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Addicted To Porn -- Thank God For That

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Porn Addiction
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So, evidently is porn.

Is there really an addiction to porn? Well chances are, if you're religious (any denomination will do) you have a larger chance of having this so called porn addiction. At least in your own eyes.

Psychologists argue over whether sex addiction and porn addiction are really "legitimate illnesses." That's because defining the malady is like trying to decide what is porn is -- it's  a subjective judgment. Over the years we've gone from no limits -- ancient Roman days -- to the Victorian era where even a naked female ankle was considered offensive and could lead to jailing -- to now. In our current Internet era just about anything goes -- no, anything goes.

And with the proliferation of free and immediate access to questionable materials of all extremes, there are those who find that their exposure and need to view it (prurient interests) all the time has become the so-called "porn addiction". People who can't leave their house without viewing these salacious materials. They fill their work breaks with smartphone visits to "adult" sites. And then they can't wait to come home, even skipping the obligatory picking up the milk and bread for the family until they've had their "fix."

Experts in mental health have been doing some research -- yeah, I bet they have -- and are trying to find out how big a mental health issue this has become. And as with most scientific research there are many interpretations and evaluations. What may surprise you is who feels they're "addicted" to porn. According to a recent article in HUFFPO:

Feel like you're addicted to porn? Your religion could have something to do with your answer.

Compared with their less spiritual peers, people who identified as "very religious" were more likely to have a perceived Internet pornography addiction, no matter how much porn they actually consumed, according to a new study.

What seems to be self-evident, in light of any definitive, clinical definition of "addiction to porn" is that judgement of whether or not you have this malady/reliance/need to view is impacted by -- religion. Yup, that's right. Religion, you sinners. Listen up.

First the scientific world (American Psychiatric Association):

Some researchers have proposed that compulsive viewing of Internet pornography could be a subcategory of sex addiction, sometimes called hypersexual disorder. But psychologists have not been able to agree on whether sex addiction (let alone porn addiction) fits the same addiction model that is used to describe people with substance abuse problems, for example. Sex addiction was not recognized in the latest version of the American Psychiatric Association's mental health handbook, the DSM-5, and there is no official diagnosis.

From reading that, it's not a certainty if there really is a diagnosed criteria for even having a sex addiction, let alone a porn addiction. The first -- sex addiction -- seems to be a need to actively participate. The other -- porn addiction -- seems to be a voracious need to ingest lots of pictures and videos. But neither rise to the APA's handbook of scientific ailments. So what's a horny guy/gal gonna do?

To find out whether or not you have it, you must move to another book. The bible. Having been written so long ago, I doubt other than some tales of adultery or wife swapping, you're going to find your answers there. But amazingly, that's the book that seems to be the cause, at least in thinking, of people convinced they have this malady, porn addiction.

"We were surprised that the amount of viewing did not impact the perception of addiction, but strong moral beliefs did," the study's lead author Joshua Grubbs, a doctoral student in psychology at Case Western Reserve University, said in a statement.

So, for any of you readers who sneak a peek every now and then at adult sites, you probably don't have an addiction to porn. If you feel you do, take a look at your religious beliefs. They may be playing tricks on you. So stow away those guilt feelings. You're normal -- at least as far as normal gets. If you weren't, would the Porn Industry look like this?

Brigham Young University:

  • Size of the Industry $57.0 billion world-wide - $12.0 billion US
  • -Adult Videos $20.0 billion
  • -Escort Services $11.0 billion
  • -Magazines $ 7.5 billion
  • -Sex Clubs $ 5.0 billion
  • -Phone Sex $ 4.5 billion
  • -Cable & Pay Per View $ 2.5 billion
  • -Internet $ 2.5 billion
  • -CD-Rom $ 1.5 billion
  • -Novelties $ 1.0 billion
  • -Other $ 1.5 billion
  • Porn revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises.
  • US porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC (6.2 billion)

Those are not numbers that show you're addicted, it shows you're perfectly mainstream. And you're probably not ill, just feeling guilty. If so, you might very well have religion, or dare I say it, God, to blame.

bible imagry

So next time you have the urge to see something thought to be "adult" content, you're just doing what everyone else is doing. And if you think it's wrong, that's your decision. Tip #1, don't Google "dominatrix" or "group sex" or "Wife Beater Illustrated" and expect a family friendly site. But consider those revenue numbers above. They dwarf the donations to the Catholic Church. From Wikipedia:

In 2010, Catholic Charities had revenues of $4.7 billion, $2.9 billion of which came from the US government. Only about $140 million came from donations from diocesan churches. 

So stow away that guilt. The numbers don't lie. We're putting our money where our "privates" really are. Pope Francis is quite a progressive thinker by the church's standards. How much longer until the new Internet interactive bible comes out with a forward by the Pontiff and an optional, adults app. It'll probably include intimate photos of the various sins and in various positions? I can see the updated app including the video of "The A-Salt on Lot's Wife," "The Real Burning Bush," and Leviticus 18:20 -- "How to Commit Adultery -- The Pictorial Handbook." This way you can have your porn and your religious beliefs, all under one swipe. And if you're viewing it at work, just click "escape" and John 3:16 will appear on your screen.

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The post Addicted To Porn -- Thank God For That appeared first on The Political Carnival.


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