What does it mean that religion, not porn use, predicts porn-related problems?
I’m fully on board with calling it malpractice to spread the myth of porn addiction.
Is porn unambiguously good? No, grow up, few things are. But the issues with it should be based in reality. If its against your religion learn to not use it or change your religion. If you morally cannot abide the practices with it, either quit using it or find a form that lacks those quandries like written porn or pay worker owned porn cooperatives.
to the surprise of no one.
religiosity is not based on science. it’s not based on thorough thought, it’s not based on evidence, it’s not based on an actual understanding of the world. of course, such a worldview leads to numerous problems.
Porn addiction as a unique phenomenon, yeah. But there’s still a lot of people who have compulsive behavior and/or addiction behavior around porn. So it’s not that there’s nobody actually addicted to porn, but rather that it’s not unique.
Compulsive behavior using porn to the detriment of other aspects of life (keeping a job, maintaining relationships, etc) is what I think of when I hear porn addiction, not a physical addiction like alcohol but a mental addiction like playing too much video games. I’m not very educated when it comes to psychology though
The issue isn’t you spending too much time on sex. The issue is you not being able to spend enough time on sex.
Low and behold, religion is poison
I brought this up on a different post where somebody made an offhand joke about masturbation addiction. Like clockwork, somebody showed up and was like, “Nuh-uh! You can get addicted to anything!”
It’s going to be a while until we leave that idea behind, because now, it’s not just the religious parroting the pseudoscience. The hyper-masculinity grift has gotten in on it, too, with concepts like semen retention, sometimes even plagiarizing purity culture outright.
I’m still operating on outdated studies likening porn to have similar effects on the brain as cocaine, any ideas where to find the correct information?
Honestly? As much as I hate the parent company, any recent studies you can find on Google Scholar. That’s a great place to start. And don’t just go with what the title of the paper says. Even if the title looks like it’s pro- or anti-sex-addiction, the abstract usually gives a more nuanced perspective.
And as you look at the papers, just remember that religion would love to be right about how they personally interpret what their god says is “the right way to do it.” If a paper ever makes claims that it’s definitively proven that sex addiction is real, check the source; it’s probably religious.
Porn, sex, and masturbation may accompany an addiction, but excessive activity is almost always a symptom of or in addition to other, deeper issues. In the papers you’ll find from Scholar, you’ll see a recurring theme: “it’s complicated.” To put it another way, someone who chronically masturbates is likely coping with a deeper trauma(s). When the trauma is dealt with, they may no longer compelled to masturbate, because masturbating does not itself appear to be addictive. Same with porn and sex.
The issue arises that when people engage in these activities more than their peers, they may assume they’re behaving abnormally. Add on religion that has dogmatic rules about what is allowed, and that feeling of abnormality may be internalized as addiction, whereas a professional may find nothing unusual.
I came from a religion that promoted purity culture, and the idea that sex is addictive is simply a grotesque misrepresentation of the facts. If the science changes based on the facts and indicates that sex is addictive, I’ll change my tune accordingly.
Until then, the “sex addict” proponents do not have a rigorous, data-backed leg to stand upon.
This is very harmful
