The latest globally threatening disease is rising to the standards set by Zika and Ebola—the coronavirus is giving the world a new medical challenge. Among those working to address this public health crisis are professionals from the medical and international communities, and every other industry you could think of—including cruise line managers.
Since the outbreak a couple of months ago, several cruise ships have been placed under quarantine when passengers tested positive for the highly contagious virus. In one case, a Diamond Princess cruise ship outside of Japan was been docked, waiting, and holding over 3,700 passengers and crew members on board for several weeks in an attempt to contain the virus.
Sadly, the quarantine didn’t stop 690 of the ship’s passengers from falling ill. Even though passengers were starting to be allowed to disembark by February 19th, the disease is far from contained.
And while the world sent medical aid, food supplies, and good wishes their way, the porn company CamSoda decided that their way of “helping” the passengers was to offer them full, complimentary access to their online camming services.
“Without activities or human interaction, the boredom must be crippling,” CamSoda’s Vice President Daryn Parker said to the press. Their solution? Free porn.
A public health issue and a public health crisis
It may seem like no big deal—it’s just a way for passengers to have some fun and stay occupied while they are stranded on board, right? Well, it’s not that simple.
The problem is simple: porn hurts people—it doesn’t help them.
We can’t escape the irony. CamSoda is responding to the coronavirus public health crisis by encouraging and supplying access to another public health issue.
Not only is Daryn Parker’s claim that porn will combat boredom far from accurate—research shows that porn actually fuels boredom, isolation, and depression—but there are many ways that porn is harmful and unhealthy for consumers.
Related: Study Indicates High STD Incidence And Reinfection Among Porn Performers
But are we being dramatic in calling porn a public health issue? Isn’t that taking it a bit too far? Sure, there are some things about porn that aren’t so great, but can we truly compare it to a near pandemic disease?
Science-backed proof that porn is a public health issue
It’s a bit much to compare porn to the coronavirus, of course, though research suggests that porn isn’t as harmless as it’s often claimed to be. Porn can’t kill you like a virus can, but its harms need to be contained. Take a look at some of the things that make porn destructive.
1. Porn harms mental health.
Here’s a compilation of 29 peer-reviewed, scientific studies that looked into porn’s effects on a consumer’s brain. The research is astounding.
Experts have found that porn consumption can have a highly addictive impact on the brain. It hijacks the brain like a drug, leading a consumer’s brain to need it more and enjoy it less. It can rewire the brain’s neurological pathways so that a consumer craves more and more extreme genres of porn in order to feel dopamine-induced satisfaction. It can also desensitize the brain to ideas and behaviors previously considered appalling. Porn consumption can interfere with the brain’s working memory performance. It can be linked to an overactive stress system. It can cause an increase in feelings of tiredness, depression, and moodiness.
We could go on and on. Researchers learn more about porn’s harms to the individual all the time, and the findings aren’t encouraging when it comes to the overall health and well-being of a consumer.
2. Porn harms sexual health.
Popular culture might suggest that porn helps your sex game, but research shows the opposite.
Studies show that porn consumption can lead to more sexually risky behavior, sex with multiple partners, paid sex, and more casual sex—all of which increase the likelihood of getting STDs and STIs. Those who consume porn are also more likely to hook up while intoxicated and/or without using protection. Porn is also linked to the startling rise in rates of erectile dysfunction, even among otherwise healthy young men.
And what’s more? Heavy porn consumers are sometimes significantly less likely to desire sex with their real partners, potentially leading to broken relationships, divorce, and overall unhappiness.
3. Porn harms relational health.
As we just noted, porn can harm relationships by making in-person sex less desirable than that addictive, extreme, porn-induced rush.
Research also shows that porn leaves consumers lonelier and more isolated than before, leading them to withdraw emotionally from people in their lives, which has obvious negative overall health effects. Studies show time and time again how partners of porn consumers are more likely to feel angry, hurt, bitter, distant, confused, rejected, and betrayed than partners of non-porn users. Porn consumers can also be less relationally committed overall, more callous toward (especially) females in general, and more likely to cheat on their partners. Of course, all of this depends on the individual, though it’s worth knowing what the research says.
4. Porn harms societal health.
On a global scale, porn is truly a poisonous societal epidemic. Studies show the deep intrinsic link between the porn industry and the human trafficking industry and sexual exploitation.
We are not claiming that all porn is nonconsensual, but rather, raising awareness that there is often no way to tell if the porn a consumer views is completely consensual or produced with coercion.
Just read this Jezebel.com story, this story on Daily Beast, this story on Complex.com, this Rolling Stone story, this Daily Beast story, this Bustle.com story, this story on CNN, this NY Post story, this Gizmodo.com story, this BBC report, this Florida Sun-Sentinel report, this Daily Wire story, this Buzzfeed News profile, and this UK Independent story for further proof that the mainstream porn industry features nonconsensual videos and videos of trafficked individuals.
Those are real-life examples of trafficking and exploitation in the porn industry, but what does the research have to say?
Porn is overwhelmingly full of violent and degrading behavior, especially toward women—and that content often diminishes consumers’ sensitivity to exploitation, abuse, and dehumanization. Porn consumers are more likely to have violent fantasies and more likely to act out those fantasies in their real lives. Porn leads to more violent assaults, fuels a greater acceptance of rape and rape myths, and lessens compassion for assault victims.
Child pornography—which is not rare, due to porn’s escalatory nature—is directly correlated with real-life child abuse by adults. It is also linked to child-on-child sexual assault.
To heal or to make sicker?
The research is overwhelmingly in support of labeling internet porn a public health crisis. There is no facet of society exempt from its harmful influences.
After years of research studies’ findings, just as society followed science by labeling smoking as the major cause of lung cancer, and just as powerful entities in the world identify diseases like coronavirus as destructive and worth eradicating, so too should we as a modern society acknowledge that porn is an infection of our times and culture.
Related: Why We’re Not Out To Ban Porn
There is a powerful movement happening to label porn for what it is, and to fight it. Take activist and researcher Dr. Gail Dines, for example, who speaks publicly on the issue. Dr. Dines is President and CEO of Culture Reframed, an organization that equips parents and adults to understand the hypersexualized porn-impacted culture surrounding kids and teens. Dr. Dines’ work empowers people to overcome porn’s unhealthy forces and build resiliency and knowledge among young generations.
So what’s better? An organization like Culture Reframed offering health, wellness, and empowerment? Or CamSoda offering a major public health issue to potential virus victims?
Related: The Problem With Saying “There Are Bigger Problems Than Porn To Fight”
During their quarantine, cruise ship passengers received free books, games, art supplies, and gourmet food—those things could actually help them stay mentally and psychologically healthy while they wait through this stressful time. Porn would only do the opposite.
Consider sharing this article to raise awareness on, as Culture Reframed puts it, “the public health crisis of the digital age.”
Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
This is why Fight the New Drug exists—but we can’t do it without you.
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