[JJ]

Most of the members and guests at BEA play by the rules and enjoy the many features of this great web site.  While there are surely exceptions, most of the members and guests come here for fun and fellowship, not taking any of it too seriously.

We've all heard that "pornography can be addictive"?  But now webmd.com has added this to the mix.

QUOTE   Is Pornography Addictive?
Psychologists debate whether people can have an addiction to pornography.

In November 2004, a panel of experts testified before a Senate subcommittee that a product which millions of Americans consume is dangerously addictive. They were talking about pornography.

The effects of porn on the brain were called "toxic" and compared to cocaine. One psychologist claimed "prolonged exposure to pornography stimulates a preference for depictions of group sex, sadomasochistic practices, and sexual contact with animals."

It used to be that if you wanted to see pornography, you had to go out and buy a magazine or rent a video. Store hours and available space under the mattress placed some limits on people's porn habits.

Now there are an estimated 420 million adult web pages online. "For the person who has difficulty stopping, more is only one click away," says sex therapist Louanne Cole Weston, PhD.

There's no doubt that some people's porn consumption gets them in trouble -- in the form of maxed-out credit cards, lost **82**, neglected responsibilities, or neglected loved ones. But Weston is one who takes issue with calling problem behavior involving porn an addiction. "'Compulsive' is more appropriate," she tells WebMD.  UNQUOTE  

The entire article is found here:  http://men.webmd.com/guide/is-pornography-addictive

Let's take on this subject and shine a little light on it.  I say it's not necessarily addictive, at least not any more than coffee or pepsi colas.  I say it does not lead to so-called crossover interests, i.e., animals, group sex, etc.!  Really?

Like any other aspect of life, it needs to be handled with care and used properly.  When done so, it can and does add to ones life rather than subtract from it.  And it does not lead to deviant "cross-over" behavior.

Put another way, I see nothing wrong with looking at pictures of the latest centerfold in Playboy or coming to the BEA for fun and amusement and fellowship.

What do you think?  
Comments welcome.

[adlion944]

I think I'm addicted.  I can't go more than a day without porn or I'm jones'in.

I spend an hour or usually 2 a night surfing for new porn.  And I jack it once a day sometimes twice when I find said porn.  I would rather jack than put effort into trying to get my wife to have sex, too.  Relationship has gone downhill over the last 5 years as a result.  [censored] haven't helped.

I have an entire 80GB HD stuffed with hidden porn.  I could teach a class in finding free porn - from torrents to newsgroups, to forums with movie uploads and XXX pass forums, I know it all.

But I know this is better for my body than booze or coke.

[Glottis]

It would make sense for it to be addictive, it initiates a hormonal rush just like other things.

[ZoD]

The more I know about porn the the less I like the majority of its content. It hasnt actually influenced me that much....I just likes what I likes.

Definetly not addicted....as I dont spend money on it.

[Canopic_Juggs]

I think it can be addictive, but there has to be some other underlying mental issue.  If I was married to a gorgeous, voluptuous woman who enjoyed having sex on a regular basis and I still felt the compulsion to obsess over porn, I think I'd need to have my head checked.  Certainly I'd like to peruse the latest big-boob news, but if she started rubbing my shoulders suggestively the computer would be off in a heartbeat.  Why dream about a sundae when there's a gallon of rocky-road in the fridge?

I think I can understand the logic behind becoming interested in more extreme forms of porn.  It's the simple process of becoming jaded.  As time goes on and the mundane staples of sexual behavior become worn-out, some may need to seek more extreme stimulus.

I do believe, however, that there has to be an existing preference for such material lurking somewhere in an individual.  I don't believe it's a matter of "watch enough sex and you'll develop a craving for girl on girl on horse action."  Either you're into the extreme stuff or you're not, even if you don't yet realize it.

[SwitcherX]

Quote:
"For the person who has difficulty stopping, more is only one click away," says sex therapist Louanne Cole Weston, PhD.

What if you have so much porn on your computer that you have everything and there isn't really anything else you want to get?

I'm just asking.....  

[foon4Balloons]

Porn--addictive? Don't be ridiculous! Wanna get high?
 

[pedonbio]

The late Kurt Vonnegut once said that in a thousand years America will be remembered for two great things: Jazz and Alcoholics Anonymous. What are now called "addictions" used to be called "immoral habits"; now we use a "disease model" and use a variety of treatments.

AA doesn't use the idea of addiction. It has a much simpler idea: Am I an alcoholic? I am if my use of alcohol causes me trouble with the law, my work, or my family. I think that is a useful model to apply to anything.

By that standard, I'm not addicted.

How about my fondness for fucking big-boobed women other than my wife?

Ouch!

Hey, maybe Congress should hold hearings on that!

[gOOber]

  I don't even own a pornograph.


 

[derf79]

My girl has commented that I have a porn addiction. My reasoning is this:

Within the male testicles, there contains enough sperm to impregnate every woman on earth if need be, for continuance of the human race. It is also in every males genetic code to want to procreate with as many women as possible. It is instinctual.

Where before only the strongest and smartest men were able to procreate with the most physically appealing women, everyday joes can, in their own mind, **82** with goddesses. Men are very visual creatures. It doesn't take much stimulus to create a response.

But in our own minds we've **84** with the Sarenna's and the Minka's so it only makes sense to want to be with a woman of even bigger endowments such as Chelsea. Now those who practice other fetish fantasies would call Chelsea freakish but we see her as a newer conquest, especially with the rarity that is her chest.

