Brain changes aren't always bad changes
"I don't doubt some people have problems viewing too much porn," says Nicole Prause, a neuroscientist and sex researcher. "But the issue is there are lots of problems … that already explain and account for those behaviors."
A Ph.D. from the University of Indiana and founder of the Liberos research institute, Prause points out that 50% of people in treatment for sex addiction -- which is often lumped together with porn addiction under the umbrella of "hypersexuality" -- have a primary diagnosis of depression. In other words, she argues, the "addictions" are really coping mechanisms.
This appeared relevant to some of the people I spoke to. "I was sexually abused as a kid," Steve told me, "so through thousands of dollars of therapy, that's been identified as the root cause of my inability to cope in a healthy manner."
Happily, he says, his addictive personality has now led him to become "addicted to fitness."
In 2013, Prause co-authored a study which, comparing the brains of heavy porn viewers and substance addicts, questioned how appropriate the addiction model is for porn users. Along with clinical psychologist Ley, she's been a leading scrutineer of claims made by the anti-porn movement ever since.
It's not just that the "addiction" label is being misapplied, Prause says, but that the neuroscientific claims circulating in communities like NoFap range from misguided to flat-out incorrect. She says a lot of the arguments from anti-porn circles stem from a "differences as a problem" fallacy: MRI studies show how people's brains react to porn compared with other media, and those differences are eagerly interpreted as harmful.
"Some people prefer Nestle and some people prefer Ghirardelli, and their brains light up differently if they look at their preferred chocolate brand than to their non-preferred chocolate brand," she said. "So it's funny to me when people say [porn changing the brain] is problematic. There's nothing wrong about brain changes."
"If your brain is not changing, something is wrong," Prause said. "You are comatose."
Circle jerk
Prause and Ley agree with some of the anti-porn movement's messages. One of Prause's studies showed that porn elicited strong positive and negative emotion at the same time -- excitement, guilt, happiness, shame -- making it a hazardous coping mechanism. And Ley says people should scrutinize their porn and masturbation behavior, as NoFap encourages people to do, rather than be on sexual autopilot. For his part, Deem says he's not "anti-porn, just pro education."
That's about where the common ground ends.
Ley argues that online communities like NoFap, Reboot Nation and Your Brain On Porn convince healthy users they have a problem. People who have diagnosed themselves find these communities and then, confronted with stories similar to their own, become convinced their diagnosis is correct.
"It's very much like, 'I read WebMD' and now I can diagnose illnesses in myself and others," Ley says of the community's experts.
Ley's point is a veiled jab at the likes of Deem and Wilson, who have no scientific certifications. It's also a small illustration of the bitter tenor of the discourse.
"Debating with them is akin to debating Genesis with an evangelical," Ley said, adding that belief isn't a substitute for evidence. "Like all true believers, they want to shout at the people they disagree with until they give in."
https://www.cnet.com/features/porn-addi ... -its-real/
"These folks are some of the most obsessive, hateful folks I’ve ever encountered online," Ley told Motherboard. "They rabidly attack anyone who disagrees with them, with extraordinary black and white thinking… My impression is that they tend to be highly obsessive individuals who transmute their obsessive use of porn into an obsession with attacking people who might expose that the problem is in them, rather than the porn. Ultimately, they’re the problem, not the porn."
"It’s endlessly fascinating to me how these folks take on the role of besieged martyrs, fighting against evil, but then claim their arguments are not based in morality," Ley said. "I’m personally and professionally troubled that they present men and masculinity as being so weak that dirty movies overwhelm our reason, our self-will, and cripple our penises. It’s a disturbing presentation of their idea of men."
https://www.vice.com/en/article/ywa97m/ ... t-november