New Major Study Catalogues How Porn Harms Marriages, Children, Communities and Individuals

LifeNews ^ | WASHINGTON, December 2, 2009 | John-Henry Westen

[GonzoII]

Wednesday December 2, 2009

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New Major Study Catalogues How Porn Harms Marriages, Children, Communities and Individuals

By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, December 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Family Research Council (FRC) has released a comprehensive study on the devastating effects of pornography, identifying its harms to countless marriages, children, individuals and communities. "Pornography corrodes the conscience, promotes distrust between husbands and wives and debases untold thousands of young women," explains the study's author Dr. Pat Fagan, Senior Fellow at FRC and Director of the Center for Research on Marriage and Religion. 

While it is often said that it is harmless entertainment, the evidence shows, says Fagan that it is rather "relational and emotional poison."

Findings on Harm to Individual Users:

• Pornography is addictive, and neuroscientists are beginning to map the biological substrate of this addiction. 
• Users tend to become desensitized to the type of pornography they use, become bored with it, and then seek more perverse forms of pornography.
• Men who view pornography regularly have a higher tolerance for abnormal sexuality, including rape, sexual aggression, and sexual promiscuity. 
• Prolonged consumption of pornography by men produces stronger notions of women as commodities or as "sex objects." 

Findings on Harm to Marriages:

• Married men who are involved in pornography feel less satisfied with their conjugal relations and less emotionally attached to their wives. Wives notice and are upset by the difference. 
• Pornography use is a pathway to infidelity and divorce, and is frequently a major factor in these family disasters.
• Among couples affected by one spouse's addiction, two- thirds experience a loss of interest in sexual intercourse.
• Both spouses perceive pornography viewing as tantamount to infidelity.

Findings on Harm to Children:

• Pornography engenders greater sexual permissiveness, which in turn leads to a greater risk of out-of-wedlock births.
• Child-sex offenders are more likely to view pornography regularly or to be involved in its distribution.
• Pornography eliminates the warmth of affectionate family life, which is the natural social nutrient for the growing child.

The study notes that the main defenses against pornography are close family life, a good marriage and good relations between parents and children, coupled with deliberate parental monitoring of Internet use. 

The study found that traditionally, government has kept a tight lid on sexual traffic and businesses, but in matters of pornography that has almost completely ceased, except where child pornography is concerned. 

It concludes with a sobering note about the costs of porn to society. " Given the massive, deleterious individual, marital, family, and social effects of pornography, it is time for citizens, communities, and government to reconsider their laissez-faire approach," says Fagan.

Click here  to download the full study.

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09120210.html

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[GonzoII]

[Perdogg]

How is porn defined in the study?

[Nonstatist]

I see all the cons, what are the pros?..... Umm, just trying to get the full picture here.

[Rudder]

Stamp out the root cause of porn-—criminalize sex.

[kosciusko51]

Stamp out the root cause of porn-—criminalize sex outside of marriage.

Fixed it.

[DannyTN]

"Umm, just trying to get the full picture here."

Yes, this thread is useless without pictures.....oh wait.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Well, we used to have more laws and controls over distribution of this stuff. Now we’re completely open about it. Now the line is drawn at child pornography, which is still illegal and subject to criminal prosecution.

But will barriers in this area such as children porn be broken down? With people in our courts such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who favors an age of consent of 12, and groups such as NAMBLA who will one day file lawsuits for their “freedom” to do God-knows-what to kids, who knows what the future holds.

[MARTIAL MONK]

TTIUWP

[Smittie]

3..2..1..I’m counting down to the first post soon to appear defending porn as harmless.

[Constitution Day]

*readying popcorn*

[Ben Mugged]

The pornography we really should be concerned about is the political pornography being thrust on us by the 0bama administration.

[Awestruck]

It isn’t the vehicle, its the person behind it... people’s lives can be ruined with drugs, alcohol, gambling, spending, and porn... people will seek these things out if they are of a mind to do so, and either use or abuse them.. it all comes down to strength and character of the individual, not the item they choose to abuse.

[gorilla_warrior]

Someone needs to tell the cave dwellers who first drew paintings on cave walls. Subject: voluptuous naked women. Everything in moderation, as they say. Women once knew the ways to lure men away from the easy availability of lustful images. They once knew that expressing disgust or shaming them does not work very well. Now, with all the emphasis on me, me, me, it seems that women aren’t much interested in helping men avoid temptation. For so many of them it’s actually a relief not to be pestered. Men are driven to find outlets for sexuality. If you want change, give them healthy alternatives.

[dfwgator]

12 posts and no mention of Tiger yet. We’re slipping.

[faucetman]

Must be what happened to Tiger

[PackerBoy]

Query: Do many men stay married and faithful to their (disintersted, frigid) wives by masturbating to pornography of the fairly pedestrian PlayBoy magazine variety?

I am betting this kind of porn has saved at least as many marriages as it has harmed or ruined.

[tet68]

What I’m waiting for is this...

New Major Study Catalogues How Socialism Harms Marriages, Children, Communities and Individuals.

I’m not holding my breath, maybe I’ll go read some porn
in the shower, got one of those new waterproof porn books,
at least the pages don’t stick together.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Uh oh, don’t let the loony-toons in the Pot and Porn Party know that you posted this....

[Perdogg]

I am not defending porn. How can you say porn harms when you cannot always define it?

[dforest]

Nobody can convince me that porn, especially since the advent of the internet isn’t downright evil. The evil may have been in man, or woman prior to, but many would have never acted upon it.

Now it is commonplace and pumped up as cool. It is destroying our culture.