Question. Can porn be addictive?
I mean look obviously, here in the sex positive communi-tay
porn isn't seen as a thing that's morally wrong.
It's not going to kill you or let Satan corrupt your soul or something
although that would explain a lot.
At the same time, I have talked to several of you
who feel that porn has harmed your relationships.
There are entire huge online communities of people who claim that porn has given them erectile disfunction.
Celebrities have talked about struggling with what they call porn addiction.
"Terry Crews detailing on his Facebook page, his addiction to pornography."
So I wanna do a little exploring of this question. Can porn actually be addictive?
Or is there something else going on here?
Laci Green investigates.
In the "porn can be addictive" camp, you're absolutely gonna find people who are really anti-porn
just really anti-sex in general, you know, the "abstinence-only" crowd? *laughs* them
But, you're also going to find some people who claim that porn has desensitized them
to real-life sexual experiences, and that cutting porn out, aka "rebooting"
has helped to solve some of their sexual woes.
Gabe Deem: "I found Playboy magazines when I was eight"
"and I continued my Internet porn use all through high school, and into college"
"and it took several years for me to hit the wall and hit rock-bottom with porn induced ED."
"That didn't happen until I started using tube sites, that mimic YouTube"
"I would have multiple tabs open at the same time, watching compilation videos"
"where the scene would change every second - bam bam bam."
Alexander Rhodes: "I was definitely addicted to porn."
"I used it for the first time when, you know, it's kinda hard to pinpoint the exact age"
"but I think I was around 11, and I was on a video game website."
"It was just a pop-up ad, and it featured simulated rape pornography."
"I didn't really know what was going on, but I did know that I liked the image of the girl on the screen"
"and I wanted to see more of it."
"Whenever I was 19 by that point, porn just completely distorted my sexuality to the point where"
"I couldn't maintain an erection without fantasizing about porn in my head."
"And really I was depersonalizing and objecting the person in front of me to achieve an orgasm,"
"rather than having a mutually beneficial, two-sided experience"
So the basic crux of the porn addiction argument is that the novelty and the abundance of internet porn
is hyper-stimulating compared to real life experiences.
The though goes that over an extended period of time, this hyper-stimulation can increase your tolerance,
by conditioning your body to respond to a limited amount of sexual stimuli.
And some experts argue that heavy porn use can rewire the arousal circuitry in your brain.
Lets talk to my buddy, Dr. Andrew Smiler
"Porn-induced erectile dysfunction describes guys who have difficulty getting it up in real life with a partner.
In particular, its porn induced because it is a result of masturbating very frequently,
very regularly, to porn they are seeing online. So were seeing a lot more in this generation.
If the beginning of their sexual experience really starts with masturbating to what a relatively high intensity image is,
that kinda sets the framework for their body in a way that my generation jerkin' off to playboy and penthouse
didn't really have.
But is what Dr. Smiler is talking about the same thing as addiction?
"It depends a lot on how you define addiction. My training with the word addiction...
"There's a clear need to use that is biologically driven and people can't get through the day without their substance.
"Porn doesn't do that to people. Porn doesn't change the physiology throughout the body.
"It certainly changes neural circuitry, or masturbating to porn on a regular bases changes the neural circuitry,
but it doesn't change, as far as we can tell, it doesn't change cell physiology the way that alcohol, cocaine or heroin do."
So porn probably isn't "like a drug" like some moralist anti-porn groups claim.
And in fact, thinking about porn as a drug, doesn't do us any favours.
For the aforementioned reasons, but also because if there are other underlying sexual problems,
those can be obscured and misattributed.
Also, it can be used to frame normal, healthy sexual behavior as something that is deviant
and wrong and needs fixing which is very much a trend throughout history and sexuality,
Which begs the question... is the root of the problem... watching porn?
Couldn't it be the case that people who have relationship problems, who have emotional difficulties,
are drawn to porn as an outlet?
"I see a lot of folks who get in trouble for pornography, whether it is in the relationship or at work.
It is almost always a symptom of something else. The thing is that, men especially, don't have a lot of freedom
in our society to talk about those negative emotions, and when we find something that works for dealing with those emotions,
we use it too much. That's what happens with pornography.
So here's my two cents.There's truth in all these statements!
Most people can use porn in a healthy way its just not a big problem, its not a big deal.
But there are some people, who maybe have some personality traits or other disposition
to having some porn related side-effects. And sometimes the best language that people have to describe
this experience they are having is "addiction" even if that isn't the most medically accurate word.
And the root cause of these side-effects is gonna vary based on the person.
Don't you love sexuality studies?! Never any straightforward answers.
Here's some takeaways. While there may be other ethical issues in porn which I'm gonna explore
in a separate video, I think it warrants its own discussion, if you do watch porn,
just like everything else in life, it's best to consume in moderation.
Now researchers don't agree on what quantity is "moderate" but pretty much everyone that I have talked to,
says if you're watching porn multiple times a day, that's in unhealthy territory,
but a better, more accurate gauge would be if it is affecting you're life negatively in some way.
Porn probably shouldn't be used every single time you masturbate, you wanna shake it up,
just use your fantasies sometimes. You should be able to masturbate without porn.
And lastly, porn really shouldn't be used to replace sex-ed. And yet, porn IS sex-ed for so many kids because
we don't give them anywhere else to turn. Of course, that's not porn's fault, that is society's fault.
If we had better sex-ed, we could better address some of these issues head on, and avoid some of these problems.
Okay babes, those are my thoughts, I wanna know your thoughts. This is a really complex, interesting topic.
Thank you to my guests, who were amazing resources. Love you all so much,
*singing* and I will see you next time *kisses*
*outro music*