Porn And Ss Marriage Support

[pogi]

No; Quite the opposite. Some forms of ED and psychosomatic aversion to intimacy respond well mild forms of pornographic images.

Lets not forget to mention that many of these men suffer from ED and psychosomatic aversion to intimacy precisely because of their addiction to pornography.

"Pornography viewers tend to have problems with premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. Having spent so much time in unnatural sexual experiences with paper, celluloid and cyberspace, they seem to find it difficult to have sex with a real human being. Pornography is raising their expectation and demand for types and amounts of sexual experiences; at the same time it is reducing their ability to experience sex.” (Dr. MaryAnne Layden)

[Kevin Christensen]

This article in Psychology Today points out the difficulty in observing the effects of pornography use in the absence of a control group that does not use.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-arrow/201203/the-other-porn-experiment

Devastated by sexual performance problems or other crippling symptoms (such as morphing sexual tastes, loss of attraction to real mates, and uncharacteristic desire to isolate), users are taking the initiative. They are conducting their own counter-experiments by the thousands. By stopping porn use and sharing their "findings" publicly, these guys are, in effect, the missing control group of non-porn users that researchers say they can't produce. (In 2009, when researcher Simon Lajeunesse attempted to investigate the effects of Internet porn on college guys, he couldn't find any who weren't using it.)

Why do control groups matter? Imagine if all guys started smoking heavily at age 10 and there were no groups who didn't. We'd all assume lung cancer was normal for guys.

I've become the Addiction Recovery Representative for my Stake. From that vantage point, I can see that the church is taking this sort of thing seriously as an addiction, and treating addiction as a disease rather than as a shaming label, and is striving to organize and provide 12 Step Recovery practices and groups. It can be difficult in places where the membership is spread out as much as we are in the East, but the effort to build shows a real committment to the idea and recognition of the need.

IMHO, aversion therapy attempts to use Skinnerian Behaviorism theory to try to point an addiction in a socially approved direction, rather than dealing with the real brain damage caused by the addiction.

One of the first things I like to share with people is this, from Donald Hilton, M.D.

http://scottwoodward.org/Talks/html/z-Scholarly%20Articles/HiltonDL_UnderstandingTheAddictiveNatureOfPornography.html

Why is it important to understand that compulsive pornography use is an actual addiction? By recognizing this, we will treat it with the respect required to overcome an addiction.

FWIW

Kevin Christensen

Bethel Park, PA

[RobertAC]

The degradation of woman to mere objects of lust is not universally negative? I seem to remember Christ saying something about lusting after a woman and committing adultery with her in our hearts. Are you going to try and convince me that men are not lusting and committing adultery with woman in their hearts when they view porn? Whether a person is addicted or not, it is sin, and sin is universally negative. It is not negative simply because it is addictive, there are many other consequences.

Some men and women enjoy the attention. A porn star can be out in the middle of the Sahara, and someone will be out there too who has seen him/her in a video. Plus, a sexual person gets to have sex and be paid for it.

Why Me made a good point: Drugs and low self esteem affect a number -- but not all -- performers, and it is an exploitative business. But many others don't have those problems. Some go on to lead professional lives and raise families.

Personally, its not my cup of tea, and I think most people would not thrive doing sex work if they were offered the chance to try it. But some do it, and come out of it with a positive experience.

P.S. -- I did read you discussion about sin, Pogi. I did not address that issue because it raises theological issues that I'm not able to address. But my general understanding of sin in the Christian context is that one is "missing the mark" to use the original Greek definition. Sex out of marriage is almost universally described as sinful behavior around the world and for various religions. However, I see a difference between "sin" as a religious concept, and the reality of why people might willingly participate in videotaped sex for hire.

Edited February 6, 2013 by RobertAC

[Megalodon]

One reason for this is quite simple. Men tend to also watch lesbian sex on their favorite porn site. This would definitely soften their attitudes toward same sex marriage.

Well, I guess I can only speak for myself, but until I broke myself of this junk, I "enjoyed" watching lesbian sex porn. And while I was not addicted, I watched often enough that you would think that if it was going to soften my attitude towards same-sex marriage, it would have. But it didn't. At no time did it even occur to me to begin to think SSM was acceptable.

