Pornography Use

Pornography Use

Hobby or Habit, Dependence or Addiction?

Clinical psychologist Dr. Gary Brooks has identified five principal symptoms of a "pervasive disorder" linked to consumption of even soft-core pornography like Playboy or Penthouse: (1)

• Voyeurism - An obsession with visual stimulation trivializes all other mature features of a healthy psychological relationship.
• Objectification - An attitude where women are rated by size, shape and harmony of body parts.
• Validation - Men who never come close to sex with their dream woman feel cheated or unmanly.
• Trophyism - Women become the property of the man as a symbol of accomplishment and worthiness.
• Fear of true intimacy - Preoccupation with sexuality handicaps the capacity for emotional or non-sexual intimacy.

Not all men are equally vulnerable to habitual porn use. For some men, however, Dr. Victor Cline, a clinical psychologist at the University of Utah, identified four stages of viewing pornography following initial exposure. They are: (2)

• Addiction - The desire and need to keep coming back for pornographic images.
• Escalation - The need for more explicit, rougher, and more deviant images for the same sexual effect.
• Desensitization - Material once viewed as shocking or taboo is seen as acceptable or commonplace.
• Acting out - The tendency to perform the behaviors viewed, including exhibitionism, sadistic/masochistic sex, group sex, rape, or sex with minor children.

Dr. Cline said that pornography "is the gateway drug to sexual addiction." (3)

• In a study of 932 sex addicts, by Dr. Patrick Carnes, 90% of the men and 77% of the women indicated that pornography played a significant role in their addiction. (4)

Sources:

1 Brooks, G. R. ( ). The Centerfold Syndrome.

2 Cline, V. (1988). Pornography effects: Empirical and clinical evidence. University of Utah Department of Psychology.

3 Ibid.

4 Carnes, P. (1991). Don't Call It Love: Recovery from Sexual Addictions. New York: Bantam.