So, where a thousand years ago we would never even have had a chance to just see a woman like Minka or Maxi, we can now enjoy there bodies in our own minds as if we were kings with women at our beck and call, a 'click away' as it was said.

And becoming alpha males in our own minds we like to keep our women within reach for whenever an urge hits us, for whatever flavor hits us that moment. So we collect our pictures and movies and the gigs pile up, each file a little different than before. A new angle, a different outfit, or a  whole new girl all together.

It's amazing for as far as we've come as humans we fail to recognize we are just animals with higher intellect.

Call it an addiction. I call it being a human mammal in it's purest form.

tell me if this makes sense...

[Canopic_Juggs]

Sounds reasonable enough to me.

[busybus2001]

I can honestly say that I have been addicted to porn and I have watched that addiction errode and destroy so many areas of my life. Porn never really satisfies and only leaves you wanting more and more perverted images. For anyone who would like a way out of a porn addiction and a path to hope check this site:

http://xxxchurch.com/07/

[MasterDragonfly]

I don't know that prolonged exposure to porn stimulates a preference for sadomasochistic practices.

Going from memory, in Jay Wiseman's book SM 101 he mentions one or two studies which essentially say the same thing.  Fully 1/3 of people (33%) at least dabble in BDSM practices at least once, even if only to just 'go along' with their partner.  Of that 33%, 1/3 decide it's not for them, 1/3 decide they'll dabble again on occasion, and 1/3 dive in and embrace it.

That works out to about 11%.  So, next time you're in a crowded venue, take a look around you.  33% of the adults there have tried it, and 11% are into it big time.

Was it porn that 'caused' this?  *shrug*  Does it matter?  Clearly a significant chunk of society deem it acceptable privately, even if they tut-tut it publicly.

Quote:
I spend an hour or usually 2 a night surfing for new porn. And I jack it once a day sometimes twice when I find said porn. I would rather jack than put effort into trying to get my wife to have sex, too. Relationship has gone downhill over the last 5 years as a result. [censored] haven't helped.

Heh.    This cracked me up, because it neatly describes the tail end of my first marriage.  Well, except maybe not nearly so much jacking (but I admit that's just me).

Quote:
It would make sense for it to be addictive, it initiates a hormonal rush just like other things.

Meh.  A similar rush can be had when you notice an attractive woman, she smiles at you and winks.

Also, cherri tells me that sports athletes will attest to becoming addicted to that adrenaline rush.  The rush of playing sports, that is, not looking at porn.  So does this mean that society should become concerned about the prevalence of sports?

Quote:
AA doesn't use the idea of addiction. It has a much simpler idea: Am I an alcoholic? I am if my use of alcohol causes me trouble with the law, my work, or my family. I think that is a useful model to apply to anything.

For those of you familiar with The Late Late Show hosted by Craig Ferguson, there was one show not long ago where he made a brilliant observation.  For those who don't know, Craig is quite public about the fact that he's a recovering alcoholic, that he hasn't had a drink in (I think it is) 15 years now.  So this one show he was reflecting on the days leading up to that moment when he realized he needed help.  Then he mentioned seeing a new advert by Guinness, with their new 'low calorie' product offering.  Craig said he briefly thought, "Hey, I could have some of that, and it would be good for me!"  Then he realized the ludicrousness of that idea.

He then went on to make one of the most salient comments on the subject that I've ever heard:  "I don't have a **94** problem, I have a thinking problem!"

Master "a good litmus test for an addiction if ever there was one" Dragonfly

[DaleCooper]

Reading the responses in this thread has been quite interesting, and it's great to be reminded what an intelligent and generally thoughtful community we have here.

My opinion: Keeping one's porn-watching activities secret may in fact be dirty, in the sense of self-polluting or destructive, as may be the potentially compulsive, or if you believe it to be true, addictive aspects of the behavior. I myself quite often get into watching porn and cannot stop, ruin nights of **82** etc. I believe though, or at least this is the internal sensation that I have, that this has less to do with the porn itself provoking any kind of "addiction," but rather that I compulsively watch porn at times in order to forget about or avoid my real life. Late night porn sessions can become an excuse to not fully engage the following day for instance, as, since I am clearly not rested, I am less functional. It can also be a way of avoiding the inconsistencies and emotional complications in a real sex life, and also to escape the feeling (while paradoxically fostering and indulging it) that no matter what woman I end up ultimately partnering with, she will never be "perfect."

However, my porn watching is hardly a secret from my girlfriend, we have even made tentative moves toward watching some together. Keeping it a secret is what makes it feel "dirty." There is nothing dirty or inherently corrupting about pornography itself. The tendency exists in all of us, to a greater or lesser extent, to use fantasy to suspend our real lives. When watching porn we must recognize that, typically, it is not representative of the way real sex is, and we should not expect our sex lives to be like those we think we see on the screen. After all, they get as many takes as they need to do the half vault 45 degree switcheroo humpty hump half-neslen maneuver.

[derf79]

Good point-It's when the line gets crossed between fantasy and reality that it becomes a problem. Like when you can't get an erection from a hot girl sucking you off (which is natural) but only being able to get off when you have a plastic bag over your head and you **58** yourself while wearing your grandmas brassiere and watching midgets deepthroating goats while you sit in a salami ensconced rocking chair as you cover yourself with peanut butter and pickles on your nipples . No offense to these sick bastards...but that's when you have a problem. But thats just my opinion.