Pro-porn advocates claim that pornography is good for men because it provides a quick, convenient physical and emotional release. What many people do not know, and what many advertisers would have you be in the dark about, is that pornography use can actually disable men from having real sex with their spouse.
Porn takes exactly what it promises to give: a fulfilling, successful sexual experience.
Porn handicaps men’s sexual heath.
Many men across the world are having problems with erectile dysfunction (the inability to get or maintain an erection) due to pornography. Matt Fradd of ThePornEffect.com recently interviewed Gabe Deem, founder of Reboot Nation, about this ever increasing phenomenon:
“Historically, ED has been classified as either ‘psychogenic,’ due to psychological factors like stress, depression, and anxiety, or ‘organic,’ resulting from physical conditions such as hormonal problems and cardiovascular disease,” said Deem. “However, porn-induced ED appears to be about sexually conditioning yourself (training your brain) to become aroused by pixels instead of a real person.”
When men become addicted to porn, many cannot attain an erection with a partner in real life. Their brains become so wired to the images that they see on screen that they are unable to perform in a real life situation.
Dr. Tyger Latham is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Washington, D.C. Recently, he wrote an article in Psychology Today that explains the science behind pornography addiction and erectile dysfunction.
“Specifically, overstimulation brought on by viewing pornography can produce neurological changes—specifically, decreasing sensitivity to the pleasure seeking neurotransmitter dopamine—which can desensitize a person to actual sexual encounters with a partner. These neurochemical changes not only contribute to a person becoming ‘addicted’ to pornography but they can also make it incredibly difficult to abstain from viewing pornography entirely.”
The science is becoming clear that pornography addiction is terribly harmful to men’s health and physical satisfaction. It disables them from having sex, drives them deeper into their addiction, making them crave greater amounts and more violent or deviant porn.
This is a worldwide epidemic.
This problem is much more widespread than one might originally think. Deem said that a Swiss study released in 2012 entitled Sexual Dysfunctions Among Young Men: Prevalence and Associated Factors reported that 30% of men between the ages of 18-24 experienced ED.
An Italian study done in 2013 reported that men under 40 years of age were more likely to have chronic ED than men over 40.
A study in Canada complied in 2014 found that 27% of men between the ages of 16-21 experienced ED problems.
Think about these numbers in light of a study done by The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1992. This study found that just 5% of men between the ages of 18-59 had ED. ED is an ever increasing problem that can be linked to the widespread usage of pornography today.
There is a way out.
Men addicted to pornography are not without hope. A fulfilling sexual experience is more than possible for men who quit porn. Latham goes on to explain that abstaining from porn is majorly rewarding and is really the only way for men to have a successful sex life.
“Recovery is possible and many men have reported going on to experience extreme physical pleasure during intercourse with their partners after abstaining from pornography.”
Latham warns that quitting porn isn’t easy, but more than worth it. He says that many men experience “cold turkey” symptoms, far from being the same but similar to what recovering drug addicts experience.
“Men who rely excessively on pornography to reach orgasm will often complain of withdrawal-like symptoms when they decide to go cold-turkey. Such men describe feeling ‘sexless,’ leading many to become anxious and depressed about their diminished libido.”
However, once men have successfully abstained from porn for 2-6 weeks, they experience recovery when it comes to normal sexual performance.
Science has proven that pornography disables sex, rather than being an enabling ingredient in sex. Instead of pornography bringing variety and excitement to sexual relationships, time and again science is telling us that pornography only brings physical dysfunction to the viewer.
