Pornography

Research done by some of the world’s top behavioural addiction experts found that not only porn addicts but also behavioural addicts disapprove of the addiction they are trying to get rid of. Previous studies pushed by Josh Grubbs, created a powerful flawed buzzword that porn problems are likely just due to religious shame or moral disapproval, implicating that porn addiction is not real. Grubbs summed up his views in an extraordinary 2016 Psychology Today article, claiming that porn addiction is nothing more than religious shame, and not related to levels of porn use.
Grubbs and his colleagues never investigated whether other behavioural addicts also experience moral disapproval toward the activity they’re trying to eliminate. Moral disapproval from within themselves is part and parcel of all other behaviour addicts.
This misleading trend has persuaded many sexologists and psychologists that porn addiction is a doubtful concept. They ignored the evidence suggesting that porn addiction is as real as gambling and gaming addiction.

Benenson Strategy Group (BSG) conducted a quantitative online survey on 1,358 teens aged 13 to 17 and released new porn statistics in January 2024.
They found that 73% of teen respondents aged 13 to 17 have watched pornography online. 15% of teen respondents said they first saw online pornography at age 10 or younger. More than half (54%) reported first seeing pornography by the time they reached the age of 13. 63% said they have only seen pornography accidentally. Pornography plays a larger role in LGBTQ+ teens. Two-thirds of LGBTQ+ teen respondents consumed pornography intentionally.
Nearly half (45%) of teen respondents said that they felt online pornography gives “helpful” information about sex.

Puberty – exposure to pornography accelerates sexual development and porn can function as a “role model” and provide normative counsel. Teenagers also interpret internet sex as real-world experiences.
Adolescence – pornography use links teenagers to early partnered sexual behaviour, more sexual partners, lower relationship satisfaction, and lower sexual satisfaction during adolescence. Pornography use also links them to aggressive behaviour in the classroom, sexually permissive attitudes and watching more hard corn porn containing rape and child sex. Exposure at a younger age makes individuals receptive to watching coercive or violent porn. Over time, adolescents experience embarrassment as a result of their interest in porn. This causes a decline in mental health and life satisfaction. Teenagers also experience an absence of emotional connection between consensual couples and boys are prone to display violent behaviour towards women.

After 30 qualitative studies were examined to determine young peoples’ views on pornography, the following conclusions derived:

• Young people consider porn as normal;
• They see porn as a tool for pleasure;
• They see it as a form of information;
• Young people do become distressed by misogynistic (strongly prejudiced against women), racist, homophobic, transphobic, or violent pornography content;
• Young people express the need to have trusted adults to discuss their needs with; and
• The lack of trusted adults causes young people to develop harmful attitudes and unrealistic expectations about sex.

Peterson, A. J., Silver, J. K., Bell, H. A., Guinosso, S. A., & Coyle, K. K.  (2022). Young People’s Views on Pornography and Their Sexual Development, Attitudes, and Behaviors: A Systematic Review and Synthesis of Qualitative Research. American Journal of Sexuality Education, DOI: 10.1080/15546128.2022.2096163

A new Junior Cert curriculum will see lessons about pornography given in the classroom for the first time in Ireland, following a major review of Relationships and Sexuality Education. This could prove to be very controversial for parents. The draft curriculum will tackle pornography, with reference to the online world, and the sharing of sexual images. It will then further deal with consent and matters such as gender stereotyping. The Department of Education concluded that the existing approach to such education in schools was “heavily concerned with the risks and dangers associated with relationships.” “Every school, irrespective of ethos, will have to deliver it.” The curriculum involves consent, safe use of the internet, pornography, gender identity and sexual orientation, healthy and positive relationships, and addiction issues. Senator O’Reilly said it is important to have an “education that is not tied to religious or other ethos”.

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Porn used to be a mostly male behaviour but now it impacts females as well. A strong sexual desire promotes porn use. Individuals with strong ties to religion are less likely to report pornography use. Non-violent pornography leads to the acceptance of violent or aggressive behaviour towards women. There is also evidence that extramarital sex and participating in paid sex are associated with online pornography use.

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With the advent of the internet, pornography and pornography addiction has become more and more widely available.

Porn addiction can interfere with a healthy lifestyle and relationships.

Porn addiction affects about 5-8% of adults and they spend at least 11 to 12 hours per week viewing porn.

Around 35% of all internet downloads are pornographic.

About 84% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 had watched pornographic films.

Up to 65% of young adult men and 18% of young women report watching porn at least once a week.

The average age of first exposure to pornography is now only 14 years old. As many as 93.2% of boys and 62.1% of girls first see porn before they turn 18.

40 million US adults regularly visit internet pornography websites

10% of US adults admit to having an addiction to internet pornography

17% of all women struggle with porn addiction

20% of men and 13% of women admit to accessing porn while at work

70% of women admit to keep their cyber activities secret

Of porn users, 86% felt that porn hurt their relationships and 90% had seen an increase in relationship troubles due to porn use.

About 56% of divorce proceedings cite an “obsessive interest” in pornographic websites.

Conditions that frequently co-occur with pornography addiction include:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Social anxiety
• Mood disorders
• Sex addiction
• Substance use disorders

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While pornography addiction is not currently a recognized medical condition, those who are excessively consuming pornography might experience powerful cravings, neglect their responsibilities, and engage in self-defeating behaviours in order to continue their porn use.

Ways to overcome porn addiction:

1. Behaviour Modification/ Motivational Interviewing (MI): MI guides them to think about the pros and cons of their addiction and nudges them in the direction of change that is going to improve their lives
2. Group Therapy: connecting with others and experiencing emotional intimacy is a powerful tool in helping a person with this type of addiction.
3. Finding Alternatives: this means replacing poor habits with more adaptive ones.
4. Medication: medication could help with some cases of excessive pornography use. “Pharmacologic interventions have focused on treating co-existing psychiatric disorders and targeting hypersexual or compulsive sexual behaviours with selective serotonin re-uptake inhibiters, normally prescribed for depression, increase the body’s serotonin, the neurotransmitter that sends emotion-regulating signals between brain cells.

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A new study done by psychologist Stephen Sammut and published in Frontiers in Psychology,  highlights the dangers of pornography addiction and offers a way out of it. According to Sammut a focus on higher-level cognitive faculties can override the cravings from our lower brain which ultimately spur porn consumption. It is crucial to focus recovery efforts on the areas of our upper brain that are responsible for logic and rational thinking. Porn, on the other hand, is connected to our lower brain areas which are responsible for producing pleasure and emotions. As humans, we tend to be guided more by our pleasure centres than by logic and reason. Sammut suggests that if we begin to use our upper brain’s logical thinking to satisfy our lower brain’s pleasure cravings, we will begin to behave in more acceptable ways. Faith and morals have the potential to contribute to appropriate brain functioning – that is assisting in the prioritization of the upper brain over the lower. So, it makes sense that they could be especially helpful in regards to assisting people in reducing their pornography use. In fact, the results from over a thousand university students found faith, morals, and personal motivation to be the primary variables reported to help reduce pornography use.

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Lieutenant, Colonel Heila Niemand revealed that child pornography is becoming increasingly common in South Africa.  Approximately 150 000 images of explicit child content were seized from people who also intended to create and distribute more child porn. In her testimony, Niemand said police had received countless leads daily of South Africans possessing, distributing or creating child pornography. According to Niemand there is a close link between human trafficking and child pornography. We had a suspect in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, where the perpetrator went out to identify children online to recruit them and involve them in sexually explicit content and sexual exploitation.

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