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When you think of scary stuff, what first comes to mind? If you’re like most people, you probably think of vampires, your phone battery at 1%, zombies, or maybe getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere.
Those are all terrifying enough, but here at Fight the New Drug, we say one thing stands out as being spookier than anything else:
Porn.
Now, before you exit this post, hear us out. You’ll want to read up on why porn is more chilling than you might expect.
Decades of studies from respected academic institutions have demonstrated significant impacts of porn consumption for individuals, relationships, and society. Science and research have shown that porn can harm relationships, it can negatively impact consumers’ brains, and it can inflict some serious harm on society, too.
So, while porn may not seem to be as scary as Pennywise from “It,” let’s consider its negative effects. Allow us to share some info that might make Count Dracula run for his coffin. Here are 5 facts about porn’s harmful effects.
Facts About Porn #1: Porn can turn people into walking zombies (…kind of)
Have you ever seen the movie “I Am Legend?” It’s all about a fictional virus that infects nearly the entire world, basically turning everyone into zombies who have an appetite for human flesh that can never quite be satisfied.
Now, we’re not saying that watching porn is going to turn someone into a flesh-eating, walking zombie. Instead, it can push consumers toward an insatiable craving.
Rather than driving them to eat human flesh, 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.Banca, P., Morris, L. S., Mitchell, S., Harrison, N. A., Potenza, M. N., & Voon, V. (2016). Novelty, conditioning and attentional bias to sexual rewards. Journal of psychiatric research, 72, 91–101. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.10.017Copy
Over time, a porn consumer’s appetite can escalate to more hardcore versions just to achieve the same level of arousal. In fact one 2016 study, researchers found that 46.9% of respondents reported that, over time, they began watching pornography that had previously disinterested or even disgusted them.Wéry, A., & Billieux, J. (2016). Online sexual activities: An exploratory study of problematic and non-problematic usage patterns in a sample of men. Computers in Human Behavior, 56, 257-266. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.11.046Copy
Facts About Porn #2: Porn can (basically) control your mind
Sadly, the negative effects of porn impact millions of individuals around the world, leaving them struggling to cope with the depression and anxiety that so frequently accompany porn consumption. Such emotional difficulties can even include memory loss and focus issues.
However, porn’s most powerful influence over your mind comes from its potentially addictive nature.
Many porn consumers are surprised to find that porn can be incredibly difficult to quit. While most porn consumers are not addicts in a clinically diagnosable sense,Willoughby, B. J., Young-Petersen, B., & Leonhardt, N. D. (2018). Exploring Trajectories of Pornography Use Through Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood. Journal of sex research, 55(3), 297–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1368977Copy many experts agree that pornography consumption is a behavior that can, in fact, qualify as an addiction in serious cases.Love, T., Laier, C., Brand, M., Hatch, L., & Hajela, R. (2015). Neuroscience of Internet Pornography Addiction: A Review and Update. Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 5(3), 388–433. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs5030388Copy Stark R., Klucken T. (2017) Neuroscientific Approaches to (Online) Pornography Addiction. In: Montag C., Reuter M. (eds) Internet Addiction. Studies in Neuroscience, Psychology and Behavioral Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46276-9_7Copy De Sousa, A., & Lodha, P. (2017). Neurobiology of Pornography Addiction - A clinical review. Telangana Journal of Psychiatry, 3(2), 66-70. doi:10.18231/2455-8559.2017.0016Copy
What began as a seemingly harmless habit can completely take over someone’s life— kind of like mind control. Spooky, right?
Regardless of whether someone’s porn consumption is classified as an addiction, compulsion, or simply an unhealthy habit, quitting porn can be a difficult process. Even if it feels daunting, there is support out there, making quitting more possible than ever!
Facts About Porn #3: Like a vampire, porn can drain the love out of relationships
Not only does porn affect individuals, but it also can interfere with relationships and the harmony within them. Before we get into that, we’re going to dive into something a little bit gross: blood.
Blood is pretty important for living, right? So, if you want to guarantee that you stay alive, what’s one thing that you should probably avoid? Vampires, of course. The bulk of folklore and mythology agree that vampires are basically the number one culprit of draining blood out of living things.
So, just like blood is important to keeping you alive, love is important to keep your relationships alive. If you want to help your relationships stay strong and healthy, can you guess a big thing that won’t make that happen? Porn.
Over the years, we have received countless messages from partners of porn consumers who feel deeply hurt by their partner’s porn habits. Individuals who learn of their partner’s porn habit often internalize their shame and confusion, asking themselves why they aren’t enough.Szymanski, D. M., Feltman, C. E., & Dunn, T. L. (2015). Male partners’ perceived pornography use and Women’s relational and psychological health: The roles of trust, attitudes, and investment. Sex Roles, 73(5), 187-199. doi:10.1007/s11199-015-0518-5Copy Hundreds of studies show that porn can be toxic to relationships. Porn is not a harmless pastime, especially when it’s hurting a romantic partner.
According to study that tracked couples over time, porn consumption was the second strongest indicator that a relationship would suffer.Perry, S. (2017). Does Viewing Pornography Reduce Marital Quality Over Time? Evidence From Longitudinal Data. Archives Of Sexual Behavior, 46(2), 549-559. Doi: 10.1007/S10508-016-0770-YCopy Plus, research consistently shows that porn consumers are twice as likely to later report experiencing a divorce or breakup—even after controlling for marital happiness, sexual satisfaction, and other relevant factors.Perry, S. L. (2018). Pornography use and marital separation: Evidence from two-wave panel data. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 47(6), 1869-1880. doi:10.1007/s10508-017-1080-8Copy Perry, S. L., & Davis, J. T. (2017). Are pornography users more likely to experience a romantic breakup? Evidence from longitudinal data. Sexuality & Culture, 21(4), 1157-1176. doi:10.1007/s12119-017-9444-8Copy Perry, S. L., & Schleifer, C. (2018). Till porn do us part? A longitudinal examination of pornography use and divorce. 55(3), 284-296. doi:10.1080/00224499.2017.1317709Copy There is no substitute for real connection, and porn isn’t worth risking that.
