5 Myths You Don't Know About Pornography
I heard a lot of myths from porn addicts having to do with their porn addiction so one of the interventions involves education and reeducation.
Before we go down deeper on this post, here is the definition of what is a myth.
A myth is a belief or a story meant as an attempt to explain a common social experience that may be difficult to grasp. A myth usually may not have any basis in truth, fact or reality.
And porn has become very much part of our Western culture, even though we don’t talk about it very much. Note that porn addiction is not just issues for men. A large number of women also struggle with these issues and their road to recovery is just as difficult or in many ways even more so, than for their male counterparts.
Still there are some widespread myths about pornography in the world and in our culture. Those myths can be at times, crippling to those who watch porn videos without reservation.
Here are some of the myths about pornography:
Wanna know what are those?
….here it is.
MYTH #1 PORNOGRAPHY IS HARMLESS ENTERTAINMENT
Pornography is certainly entertainment by this definition: for many it is amusing, it offers a diversion from the ordinaries of life. It has long been advertised by therapists that a little pornography can spice up our boring sex lives.
The myth is in the word “harmless”. Harm is injury brought to some, either mentally, physically, emotionally or spiritually. When we turn to the advice of physicians and mental health experts, we find a growing opinion among them that habitual pornography viewing is harmful.
Some say that pornography is a rite of passage for boys or young men and that they all will look at it at some time or another and so it’s normal. When parents having this mindset discover their teenagers have been looking for pornography, they commonly make a joke about it or even laugh it off with relatives or friends.
Another aspect of this myth is that since porn is usually something that someone looks at in secret, it seems like and feels like there is nobody else involved. Children in pornography are always only there because they are being exploited. There are spouses and relationships with spouses which are impacted. There are young men drugging and then raping women at parties and at bars. There are employers who discover employees surfing porn videos on internet at work. Careers are ended because of porn being viewed at the workplace.
This is another myth inside the myth of harmlessness. The reality is that these male and female performers are frequently abusing drugs and alcohol in order to cope with their work, that nearly all of them have STD’s and that many are making little or no money from their work. A good number are also engaged in prostitution and a significant number admit that they were sexually abused as children. There are plenty of reports of death from AIDS, suicide and drug overdose among performers in the porn business.
Because pornography is almost always paired with masturbation, it has powerful self-reinforcing effect. People who viewed porn videos will admit that it feels good but they will not be aware of the hidden behavioral reinforcement that is being burned into their brain’s pathways. Some porn addicts have admitted that it was easier for them to recover from their heroin addiction that it was to escape from the grasps of pornography.
The most important harm of pornography has to do with the lie that tells us about the human body. The human body is a beautiful work of God’s creation but we are tempted to lust over it because of our brokenness. Pornography distracts us from these truths and confuses us about the gift and real meaning of the body as presented to us by God.
MYTH #2 MARRIAGE WILL CURE ME OF MY PORN ADDICTION
I have heard this so many times, this myth is both a hope and a fantasy. The teen or young adult became enslaved to pornography, unable to stop and control its use.
They tell themselves that they can and will overcome from porn addiction once the right partner comes along or especially if they get married. Marriage will not be the cure for porn addiction. It is particularly sad and difficult when one member of an engaged couple learns of the porn addiction of the other partner, sometimes through a course of marriage preparation or pre-marital counseling.
This once happily engage couple is now in deep crisis. The porn addict may reassure his or her partner that he or she can and will stop and the relationship continues on. Or sometimes the relationship ends badly right there.
In some cases, the spouse does not discover the porn addiction of the particular until after the marriage has taken place. This leads to deep hurt, disappointment, resentment and feelings of betrayal. Sometimes treatment for the porn addiction and marital therapy cannot save the relationship but if both involved in the recovery process there can be a good outcome.
And that is very tragic.
MYTH #3 PORNOGRAPHY IS NOT ADDICTIVE
Some people begin their experience with pornography by looking at certain magazines or web sites that show nude bodies but no sexual interaction. They are aware that there are ‘hardcore’ porn videos out there, but make a promise to themselves to stay away from it. And they think that they can stick to that promise or bargain that they make to themselves.
In other words, the soft core porn videos became boring to them after a while. If they are involved over a long period of time, they come to admit that they are shocked and horrified at the type of material that they find they are searching out and use for masturbation.
In another aspect of this myth, they believe incorrectly that the soft core porn videos are less powerful and less addicting than hard core porn videos. They will say that it is not as sinful or wrong to look at soft core porn videos.
These are weak realizations.
Not that over the years, magazines, internet videos and other media types have slowly and gradually upgraded the sexual content of their offerings. This is because the public has been numbed little by little to the amount of sexual contents in movies, TV shows, commercials and magazines.
MYTH #4 I’M NOT AN ADDICT, I CAN STOP IT ANYTIME
This myth is used by the people with porn addiction to reassure himself or herself, to a partner or the parents. It is a statement of power and ego by someone who has not yet realized powerlessness and humility.
It is extremely common for people with porn addiction to set up a date and be okay for a while before slipping or relapsing. Typical stop dates are birthdays, an anniversary, Christmas or New Year and other special holidays or occasion.
And there are patterns that are repeated over and over to the great frustration and dismay of the user: enjoy the porn for a certain period of time, then experience tremendous guilt and shame, throw out the magazines or erase the files or delete the website links then everything is fine for a while…….
And then the cycle repeats itself.
The problem is that as the cycle goes on and on across time, it became more intense and more difficult to break. Like any addiction, porn addiction increases over time if not stopped.
The best intervention is an early intervention.
The truth is that porn addiction can be as deadly as an addiction to alcohol or drugs. Because it is chronic, progressive or fatal and there are three possible results for a true addiction: jail, hospitalization or death.
MYTH #5 PORNOGRAPHY IS A GOOD FORM OF SEXUAL EDUCATION FOR THE INEXPERIENCED
If we can see the effects of habitual porn viewing on adult populations, the effects are even more problematic for younger minds.
Definitely, most people would agree that we need to keep our children away from pornography. There is something we know intuitively about the potential negative effects of this.
Yet, for the very same reasons, when adolescents are exposed to pornography again and again, this can interrupt natural sexual development of teenage years.
Keep learning about your porn addiction and all of the options of overcoming it. These days there are many temptations for porn but there is also a wealth of information about porn addiction treatment and there are many options for getting help.
And most importantly, keep taking action. Do something every day to work on your porn addiction treatment, even if it is just a small action. Regardless of how small it is what matters most is, you have learned by doing until it become a habit.
We all need recovery. You are not alone.
If you wish to free yourself from porn addiction and compulsive masturbation, click here.
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Sources & Citation:
https://www.gratiaplenacounseling.org
http://www.covenanteyes.com
