Totally Addicted to Porn

According to a recent study one in four 18-24 year old males fear they may be addicted, or are at risk of becoming addicted, to pornography. Insiders in the UK Pornography industry claim they are not surprised by this statistic as the internet makes free pornography so easily accessible too many people from a young age. They claim that pornography on pay-per-view television, from magazines and from professional paid sites are not contributing to the rise in pornography addiction.

Unlike substance misuse, or a smoking addiction or even a caffeine addiction being addicted to accessing online pornography seems unlikely to physically harm someone, but it is the psychological damage which is worrying.

According to a certain strain of feminist thought pornography warps the male image of women. I doubt that a little bit of pornography would make the vast majority of male consumers believe women are inferior, or merely sexual objects, but I think this argument is an increasingly valid one. As more and more pornography is accessed by more and more people from an increasingly young age it is clear that society is becoming more used to the ideas that are seen in porn. Pornography is getting increasingly extreme, increasingly violent and increasingly normal.

I would be lying if I said I never looked at porn. On occasion I have done so, and it has not changed my view of women. I still respect women, treat women equally and still consider myself to be a feminist. However I am firmly in the three quarters of men who do not have a porn addiction. What can be said for the increasingly large minority?

If one is accessing porn on a regular basis then it does seem likely that what they view on these videos may become increasingly normalised in their minds.

Now with some porn I've seen this is probably not a problem, much of it is just sex, similar to sex I've had (albeit with far more attractive participants), but some pornography I find absolutely disgusting. Women are often abused and there seems to be a trend of sexual activities which could be said to be negative towards the female participant. If people can watch a video where all the participants are over age and consensual then perhaps this isn't a problem. But what if people watch these videos before they have sex themselves? Perhaps these extreme sexual activities and simulated abuses of women will be normal?

Or perhaps not. Perhaps the vast majority of us would be as likely to be influenced by pornography as we are influenced by rap music. Maybe equating pornography to sexist views or even sexual violence is as far off the point as equating Marilyn Manson records to Columbine.

A lot of porn I think is fine and perhaps even healthy, but when watching certain types of pornography (particularly Japanese pornography, I've never felt so sorry for someone in my life as the woman featured in a Japanese porn video I once stumbled upon) I think it is possible, just possible, that it is presenting negative ideas of sex and negative ideas of what women are to a large demographic of people, this worries me.