Defeat Lust & Pornography
Defeat Lust & Pornography 1 minute read

2 Big Ways Porn Affects Those Who Watch It

Last Updated: August 9, 2021

Dr. William Struthers, a neuroscientist, talks about the observations he’s made about the impact of porn on those who watch it. How does porn affect people?

1. For some, watching porn leads to a seeming inability to stop

While some call this a “porn addiction” or even “arousal addiction,” the label is less important to understand than the actual experience. For these men and women, they feel a drive to return to porn again and again because it has become a way to “self-medicate,” much the same way an alcoholic returns to the bottle.

The pattern becomes a never-ending cycle: feelings of loneliness, depression, stress, anxiety, or anger turn into a desire to numb these emotions. Porn temporarily offers euphoria by tapping the body’s natural sexual chemistry. Once the high is over, the negative emotions are still present, and they are now often combined with feelings of guilt or shame. The cycle starts all over. People who try to quit porn even share experiences of withdrawal symptoms.

2. For others, porn affects them by subtly changing the way they think about people

For these people, there is no “compulsion” or “addiction,” but pornography is still warping the way they think about themselves and others.

Dr. Struthers has explained elsewhere that viewing pornography and masturbating weakens the region of our brain known as the cingulate cortex, the region that is responsible for moral and ethical decision making. In other words, repeatedly watching porn dulls one’s conscience and critical thinking skills.

Many other studies have demonstrated that pornography influences our beliefs. The research done by Dolf Zillmann and Jennings Bryant about the impact of video pornography on sexual attitudes and beliefs is noteworthy. After exposing groups to differing amounts of video pornography numerous times over a 6 week period, they studied the correlation between the amount of pornography consumed and a variety of other factors: sexual satisfaction, attraction to casual sex, the belief that minors should be protected from seeing porn, the acceptance of premarital sex, the trivialization of rape, the support of women’s rights, beliefs about the commonness of sexual practices in the broader culture, and gender stereotypes—all with negative outcomes.

Comments on: 2 Big Ways Porn Affects Those Who Watch It

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related in Defeat Lust & Pornography

Editor's Picks

A normal couple in bed watching porn.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Is Watching Porn Normal?

Statistics show that watching porn is extremely common—but does that make it…

9 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Man looking in the mirror, thinking about his identity.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

7 Identities That Make Pornography Fade Into Insignificance

Right now our culture seems to be obsessed with identifying ourselves by…

8 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Scientist looking at a brain scan for dopamine.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Porn and Dopamine: Superstar or Supervillain?

Dopamine has received a lot of popular press these days, especially when…

6 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A young man studying lust in the Bible at the library.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

What is lust in the Bible?

You probably don’t hear the word “lust” very often outside of church…

11 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Young man graduating from college.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

My Integrity Is Not for Sale: Living With Integrity in an Immoral World

There are some statements that stick better in my mind than others.…

5 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

silhouette of a man standing on a hill

Defeat Lust & Pornography

John’s Story: From Darkness to Light

How can a young person live a life of integrity using today’s…

5 minute read

Read Post

Related in Defeat Lust & Pornography

A normal couple in bed watching porn.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Is Watching Porn Normal?

Statistics show that watching porn is extremely common—but does that make it…

Statistics show that watching porn is extremely common—but does that make it normal? Two-thirds of men regularly consume pornography along with a third of women. So it is true that plenty of normal people watch…

9 minute read

1 comment

Man looking in the mirror, thinking about his identity.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

7 Identities That Make Pornography Fade Into Insignificance

Right now our culture seems to be obsessed with identifying ourselves by…

Right now our culture seems to be obsessed with identifying ourselves by our genitalia, sexuality, political views, and skin color. Of course, these can be important pieces to a person’s identity, but they are only…

8 minute read

0 comments

Scientist looking at a brain scan for dopamine.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Porn and Dopamine: Superstar or Supervillain?

Dopamine has received a lot of popular press these days, especially when…

Dopamine has received a lot of popular press these days, especially when it comes to things like watching porn. Depending on who you ask, you might think dopamine is a superstar or a supervillain. Once…

6 minute read

2 comments

A young man studying lust in the Bible at the library.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

What is lust in the Bible?

You probably don’t hear the word “lust” very often outside of church…

You probably don’t hear the word “lust” very often outside of church these days. If, like me, you grew up in the heyday of evangelical Purity Culture, you probably heard it a lot! But even…

11 minute read

0 comments

Young man graduating from college.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

My Integrity Is Not for Sale: Living With Integrity in an Immoral World

There are some statements that stick better in my mind than others.…

There are some statements that stick better in my mind than others. One statement that caught my attention years ago from a pastoral mentor: “My integrity is not for sale.” When I first heard this…

5 minute read

0 comments

silhouette of a man standing on a hill

Defeat Lust & Pornography

John’s Story: From Darkness to Light

How can a young person live a life of integrity using today’s…

How can a young person live a life of integrity using today’s technology? This is a question I have asked myself thousands of times. Growing up, it was always my heart’s desire to live a…

5 minute read

0 comments