The Effects of Pornography
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Pornography and sadistic violence debases sexuality, corrode human relationships, exploit individuals especially women and young people, undermine marriage and family life, foster antisocial behavior and weaken the moral fiber of society itself.
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- Pornography and Violence in the Communications Media: A Pastoral Response
Pornography is a cancer that permanently damages the minds and lives of people. No one can consider himself or herself immune to its corrupting effects. Dr. Victor Cline, clinical Psychologist and Professor at the University of Utah, has found "a near universal 4-Factor Syndrome" among users of pornography.
First, Cline says, there is an addicting effect. Everybody is vulnerable to this type of addiction, from the most dangerous sex offenders as well as the normal person. People get hooked on milder pornography and feel like coming back for more and still more, as powerful as drugs.
Dr. James L. McGough of the University of California in his research on memory sounded a warning: "If a person is emotionally, including sexually aroused at the time of experiencing or witnessing something, a chemical called epinephrine is released into the bloodstream. It goes to the brain and looks in a very vivid memory of the experience or event. We all have a library of unwanted images mostly sexual. We may hate them, but the epinephrine has locked them in and we cannot get rid of them, no matter how pious, how religious or how strong a conscience we have. Second, according to Cline, there is an escalation effect. The milder porn is no longer enough to satisfy. So, the user wants more explicit, rougher, more deviant kinds of sexual materials for sexual "highs" or "turn-ons". Third, the porn addict undergoes disensitization. With continued exposure, what at first offends becomes acceptable and then craved no matter how gross or deviant. Repeatedly seeing the obscene and offensive material makes it seem normal, rendering individuals morally numb and personally insensitive to the rights and dignity of others. It can be most confusing especially to children, who may not be able to distinguish readily between fantasy and reality, therefore regard this as acceptable behavior, suitable for imitation.
Leading sexual violence researchers Neil Malamuth, Ed Donnerstein, and Dolf Zillman state agree with Cline and state that in general, "exposure to these materials, whether violent or nonviolent, coercive or non-coercive, experimentally increases male aggressive behavior against women, and decreases both male and female sensitivity to rape and the plight of the rape victim. Both males and females, after viewing this material, judge the female rape victim to be less injured, less worthy, and more responsible for her own plight."
In the fourth and final step, Dr. Cline states, "My patients begin to act out what they have been viewing. They turn their fantasies into reality." The sight of obscene pictures stimulates the sexual urge. This leads to another sensation, the desire to release the turbulent emotion, at the start, mostly through masturbation. If a sexual partner is available, he "acts out" what he sees in the porn material with his partner. Other tendencies to act out come in the form of compulsive promiscuity, exhibitionism, group sex, voyeurism, frequenting of massage parlors, child molestation, rape, etc.
Pornography proclaims men's control over women, primarily for sexual satisfaction. It reduces women to the level of useful object for men's pleasure and use. Thus, sexual activity is considered as a continuing frenzied search for personal gratification rather than as an expression of enduring love in marriage, therefore undermining a healthy and wholesome family life.
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