“Porn addiction” may be more myth than science – a key argument for those pushing for so-called “age verification” laws.
There has long been a push to implement so-called “age verification” laws in multiple countries. This includes in Canada and the United States. Critics have long pointed out that what entails with these laws is an unprecedented additional level of surveillance for those who access such material in the first place. This while endangering people as less reliable websites offer similar material without demanding to see things like your drivers license. Over top of that, of course, is the constitutional questions surrounding whether or not this violates freedom of expression (spoiler alert: it does.)
Supporters of these laws, meanwhile, push frequently dubious claims for why such laws are necessary. One example would be how without such laws, then children have constant access to such material. There’s obviously no evidence that such laws would change this since it’s more than possible to steal an identity or find a website that isn’t in compliant. This along with the fact that such material is still available through more “traditional” means. Simply put, there’s no evidence to suggest that these laws would even come close to achieving the goal of preventing minors from accessing such material.
Another claim made by supporters is that such websites are easily accessible and that it fosters “porn addiction”. This is sometimes couched with the theory that “porn addiction” is out of control thanks to the internet and that such laws will start bringing those levels of “porn addiction” down.
So, the question then becomes this: is this “porn addiction” even a real thing? As it turns out, science is disputing such claims. New research, which has been highlighted by Psychology Today, reports on a meta analysis across several studies to make the argument that “porn addiction” is not even a real thing in the first place. From Psychology Today:
Though porn addiction is not diagnosable, and never has been, there is a large self-help industry surrounding the concept. Mostly online (though in religious areas, such as Utah, there are numerous in-person treatment sites), this industry promotes the idea that modern access to the Internet, and the porn that thrives there, has led to an epidemic of dysregulated, out-of-control porn use, and significant life problems as a result.
Over recent years, numerous studies have begun to suggest that there is more to the story than just porn. Instead, we’ve had growing hints that the conflicts and struggles over porn use have more to do with morality and religion, rather than pornography itself. I’ve covered this surge of research in numerous posts and articles.
Now, researchers have put a nail in the coffin of porn addiction. Josh Grubbs, Samuel Perry and Joshua Wilt are some of the leading researchers on America’s struggles with porn, having published numerous studies examining the impact of porn use, belief in porn addiction, and the effect of porn on marriages. And Rory Reid is a UCLA researcher who was a leading proponent gathering information about the concept of hypersexual disorder for the DSM-5. These four researchers, all of whom have history of neutrality, if not outright support of the concepts of porn addiction, have conducted a meta-analysis of research on pornography and concluded that porn use does not predict problems with porn, but that religiosity does.
The researchers lay out their argument and theory extremely thoroughly, suggesting that Pornography Problems due to Moral Incongruence (PPMI) appear to be the driving force in many of the people who report dysregulated, uncontrollable, or problematic pornography use. Even though many people who grew up in religious, sexually conservative households have strong negative feelings about pornography, many of those same people continue to use pornography. And then they feel guilty and ashamed of their behavior, and angry at themselves and their desire to watch more.
In their study, Grubbs, et al., analyzed data from about 15 different studies by varied researchers (and reviewed many more), comprising nearly 7,000 different participants. Studies were conducted in-person and online, in the United States and Europe. The team found that, first, religiousness was a strong, clear predictor of moral incongruence regarding porn use. This is important, as it indicates that we can and should use a person’s religiousness as an indicator of the likelihood of moral conflict over porn use. Not all people who are morally opposed to porn are religious, but it appears that religiosity captures the majority of people who feel this way. Given that the WHO and ICD-11 recommend an exclusion of moral conflict over sex from the diagnosis of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder, this finding suggests that when diagnosing CSBD, a person’s religiousness is a critically important factor.
Secondly, and more to the point, the meta-analysis found that “[M]oral incongruence around pornography use is consistently the best predictor of the belief one is experiencing pornography-related problems or dysregulation, and comparisons of aggregate effects reveal that it is consistently a much better predictor than pornography use itself…” The analysis did find small effects between use of pornography and self-perceived problems with pornography, but the researchers suggest that this is likely an artifact of the simple fact that, in order to feel morally conflicted over your use of porn, you actually have to use some porn. If the concept of pornography addiction were true, then porn-related problems would go up, regardless of morality, as porn use goes up. But the researchers didn’t find that. In fact, they cite numerous studies showing that even feeling like you struggle to control your porn use doesn’t actually predict more porn use. What that means is that the people who report great anguish over controlling their porn use aren’t actually using more porn; they just feel worse about it.
Having moral conflict over your porn use (PPMI) does turn out to be bad for you. But that’s not because of the porn. Instead, higher levels of moral conflict over porn use predict higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and diminished sexual well-being, as well as religious and spiritual struggles. In one study by Perry and Whitehead, pornography use predicted depression over a period of six years, but only in men who disapproved of porn use. Continuing to use porn when you believe that it is bad is harmful. Believing that you are addicted to porn and telling yourself that you’re unable to control your porn use hurts your well-being. It’s not the porn, but the unresolved, unexamined moral conflict.
It’s easy to look at all of this and snicker, thinking that this isn’t really something that should be all that impactful, but this is actually rather important research to have on hand when discussing regulation on the internet – especially when it comes to things like age verification laws. Supporters have long pushed the theory that the detrimental impacts on free speech are worth it to stamp out things like “porn addiction”. This research concludes that this is little more than a boogeyman rather than an actual problem facing society. As the author points out, it’s not the existence of pornography itself that ends up being problematic, but rather, the ensuing moral conflicts afterwards.
Simply put, the human body is hardwired seek out pleasure (be it through food or anything else like that). What’s more, reproduction is something the human body is hardwired to seek out. After all, it’s a big reason why humanity exists as a major species on this planet. Without reproduction in the first place, humanity basically goes extinct within 100 years. So, the fact that people are interested in such material is biologically not abnormal. To think that wanting to participate in such activity is somehow abnormal in and of itself is kind of absurd.
The findings here are not all that surprising. For decades, mainstream media have long pushed the long debunked argument that video game addiction is causing many societal issues. This despite the increasing consensus that video game addiction is not actually a major problem in society today. Basically, people are… getting entertained. I know, the shock and horror. Video game addiction is no more a problem than book reading addiction, music listening addiction, or movie watching addiction. How many people out there are running around screaming how book reading addiction will be the end of society of nothing is done about it? It’s a pretty ridiculous notion, isn’t it?
Ultimately, it’s one of a huge list of moral panics being pushed because society has changed in the last 100 years. Part of it may have to do with people who don’t like the internet as a concept and have concluded that the only thing that can be done is to try and demonize anyone who dares do things like use the internet in the first place. For them, technology and change is scary and the only way to fight those demons is to stop people from using such things in the first place. Why else are things like cell phone bans, moral panics about video games, moral panics around the existence of online pornography, or freakouts about social media a thing in the first place?
Ultimately, this is yet another moral panic that has proven to have no real scientific basis. As is the case for video games, the lack of a scientific basis isn’t going to stop those who find themselves on a self-described moral crusade against pornography. Reality was never really an obstacle before, why start allowing science to be a factor now? I fully expect those pushing age verification laws to continue to push the myth that “porn addiction” is a real and present societal threat. It’ll be up to those who are grounded in reality to point to the science and point out that they are full of it – repeatedly.
