Laura Bacon

Professor Gustavo Ibarra

HEALTH 1050

8 April 2017

Pornography

Pornography is taking the world by storm. Sure, it has always been around, but increasing

technology and competitive businesses have made the industry take off in popularity. The sex

industry is the largest money-making industry in the world and its more than you think. The sex

industry includes strip clubs, phone sex, street prostitution, and pornography. The porn industry,

alone, makes more money than the NFL, NBA, and the MLB combined (J. Castillo). Thats a lot

of cash.

The industry is so popular that, at any given second, as much as 30 million people are

viewing it. Just around 50% of the internet is made up of porn related content and 25% of all

daily searches, in the U.S, are for porn. 20% of men have admitted to accessing porn while at

work. The fastest growing genre is Teen Porn and it has more than tripled between the years of

2005 and 2013. Utah, unfortunately, has the highest number of viewers, per capita, of porn in the

U.S. (J. Castillo).

So if pornography is so popular, why arent we all viewing it? What is wrong with it? Im

sure youve heard of the slogans: Porn Kills Love and Fight the New Drug. So how is this a

drug? And how does it kill love? Lets dig deeper.

When comparing pornography to a physical drug like cocaine, there are not a lot of

similarities found. Yet, with further research, you do find similarities inside of the brain. Just like

cocaine and other drugs, pornography releases high levels of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine
creates new pathways in the brain, making the user slowly addicted. The more the user looks at

porn, the deeper the pathways become wired, which makes it more tempting to look at porn.

As you start to adapt to these high levels of dopamine release, you want more. The brain

is trying to fight off the buzz you feel by vanquishing its chemical receptors, making you find

more thrilling versions of the drug.

Just like other drugs, withdrawals come when trying to quit. The brain is now used to so

much chemicals pumping through it, cutting back means your brain will fight for what its been

used to. What your brain now thinks is normal (Fight the New Drug).

So, pornography physically changes the brain.

Neurons that fire together, wire together. Just like other addictive substances, porn

floods the brain with dopamine. That rush of brain chemicals happening over and over

again rewires the brains reward pathway ultimately changing the make up of the

viewers brain. This can result in an increased appetite for porn (Fight the New Drug).

And although the drug is addicting and withdrawals are prevalent when trying to quit, the

damage to the brain can be undone when you get away from it (Fight the New Drug).

So how does porn kill love?

In real life, real love requires a real person. Research has found that after men are

exposed to pornography, they rate themselves as less in love with their partner than men

who didnt see any porn. On top of that, another study found that after being exposed to

pornographic images, people were more critical of their partners appearance, sexual

curiosity, sexual performance, and displays of affection (Fight the New Drug).

Pornographers pretend like theyre selling Love 2.0 but in real life, real love requires a real

person. A real person has so much to them including their own unique thoughts, ideas, and
talents. They have their own feelings, attributes, and quirks that make you fall in love them more

every day. Pornography cant offer you any of that.

Pornography does, however, take away the bad days of stress or argument, and replaces it

with one thing: sexual appeal. Thats all that matters though, right? The people on screen or in

the pictures always look great and look like theyre having a great time. Make-up artists, plastic

surgery, music, and good photoshop aids to this. This doesnt sound too much like real life now,

does it?

Pornography is a dangerous game. Its a fantasy, its fake, but viewers are releasing real

hormones, emotions, and desires. How do you think theyll feel when something actually is real?

There wont be make-up artists, editors, directors, music (most likely), and photoshop when its

real. It wont be what you thought it would because what you thought it would be was a lie.

This industry is full of lies because thats how it makes money. Its not a multibillion

dollar industry for nothing. Pornographers feed viewers completely unrealistic expectations in

order to keep customers coming back (Fight the New Drug). The more porn that a viewer

watches, the more their real relationships dont seem exciting enough. In reality, a porn habit

can take a serious toll on a persons ability to offer someone real, unselfish, meaningful love

-which often means that in the end, theyre left without much more than whats behind that

computer screen (Fight the New Drug).

