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  The Porn Craze
By Barrington H. Brennen
May 21, 2008, Updated January 31, 2023

 

 

Why are so many adults and children getting hooked on pornography?  In The Bahamas, the Caribbean, and around the world more and more students from the primary to secondary schools are watching pornography on their hand-held devices and television.  More and more homes, where young minds are being nurtured, are actually pornography theaters.  I wonder if parents understand what pornography is all about and why, from a business perspective, it is so successful.  Al Haffner in his book “The High Cost of Free Love” states that “Pornography is the third highest profit enterprise of the mafia, after gambling and narcotics, with roughly 90 percent of all pornography being produced and distributed by organized crime.” 

Here some world-wide findings about pornography sited in the February 2023 article “Recent Pornography Statistics and Why They Are Important” by Barb Winters:

  • “Most teens (73%) reported that they have consumed pornography.” The average age of first exposure was 12, with 15% saying they had first seen porn at age 10 or younger.

  • “Just under half of all teens (44%) indicated that they had done so intentionally, while slightly more than half (58%) indicated they had encountered pornography accidentally.” 29% reported both intentional and accidental viewing.

  • Of those reporting accidental exposure, 63% indicated they had been exposed in the past week, “which could indicate that unintentional pornography exposure was a common experience for respondents.”

  • Reported rates of exposure were similar across demographics, but there was a “significant difference by gender in terms of intentional consumption.”

  • “Rates of intentional pornography consumption were also higher among respondents who are LGBTQ+ (66%), including transgender and nonbinary respondents (66%).”

  • “There was tension between respondents’ enjoyment of pornography and their feelings of guilt associated with consuming it.” Most felt “OK” about the amount of pornography they watched, but “half reported feeling guilty or ashamed after watching.”

  • “Teens indicated that they were learning about sex from the pornography they consume.”
    “A majority of teens who indicated they have viewed pornography have been exposed to aggressive and/or violent forms of pornography.”

  • “Exposure to racial and ethnic stereotypes in pornography was also common.”
    Most teens have discussed sex-related issues with trusted adults, “but less than half (43%) have discussed pornography.”
     

The findings are startling.  We can see why so many of our young people are being trapped into a maze of sexually charged material often, at first, not aware of the intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual dangers. Al Haffner points out that “Many studies show that repeated exposure to pornography, whether simple and soft or hard and perverse, leads to alterations in attitudes, appetites, and even behavior.”  

Exposure to pornography causes men to devalue their wives or other women as mere sexual beings–using women to gratify their own perverted desires. Pornography has also impacted our view of manhood and masculinity.  David Feddes in his article, “The Pornography Trap,” states:  “Pornography provides false manhood to men who are starving to be masculine. If a woman, or lots of women, is willing to get naked just for you, you must be a man!”

Here's another quote from Science Focus magazine, 2023: “Men who use pornography have lower levels of sexual and relationship satisfaction. Women whose male partners use pornography report reduced intimacy, self-objectification and bodily shame, and sexual coercion. Third, pornography teaches sexually aggressive attitudes and behaviors.”

Researchers of pornography are further saying that “Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine, leading to addiction, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction, according to clinicians and researchers.”  "According to Dr Judith Reisman, pornography affects the physical structure of your brain turning you into a porno-zombie. Porn, she says, is an "erototoxin", producing an addictive "drug cocktail" of testosterone, oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin with a measurable organic effect on the brain."

As far back as fifteen years ago research was reported on MSNBC that at least 90 percent of first-time sexual experiences by teenagers were done right in parents’ homes.  Similarly, places we consider sacred and protected spaces are virtually open territory for viewing pornography.  The saddest truth is that parents or guardians are the ones who are watching the porn in the homes and doing it so openly that the little ones are watching too. 

A father stayed up late one night to watch hard core sex on a pay-per-view channel.  Deep into the night, while his entire family was asleep, he too fell asleep in front of the television leaving the television screen flashing its images through the darkness.  His five-year-old son was awakened around 2 am, having been attracted by the flashing lights and came and sat beside his sleeping dad and stayed there watching the hard-core sex for more than two hours.   Around 4 a.m. the mother was also awakened by the lights in the TV room. What a shock she had when she saw her five-year-old innocent son watching with wide-eyes, sex on television, while his father was in a deep, deep, sleep!  What was he learning?  Did it affect his mind? 

The earlier our children are introduced to pornography, the greater is the damage to their future lives. “According to one study, early exposure (under fourteen years of age) to pornography is related to greater involvement in deviant sexual practice, particularly rape.”   Pornographic photos seen very early in life introduces concept of communication and expression long before a child is able to articulate feelings effectively.  Thus, sex becomes an easy medium of expression and the risk of addiction even greater.  

Adults become addicted also because pornography gives one a feeling of euphoria and the photos are embedded in the mind and make one want to return over and over to obtain the same pleasurable feelings again, just like drugs. 

Barrington H. Brennen is a marriage and family therapist. Send your questions for comments to P.O. Box CB-11045, Nassau, The Bahamas. Or call 242-327 1980, or email  barringtonbrennen@gmail.com or visit the website www.soencouragement.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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