BYU Porn Study

[_truth dancer]

Hi Guy...

In the book on how porn has changed society, is this book full of acecdotes, or does it include actuall scientifically valid quantitative data (anecdotal evidence is important and can be useful; I'm just wary about generalizing to society from carefully selected anecdotes).

The first book is a complilation of research from all over the world. Actually it is already outdated (things have escalated in the last couple of years), but still EXCELLENT in giving us a general picture of how porn is changing relationships, individuals, and our world.

Is sex addiction "caused" by porn? Is porn a contributing factor? Are there actual scientific/medical data to demonstrate this?

This is a complicated question and one for which tons of research is currently underway to answer... Patrick Carnes' book discusses some of the research... (In this book, If I recall correctly he did extensive inteviews with over 1,000 sex addicts). Patrick has addressed this topic for years and years and has an extensive understanding of what is going on in the sexually addicted individual. Absolutely porn is a factor. No question about this. Yes there is a neurological component.

This book is a must read for those struggling with sexual addiction of any kind... addiction to porn is one form of sexual addiction.

Robert Jensen has done an amazing investigation (interviews and research), into the porn industry (actual creators of porn). He addresses how porn has changed over the years and what it means to society as well as individuals. He is an remarkable man and incredible voice for our time.

:-)

~dancer~

[_charity]

Holy Elipses Batman, did you see Charity omit from her reply a critical sentence in my post?

I guess you figure that the other readers here are too dumb or lazy to have read your post?I figured they are smart enough to have read it, and wouldn't want to page through all of it to pick out that relevant part to my post.

You will note that clearly implied in this statement is a hypothesis that porn viewership cuts across the population.

And you don't see the hypocrisy of asking first that there be some objective data before you generalize anything, and then jumping into generalizing to the Brethren? Where did you say you learned logic?

[_Runtu]

And you don't see the hypocrisy of asking first that there be some objective data before you generalize anything, and then jumping into generalizing to the Brethren? Where did you say you learned logic?

I'll have to side with guy here. Porn does cut across the population. That said, it is difficult to assign a causal relationship between porn and sex addiction and other social problems (hence the caution about generalizing). However, given that porn is so prevalent, it's no stretch at all and not generalizing to assume that pornography affects some church leaders, as difficult as that may seem to digest.

[_truth dancer]

Porn has typically been viewed as primarily a man issue and a problem for men. Today women are large users of porn as well.

The vast majority of sexual addicts are men.

The vast majority of porn addicts are men.

So while I agree with your comments I do not think you should look at it from a men objectifying women view point only.

For men, viewing porn is objectifying women; using the bodies of women for their pleasure.

I am also not a fan of women objectifying men, reducing them to a wallet, or otherwise using them either.

My personal viewpoint is that that which brings healing, goodness, love, respect, intimacy, and kindness into the lives of individuals, relationships, and our world is to be embraced.

That which harms healing, goodness, love, respect, intimacy, kindness, etc., is best released.

in my opinion, porn detracts from furthering goodness, equality, and respect in life. I'm saddened that here, in this 21st century women have not really moved beyond being a plaything for men. :-( I hold to the idea that there will be a time when humankind can move beyond this and value woman as something other than a body, but it may be sometime in the distant future... like a few thousand years or so. (sigh).

Just MY OPINION. I totally get others disagree.

I'm NOT SAYING MY PERSONAL VIEWPOINT IS FOR EVERYONE... this is just my personal ideal.

~dancer~

[_Imwashingmypirate]

BYU has published a study of pornography acceptance among college students.

http://news.BYU.edu/archive07-Dec-porn.aspx

Some findings:

48 percent of male students reported viewing pornography at least weekly.
86 percent of male students had viewed pornography in the last year.
1 in 5 male students view pornography daily or nearly every day.

I'm not a huge fan of porn, but it seems to me that its prevalence belies the notion that pornography is this addictive scourge that is turning men into deviants and rapists.

I'll bet the female stats on viewing porn would be higher if you included romance novels. ;)

That's our little soft porn secret. LOL

Romance novels are really good. I have only read a few and stopped cause it was bad for my soul. But they leave you feeling either happy at how the story went or annoyed at how the story went, but you are always left feeling something.

Pirate.

[_Imwashingmypirate]

Actually I think romance novels are quite hard porn because you are given the images rather than making them up.

Porn is probably so high because the rules on dating are strict and so dudes need porn really.

[_harmony]

I didn't see anywhere that stated that BYU was one of the schools in the study. If that is the case though, I can see why the Brethren come unglued at the mention of this subject. There's going to be a backlash, no doubt.

If all of the BYU's were involved, there will be an immediate backlash.

[_guy sajer]

And you don't see the hypocrisy of asking first that there be some objective data before you generalize anything, and then jumping into generalizing to the Brethren? Where did you say you learned logic?

Charity, it's about time someone took you on their lap and expalined to you the difference between "scientific study" and personal opinion. I have not published a study, I am not claiming evidence for cause and effect. I make no claims other than simply voicing my own opinion based on my own observations and understanding.

My questions to Truth Dancer were in reference to "studies" which from the context I took to be studies with aspirations for scientific status.

You're so quick to want to get in a cheap "gotcha" that you take no time to actually process what is being said. Or you do try to process it, but your process wiring is faulty.

[_Jason Bourne]

The vast majority of sexual addicts are men.

The vast majority of porn addicts are men.

I agree. I just think that we are seeing an increase in porn use and problems among women as well. Do you disagree?

[_guy sajer]

Actually I think romance novels are quite hard porn because you are given the images rather than making them up.

Porn is probably so high because the rules on dating are strict and so dudes need porn really.

Guys are wired that way (ok, gross generalization). They'd probably be doing porn anyway.