Federal Department of Justice, Ottawa, Canada, 1983.
  13. Kerby Anderson, "The Pornography Plague," n.d. Retrieved Jan. 2007 from http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/pornplag.html.
  14. Focus on the Family, retrieved Jan. 2007 from http://www.family.org/socialissues/Pornography/.
  15. Victor B. Cline, Ph.D., "Pornography's Effects on Adults and Children," n.d. Retrieved Jan. 2007 from http://www.obscenitycrimes.org/clineart.cfm.

The information on this website is for general educational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for professional counseling. If your situation is an emergency, please call 911.