“Porn is a Social Problem” - A very interesting Norwegian article written by a Norwegian student at Norwegian University of Science and Technology was recently posted as an opinion/debate article. I thought it would be great to share it in english for my NoFap brothers and sisters
Source: https://www.vg.no/nyheter/meninger/i/bK2oM5/porno-er-et-samfunnsproblem
IN ENGLISH: Porn is a social problem
How many boys must go on Viagra before we dare to talk about porn as a public health issue?
Perhaps you’ve never googled “porn” and feel a distaste tearing up in your throat just at the thought of what you would meet. Perhaps you are one of those who regularly visits some of the world’s most visited sites, namely porn sites. I hope that the points that follow here may be a point of thought for both of you. Pornography is no longer just a more or less disguised body in a weekly magazine hidden in the nightstand drawer of your friend’s father. Pornography is the driving force behind trafficking in human beings. It fronts sexual exploitation of women and teaches that “no” really means “yes.” It destroys marriage and breaks down relationships. In addition, pornography helps to define children and young people’s views on sexuality. In Norway. Today. Yes, our children and young people. Children and young people who through the smartphone in their own pocket have access to the world’s pornography on the market; and this at an age when the brain is more inclined to permanent change than later in life. Pornography is no longer just a private matter. Pornography is a society trend, but it has also become a social problem that we must take seriously. So what about talking about it?
According to Ane Stø, Head of Stop Porn Culture, “porn culture” means that other cultural arenas take over pornography’s view of sexuality. She points to a more sexualized language, the use of nude images on online news sites to generate clicks, pole dancing as a sport for children and the #MeToo-campaign as possible sign of porn culture’s propagation. NRK recently wrote about how “the Pop Culture teaches young people that men always want sex.” Per Arthur Andersen aka “Healthy Brother”, tells about how young men experience a big sex pressure. We live in a porn culture and news story on news matter confirms it. Young girls and boys take over the comment field when one-time themes such as “sex commitment” comes on the pitch. They are calling for the debate. Alexis Lundh is head of Heltfri.net - a media proprietor who works to raise awareness of the harmful effects of pornography. Lundh writes in a blog post about how “the debate about sexualization of youth culture appears in different forums, but that there are very few that go to the core of the problem. Where is the attitude of saying that it is okay to send dickpics or that it is “social capital” by having a “nude” of a girl at school?” Is it really not worth asking if pornography is responsible for more of this than we really dare to believe?
Police Officer Kari-Janne Lid, is concerned about more extreme sex among youths, as well as sharing movies and pictures of having sex. She says she has increasingly “wondered if porn is so available and that many are exposed to porn already when they are 8-9 years old.” She sees links between cases reported for rape and so-called “pornosex”. Police investigator Eirik Husby Sæther can also testify that more and more abuse cases are inspired by porn. “In a typical case, a girl in the late teens explains that a boy has been very rough with her. That she has said no, he perceives only as a game”, says Sæther.
Research shows that pornography has major adverse effects. We must seriously take care on what neurology tells us. Consuming pornography, while masturbating, causes dopamine to be excreted in the lymphatic center of the brain as part of the brain’s reward system. Excessive stimuli make the center less sensitive. In the long term, the consumer will have a constant need for dopamine, in the form of pornography, to feel normal - also called addiction. At worst, it may lead to “porn impotence”, which in short triggers that much pornography = declining power with a partner. In January, NRK reported that the number of boys in the age group 15-19 years receiving prescription drugs has doubled over the past ten years. “Healthy brother” draws on how it is expected that the boys should be dominant and have an erection through a 45-minute act. “Maybe that’s why more and more boys use Viagra?” He says. In Utah and Florida pornography has been categorized as a public health issue, maybe it’s time that Norway looks at what harm the pornography may have?
How can we take seriously what the pornography does with us and those we are happy with? I think we need more knowledge in the field and that further research becomes crucial. I also think that a good start is to talk about it. Take it up in the family. Go home and have a chat with your spouse. Sit down with your children and be curious. “If you’re so naive that you think they’re not searching for nude pictures, then you’ll have to think again,” says “Healthy Brother.”
I want to end this way Jeanette Kalmar Frøvik opened the conference “Pornoprat 2018”: “The upcoming generation of children and young people deserves that adults take action to focus on this, talk about it and work on it!”