Pornography's Dark Allure
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February 1, 2016Pornography has never been so rampant or accessible.
Whereas in years past someone had to go to an “adult” movie theater or rent a video, now pornography is one internet search away on a laptop or smart phone.
Since the beginning of 2015, there have been more than two billion online searches for pornography – which explains how the porn industry nets $97 billion worldwide every year. Studies show that elementary school-aged children are increasingly being exposed to explicit and disturbingly violent sexual content.
“It’s clear that pornography is becoming a public health crisis,” said Ryan Foley, Vice President of Business Development for Covenant Eyes, an internet filtering and accountability software company.
Ryan Foley, Vice President of Business Development for Covenant Eyes
Dangerous Appeal
Foley, a member of Legatus’ Atlanta Chapter, noted several studies that show how porn objectifies women, bolsters sex trafficking, erodes a healthy sense of sexuality, undermines marriages and alters brain chemistry, leading to addictions in the same manner as drugs and alcohol.
“Porn is alluring,” Foley said. “It plays to our fallen nature. It thrives because it’s anonymous, and that’s where sin prevails — in anonymous, hidden dark places. We need essentially to bring light to that, and how you bring light is accountability.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken note of the problem. On Nov. 17, the bishops’ conference released a formal statement, “Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography,” that provides an overview of the issue and catechesis on human sexuality and chastity.
The bishops hope their statement will help people understand that porn has devastating consequences for marriage and family. But even while calling pornography a “structure of sin,” the bishops want people to know — especially those struggling with porn addiction — that there is hope in God’s mercy, forgiveness and healing.
Bishop Richard Malone
“Even as we talk about the dangers and sinfulness of pornography’s use and production, we’re trying to say, ‘You don’t have to remain captive to this,’” said Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, N.Y.
Bishop Malone, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family and Youth, said it’s accurate to call pornography an epidemic because of how widespread and accessible it is. He said using porn is an offense against chastity and human dignity, divorcing sexuality from love and the covenant of marriage.
Bishop Malone noted Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body’s teachings on the spousal meaning of the human body in its masculinity and femininity. Whereas John Paul stressed self-giving and total, committed love, pornography communicates selfishness and objectification.
“The whole point of chastity is all about integrating sexuality into who we are,” Bishop Malone said. “The use of pornography disintegrates the person; it doesn’t integrate.”
Dealing with addiction
Father Sean Kilcawley, a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., who serves as a theological advisor to the Integrity Restored apostolate, said sexual impurity and pornography obfuscates people’s spiritual vision. He also noted how porn has become normalized in society and permeates the culture, often turning up on billboards, commercials and as conversational items in television shows.
Fr. Sean Kilcawley
“If we want to be an evangelizing church, then the necessary first step is to remove pornography from our lives,” said Fr. Kilcawley, who runs support groups for men struggling with pornography; wives are included. Such support groups and counseling are often necessary because, Fr. Kilcawley explained, going to the sacrament of Reconciliation is usually not enough by itself to dislodge a porn habit.
“Men in those groups find a community that can support them while they’re trying to break free of pornography,” he said. “Being in a group can also help supply the kind of deep intimacy and friendship that they’re longing for.”
Matt Fradd, founder and executive director of the Porn Effect and Integrity Restored apostolates, believes that straightforward honesty about porn’s attraction is important to help the user break free of its snares.
“Porn is exciting. It feels good. We’re sexual beings. Our sexual drive is a profound motivating part of us,” said Fradd, who added that while pornography promises excitement, it always leaves its consumers empty and wanting more.
“The porn user needs to keep finding more and more shocking and perverse content in order for him or her to reach the same high,” Fradd said. “Instead of intimacy, we end up feeling more isolated. Instead of freedom, one often has the experience of feeling enslaved, addicted and out of control.”
Deeper Intervention
An increasing number of scientific studies are showing that viewing pornography, usually combined with masturbation, impacts the brain’s reward pathways and has a similar effect on an addict’s brain as cocaine or alcohol. After using porn, the user craves more and eventually seeks out extreme and violent forms of porn to achieve the same high.
Matt Fradd
For those reasons, Fradd said, deeper intervention is necessary to help the porn user overcome the habit. “We do want to give spiritual answers, but it’s not enough,” he said. “That’s analogous to saying to somebody exhibiting signs of clinical depression, ‘Have you tried praying more or meditating on the Joyful Mysteries?’ That’s great. We should say that, but that’s not enough.”
In addition to prayer, Fradd said porn addicts need accountability, patient perseverance and counseling to overcome the addiction. Educating oneself about porn’s impacts — especially how it can lead to sexual dysfunction and impotence — can also be a motivating factor to seek healing.
“Some things can only be healed by the antiseptic light of truth,” Fradd said. “It can be a very painful experience when a man or woman admits what they’ve been doing. It can be very shameful, but if we choose not to reveal that to someone, it’s very rare, if not impossible, that the wound begins to heal. It almost always festers and grows worse.”
Foley also added that accountability is critical, and said that there are a growing number of resources — including Covenant Eyes — that filter sexually explicit online content and generate reports of someone’s Internet activity for an accountability partner to monitor.
Parents especially need to monitor their children’s online activity, he said, and have straightforward, age-appropriate discussions with them about porn and its dangers.
“There are more resources now where parents can really understand how this is a distortion of how God made us, of what our bodies are for, and sexuality in our lives,” Foley said. “We have to be prepared to discuss this and not be ashamed.”
BRIAN FRAGA is a Legatus magazine staff writer.
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