image transcript:

Anonymous asked:
is it true that porn of any kind (erotica, audio, pics, etc) rots the brain? like, is there any truth to the idea that I’m damaging my brain permanently? I mainly like to read erotica on tumblr or ao3. I’ve also seen people refer to anyone who likes any type of porn as degenerates and sex pests.

batmanisagatewaydrug answered:
is this what we’re doing now. we’re calling people degenerates just for reading horny fanfic.
besties we are never ever never ever never ever never escaping conservative christianity.

sure whatever. porn rots holes in your brain. anything that makes you feel good is bad actually. if you derive joy from movies or food or seeing your friends that’s also deeply suspect and you should probably go to confession about it. if I’m being totally honest we should not stop with porn, having sex with other people is pretty fucked up. kind of predatory to desire another person carnally. probably we should all just go live in caves and think about god until we die a celibate death.

in my undergrad classes we talked about how periods of (relative) social progress are often followed by sharp conservative backlash, and I didn’t really get it until I lived through it with the 2016 election. and like a fucking goober I thought “well, at least this is as bad as it will ever get iny lifetime,” because I could never in ten million years could have predicted the protestant comeback tour convincing people that they’re psychologically diseased sex criminals if they so much as think about nutting

end of transcript

  • nebula42@lemmy.zip
    71·
    3 months ago

    I’ll just drop this here.

    Watching porn isn’t something to be ashamed of. Does it cause damage to the brain? yeah. Is it permanent? No. I won’t judge anyone who uses porn but I sure as hell won’t pretend that it’s healthy.

    • AVincentInSpace@pawb.socialEnglish
      28·
      3 months ago

      Ask a user, “If you could go back to the time before you became hooked, with the knowledge you have now, would you have started using porn?”

      “NO WAY!” would be the reply.

      Ask the confirmed user, someone who defends internet porn and doesn’t believe it causes injury to the brain or downregulation of dopamine receptors: “Do you encourage your children to use porn?”

      “NO WAY!” is again the reply.

      I answered yes to both of these questions, what do

        • AVincentInSpace@pawb.socialEnglish
          25·
          3 months ago

          Why would I be lying to myself? I haven’t seen any evidence that porn is in any way detrimental if used in moderation, and keeping things taboo is exclusively harmful for everyone involved. If, someday, I have a child, and that child comes to me telling they feel guilty for watching porn (because they don’t have a real romantic partner and feel guilty about that, because they read that porn rots their brain, because of puritanical bullshit like this post, etc. etc.), I would of course assuage their fears and tell them there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Once you get to a certain age, jerking off is as natural and as necessary as going to the bathroom, and if porn helps you do that then I fail to see the problem.

          • Brickardo@feddit.nl
            11·
            3 months ago

            After reading your post history, it’s obvious to me why you fail to see the point. I can only hope you eventually do.

    • AVincentInSpace@pawb.socialEnglish
      15·
      3 months ago

      That book seems to say pretty explicitly that everyone who uses porn is an addict and that being a porn addict is something to be ashamed of.

      • nebula42@lemmy.zip
        2·
        3 months ago

        I never interpreted it that way (the book does change), but if you see it like that then know I don’t agree with that philosophy. there are external factors that can contribute to any addiction and shaming someone for being addicted to anything is just straight up asshole behavior.

    • Brickardo@feddit.nl
      3·
      3 months ago

      The previous time I saw this book mentioned, it was downvoted to oblivion (in Lemmy of all places, where you’d expect people to be better than that).

      If anyone is double thinking of reading it in case your comment gets downvoted as well, please do read it. Pay no mind to the coomer hive mind, because your life is about to improve massively from the very first page.