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Many people know former NFL player Terry Crews for his viral Old Spice videos, YouTube fame, and as the host of America’s Got Talent.
He’s also a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood, having starred in the hit TV series “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and popular movies like “White Chicks,” “The Longest Yard,” “Bridesmaids,” and “The Expendables.”
But he puts himself out there far beyond his hilarious bicep-bulging and pec-popping. He’s also been an outspoken activist about the harms of porn.
In 2015, Terry repped a “Porn Kills Love” tee in livestream videos on Instagram and Facebook. His videos have continued to circulate with hundreds of millions of views online in multiple languages.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and inviting individuals to have a #PornFreeQuarantine, Terry Crews shared his thoughts on our podcast, Consider Before Consuming, sharing everything from his bold mission to educate individuals about porn’s harms to being a beacon of hope for those who may feel stuck in their own recovery journey. Give it a listen here.
Anti-porn, anti-shame—pro healthy sex and connection
In the words of Crews, “Sex is medicine. Pornography is drugs.”
Just as educating about the unhealthy factors of junk food doesn’t make someone anti-eating, talking about the harmful effects of pornography and sexual exploitation doesn’t make someone anti-sex. Fight the New Drug, for example, is anti-porn because we’re pro-healthy sex and intimacy.
In our conversation with him, Terry also talks about the importance of shattering the unhealthy, shame-inducing stigma behind consuming porn, putting it all out in the open, and finding real connections with people you trust.
He opens up about telling Rebecca, his wife of over 30 years, about his struggle and how this ended up being monumental to healing and identifying his own “why’s” for turning to pornography from such a young age. He says he’s since experienced healthy sex and connection that’s “redeeming, powerful, wonderful, and invigorating.”
Pornography is a counterfeit, and true connection is energizing and healing. Being vulnerable, something Terry says was difficult for him at first and is for many men, is essential for recovery.
Crews also opens up about his own sexual assault, and how porn culture can influence and fuel the ways lines are crossed and individuals, particularly women, are objectified, dehumanized, and devalued—in sports, in Hollywood, and in society as a whole.
Violent, degrading porn is not only widely accessible today, but the porn industry finds ways to target its content at younger and younger audiences. It’s an industry that’s inseparably linked to sex trafficking.
While Crews wishes he could go back and change many things about his past, what he chooses to focus on now is helping others—particularly men or young people who want to quit and feel like they can’t.
Terry’s overarching message is this: if you struggle, there’s nothing “wrong” with you. Porn has been designed to get in your head and take over your natural instincts, he warns.
Wanting connection and intimacy is human, but porn plays on your hunger and natural desire. He says his preferred recovery acronym HALT—hungry, angry, lonely, tired—helps individuals identify under what circumstances they may be particularly vulnerable to consuming porn, and how to break free.
Finding people you love and who love you back is what really satisfies and heals. Habits are powerful. Practicing gratitude can help you be successful in your journey, he advises. Talking about healthy sex and what love truly is—not what the porn industry has confused so many people to perceive it as—is key.
Seeing others as human beings worthy of love and respect—including yourself—is what heals, and it’s what this world needs more of.
Connect with Terry Crews
You can get more of Terry Crews via the links on his Consider Before Consuming podcast episode, and by connecting with him on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.
If you want to join Terry Crews and help change the conversation, we invite you to rep the movement by visiting the Fight the New Drug online store, and get educated by streaming our three-part documentary Brain, Heart, World for free!
And as you go about your day, we invite you to increase your self awareness. Look both ways, check your blind spots, and consider before consuming.
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