Pornography is detrimental to society.

To highlight the negative effects of porn on society I will discuss the influence that porn has on an individual, relationships, and upon society as a whole. Drugs are one of the greatest evils of society. Speed, cocaine, Marijuana, LSD " you name it, these drugs are all harmful and detrimental to society. However, there is one drug that often slips under the radar and this is a far more accessible and a far more affordable drug. This is a drug which is consumed by many in large quantities. And it is addictive, turning healthy people into junkies looking for a fix. This is a drug which doesn"t discriminate. It has corrupted the minds of our youth and it has ruined the lives of our elders. This is drug is none other than pornography. Some of you may be surprised at me referring to porn as a drug, but once the effects of porn on the brain are realized, it would be unwise to call porn anything other than a drug. I am going to take a more scientific approach to this controversial topic, instead of a theological one. I believe that in this day and age more and more people are turning to science to provide the answers rather than an omniscient being and to cater for this group bear with me as I take you on a journey through a typical porn user"s brain. You have to realise, monkeys, humans, and other mammals all have something in their brain called a "reward pathway." Part of the reward pathway"s job is to promote healthy living by rewarding you when you do something that helps you, physically and mentally. The way it rewards you is by pumping chemicals, especially one called "dopamine," through your brain. When a person is aroused by porn, their brain releases a chemical called dopamine that makes them feel pleasure. As the dopamine goes through their brain, it leaves behind a pathway created by a protein called iFosB that connects feeling aroused to looking at porn. Basically dopamine is saying "you know what this feels good; let"s remember how to get back here," and iFosB goes to work building a brain pathway to make it easier for the person to do that again. When this happens with healthy behaviors it is a good thing, but when it happens with unhealthy ones it can lead to trouble. As a frequent porn user"s brain gets used to the new levels of dopamine flooding through it, regular activities that would normally set off a burst of dopamine and make the person feel happy aren"t strong enough to register much anymore, leaving the user feeling down or uneasy whenever they go for a while without looking at porn. That"s one reason why pornography can be so addictive. And to illustrate to you how much dopamine affects the brain it is essential that I tell you of what an experiment that was done with rats. Jim Faust did an experiment with rats where knowing that rats don"t like the smell of death, he decided to put virgin male rats into a cage with a female rat smelling of death. As it turned out, the drive to mate was more powerful than the instinct to avoid the smell, and the rats soon started to have sex. Then Faust put these male rats back into their cages, except this time there was a towel soaked with the chemical smelling of death. The rats associating the soaked towel smelling of death with sex, they began to play with these towels instead of avoiding them. Similarly, when a user watches porn, this dopamine rush makes them associate porn with happiness, and a result they lose any hesitation they might have previously had with watching porn, due to their increased addiction. And please don't say that "so what, they are just harming themselves", which leads me to my next point. Porn also effects relationships and your self esteem. Several studies have found that partners of porn users often report feeling loss, betrayal, mistrust, devastation, and anger when they learn that the other half of their committed relationship has been using porn. Many show physical symptoms of anxiety and depression. Studies have shown that even casual use of porn can cause the user to feel less attracted to their partner. And when a person frequently uses pornography, they"re far more likely to feel less satisfied with their partner"s looks, sexual performance, and willingness to try new sexual acts. Why all the sudden disappointment with one"s partner? It"s due to the fact that porn promotes a completely fictional version of how people look and behave and makes it look like an exciting reality"one that their partners often feel they can never live up to. Finally, the effects of porn upon the world shows us why it has to be taken care of. Porn has not only influenced the net, it has also influenced film and tv. Between 1998 and 2005, sex scenes in these films doubled. As society becomes more hedonistic and infatuated with porn, then there is a good chance that society will become more violent and attitudes towards women will change for the worse. People who view pornography are more likely to support violence against women and to think that women enjoy being raped. Porn objectifies women and it allows men to judge them based on their physical appearance. This alone should be enough for us to get rid of pornography. One should never be judged by their looks, be it man or woman, but rather be judged by their character and personality. Porn is the complete opposite. Further on, the world of porn is not what the porn industry makes it out to be. It is not all legal and innocent. The porn industry is not a place where everyone is going to be treated with respect or fairness. In fact, the porn industry is riddled with diseases, drugs, rape, slavery, and death. It is a bad place for anyone to be, and whenever one of us watches pornography we aren"t exactly doing something to bring about good, everlasting change. NOTE: most of this information comes from fightthenewdrug.org, a site which brings to light the detrimental effects of pornography. Please take a look around the site. The citations will be listed under the appropriate heading on the site.