Sadly, garlic isn’t as effective at warding off porn as it is vampires. However, you can take some steps to ensure that porn won’t get in between you and your significant other. Complete honesty and open communication can do wonders for keeping porn out of your relationship, and in some cases, they can also help heal your relationship from porn’s effects.
If you need extra help to quit, we recommend checking out our affiliates at Fortify.
Facts About Porn #4: The porn industry is basically Jekyll and Hyde
You’ve heard the story of Jekyll and Hyde, right? If you haven’t, it essentially involves a man with two separate identities. The first, Dr. Jekyll, is a personable scientist who works hard to hide his second identity, Mr. Hyde—a much more sinister, violent individual who gets into all kinds of mischief. He’s able to maintain both personalities for a period of time, but the people around him eventually find out about the secrets he has been hiding.
The porn industry is trying to pull a similar trick over society, and they are doing their best to keep from being exposed as the “Mr. Hyde” they really are.
Many porn companies eagerly virtue-signal their involvement in valuable causes such as “Clean the Beach” campaigns, “Save Pandas, Make Porn” gimmicks, and anti-domestic abuse initiatives, while they are hoping that consumers miss the massive amounts of societal harm they inflict through their involvement with human trafficking, filmed sexual abuse, and profiting from compulsive behaviors and addiction.
Porn industry, we know your secrets—you can’t hide the Mr. Hyde you really are.
Facts About Porn #5: Porn contributes to the exploitation of countless individuals
Let’s focus on porn’s largest global impact on society—its role in the sex trafficking epidemic that is sweeping the globe like an epidemic.
The average consumer, likely exposed before the age of 18, has no idea what exactly goes into the production of a single pornographic image or video. They might not even think about how or why a performer got to be on camera. If someone contributed even one, or a substantial amount, of the 42 billion visits to one of the most popular free porn sites in 2019, they probably don’t understand the likelihood that they might be looking at a performer who didn’t appear on film under their own free will.
The difficult fact is that porn, sexual exploitation, and sex trafficking are inseparably linked.
Sex trafficking shares a variety of symbiotic connections to pornography. Even in the production of mainstream porn, sex trafficking can still occur—and it happens more often than most people think.Cole, S., & Maiberg, E. (2020). Pornhub doesn't care. Vice. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en/article/9393zp/how-pornhub-moderation-works-girls-do-pornCopy BBC News. (2020). GirlsDoPorn: Young women win legal battle over video con. BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50982051Copy Trafficking is legally defined as a situation in which “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.”Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106–386, Section 102(a), 114 Stat. 1464. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-106hr3244enr/pdf/BILLS-106hr3244enr.pdfCopy
Manipulation and coercion are unfortunately common in the porn industry, which legally qualifies as sex trafficking. Again, there’s no viable way for a consumer to guarantee that the porn they’re watching is truly consensual and free of abuse or coercion. As long as there’s a demand for porn—especially porn that is extreme, abusive, or degrading—the porn industry will continue to exploit vulnerable people to meet that demand.
In the porn industry, there is virtually no way to guarantee that any piece of pornographic content is truly consensual, ethical, or even legal. The unfortunate truth is that the porn industry has an extensive history of profiting from nonconsensual content and abuse, even ignoring victims’ pleas to remove abusive content.Kristof, N. (2021). Why do we let corporations profit from rape videos? New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/opinion/sunday/companies-online-rape-videos.htmlCopy Kristof, N. (2020). The children of Pornhub. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.htmlCopy
In fact, virtually every major porn site has had issues with nonconsensual content, abuse, or child sexual abuse material (aka “child porn”). Kristof, N. (2021). Why do we let corporations profit from rape videos? New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/opinion/sunday/companies-online-rape-videos.htmlCopy Burgess, M. (2020). Deepfake porn is now mainstream. and major sites are cashing in. Retrieved from https://www.wired.co.uk/article/deepfake-porn-websites-videos-lawCopy Kristof, N. (2020). The children of Pornhub. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.htmlCopy Meineck, S., & Alfering, Y. (2020). We went undercover in xHamster's unpaid content moderation team. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en/article/akdzdp/inside-xhamsters-unpaid-content-moderation-teamCopy Titheradge, N., & Croxford, R. (2021). The children selling explicit videos on OnlyFans. BBC News Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-57255983Copy
No treats, only tricks
During Halloween, it can be fun to dress up, get scared, and have a good time. But as scary as haunted houses and horror movies can be, the nightmares end when November 1st comes around. However, the same can not be said for those struggling with the harmful effects of porn.
For them, the nightmares continue.
This is why we must continue to fight—for those working to overcome an addiction, for those who have seen their relationships crumble due to porn’s effects, and for those trapped in sex trafficking. We fight for you.
Porn may seem like a nice treat, but, in reality, it’s a dangerous trick. Don’t fall for it.
Need help?
For those reading this who feel they are struggling with pornography, you are not alone. Check out Fortify, a science-based recovery platform dedicated to helping you find lasting freedom from pornography. Fortify now offers a free experience for both teens and adults. Connect with others, learn about your unwanted porn habit, and track your recovery journey. There is hope—sign up today.
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