By Rachel Royster | Staff Writer
Science has shown again and again that pornography can become an addictive habit in the lives of users, but the danger doesn’t end there. Not only will it affect its users crudely, but it can also ruin their future relationships and daily interactions.
Men and women alike are able to access pornographic materials easier than ever now that people have screens constantly surrounding them and no regulations on their internet searches. Before, if someone wanted to consume sexually explicit material, they would have to go to public adult bookstores or theaters and pay for it. Through the internet, the same audience has grown given the easy and free access with the comforting blanket of anonymity.
What those people don’t realize is that as they visit sites like PornHub and Literotica more and more, their addiction to the immediate satisfaction it brings begins to grow.
In 2018, the World Health Organization “recognized ‘Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder’ (CSB or CSBD) – which functions as an umbrella term for both ‘sex addiction’ and ‘porn addiction’ — as an impulse control disorder.”
The American Addiction Center defines an impulse control disorder as “a condition in which a person has trouble controlling emotions or behaviors” meaning that the habit to visit sexually explicit sites becomes a daily occurrence and second nature to the mind.
While this may seem like a habit that only affects those stuck in that loop, that is far from the case. These behaviors have shown to cause romantic relationships to fail due to lack of pleasure derived in the bedroom.
JAMA Phychiarty found that “in partnerships, a decrease in sexual satisfaction and a tendency to adopt pornographic scripts have been associated with frequent Internet pornography consumption.”
When one has a habit of using pornographic material to feed their desires, their tolerance to the material grows, causing them to search for more exciting or raunchy plots, which translates into their romantic relationships or how they view the people they’re attracted to in day-to-day life.
“Pornography significantly distorts attitudes and perceptions about the nature of sexual intercourse,” MARRIpedia reported. “[People] who habitually look at pornography have a higher tolerance for abnormal sexual behaviors, sexual aggression, promiscuity, and even rape. In addition, [consumers] begin to view [others] as “sex objects,” commodities or instruments for their pleasure, not as persons with their own inherent dignity.”
Not only does it cause consumers to pull away from their partners sexually and distort their view of the people around them, but it also affects their relationships emotionally.
“When one partner uses porn at a high frequency … there can be a tendency to withdraw emotionally from the relationship,” the American Psychological Association found. “Those [users] report ‘increased secrecy, less intimacy and also more depression.’”
The issues this addiction causes in the lives of the people in everyday society is very rarely talked about, leading this to be a growing problem in relationships.
“I’ve seen in my own life how it has ruined romantic relationships,” Houston freshman Mackenzie Mayes said. “In a previous relationship, I felt like I was never going to be good enough in his eyes because he had his choice of girls at his fingertips on a screen. I strongly believe that by getting into the habit of watching porn, it can ruin your future relationships and even your future marriage, given that it turns your head in the direction of lust rather than love. It ruins your perspective of what love is and everything that comes with that.”
