Science Stopped Believing in Porn Addiction. You Should, Too
Science Stopped Believing in Porn Addiction. You Should, Too
www.psychologytoday.com
Science Stopped Believing in Porn Addiction. You Should, Too
36 comments
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I mean people still spout the easily researchable lie that nasa spent millions developing a space pen and the Russian just used a pencil.
Once a lie has reached critical mass it's incredibly difficult to correct.
For anyone just finding out the NASA space pen thing was a lie we did use a pen, but so did Russia and we everyone else. The pen did not cost millions for us to make or develop. You can buy one right now for like 20 bucks. They simply pressurize the ink cartridges with a little bit of nitrogen so the ink is forced out no matter the orientation. You just cannot have graphite dust floating around a bunch of sensitive electronics from the 70s.
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Development costs in that era vs. availability now don't equate. I don't remember the exact number, but the actual research & development of the zero-g pen did have a significant price tag.
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NASA didn't develop the pen at all. Fisher did. They just bought the pens from. Wiki says they bought the pens for less than 3 bucks a pop back then. Adjusted for inflation the pens are actually a couple bucks cheaper today than they were back then lol.
While a million bucks in the 60s wasn't exactly cheap it certainly wasn't some astronomical amount by any means. Certainly not when compared to what we actually spent getting the ISS built and sent up to space.
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The point of the story is that Russia also used the same pen. It's nothing to do with the cost.
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You just cannot have graphite dust floating around a bunch of sensitive electronics from the 70
in a 100% oxygen atmosphere, too.
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lie that nasa spent millions developing a space pen and the Russian just used a pencil.
I'm like 99% sure that "lie" is in reality not a "lie," but rather what is known in some circles as a "joke." Like, "A horse walks into a bar, the bartender asks 'why the long face?'" Isn't a "common lie" just because it's oft repeated and not factual, it's a joke.
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Every single time I have heard someone repeat it, it was in a "fun fact" way and not in a joking way.
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Perhaps it's started that way, but I have had countless people bring it up over the years in a "here's this cool fact I learned that shows Americans are stupid and Russians are smarter" kind of way.
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I brought this up on a different post where somebody made an offhand joke about masturbation addiction. Like clockwork, somebody showed up and was like, "Nuh-uh! You can get addicted to anything!"
It's going to be a while until we leave that idea behind, because now, it's not just the religious parroting the pseudoscience. The hyper-masculinity grift has gotten in on it, too, with concepts like semen retention, sometimes even plagiarizing purity culture outright.
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I'm still operating on outdated studies likening porn to have similar effects on the brain as cocaine, any ideas where to find the correct information?
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Honestly? As much as I hate the parent company, any recent studies you can find on Google Scholar. That's a great place to start. And don't just go with what the title of the paper says. Even if the title looks like it's pro- or anti-sex-addiction, the abstract usually gives a more nuanced perspective.
And as you look at the papers, just remember that religion would love to be right about how they personally interpret what their god says is "the right way to do it." If a paper ever makes claims that it's definitively proven that sex addiction is real, check the source; it's probably religious.
Porn, sex, and masturbation may accompany an addiction, but excessive activity is almost always a symptom of or in addition to other, deeper issues. In the papers you'll find from Scholar, you'll see a recurring theme: "it's complicated." To put it another way, someone who chronically masturbates is likely coping with a deeper trauma(s). When the trauma is dealt with, they may no longer compelled to masturbate, because masturbating does not itself appear to be addictive. Same with porn and sex.
The issue arises that when people engage in these activities more than their peers, they may assume they're behaving abnormally. Add on religion that has dogmatic rules about what is allowed, and that feeling of abnormality may be internalized as addiction, whereas a professional may find nothing unusual.
I came from a religion that promoted purity culture, and the idea that sex is addictive is simply a grotesque misrepresentation of the facts. If the science changes based on the facts and indicates that sex is addictive, I'll change my tune accordingly.
Until then, the "sex addict" proponents do not have a rigorous, data-backed leg to stand upon.
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You can get addicted to anything!"
This is why we need to agree on terms before debating. The colloquial meaning of addiction is "I just like it a lot", which is dumb.
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to the surprise of no one.
religiosity is not based on science. it's not based on thorough thought, it's not based on evidence, it's not based on an actual understanding of the world. of course, such a worldview leads to numerous problems.
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Anyone who is EVER anti-sex in any capacity should be looked at extremely skeptically. Usually if you dig enough you uncover some religious bullshit behind it.
I'm sure there are some people who dislike porn because of the potential for exploitation etc
I'm also sure that the vast majority of people who claim that are actually just religious nuts but are too scared to admit it openly so they pretend to care about something else.
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Exploitation is certainly an issue. However. A large part of the problem with the porn industry such as it is, is the stigma that's associated with women--not men--that are in the field. Women that are in the field are not treated particularly well by anyone not in the field, and part of what makes the industry so problematic is that once you're in, it's really hard to get out and have any kind of meaningful career.
...Kinda like the mental problem that trans kids have almost entirely comes down to the way they're treated by people around them...
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I'm fully on board with calling it malpractice to spread the myth of porn addiction.
Is porn unambiguously good? No, grow up, few things are. But the issues with it should be based in reality. If its against your religion learn to not use it or change your religion. If you morally cannot abide the practices with it, either quit using it or find a form that lacks those quandries like written porn or pay worker owned porn cooperatives.
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I mean addiction I don't know, probably complicated and needs some underlying issues.
But horrible for sex education especially if watched by small kids, %100 for sure. Coupled with watching it secretly because "its porn" and not having discussions about it with adults, it can really warp teens' expectations of sexual relationships, self image and partner image.
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Agree, but I think that's a separate issue entirely. I think the concept of porn addiction specifically comes up as an excuse for all kinds of depraved acts, from cheating to pedophilia to rape.
It also gives a somewhat conscience-alleviating name to the overwhelming psychological stress that many religious people feel when they experience the cognitive dissonance of enjoying something so "evil" and "sinful", as the article discusses. An ex of mine, who was raised in a much stricter baptist family, had real, serious trauma from it.
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Porn addiction as a unique phenomenon, yeah. But there's still a lot of people who have compulsive behavior and/or addiction behavior around porn. So it's not that there's nobody actually addicted to porn, but rather that it's not unique.
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So it's not that there's nobody actually addicted to porn, but rather that it's not unique.
Not quite. It's a complex issue that often involves exploring a person's psyche. The data doesn't show that people can get addicted to porn or sex or masturbation, but excessive activity may accompany other traumas or disorders.
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Compulsive behavior using porn to the detriment of other aspects of life (keeping a job, maintaining relationships, etc) is what I think of when I hear porn addiction, not a physical addiction like alcohol but a mental addiction like playing too much video games. I'm not very educated when it comes to psychology though
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The issue isn't you spending too much time on sex. The issue is you not being able to spend enough time on sex.
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Low and behold, religion is poison
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First world problems
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This is very harmful
36 comments