We often hear that porn is all about fun and fantasy, so it has no real effect. This is not always the case…
In her book ‘Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality.’ Professor Gail Dines investigates the real effects of Pornography on modern sexual relationships.
In interviews with university-age men, it becomes clear that, while all men are not affected the same way, they are all affected in some way by their experiences with and usage of Pornography .
This generation has grown up with internet porn, and there are studies that show that first exposure to Porn happens as young as 11 years of age.
Unlike previous generations, these boys have unlimited access to hard-core pornographic images 24 hours a day.
Exposure to pornography at a young age sometimes causes young men to believe that porn style sex is what women want, or causes men to expect that their sex partners should look or behave like porn stars.
Women will often refuse to perform the sex acts the men have routinely enjoyed watching, or feel inadequate next to the false screaming orgasms and sexual gymnastics of pornographic sex.
For some men, real sex with real women can even become boring and bland in comparison. Others often express the need to imagine pornographic images in order to become aroused by their partners, which can cause anxiety in relationships, or disappointment in sexual performance.
What is very new over the past five to ten years, is that more young and even mature men are admitting their addiction to pornography.
Relationship therapists Wendy and Larry Maltz discuss in their book ‘The Porn Trap’ how therapists are seeing an increase in persons with Porn addiction looking for help.
They found both in their practice and from interviewing other therapists that ”what used to be a small problem for relatively few people had grown to a societal issue that was spilling over and causing problems in the lives of countless everyday people”.
The good news is, in knowing that a problem exists, and that one is not alone, that with help, many can overcome the problems caused by pornography addictions.
Counseling can be especially effective as there are often accompanying life difficulties including anxiety, stress, depression, and isolation that can also be addressed and aid in recovery.
