Our VP of Research and Education Lisa L. Thompson joined the Dr. Drew show to discuss the Florida House passing a resolution to declare pornography a public health risk.
The resolution, Thompson explained, “is an educational tool in and of itself. It’s starting a conversation among legislators about the harms of pornography, the wide-ranging public health harms of pornography.”
When pressed on what those harms were, Thompson responded, “If you look at the research it’s pretty overwhelming.”
“There are about 50 studies, actually more than 50, that link pornography with lower sexual and relationship satisfaction among men. You’ve got dozens of studies that show that pornography has a detrimental impact on emotional and cognitive abilities.”
“And there are thirty-eight neurological studies which have shown addiction-related brain changes, some of which even include grey matter reduction in the brain,” Thompson added.
“So we’re not talking about trivial concerns here; this is really serious stuff.”
Thompson went on to discuss the specific harms to children. “It’s really a societal issue… People who want to live porn-free lives can’t. You can’t really escape the pornified world that we have created through the tsunami of porn that’s available and how it influences popular culture in very broad ways and how our kids are accessing it very easily.”
“If you carry around a smartphone, you’re carrying around a XXX store with you in your back pocket, and we hand these devices to our children,” she added.
Listen to her entire interview above.
