Porn Addiction and Social Upheaval

The extent of porn addiction is surprising, and its implications are staggering. Marvin Olasky writes:

• One survey of 16- to 20- year-olds found nearly one out of four young men and one out of ten young women admitting they tried to kick the habit but could not.

This raises the question, “How many more are hooked but haven’t confessed to it!” Also, “How many users are we talking about?”

•  Witherspoon Institute conference research (proceedings published as The Social Costs of Pornography) showed that two-thirds of 18- to 34-year-old men visit porn sites regularly… Many men find it harder to relate to real women. Most divorces involve one partner compulsively using pornography. (World, May 17, 2014, 72)

I’ve seen the pervasive interest in porn highlighted in another way. On the average of 100 people visit my blog posts. However, I posted one essay by Robert Peters, then president of Morality in Media, entitled Prostitution & Pornography: The Links between the Two. Amazingly, 2,438 visited this post!

What are the implications of this national addiction? Besides the breakup of marriages, there is also the breakdown of society. Porn has often made the sexual partner – a marriage-mate or otherwise – irrelevant. After all, who needs the expense and the inherent problems of relationships when one can find what he wants in front of his own computer. Besides, the addict can find a new “partner” or multiple partners at will, who will do anything he so desires.

What are the psychological implications? What will be the effects of the early sexualization of youth? And what will happen to society when the majority view others as sex objects? It is no wonder that porn is strongly associated with violent crime and sex-trafficking. In addition to this, there have been numerous reports that porn addiction is like other forms of addiction. They all rewire the brain.

How will porn addiction impact the conscience? Clearly, we know it is wrong. I still haven’t heard about any porn parties where the group masturbates in front of the screen. Perhaps there are such parties, but their rarity would suggest that most are ashamed of this addiction and want to keep it private.

What then happens when we violate our conscience? In order to live with ourselves, we have to rationalize our behavior and tell ourselves that it is normal, natural and totally acceptable. Along with this, we then find ourselves resenting those who claim that there is something the matter with porn. We drop out of church, concluding that the church is filled with judgmental hypocrites, whose opinions should be silenced.

We are heading for difficult times!