Mo'Porn such huge problem that LDS Inc launches new website

[_Droopy]

Droopy, I am not an ex-Mormon or a secular liberal, but i do have an interest in psychology and I really get irritated when the term "addiction" is thrown around to label a moral issue with no regards for what addiction really is. You say you were once an alcoholic, right? Well, were you an alcoholic because you had a 1 beer once in a while? No. Is someone a porn addict if they view it once in a while? No.

1. I was an alcoholic because I developed a pathological relationship with alcohol that weakened, or crippled by ability to use my agency in an appropriate manner. It became difficult to choose not to drink.

2. I became an alcoholic after my first six pack, and the perceptual effects that it produced. The addictive relationship was forged very, very quickly, in my case.

3. It takes very little pornography to generate an addictive relationship with it. Some can actually use cocaine without becoming addicted, or at least dysfunctionally addicted, and pornography presents us with the same dynamic.

Addiction is a pathological, deeply reinforcing relationship with something, whether a substance, activity, or set of feelings and perceptions, generated in whatever manner. Addiction, therefore, resides in both the object of the addiction and within the person addicted.

Pornography is among the most addictive of perceptual stimuli, and cruelly so.

[_Fiannan]

Droopy, tell me where you get your data. And then please give me some quotes from unbiased researchers in the area of human sexuality and psychology that would say that viewing porn occasionally is addiction.

Also, I am going to say this again -- porn is a very general term. There is fetish porn, violent porn, and yeah, most probably is nothing more than vulgar presentations of human sexuality. However, that said, one must also recognize that there is porn that depicts love and caring between partners. I would think that this is the kind of porn that the average man might be attracted to and most certainly the average woman who looks at porn as well.

I have said it before and I will say it again, it is the latter category that actually might be the most damaging to traditional morals and marriages however -- note...some marriages. If you are a man and you have a nagging, judgemental wife that treats a request for sex with the same enthusiasm as a clerk at DMV displays to customers at the end of a long day, then maybe it is dangerous for him to view porn where a man and woman treat each other in a fun, romantic way and really seem to enjoy having sex with each other. If you are a woman and you have a 2 minute wonder, or a guy who just does not get what the female body is all about, then I suppose seeing the same kind of scene as already described, or a scene between two women going on a romantic date and going back to the apartment to have passionate sex might even cause you to doubt your sexuality.

And come on, might the growing acceptance of alternative lifestyles and gay marriage be mostly due to porn? the whole "Ewww" factor dies out if you see positive portrayals of sex between two members of the same sex. Also, sex becomes more like recreation rather than something merely associated with procreation. So to sum it all up here are the positive and negative aspects of porn in my opinion:

Positive:
!) Better self image and acceptance of the body (mostly women).
2) More interest in real sex with ones partner.
3) Higher production of testosterone and health-enhancing hormones.
4) Exposure to new ideas one can incorporate into the sex life with ones spouse.

Negative:
1) One might prefer sex on screen to sex in real life (some people).
2) Desire to try out new forms of sex inconsistent with Gospel standards (lesbianism, threesomes, etc.).
3) More libertarian view of all forms of sexuality.
4) Small chance that one might get fixated on porn (addiction) and not be able to control ones need for it.

[_Buffalo]

Droopy, tell me where you get your data. And then please give me some quotes from unbiased researchers in the area of human sexuality and psychology that would say that viewing porn occasionally is addiction.

Droopy doesn't need data - he has assertion.

[_zeezrom]

As a teen, I became addicted to Lands End catalogs. I would look at the images once per month when it came in the Sunday paper. Sadly, it became what the church leaders warned us against. It was my throwup I kept returning to. These were heavy rocks I put in my backpack. Later in life I realized I still have an addiction to seeing clothing on a woman in a nice way. Much preferable to nothing on. It stems from my habits as a youth. Droopy is right. If I had never looked at that first catalog, I never would have been turned on every time my wife wears a turtleneck.