How Porn Can Normalize Sexual Objectification Article
Research indicates that consuming porn can normalize sexual objectification, which can have profound consequences in the ways porn consumers view and treat others.
Research indicates that consuming porn can normalize sexual objectification, which can have profound consequences in the ways porn consumers view and treat others.
Many porn consumers use porn as a self-soothing technique when they’re feeling lonely or depressed, but research suggests that porn may actually fuel mental health issues, rather than help them.
Research indicates that porn consumers can become desensitized to porn, often needing to consume more porn, more extreme forms of porn, or consume porn more often in order to get the same response they once did.
Because of neuroplasticity, our brains constantly change in healthy ways that help us learn and complete tasks more efficiently. Yet, supernormal stimuli such as porn can trigger measurable changes that can influence our lives in unhealthy ways.
Online predators search for teenagers who they think they can manipulate and sexually exploit. Often they create a false identity or pretend to be a teenager.
A deeper look into how the brain works reveals that addictions to harmful substances like tobacco have striking similarities to porn compulsion, including impaired decision-making.
When a person is suffering from an addiction or compulsion, their stress response and their addiction can become intertwined in unhealthy ways, thus creating an unhealthy coping cycle.
With the increased availability of internet porn, women are becoming just as active on porn sites as men. This isn’t just a guy problem.
Young boys of the upcoming generations are being exposed, traumatized, and bound to sexual tastes and behaviors that are almost always exploitative.
“I first looked at porn around 16 years old. I’ve always been interested in sex and I thought porn would teach me more about it.”
Here’s the issue—so many who watch porn feel an enormous amount of shame brought on by others or themselves, which makes the problem so much worse.
“We lie to you. We’re selling a product—the sex, the persona. Like actors do press tours, everything a porn star does on social media is advertising.”