Personality Cafe banner

Your brain on porn

1K views 24 replies 18 participants last post by  Red Panda 
#1 ·
I thought this website could generate some interesting and relevant discussion.

Your Brain On Porn | Evolution has not prepared your brain for today's Internet porn

From the "about" section of the site:

"This site is secular, although everyone's views are welcome. It is primarily science-based, and no one here is trying to ban porn. This is not a commercial site, so don’t go looking for something to buy. You won’t find it. We created the site because we have the resources and the time, and we don’t like people suffering needlessly simply because they lack critical information for improving their circumstances themselves.

This site focuses on porn’s effects on the brain—male or female. However, since this is predominantly a male challenge, the site has a definite male slant. Addiction is addiction, so most of the advice applies to females.

Although we don’t offer a structured program, we do share suggestions as to how others have reversed those effects and thus recovered from the unwanted effects of heavy porn use.

This site will help you understand exactly how today’s extreme Internet porn can alter the brain. Armed with that knowledge, you’ll realize that some primitive circuitry in your brain is just trying to do its job when it pushes you toward porn. And you’ll see how to outsmart it and restore your balance.

This site grew out of a decade of research analysis on the effects of sex on the brain, and six years of listening to recovering porn addicts. There’s a vacuum of critically important information about porn's effects on the brain. It is lost in the gulf that exists between the folks who see porn use as immoral, and the mainstream who sees Internet porn as no different from Dad’s Playboy magazines.

In our view, porn use isn’t a moral issue. Yet, to the human brain, Internet porn is as different from erotic magazines as “World of Warcraft” is from checkers. This has major implications for users' neurochemical balance."
 
See less See more
#6 ·
lm not into hardcore stuff(*cough coughbuttsex cough DVDADO cough*) but l'd agree that the instant gratification will do something funny to me if l don't step away from the pr0n :laughing:

This could be said for anything, though. We're adapting to this society and weren't designed for it in many ways, it's the point evolutionary psychologists make all the time.

We can choose to eliminate everything that causes harm due to lack of self control or practice moderation...l think it's easy to see which is more the reasonable approach.

But l do think the teenage sexuality has shifted in the span of under two decades is pretty fascinating...these kids are aware of some shit we were just...not lol, and it's treated like the standard.
 
#7 ·
I guess I'm lucky in that we didn't get our first dial-up connection until I was around fifteen, and didn't get my own computer with high speed until something like eighteen. Even after discovering hardcore, I still preferred modeling photos, softcore, and more racy scenes from television, though neither could compare to imagination, so it never got to the levels being discussed.

Sheltering teenagers wouldn't do much - they'd find ways to access porn if they really want it, but I'm convinced there might be underlying causes to addiction, so maybe giving them an alternative outlet so they don't turn to averse habits would be a great start. Also, explaining how unrealistic and in some cases, damaging it can be, while encouraging them to meet people and experiment? There are a ton of other ways to get off or learn about sex, and even if most people disagree with them, would still be safer alternatives in the long-run.

Still, I'm glad I've been cutting back... it can be overwhelming and definitely desensitized me in ways that were long lasting. Again, there was no ED, but it was definitely compulsive, not even to masturbate or orgasm, just because it was there and the 'high' from discovering new materials provided an incentive, if you can call it that.
 
#8 ·
Very interesting. Internet porn didn't hit its stride until I was a full adult -- well after college -- but it's still had a definite impact on me. Even the proliferation of m/m fanfic had an influence. When I first heard that women loved m/m, I couldn't see why.

Yeah, then I started reading it...

My relationship with porn got fairly unhealthy for a stretch of my life when I had very little chance at real sex. Now that I'm back in the saddle, though, I'm glad to say that my porn standards are pretty high. Most of it is so mechanical, scripted, and boring that it's not worth watching.
 
#9 ·
I remember reading something about how too much porn can lead to ED, since the brain interprets that as you being with a new partner every time. The good news is that taking a break for a while can solve that problem.

I don't think it said anything about written porn, however. I'll have to see if this site has anything on that.
 
#11 ·
What happens when you drop a male rat into a cage with a receptive female rat? First, you see a frenzy of copulation. Then, progressively, the male tires of that particular female. Even if she wants more, he has had enough. However, replace the original female with a fresh one, and the male immediately revives and gallantly struggles to fertilize her.
This explains everything.
 
#14 ·
I clicked on one of the videos and it led me down a video trail that really made more sense than a lot of what's on youtube.

Interesting look at not just what porn does, but it can be any addiction and it's in a way that you don't often think about things.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Luke
#15 ·
Porn has the fantastic effect of boring me to hell. I think I'm safe...
 
  • Like
Reactions: koalaroo
#16 ·
Porn has the fantastic effect of boring me to hell. I think I'm safe
There were some kinds of porn I once found boring that I developed a taste for after my porn habbit developed more. Some of the porn I watch now wasnt interesting to me when I used to just look at soft core images (girls in bikinis that sort of thing).

Personally I would like to stop my porn habbit (though I have no ED).
 
#18 ·
I'm 36 and I think I've stumbled across all kinds, even the kinds I wasn't looking for and reported to the police when they flashed on my screen. Those last ones didn't bore me, they shocked me and yeah... I reported such things to the police (as should everyone).

Other than that... you name it, I probably saw it and it still bores me. My SO in nice underwear gyrating on my lap does more for me than porn...
 
  • Like
Reactions: koalaroo
#17 ·
#24 ·
Really interesting website. I've known about it for about a year, and have been spreading it around as much as possible.

More people deserve to know the truth before they become trapped, not realizing the consequences.

I also don't know why this isn't getting any media attention, surely this should be being reported on?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top