But I wonder about the whole correlation/causality angle. In other words, does something like porn cause an otherwise normal, healthy human being to become a habitual liar, a split personality, etc., etc., or is porn another means through which someone exhibits certain undesirable character traits such as lying habitually, split personality, etc.
I'm not by any means equating porn to guns, but where I'm going here reminds me of the argument whereby guns are inanimate objects; whether they're used properly or improperly depends on the user. Likewise, porn is an inanimate object; how it's used really depends on the user.
Food for thought, at least. Thanks for your post.
Yeah, correlation and causality are 2 different things, which is why it would be interesting to see some research on the subject.
What the first poster mentioned is another thing that interests me, and that is the role of the right-brain. It’s been a long time since I’ve read about it, but I know that there is a region of the brain that is involved in “spirituality”, which is also the part of the brain involved in both schizophrenia and mind-altering drugs. Sort of the euphoria part of the brain.
I know that when porn addiction is involved there is a need for more and more bizarre stimulation to get the same effect, which is why some people who use porn go on to SM, bestiality, rape, murder, etc. Their mind gets numb to the effects and they have to do more animalistic things to get the high/euphoria they want. So it really is like a drug - except that it requires another person or animal to be the apparatus for satisfaction (the objectification of another person). And I wonder if it involves the same part of the brain.
If so, then what happens in the brain for at least some people who use porn could be on the spiritual level, clinically speaking. Deeper to a person’s inner being than any other physical body function. Know what I mean? Your comparison to a gun is interesting too, because for some people there is a high from killing - in which case, the gun becomes the means to get the feeling of euphoria, which could also be centered in that same “spiritual” part of the brain.
IOW, I’m wondering if the feeling of euphoria can be an attempt to fill a spiritual void - a thrill to substitute for something spiritual. I’m wondering what the science would say about that, if anything. I wonder if it would say there is a different brain reaction for somebody who looks at porn casually versus somebody who is addicted to it.
As the first poster mentioned, I think porn does have an impact on male-female relationships because it changes the expectations and the mind of the person, where the pleasure itself can be the focus rather than the person. Where the person can become simply a means to an end. I think that’s why men are more drawn to porn than women are - because it caters to the more non-relational sex drive of a man, rather than the relational drive of a woman.