Please understand that porn doesnt only affect the one viewing it. If you are lucky

enough to have a significant other, most often, if not all times, the partner feels a loss, betrayal,

devastation, mistrust, and anger when they find out that their other half of their committed

relationship has been using porn (Fight the New Drug).

 Since porn promotes such a fictional version of how people behave, the significant other

often feels like they can never live up to that fantasy. Six out of seven women believe porn has

raised mens expectations of how a woman should look (Fight the New Drug). Pornography also

depicts unrealistic standards in which that the sex is all about the men. Women are usually

depicted as being happy with whatever a man wants to do, even when it is painful, dangerous,

and humiliating. A study showed that 9 scenes out of 10 of the most popular porn videos showed

women being physically or verbally abused. Women are overwhelmingly degraded, in the effort

to enhance mens pleasure. Any woman who finds that her partner has been using porn will

undoubtedly feel like she can never measure up.

And the emotional pain can run much deeper than having a bad experience in the

bedroom. Since women in our culture typically expect their intimate relationships to be

built on trust, respect, honesty, and love, when a woman learns that her partner is using

pornwhich typically glorifies the opposite: disrespect, abuse, aggression, and infidelity

it can not only damage the trust she has in her partner, but also shake the foundation of

everything she believed about her relationship (Fight the New Drug).

This often leads the woman to become physically diagnosed with anxiety, depression, PTSD, and

can even lead to suicide.

While porn harms the viewer, the significant other, and their family (that goes without

say), porn is not all fun and games in front of the camera. Former porn star, Regan Starr, said: I

got the **** kicked out of me . Most of the girls start crying because theyre hurting so bad

. I couldnt breathe. I was being hit and choked. I was really upset and they didnt stop. They

kept filming. [I asked them to turn the camera off] and the kept going (Fight the New Drug).
The pornography industry tries hard to display a glamorous image, but behind the camera is a

reality of drugs, violence and human trafficking.

With editing and off-screen intimidation and aggression, pornographers make whats

happening onscreen look like its being enjoyed. Yet the un-cut form tells a different story. Actors

for porn are consistently threatened and abused both verbally and emotionally by directors and

agents to force them into doing things. Another former porn star, Jersey Jaxin, said this:

Youre viewed as an object and not as a human with a spirit. People do drugs because

they cant deal with the way they are being treated. Seventy five percent [of porn

performers] and rising are using drugs. Have to numb themselves. There are specific

doctors in this industry that if you go in for a common cold theyll give you Vicodin,

Viagra, anything you want because all they care about is the money. You are a number.

Youre bruised. You have black eyes. Youre ripped. Youre torn. You have your insides

coming out (Fight the New Drug).

Many young girls, and some boys, are kidnapped for, or born into the sex industry. They are

beaten and treated like dogs.

Reported sex trafficker survivor, Kendall, claims she was born into the industry and the

man who owns her was powerful and dangerous. She wrote out to the famous psychiatrist, Dr.

Phil in hopes that he would point her in the right direction or perhaps give her hope for a reason

to live. Clips of her episode on the show can be found on YouTube, on the channel: The Dr. Phil

Show (The Dr. Phil Show).

We can now understand that pornography is a dangerous drug to EVERYONE who is

involved. The next time (or first time) you have even the slightest desire to view the new drug,
think about how it hurts you, your loved ones, and think about what kind of violence and rape

you are blindly supporting. Take the blindfold off and dont support this industry.
 Works Cited

"25 Shocking Facts About Porn You Probably Didn't Know." List25. N.p., 10 Nov. 2015. Web.

08 Apr. 2017.

"How Porn Affects The Brain Like A Drug." Fight the New Drug. N.p., 17 Feb. 2017. Web. 08

Apr. 2017.

"How Porn Can Hurt Your Partner." Fight the New Drug. N.p., 17 Feb. 2017. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

"The Porn Industry's Dark Secrets." Fight the New Drug. N.p., 17 Feb. 2017. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

DrPhilShow. YouTube. YouTube, 21 Mar. 2017. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.