Pornography can be addictive and potentially harmful.
Accessing pornography is easy, and it can require significantly less effort than interacting with a partner. For some, this can contribute to an unhealthy cycle in which porn causes problems in a relationship, leading the person to rely even more heavily on pornography to achieve sexual satisfaction and escape the relationship issues.
Partially due to its popularity and accessibility, some men may be under the impression that pornography isn’t harmful, or that the supposed side effects of overconsumption are hardly of any danger in comparison to other more illicit sources of pleasure like hard drugs or gambling.
Your use of pornography has negative consequences in your life. For example, you may participate in increasingly risky behaviors that may cause you or others physical or emotional harm. Your use may negatively impact your academics, job performance, or even place you at risk to lose a job if caught.
How Pornography Affect Us?
The truth is that we do not, at present, have conclusive information on exactly how watching pornography affects an individual or their sexual attitudes. One of the factors needed to see a true cause-effect relationship is time. However, the pervasiveness, ease of access, and frequency of use of pornography are all relatively new. Therefore, researchers cannot observe patterns that occur over time with respect to porn usage.
Furthermore, most studies on this topic are based on self-report and subjective interpretation of how pornography affects a person’s life, sexuality, relationships, and body image. Factors like shame, religiosity, or a person’s perception of pornography as wrong will influence someone’s report.
Pornography can desensitize people to violence.
At its most basic level, it suggests porn images give viewers a brief dopamine rush. But just as occurs with substance abuse, the compulsive porn user slowly becomes desensitized and needs a stronger dose to get the same high. That means finding more stimulating material. For some desensitized users, violence provides the extra excitement.
We also need to consider the fact that there was sexual aggression long before there was pornography. In fact, plenty of studies in various countries have shown that when restrictions on porn availability are relaxed, the incidence of violent sex crimes goes down. Far from signaling to young men that sexual violence is acceptable, pornography provides a safe haven for people to explore their sexuality in ways that do not cause harm to others.
A significant portion of the porn consumed by millions of people every day reinforces the message that sexual violence is a normal part of what “good sex” is supposed to be, making it more challenging for many young people to prepare for healthy sexual relationships where their consent and boundaries are respected. As our society continues to reckon with rape culture and the things that perpetuate it, it’s important that we start to recognize the role that porn plays in normalizing sexual violence.
Pornography can lead to erectile dysfunction.
The relationship between porn and sexual dysfunction is still being understood, but the research we have now is telling us a lot. Especially for teens and young adults whose sexual expectations are particularly vulnerable to being warped by porn,Morgan E. M. (2011). Associations between young adults’ use of sexually explicit materials and their sexual preferences, behaviors, and satisfaction. it’s important that the potential negative effects of porn are discussed openly.
In the absence of another factor, such as guilt about porn or sex or a physiological problem, pornography is unlikely to cause sexual dysfunction. Men may have other reasons for abstaining from pornography but should know that doing so will not directly address an underlying sexual health issue.
Fact: Excessive porn use can cause sexual performance issues, but does not necessarily lead to erectile dysfunction. Over the past decade or so, there has been a sharp rise in sexual problems among men, particularly those under the age of 40. While other factors are at play, the increasing prevalence of internet pornography and porn addiction is a major contributor. Indeed, research has found that excessive porn use can lead to a variety of sexual problems