Of course, it might have made a difference that, even while I was watching this junk, I knew I shouldn't be doing it and felt quite guilty and was very secretive about it.

[thesometimesaint]

The degradation of woman to mere objects of lust is not universally negative? I seem to remember Christ saying something about lusting after a woman and committing adultery with her in our hearts. Are you going to try and convince me that men are not lusting and committing adultery with woman in their hearts when they view porn? Whether a person is addicted or not, it is sin, and sin is universally negative. It is not negative simply because it is addictive, there are many other consequences.

Without a pretty strong sexual attraction the human race would have died out long long ago.

[cdowis]

It can be a psychological addiction, and one that does affect intimate relations with someone else in a negative way. However, most consumers of porn are not adversely affected by it. Lots of studies on this point.

It is very naive to take the conclusions of such research.

How do they measure "not adversely affected"? What are they measuring the affects, and the methodology. (Take it from one who has a master's degree in social/psych and was a research assistant).

Edited February 6, 2013 by cdowis

[Bernard Gui]

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

[why me]

Why Me made a good point: Drugs and low self esteem affect a number -- but not all -- performers, and it is an exploitative business. But many others don't have those problems. Some go on to lead professional lives and raise families.

I think that most don't go on to live professional lives. Most go on to lead lives that are not very productive. We need to remember that many of the actresses come from abusive homes, which is one reason why they enter the business or they have had difficult family relationships. This mainly affects the young women who get involved. Not to mention the stds that are picked up on the job, such as herpes.

As far as same sex marriage support among the male viewers, it certainly exists mainly because of the way lesbian films are produced. The are primed for the male psyche and are very much different from the straight videos. However, if one talks to actual lesbians, they may find such porn unrealistic and not what actually occurs in the bedroom.

[why me]

Well, I guess I can only speak for myself, but until I broke myself of this junk, I "enjoyed" watching lesbian sex porn. And while I was not addicted, I watched often enough that you would think that if it was going to soften my attitude towards same-sex marriage, it would have. But it didn't. At no time did it even occur to me to begin to think SSM was acceptable.

With lesbian sex primed for the male psyche one can see its emotional content unlike in a hetero video. Men want to see two women being extremely sensitive to the other where there is respect and dignity of the other. This emotional content makes it look extremely normal and understanding. And this is what would soften attitudes. However, gay porn is just the opposite. But then, not many heteros would watch such films and these videos would create a negative attitude toward same sex unions.

[thesometimesaint]

Lets not forget to mention that many of these men suffer from ED and psychosomatic aversion to intimacy precisely because of their addiction to pornography.

"Pornography viewers tend to have problems with premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. Having spent so much time in unnatural sexual experiences with paper, celluloid and cyberspace, they seem to find it difficult to have sex with a real human being. Pornography is raising their expectation and demand for types and amounts of sexual experiences; at the same time it is reducing their ability to experience sex.” (Dr. MaryAnne Layden)

I don't believe she has established a causation, but rather a correlation between addiction to porn and greater societal ills. IOW in a therapeutic controlled environment as opposed to an uncontrolled non-therapeutic addiction one.

[pogi]

Some men and women enjoy the attention. A porn star can be out in the middle of the Sahara, and someone will be out there too who has seen him/her in a video. Plus, a sexual person gets to have sex and be paid for it.

Bullies enjoy the attention too, that doesn't make it appropriate and healthy behavior. It is tragic what many of these girls resort to inorder to feel some sort of self-worth. These poor girls are either desperate for attention or desperate/greedy for easy money. It is desperation which drives them to be exploited in this horrible industry. The attention that they seek is only skin deep, and short lived. Much like those who consume pornography and become addicted, their gratification is instant and short lived, leaving them feeling empty and all alone.

[glitterNgold]

If polygamy involves having multiple partners in bed then, yeah, it's pretty non-traditional.

I can only speak from personal experince regarding porn because I haven't been involved in the studies nor have I analyzed the results. Watching Ellen on TV is what made me more open. Oh and attending a Lady Gaga concert also pushed me a ways down that path.