Pornography can have a devastating impact on our lives. Studies show that it has the same addictive potential as cocaine and heroin.
As much as pornography may primarily impact men, young women also face its effects and should not be ignored by the Church. Instead, we need to provide support and walk alongside these women rather than turn away.
1. They Aren’t For Consumption
People who regularly view porn are more likely to engage in riskier forms of sexual activity, including earlier and more frequent sexual relationships which can be hazardous to their health.
Porn content is notorious for degrading and violent acts that degrade women. A study of popular videos revealed that female characters in scenes were significantly more likely to be struck or hit than men and they usually seem satisfied about it.
Pornographic depictions of women do not accurately portray how they look in real life; this can contribute to low self-esteem and negative body images for viewers.
Therefore, it’s crucial that if you or your children want to gain more sexual education knowledge, porn isn’t the way forward.
Bright Desire, for instance, provides viewers with education on sex without resorting to porn. The site shows real-life couples enjoying sexual intimacy. Bright Desire encourages viewers to take notes on how they can become better partners while also emphasizing the need to discuss consent prior to engaging in orgasmic sex.
2. They Aren’t For Education
Teachers and youth-serving adults may feel awkward talking about porn videos with students, but there are several advantages of discussing them openly with them. A better understanding of media content’s origins, production process, and purpose will enable young people to make better informed choices when viewing movies or TV shows.
Porn can fetishize sexual orientation and gender identity, portray LGBTQ+ people in degrading ways, and misrepresent them through harmful stereotypes. Furthermore, it can foster a culture of sexual entitlement.
Porn may also serve as a gateway to addiction. Studies have revealed that viewing porn can trigger the release of dopamine, leading to compulsive behaviors and an intense reward response.
Porn often promotes sexual activity as a source of pleasure rather than an avenue to intimacy between partners. It depicts women as commodities to be exploited, teaching girls they should depend on men for sexual fulfilment, while teaching boys it is acceptable to subordinate female pleasure to their own desires.
If you’re concerned about your child’s pornographic behaviors, initiate dialogue between both parties regarding values surrounding sex. Discuss what your views on sexuality are as well as why protecting their right to healthy bodies is of utmost importance.
3. They Aren’t For Addiction
Porn can often be seen as an innocent form of sexual expression; however, it can actually be one of the most hazardous activities you engage in.
Porn is highly addictive. Like any drug, it causes your brain to release reward signals and activate dopamine pathways, creating compulsive behaviors similar to alcohol or drug addictions.
Porn overuse has also been linked with several mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression and other psychiatric illnesses.
Recognizing and treating a porn addiction requires being aware of its signs and symptoms as soon as possible. Treatment options available to address such addiction include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and psychodynamic Therapy.
Porn addiction may be difficult to break free from on your own, but it’s definitely achievable if you have the determination. Similar to alcoholism or substance addictions, changing behaviors and replacing unhealthy coping mechanisms with healthier ones are key parts of successful recovery from any addiction.
4. They Aren’t For Health
Porn videos don’t help build a healthy understanding of sex – in fact, they may be harmful.
Excessive porn use can have serious repercussions for one’s sexual life, especially with regard to erectile dysfunction (ED). Watching porn can desensitize one’s body to the sensations associated with sexual encounters in real life (IRL), making achieving sexual satisfaction harder to come by in real life sex encounters.
If your sexual life has become unhealthy, there are steps you can take. One way is to cease watching porn videos entirely.
Second, consider switching up your media consumption with more healthy and enjoyable options such as books or podcasts to replace porn viewing with something healthier and more rewarding for yourself.
Thirdly, try meditating or taking some time away from the computer to clear your mind and relax if you’re feeling overwhelmed or distressed. Meditation or taking time away may also help if this is helping ease stress or anxiety levels.
Lastly, to improve your mental health and avoid relapse, social or romantic relationships may help. Exercise regularly and eat healthily are also effective methods. These steps will make it easier to focus on mental wellbeing without relapsing.
5. They Aren’t For Love
Have you watched porn videos? If so, then you know they don’t depict reality accurately; instead they tend to be degrading and violent in depicting how sex should occur and may create unrealistic expectations of how sexual acts should take place.
One of the primary motivations behind people using porn is to increase sexual desire; although this is a healthy and natural human need, too much consumption could become harmful and risky.
As it can lead to physical problems like erectile dysfunction or desensitization – which makes sexual performance harder in real life – it is also associated with feelings of cynicism about love in general, having less trust for romantic partners, and feeling that relationships are confining.
Porn can create unrealistic relationship expectations and lead to unhealthy interactions in relationships, creating false notions of perfect sex that encourage people to pursue what they desire more than anyone else. It also can increase competitive behavior between lovers in order to obtain what they desire most from each other.
Instead of watching porn, couples should instead work toward setting healthier relationship expectations and deepening their connection instead. This approach makes living more fulfilling overall, making sex even more pleasurable over time.
6. They Aren’t For Relationships
Porn is designed to serve a specific function: satisfying sexual fantasies without having to deal with real partners in real life. While it may provide temporary relief from relationships that might otherwise become unhealthy.
Porn videos can be extremely addictive, which may compromise your ability to form real relationships successfully and efficiently.
One study demonstrated that people who watched porn were more likely to experience relationship unhappiness due to its ability to make real-life sex feel less desirable and harder to navigate.
If your partner is using porn, it would be beneficial for both of you to discuss this subject together. Perhaps discuss why they’re watching it and what its effects could be on both of you.
An additional reason to discuss this with your partner is because it can help build trust and intimacy between the two of you. Watching porn together is an excellent way of discovering each other’s tastes.
At the end of the day, it’s ultimately up to both of you to determine what they want from their relationship. But if both agree on when and how often to watch porn, giving it a go may well be worthwhile!
7. They Aren’t For Fun
Porn is a form of entertainment, similar to movies. But unlike movies, it is created specifically for an audience – to convince them to purchase the product, watch the movie or click on its website.
Marketing and publishing use deception as a powerful weapon to reach their audiences and gain their trust. However, cracking this industry can be very difficult indeed.
Porn has both commercial and psychological implications; similar to addiction. It floods the reward pathway of the brain with chemicals, producing feelings of pleasure and euphoria in response to viewing it.
Problematically, porn is often watched in order to experience specific emotions; over time this becomes an addiction and becomes part of daily routine.
Porn can have serious repercussions for relationships as well. Watching porn can erode intimacy and spark dissatisfaction between partners in relationships where sexual desire runs deep, creating unrealistic expectations about both sex and relationships that often aren’t healthy.