Harmful Effects of Pornography 2016 Reference Guide fightthenewdrug.org COPYRIGHT © 2015 by Fight the New Drug, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED A certified resource of Fight the New Drug. Fight the New Drug is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit and was established in March 2009. Please email [email protected] or call us at 385.313.8629 with any questions. Heart — 2.1 How Pornography Warps Expectations.................................................41 2.2 How Pornography Warps Expectations of Sex......................................44 2.3 How Pornography Impacts Partner’s Mental & Emotional Health ......................................46 2.4 How Pornography Changes Perceptions of Partners ................................49 2.5 How Pornography Influences Contents Acquired Sexual Tastes .................................51 2.6 How Pornography Impacts Sexual Intimacy ........................................... 53 2.7 How Pornography Impacts Relationships & Families .............................. 55 Brain 2.8 How Pornography Encourages Objectification ........................................... 58 — 2.9 How Pornography Use Decreases 1.1 Understanding the Brain’s Interest in Actual Partners Reward Center ............................................. 3 & Actual Sex ............................................... 59 1.2 How Pornography Alters 2.10 How Pornography Can Lead Sexual Tastes ................................................. 5 to Physical Danger for Partners .................... 60 1.3 Pornography Induced Erectile Dysfunction (ED) ............................................ 7 1.4 The Impact of Pornography on Grey Matter ..............................................9 World 1.5 How Pornography Negatively Contributes to Mental — & Emotional Health ...................................... 10 3.1 Pornography Usage in Society ...................... 65 1.6 How Mirror Neurons Influence 3.2 How We Learn From Brain Development ...................................... 12 Pornography ................................................ 67 1.7 How Pornography Affects Behavior .............. 20 3.3 How Pornography Distorts Views 1.8 The Role of DeltaFosB in Brain of Women & Gay Men .................................. 69 Pathways ..................................................... 22 3.4 How Pornography Distorts Views 1.9 How Pornography Changes of Sex ..........................................................71 the Brain ...................................................... 23 3.5 How Pornography Encourages 1.10 How Pornography is Similar Harmful Behavior ......................................... 74 to a Drug .................................................... 26 3.6 How Pornography Impacts Families .............. 78 1.11 How & Why Pornography 3.7 How Pornography Encourages Can Be Addictive ........................................ 28 Sexual Violence ........................................... 79 1.12 Why the Adolescent Brain 3.8 The Connection Between Pornography Is Vulnerable................................................ 33 & Prostitution ............................................. 86 1.13 Pornography Addiction Escalates ................. 36 3.9 Child Pornography ...................................... 89 1.14 Healing the Brain From 3.10 The Connection Between Pornography Pornography Exposure ................................ 38 & Sex Trafficking .......................................... 91 Brain 1 — 4. The reward center drives us to pursue things that improve our chances of survival and the survival of our genes, including food,1 sex,2 love,3 and novelty.4 ● 1—R. A. Wise, “Dual Roles of Dopamine in Food and Drug Seeking: The Drive Reward Paradox,” Biological Psychiatry 73, no. 9 (2013): 819–26. 2— James G. Pfaus and Lisa A. Scepkowski, “The Biologic Basis for Libido,”Cur- rent Sexual Health Reports 2, no. 2 (2005): 95–100. 3— Kimberly A. Young, Kyle L. Gobrogge, Yan Liu, and Zuoxin Wang, “The Neuro- biology of Pair Bonding: Insights from a Socially Monogamous Rodent,” Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 32, no. 1 (2011): 53–69. 4—Parkitna, J. R., et al. “Novelty Seeking Behaviors and the Escalation of Alcohol Drinking After Abstinence in Mice Are Controlled by Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5 on Neurons Expressing Dopamine D1 Receptors,” Biological Psychiatry 73, no. 3 (2013): 263–70. — 5. Dopamine helps rewire the brain so that we remember the things we need to for survival. ● Cathleen Genova, “Learning Addiction: Dopamine Reinforces Drug Associated Memories,” Research Press Release, September 9, 2009, http://www.eurekalert. org/pub_releases/2009 09/cp lad090309.php. — 6. Dopamine encourages us to seek and search for things that will bring us pleasure. ● John D. Salamone and Mercè Correa, “The Mysterious Motivational Functions Brain of Mesolimbic Dopamine,” Neuron 76, no. 3 (2012): 470–85. — 7. Dopamine levels increase when we encounter something novel. Brain — ● Cell Press, “Pure Novelty www.sciencedaily.com/rele- 1. All mammals have essentially the same reward center in aes/2006/08/060826180547.htm. — their brain. — ● Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon, A General Theory of Love, New 1.1 York: Vintage Books, 2000. 