There are a lot of misconceptions regarding pornography. Everyone has a right to their opinion but there are three statements our current culture believes regarding pornography that are dead wrong. It’s time to debunk the myths.

Lie #1: Pornography is Harmless

There is valid scientific research and evidence that shows how pornography can cause harm in someone’s life. Research shows that porn floods the reward pathway of the brain with pleasure chemicals causing the brain to change and rewire itself. It trains the brain to believe that if it wants to feel good, escape life’s pressures, and momentarily avoid feeling stressed, then porn is the magic fix. The problem is that just like other addictive behaviors, viewing porn can become the dominate goal of the brain, causing the user to forsake things like hobbies, passions, school work, jobs, family activities, friends and even lovers. Some people’s desire to make love with a significant other becomes overridden with their desire to watch porn. Some begin to prefer the computer screen to a real human experience.

I recognize that there are people out there who can watch porn every single day and claim that it doesn’t do an ounce of harm to them or their relationships. There are also people who can smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and never get lung cancer. What am I getting at? Simply because it may not harm every single person who uses it does not lessen the argument that pornography is harmful.

Besides from possibly being addictive, porn kicks women empowerment in the face by turning women into mere sexual objects. It teaches that women should not be valued for being smart, funny, happy or hard-working but should be rated according to the curves of their body and how well they can satisfy a man sexually. Someone can argue until they’re blue in the face that porn isn’t addictive but there is no way on earth that anyone can think that porn empowers women and enhances their role in our society. And plus, a recent study showed that 88% of mainstream porn contains acts of physical violence toward women. Porn also hurts relationships by destroying trust, altering views about sex and damaging family relationships. Thousands of young men are also reporting that regular porn use is causing erectile dysfunction in 20 year olds. On top of all of that, research is starting to make a strong connection to how pornography seriously contributes to the demand for sex trafficking and porn often is very involved with sexual exploitation. Harmless? Yeah right.

Lie #2: Girls Don’t Watch Porn

Although online pornography usually caters to males, thousands of girls and women also struggle with pornography. How do we know this? Many of them have come to us at Fight the New Drug for help. They have expressed that they feel ashamed and isolated because of their struggle. Nearly one third of all teen applicants into our Fortify Program (free online recovery program) are girls. Here is a statement from one of them:

Girl: 15 years old “I just think the whole situation is really gross. I have severe depression and I think I just use it to cope somehow… like sort of punishing myself because I know that I don’t want to see it and that it is against my morals. It’s really embarrassing and I just end up hating myself even more. I went for about maybe a year without it and somehow started up again. I know that I can overcome this. I want and need to. I just want to be normal. And I hate keeping things from my parents.”

We have hundreds of other girls who have told us similar things. If you are a girl struggling with pornography do not feel ashamed. You are not weird, abnormal, messed up or alone. Having sexual desire is part of being a human. Earlier we clarified that pornography is harmful though, so if you would like help overcoming your struggle with pornography, check out the Fortify Program.

Lie #3: Every Guy Watches Porn

So here’s the thing, every human being on this planet has some sort of sexual desire. This is a normal part of being a creature that relies on the ability to reproduce in order to continue the race. Simply because every man has sexual desire, however, does not mean that every man looks at pornography.

Men can, despite what popular culture would have you believe, control themselves sexually. Men do not have to act on every sexual desire that enters their mind.

I know thousands of men who choose to reject the use of pornography. A girl shouldn’t think that every man she knows struggles with looking at porn, nor should guys believe that every dude around them secretly looks at porn. That is just not true.