BY PATRICK J. CARNES

erotic homogenization

Pornographers capture, invade and exploit the minds, attitudes and behavior of others through the vehicle of pornography.

pornography use - hobby or habit, dependence or addiction?

Clinical psychologist Dr. Gary Brooks has identified five principal symptoms of a "pervasive disorder" linked to consumption of even soft-core pornography like Playboy or Penthouse: (1)

VOYEURISM - An obsession with visual stimulation trivializes all other mature features of a healthy psychological relationship;

OBJECTIFICATION - An attitude where women are rated by size, shape and harmony of body parts;

VALIDATION - Men who never come close to sex with their dream woman feel cheated or unmanly;

TROPHYISM - Women become the property of the man as a symbol of accomplishment and worthiness; and, importantly,

FEAR OF TRUE INTIMACY - Preoccupation with sexuality handicaps the capacity for emotional or non-sexual intimacy.

For some men, however, Dr. Victor Cline, clinical psychologist at the University of Utah, identified four stages of viewing pornography following initial exposure are: (2)

ADDICTION - The desire and need to keep coming back for pornographic images;

ESCALATION - The need for more explicit, rougher, and more deviant images for the same sexual effect;

DESENSITIZATION - Material once viewed as shocking or taboo is seen as acceptable or commonplace; and

ACTING OUT - The tendency to perform the behaviors viewed, including exhibitionism, sadistic/masochistic sex, group sex, rape, or sex with minor children.

Dr. Cline said that pornography "is the gateway drug to sexual addiction." (3)

In a study of 932 sex addicts, by Dr. Patrick Carnes, 90% of the men and 77% of the women indicated that pornography played a significant role in their addiction. (4)

(1) Brooks, G. R. ( ). The Centerfold Syndrome.
(2) Cline, V. (1988). Pornography effects: Empirical and clinical evidence. University of Utah Department of Psychology.
(3) Ibid.
(4) Carnes, P. (1991). Don't call it love: Recovery from sexual addictions. New York: Bantam.

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- In the Shadows of the Net, by Patrick J. Carnes, PhD

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