False Belief In Porn Addiction: Harmful
Sex-aware people already know that (a) “porn addiction” is not actually a thing; and (b) worrying about it has been proven to be harmful in a way that actually viewing porn (however much) is just not. This article in Psychology Today dates from 2015, so it genuinely isn’t news. But lately the volume of “porn addiction” hand-wringing seems to be going up in our popular culture, so I thought it was worth liking the article to remind everyone:
Your Belief in Porn Addiction Makes Things Worse
In a nutshell:
In January 2015, Joshua Grubbs of Case Western published powerful research showing that seeing oneself as a porn addict was predicted not by how much porn one views, but by the degree of religiosity and moral attitudes towards sex. Now, Grubbs has published explosive follow-up research, demonstrating that believing oneself is addicted to porn actually causes pain and psychological problems, in contrast to the idea that identifying as a porn addict is a part of a road to recovery.
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In these data, daily porn use was weakly related to feelings of anger. But, seeing oneself as a porn addict was strongly correlated with depression, anxiety, anger and stress.
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Analyses confirmed that the self-perception as a porn addict predicted distress one year later, where either porn use or personality characteristics did not. If someone believed they were a sex addict, this belief predicted downstream psychological suffering, no matter how much, or how little, porn they were actually using.
This means that the large-scale promotion of the concept of “porn addiction,” in the media, on the Internet, by self-proclaimed experts and by an industry that preys off of an unrecognized disorder, appear to actually be hurting people. By telling people that their use of porn constitutes a disease, they are promulgating suffering and anxiety, instilling into people that their use of pornography means there is something wrong with them, and that this use has potentially dire consequences.
Bottom line: don’t be tolerant of “porn addiction” talk. It hurts people. Challenge it and debunk it whenever and wherever you hear it.
Image at the top of the post is part of an illustration in The History Of Fortunatus, 1682.
Similar Sex Blogging:
Shorter URL for sharing: https://www.erosblog.com/?p=18097
Our intense interest in sex is what ensures the purpetuation of the human species.
Studies show that nearly every human is a voyeur, and those who are not, are likely seriously unhealthy, or abnormal in some way, and that we all are curious about new ways to enjoy sex and how others “do it”. Hence, we like porn.
Studies show that even the most staid, stuffy, priggish and prudish among us respond to sexy images by producing erect penises or wet vaginas, erect nipples, and enlarged pupils. If we didn’t, porn producers would go out of business…
Porn is really education. People want to know all about this subject matter for good biological reasons and the only real provider which will answer their curiosity is porn. The highest user rates are in repressive religious countries. Porn has the power to undermine many entrenched and self hating ideologies. View it make it, spread it , share it.
Note to commenter William R:
I saw this quote on the cover of a book in a Museum gift shop, and I thought of your comment (#2)…
“Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.”
—Walker Evans
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