This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Lutheran College's student newspaper The Sword.
Pornography isn’t your average conversation topic. It’s awkward. The polite avoid it altogether and the edgy use it in their punchlines. However, it’s more than a conversation-killer or a joke -- porn is a pervasive issue in society. Even coming from a Christian background, I would not be hard-pressed to find one person who's seen porn at least once in their life, even if it was on accident.
That’s why I love Fight the New Drug (FTND). FTND is a non-religious, non-legislative, non-profit organization that educates people about porn’s harmful effects through peer-reviewed research and personal accounts. Every year, they promote the benefits of a porn-free life through their campaign #NoPornovember. To celebrate, I’m going to share the research that backs their motto: porn kills love.
1) Porn affects the brain like a drug.
I’m sure you’re familiar with how drug addiction forms. Research has shown similar patterns in brain activity between drug users and porn users. Porn does the same thing, rewiring the neutral pathways of the reward center to encourage repeat porn consumption, until the brain is so used to the flood of dopamine that it needs more and more to get a high.
Porn consumption also can lead to mental health problems, such as depression. All these chemicals built up in the brain can make addicts feel bored, detached or depressed. Things that once made a viewer happy or that brought enjoyment no longer do because of the tolerance to dopamine.
Consumers often develop behaviors of self-concealment to hide their habits, which can cause feelings of shame and guilt. It’s a vicious cycle, as viewers may turn to porn to cope with their problems, but porn will only cause more problems.
2) Porn can destroy relationships.
Problems with attraction, arousal and sexual performance are directly related to porn consumption. Continued porn consumption rewires the brain to respond sexually to porn but not to a real partner. Dissatisfaction with romantic relationships in general can also occur, and tt has been tied to less stability, increased chance of infidelity and divorce. According to FTND, researchers found that “porn use was the second strongest indicator that a marriage would suffer.”
Additionally, porn influences how you view yourself and others. It markets people as objects, misleading viewers to seeing others as just their body parts. Porn also teaches male domination, hypermasculinity, and it prioritizes male sexual pleasure -- ideas that are detrimental in real life. Porn also glamorizes rape, abuse, incest, misogyny, pedophilia and racism. What was someone’s #MeToo trauma is repackaged by the porn industry as glamourous fantasy.
Porn markets people as objects, misleading viewers to seeing others as just their body parts.
I would also like to iterate that porn is not just a male issue -- females do consume it. According to FTND, 68% of young men and 18% of young women view porn at least once a week, but these numbers are also self-reported.
3) Porn harms the world around us.
While consumers may be unaware of their addiction or the havoc it’s wreaking on their lives, there are other consequences. Sex trafficking is one of them, which is legally defined as “a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.” Porn is often used in the grooming process to desensitize victims to the acts they will be forced to perform, and porn is often made of them while they are enslaved.
Supporters of porn may argue that if the acts are performed by consenting adults, it’s fine. They may even argue that porn can be ethical. However, consent in the porn industry is incredibly difficult to verify. Many performers are pressured to lie about whether the act was consensual. There are countless stories of performers who were forced, tricked or threatened if they did not perform what they were told. Porn made under these circumstances of force, fraud or coercion is sex trafficking.
Consuming porn can also lead to violence. Researchers analyzed 50 of the most popular films, and out of 304 scenes, there were about 12 physical or verbal attacks per scene. Only one in ten didn’t contain any form of aggression. 95% of the victims of the aggression -- mostly all women -- remained neutral or responded pleasurably.
“Pornography is a recipe for rape… It essentially teaches you you’re supposed to be violent when you’re intimate with someone,” Dr. John D. Foubert said. Even consumers who do not watch violent porn are more likely to use drugs, alcohol or verbal coercion to force an individual to have sex.
“Pornography is a recipe for rape… It essentially teaches you you’re supposed to be violent when you’re intimate with someone,” Dr. John D. Foubert said.
This just scratches the surface of the research available, and I didn’t even share stories from former users and performers. I strongly, strongly encourage you to look at the facts and decide to join the fight for love.
If you or someone you know is struggling with a porn addiction, Fortify is an anonymous online community for those seeking freedom from porn, created by the people at FTND.
