Pornography: A Look at the Naked Truth

Pornography: A Look at the Naked Truth

John is a happily married man with two children. He is on the parish council and has a steady job, but underneath the surface he struggles with an addiction. It is not an addiction to alcohol or drugs. It is an addiction to pornography. He doesn't know who to turn to and is ashamed of what he does. He knows that it would ruin the relationship between him and his wife. He doesn't want his children to know about his addiction. He doesn't want anyone from church or work to look down upon him for what he is doing. There are many negative effects that pornography leaves on men and their relationships and future relationships.

This addiction is very common in men. Pornography can be any visual or written material that shows nudity and/or sexually explicit activity for the purpose to cause sexual arousal (Olson). There are several forms of pornography; the two most common forms are soft core pornography and hardcore. Soft core porn will show naked or poorly clothed women. Its main focus is on the breasts and genitalia but shows no sexual intercourse. Hard-core pornography will show various forms of sexual intercourse, forced and unforced, between two or more people (Olson).

The availability of pornography has become very easily accessible. You can get it any where gas stations, hotels, workplace, grocery stores, video rentals, and even at home (Olson). Those that have the Internet no longer will need to worry about getting caught or seen purchasing "men's" magazines. With just a click of a mouse, husbands could be downloading pornography, while their wives are in the next room tucking their children in bed.

Men are vulnerable to become addicted because they are aroused visually (Olson). They become excited with the images that they see. Men that are more prone to become addicted are men who were exposed to porn at a younger age. The first step of this addiction would be returning to porn. It becomes a regular part of their life. Next step is men will start to look for more graphic pornography. They start to look at pornography they wouldn't have looked at earlier. Desensitization is what happens next. Men become numb to images they see even the most graphic porn does not excite them. The last thing that could occur is men will start acting out what they have seen (Layden).

There are many effects that will occur on men from looking at pornography and how they view women. One for example is called Voyeurism, which would be pornography promoting dreamlike images of women and distorting physical reality. Some men will think that women are collectibles and they are property of men, this would be called Trophyism. Pornography can show women as sex toys for men (McConnell). Men will see women negatively because of pornography; this can destroy relationships with intimate partners.

Pornography places men on an emotional roller coaster. One minute they're cheerful, the next they're gloomy; calm, then mad; kind, then cold. These moods change without warning, causing stress and pain for wives, children, friends and coworkers. Feelings of isolation from loved ones occur, which often drive men even deeper into the self-medicating escape of pornography (Goldsmith).

Relationships can diminish because of the addiction pornography. Men can be left with an impression that sex is not a confidential thing to be discussed. More intense forms of sex are the most satisfying and that sex is unconnected to love. Men who look at pornography are less concerned for female sexuality and concern and start to careless for trust in intimate partners. This could lead into a decrease of faithfulness and a major increase of sex without attachment (McConnell).

Excessive amount of exposure to pornography will result in reduce satisfaction with sexual partner (McConnell). When a husband indulges in pornography, it may be his way of punishing his wife and showing her that he doesn't need her (Olson). Men who typically do this would be