8. Dopamine levels increase when something is surprising. ● Max Miller, “Big Think Interview With Adam Kepecs,” BigThink.com, August 20, Understanding — 2010, http://bigthink.com/videos/big-think interview with adam kepecs. 2. To steer us toward things that will help us: the reward the Brain’s center uses two different pleasure systems, one that excites — Reward and another that satisfies. The first system motivates us to 9. Dopamine levels increase when something produces anxiety. Center go after things; it is largely fueled by dopamine. The second system makes us feel satisfied and happy after accomplishing ● David H. Barlow, David K. Sakheim, and J. Gayle Beck, “Anxiety Increases Sexual Arousal,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 92, no. 1 (1983): 49–54. something. It’s run by endorphins. ● Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself, New York: Viking, 2007. — 10. Dopamine levels go up in response to seeking. — ● Bianca C. Wittmann, Nico Bunzeck, Raymond J. Dolan, and Emrah Düzel, “An- 3. Porn activates both of the reward center’s pleasure ticipation of Novelty Recruits Reward System and Hippocampus While Promoting systems, but the wanting system is stronger than the Recollection,” NeuroImage 38, nos. 1–9 (2007): 194–202. satisfying system; porn hyper-activates our wanting system, pumping out dopamine in response to each new image. As — a result, the user can get caught in a loop of wanting, using, 11. The brain is stimulated by expectations being violated. pumping out a bunch of dopamine, in response to new images found while using, and then wanting even more. ● J. Spicer, et al. “Sensitivity of the Nucleus Accumbens to Violations in Expectation of Reward,” NeuroImage 34, no. 1 (2007): 455–61. ● Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself, New York: Viking, 2007. — 12. Research has found that novelty and expecting a reward amplify each other to increase excitement and rewire the brain’s reward circuitry. ● R. M. Krebs, D. Heipertz, H. Schuetze, and E. Duzel, “Novelty Increases the Mesolimbic Functional Connectivity of the Substantia Nigra/Ventral Tegmental Area (SN/VTA) During Reward Anticipation: Evidence from High Resolution fMRI,” NeuroImage 58, no. 2 (2011): 647–55. 3 Brain—1.1—Understanding the Brain’s Reward Center — — 13. Fantasizing or imagining doing something activates many 21. The adolescent brain prunes back neural circuitry by of the same brain circuits as actually doing it. adulthood to make responses more efficient. 1 This process makes it more difficult for them to choose things other than ● “Why Does Vivid Memory ‘Feel So Real?’ Real Perceptual Experience, Mental the patterns they’ve set when they reach full adulthood. 2 Replay Share Similar Brain Activation Patterns,” Medical Express, July 23, 2012, http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012 07 vivid memory real perceptual mental.html. ● 1—Tamara L. Doremus Fitzwater, Elena I. Varlinskaya, and Linda P. Spear, “Motivational Systems in Adolescence: Possible Implications for Age Differences — in Substance Abuse and Other Risk Taking Behaviors,” Brain and Cognition 72, no. 1 (2010): 114–23. 14. To some degree, the brain unconsciously learns to associate 2— C. L. Sisk and J. L. Zehr, “Pubertal Hormones Organize the Adolescent Brain arousal with what the person is watching every time they’re and Behavior,” Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 26, nos. 3–4 (2005): 163–74. sexually aroused by porn. — ● James G. Pfaus, et al., “Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and 22. Supranormal stimuli simulating natural reward can Performance,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 41 (2012): 31–62. override the brain’s mechanisms that signal when we should be finished with something. — ● Deirdre Barrett, “Supernormal Stimuli,” HuffPost Books, June 16, 2010, http:// 15. Teens are more sensitive to dopamine. www.huffingtonpost.com/deirdre barrett/supernormal-stimuli_b_613466.html. ● University of Pittsburg, “Teen Brains Over-Process Rewards, Suggesting Root of Risky Behavior, Mental Ills,” Phys.org, January 2011, http://phys.org/news/2011 01- — teen brains over process rewards root.html. 23. Over time, the reward center’s dopamine receptors will shrink in response to chronic overstimulation. — 16. Teen brains produce higher levels of DeltaFosB. ● P. Kenny, G. Voren, and P. Johnson. “Dopamine D2 Receptors and Striatopallidal