The Unpublicized Pandemic of Pornography
While our news feeds are constantly flooded with case count updates, urgent public health messages, and leaders in the vaccine race, there is a viral contagion hovering below the headlines: pornography.
Unlike COVID-19, this pathogen does not have the power to physically kill, which may account for its lack of news coverage; however, new studies and research are showcasing its detrimental effects on our lives. Not even young healthy immune systems reduce the power of its symptoms. In fact, I would argue that children and young adults are the most vulnerable due to the devices attached to their hands at all times. Pornography is always just a click away. But who cares if someone wants to scroll through Pornhub in their free time? Especially during a time of social distancing and isolation, it may seem like a comfort of sorts. Looking at sexual images and passionate videos may seem harmless at first, but the verdict on pornography is in: it is perverting the minds of individuals, creating tension in partnerships, and fueling a worldwide trafficking industry.
The combination of loneliness, anxiety, lack of physical contact, and possibly pure boredom resulting from the current state of the world has proven to be a perfect storm for increasing porn consumption. A recent Pornhub statistic boasted an 11.6% increase in traffic since the start of the pandemic, and they have even generously offered users in Italy free premium content during this time. As a result of the millions of jobs lost, more people are turning to self-generating revenue sites like OnlyFans to subsidize their income. OnlyFans allows sex workers, TikTokers, social media influencers, and virtually anyone else to monetize pictures and videos of themselves, often pornographic in nature. This site alone has seen 450,000 new creator accounts and a 75% month on month increase in signups since March. Psychologist Justin J. Lehmiller suggests this may be partly tied to newfound free time from stay-at-home orders, but it “may also be up because some people are using sex as a coping mechanism for dealing with their fear of disease and death.”
Whatever the reason, pornography consumption is inarguably on the rise. It creates an escape for the viewer, giving them a happy departure from a world that is anything but happy right now. The problem arises when this seemingly innocent distraction from society takes on a new form: an inescapable, gnawing desire for release that can never be fully quenched. In other words, pornography consumption can quickly become an addiction. There has been controversy among health professionals in attaching the word “addiction” to the viewing of pornography, and instead it is often euphemized as “problematic pornography use.” While I am not a qualified medical professional by any means, I would argue that the effect pornography has on the individual’s physical and psychological health, as well as its effect on their relationships, is evidence enough for the use of the term addiction. This has been a topic of interest of mine for many years, and in my countless conversations with friends and family who have struggled with this issue, the unanimous conclusion is that pornography is highly addictive.
How does pornography become addictive? Like cocaine or methamphetamine, it causes a substantial chemical release of dopamine in the brain. Because of neuroplasticity, regular and consistent pornography use conditions this powerful reward with sexually explicit material, and this creates increasingly ingrained neural reward pathways in the brain. The rush associated with orgasms is “the most powerful natural dopaminergic reward in the nervous system,” so why not take an easy shortcut to get there? Porn is overwhelmingly accessible in a technological age where kindergarteners bring their iPhones to school. People can watch porn on their bus ride to work, on a lunch break, or as a part of their nighttime routine. Our brains are wired to seek novelty, so as this activity becomes more regular, the search for new sources of entertainment continues. As is the characteristic of addictions, the brain begins to demand more extreme, more intense forms of porn to experience the same initial “high.” Not only does porn use become more compulsory and time-consuming, but because of its nature, it begins to give users unrealistic expectations of sex “in the wild.” When the human brain is repeatedly exposed to “supranormal” stimuli, such as enhanced breasts or unrealistically chiseled abs, the real-life human physiques become less and less alluring. These types of findings have been modeled in studies with male butterflies who are introduced to artificially enhanced female butterflies; the male butterflies begin to prefer the man-made models over the naturally evolved. The cause for concern here is that watching porn gives users false expectations for intimacy and therefore begins to harm real-life relationships.
Porn’s effects often are not just limited to the user. While it may seem like a simple distraction to pass the time during a 14-day quarantine, its impacts have been shown to seep into interpersonal relationships, often affecting the ones that mean the most to us. After studying three-wave longitudinal data from 2006–2014, researchers from the University of Oklahoma concluded that the probability for divorce was doubled for married couples who began pornography use between survey waves. Correlation does not prove causation; however, there is justified reason to believe that porn has the power to break marriages. As Gary Gilles, a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with over twenty years of experience puts it:
“Pornography has been shown to weaken commitment in marriages because it creates an utterly false impression of what a normal body looks like and what sexual behavior is really about. The sexual relationship is meant to be a mutually satisfying expression of each partner’s love for the other. In contrast, porn is about self-gratification and often involves dominating or mistreating the other person.”
This is not one person’s outdated perspective on porn; it is a growing consensus among researchers all over the world. As the amount of porn consumed continues to grow and it becomes a normalized part of society, the effects are increasingly prevalent. It desensitizes the viewer to the intimate characteristics of sex within a healthy, consensual relationship. It harms the self-esteem and the trust of the one in a relationship with a porn user. It destroys real-life relationships. We are even beginning to see the links between the increased prevalence of porn and trafficking. Research has shown that men prefer to view porn that contains “aggressive acts,” porn that only contributes to the violation, degradation, and exploitation of women. As people begin to watch violent sexual acts, they are more likely to model this behavior in their own lives, and so the demand for sex trafficking is fueled.
While the statistics and research point to endless conclusions of divorce, broken relationships, and unbridled compulsions, there are steps we can take to fight pathogenic porn. I think the first step is having a conversation about porn. For some, it can be a taboo topic that’s uncomfortable to discuss with others. Some people may not think twice about their porn consumption and be unaware of its harms. As a college student living on campus, I see classmates wearing PornHub sweatshirts and memes about porn posted on student pages. I think there needs to be a serious shift in educating younger generations about the influence porn has on the brain, on relationships, and on the world. Pornography sites such as PornHub need to be held accountable for the videos hosted on their sites that display violent acts of sexual abuse. Parents need to be more aware of the apps on their children’s phones and the measures they can take to filter out explicit content that can warp vulnerable minds. Unlike the coronavirus, the cure to the porn pandemic does not rely on the release of a vaccine; it will require a fundamental shift in our daily habits and values.
