By Joy Moton | Staff Writer
A Baylor student and an alumnus have created a group designed to confront the struggle of pornography. Shameless is an anti-pornography movement that consists of anonymous accountability groups that meet to discuss pornography addiction.
The group was created by Houston senior Nathan Eggen and Baylor alumnus Mason Everett out of a desire to help people discuss a harmful struggle they dealt with themselves.
“The idea came from our own struggles with pornography and the fact that it’s a topic that’s not really discussed at all,” Eggen said.
The name of the organization comes from the very reason porn addiction is such a struggle for people to fight, Eggen said. Since the leaders are not psychologists or psychiatrists, they converse with Dr. Don Arterburn, addictive behavior specialist for the wellness department at Baylor, as a group.
Out of conversations with Arterburn, Eggen has learned that one reason this topic is not openly talked about is because of the embarrassment involved. One of the biggest contributors to addiction is shame because people try to hide their addiction and feel alone in their efforts to fight it, Eggen said.
“When you don’t talk about it, when it’s under the radar, when it’s in the darkness and when you don’t share it with anyone, it does its work, and it eats away at you, and it’s destructive,” Eggen said.
Eggen said shame keeps people from bringing the truth to light because they believe nobody wants to hear them talk about pornography or that they will be the only one who struggles with this. The accountability groups in Shameless provide a space for people to discuss these issues with others who have the same struggle so they can work together to fight the addiction.
“We are breaking this addiction by talking about it, being shameless with the people of our group, and we are also going to be shameless about talking about it with everybody,” Eggen said.
Eggen and Everett did not want Shameless to be a campus organization or a group that was necessarily affiliated with a church because they wanted people to be able to discuss their struggles in a more laid-back atmosphere.
The group started with about five people and has now grown to around 40 people by word of mouth. There are currently two groups that gather for meetings at leaders’ houses based on members’ availability.
Members of Shameless have reached out to different student bodies such as Greek organizations and Baylor’s choirs with the intention of inviting people who struggle with pornography. Shameless is also forming a women’s group that will be led by Lubbock junior Kelsey Howard. She said she hopes people understand that young women have the same struggles as young men.
“We need to understand that women struggle with it just as much as guys do, and it’s not just a guy thing. Women do struggle with sexual sin, and they struggle with everything guys struggle with,” Howard said.
Shameless is a Christian organization. The group uses biblical principles to encourage each other and discuss how they can hold each other accountable. Eggen said the group has made a dramatic difference in his spiritual life, and it has done the same for a lot of other men in the group.
“The only thing that can get you away from this is running toward something else, and for us that’s God,” Eggen said.
Shameless’ leaders hope to expand to where the organization will have several accountability groups with different leaders. Anyone interested in joining a Shameless group can email Kelsey_Howard@baylor.edu or Nathan_Eggen@baylor.edu.
“I am very grateful for the work that Shameless is doing on our campus,” Arterburn said. “I have referred students to their meetings to find community and support through an powerful journey of recovery. I have seen good results, and I’m so glad we have this resource for our students here at Baylor. I hope more and more students will find the courage to reach out to Shameless groups so we can continue this movement of students helping students with their pornography addictions.”
