I don’t hold any particular moral opinion on porn. I have no intention of expressing an ethical evaluation of porn-viewing or the porn industry here. Also, I have no religious or political interest that might motivate a specific viewpoint on the “goodness” or “badness” of pornographic material, and I hope to stay out of that sort of controversy. My goal is to examine the state of porn today, and how it has deeply impacted our conception of pleasure.
Pornography has existed for thousands of years. Anthropologists have found “cave-man porn” engraved on the inside of Neolithic taverns. Most of our parents viewed porn in the form of magazines, DVDs or on late night television after midnight.
However, about twelve years ago, in 2007, the first pornographic “tube site” was launched. Now in 2019, there are thousands of such pornographic sites. They offer a free, unlimited, and constant supply of pornographic material. Many of them now offer porn scenes in virtual-reality (very exciting). However, there is a crucial distinction between these tube sites and your parents or grandparent’s playboy magazine. This distinction is rooted in how tube site porn affects your brain.
Sexual arousal is largely motivated by novelty. That is, potential mates who look like they are definitely not your siblings, because their traits are unfamiliar, tend to spike dopamine levels in the brain: the neural transmitter that tells your brain “GO GET IT.”
Now, dopamine exists in the brains of all animals as the survival chemical. It keeps animals, including humans, pursuing natural rewards which ensure the furthering of the species. Anyone who has taken grade nine biology understands Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest: acquiring high quality sexual mates is at the top of the natural rewards which ensure survival.
When you see that cute person walking around a corner and your heart rate increases and you feel butterflies that is dopamine surging through your brain. In reptilian language, it means that’s the mate to ensure your genes will proliferate and prosper.
Dopamine also plays a central role in addiction. The most addictive substances on earth, such as cocaine, are addictive because they release remarkably high levels of dopamine. Our ancestors received dopamine when they saw a bright red fruit at the top of a tree and the next instance found themselves racing up its trunk to grab it. Similarly, a cocaine addict gets the same experience when they see a packet of white powder.
Now, there are three major factors that determine the addictive potential of a substance or behavior: 1) The dopamine levels it releases, 2) Its accessibility, and 3) Obstacles which restrict how much of it we can consume and how often. Chocolate cake could be potentially addictive, but the fact that we become full or sick when we eat too much is a natural obstacle which makes it hard to become addicted to.
Consuming vast amounts of porn magazines in the 1960s was limited by the fact that it might have been strange and embarrassing to go out and buy 20 magazines a day, let alone expensive.
However, when Pornhub walked down the red carpet in 2007 as the first significant tube site, a brand new drug was born.
Porn, in its new medium, releases exceptionally high levels of dopamine. It is infinitely accessible—everyone owns a phone and most porn is free (a lot of young people could justify referring to their smart phone today as “my porn-device”). There are virtually no obstacles preventing excessive porn consumption today because of its medium.
Unlike chocolate cake, we don’t “fill up on porn.” Most people who watch it regularly (I’d bet every single person captured by the title of this article watches porn regularly), will probably relate to the idea that they don’t watch porn in a rush to climax and be done with it. They delay climax so they can continue finding a “perfect” scene. Neurochemically, as they surf from new video to new video with multiple windows open, delaying orgasm, they are riding dopamine surges in the brain. Unlike eating chocolate cake, where the dopamine surge ends quickly once the cake has been eaten, a porn viewer today can ride as much dopamine as they want for hours on end.
Now, here is my claim: pornography in its new medium of the tube site is extremely addictive. Porn is addictive today in a way that it was not two decades ago when psychologists and progressive-minded individuals raved about porn use and free sexual expression being “healthy” and part of a good society. Many people reading this article will suspect they are watching more porn than they want to but will not consider themselves “addicted.”
If this is your experience, I might suggest an attempt to leave porn alone for one month, and you can quickly diagnose yourself. Instead of sober November, maybe try porn-free November and see how that goes. See how it affects your study habits, the way you look at potential mates, and everything else in life. If you set an honest intention to stop, and then find that you cannot, or notice that abstaining is extremely difficult, you may have begun the first step of an invaluable journey.
Lastly, if any of this interests you, or is new to you, I’d recommend googling the “nofap” movement.
