The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain
- By: William M. Struthers, Ph.D
SYNOPSIS
Pornography is a powerful force that has become increasingly
widespread in Western culture since the advent of the Internet. As the
culture has been “pornified,” the ways in which men, women, and sexual
attitudes and expectations have been affected are of considerable
concern. While pornography is influencing and shaping assumptions about
identity, sexuality, the value of women, and the nature of
relationships, little discussion has focused on the neurobiological
aspects of its allure, addictive properties, and long-lasting effects.
Perhaps the appeal of pornography to so many is because it activates a
part of our brain that is specifically organized to look for sexual
cues. What if pornography merely hijacks a part of our nature that is
intended for something better? What if our sexual drive and our
neurological nature are wired for intimacy and not just sensuality? In
this article, we examine how pornography affects the brain—its hormonal,
neurochemical, and neurological consequences that play a role in
developing attachments. In addition, by highlighting the sensitivity
that many men have to be drawn into pornography, focusing on the male
brain’s inherent predisposition toward sexually explicit imagery
provides a window into our embodied, created, sexual nature that goes
beyond simple reproductive biology. Because we are embodied beings, the
impact of viewing pornography hijacks the normal functioning of the
brain and the maladaptive patterns we adopt have profound psychological
and behavioral effects. It affects not only how we form memories and
make attachments but also how we understand sexuality and how we view
each other. By grasping the neurobiological realities of our sexual
development, we are better able to cultivate a healthy notion of
relationships.
In a 2010 interview with Playboy Magazine, Grammy
Award-winning musician John Mayer garnered a great deal of attention for
his thoughts on former girlfriends (including Jennifer Aniston and
Jessica Simpson), racist comments, and altogether boorish behavior. What
went under the radar, however, were some revealing comments about his
experiences with pornography. In a startling series of quotes, he gave
his impressions about how the availability and access to porn may be
affecting our expectations of sexuality and sexual intimacy.
Pornography? It’s a new synaptic pathway. You wake up in the morning, open a thumbnail page, and it leads to a Pandora’s Box of visuals. There have probably been days when I saw 300 [women] before I got out of bed….Internet pornography has absolutely changed my generation’s expectations.…You’re looking for the one photo out of 100 you swear is going to be the one you finish to, and you still don’t finish. Twenty seconds ago you thought that photo was the hottest thing you ever saw, but you throw it back…How does that not affect the psychology of having a relationship with somebody? It’s got to.1
The on-demand availability of robust sexual stimuli presents a unique
problem for developing and maintaining a healthy sexuality. The ease of
access, variety of images, and the vigorous sensory constitution of
this media go beyond the strength of mental imagery and fantasy. People
can see whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. In
doing so they can generate, serve, and satisfy their sensual nature.
Pornography creates a world today where the consumer (usually men) has
the ability to bring up at their whim graphic (and sometimes
interactive) depictions of nudity and sexual encounters. Women are
perpetually available for their pleasure with minimal immediate
consequences. People become disposable.2
Debating the pros and cons of pornography takes place in our
legislatures, in our pulpits, on news television, and on numerous
websites and blogs. While there are voices on every side of the
conversation—liberals and conservatives, atheists and theologians,
feminists, First Amendment advocates, and sociologists—a critical voice
is being left out. As a brain researcher, I believe it is essential that
an understanding of how pornography affects the brain should be
included in this discourse. By gaining a better understanding of how
sexually explicit material is processed and how it influences brain
development, we can begin to understand its effects on our understanding
of sexuality, what harm it might lead to, and how our framework of
sexuality is evaluated.
In the Christian worldview, sexuality holds a privileged place in
human relationships. Sexuality maintains both a sacred and a moral
dimension in human life (Gen. 2:22–25). At face value our sexuality is
the most obvious aspect of our embodied nature; it is the biological
manifestation of our life-giving, procreative nature and evident in our
reproductive organs.
But if we understand sexuality as only a matter of biological
reproduction (making babies), we miss a significant part of the story.
Human sexuality is also about intimacy. In our culture, however, the
term intimacy is often used to be synonymous with sexual intercourse. So
as individuals feel the need for intimacy, it is not uncommon for them
to think that sexual activity is the only “real” form of intimacy.
It is here more than anywhere else that pornography takes human
sexuality out of its intended purpose—the establishing and deepening of
intimacy between two human beings—and makes it a product to be consumed.
Human beings become objects of consumption rather than individuals
requiring dignity and in this process those involved in its production
and its consumption are harmed. This harm is not only sociological and
psychological, but also spiritual. The product, another human being’s
nakedness or intimate moments, is consumed for another’s benefit.
Searching for a video, magazine, or website that has just the ideal
effect (evidenced in the John Mayer quote earlier) offers the promise of
euphoria and connection. It has the potential to become a fixation, a
compulsion akin to chasing the ever-elusive pot of gold at the end of
the rainbow. The pornographic selection may be consumed once,
occasionally, or on an ongoing basis, for as often as you would like.
Whenever it fails to meet your standards for beauty or excitement,
whenever it fails to stimulate your fantasy, or if you just become bored
with the images, the people within are disposed of. Free from the need
to recycle or acknowledge that real human beings were exploited, the law
of supply and demand drives what the market will bear.
The need for human intimacy is ongoing. Like food or water, intimacy
is not met once and forevermore fulfilled. The desire for ongoing,
deepening intimacy is in our nature, it is part of being made in the
relational image of God. Intimacy is what drives us to know and to be
known. It pushes us forward through life and is at the heart of our
relational nature; it is part of our design—our wiring.
If we understand sexuality as being first about intimacy, then
viewing pornography becomes a voyeuristic invasion of the sacred space
of another. Instead of being life-giving, it becomes destructive for the
viewer as well as the one involved in its production. It provides a
false, or counterfeit, way of feeding the need for intimacy. On a
cultural and social level, men and women are portrayed as objects for
our consumption. The undeniable message here is that people are pieces
of meat for our consuming pleasure and entertainment. If that is how the
brain is being forced to respond to these images, the objectification
and commoditization of people will seep into other parts of the viewer’s
mind. It will affect the way he views people when he is not watching
porn. The regular consumer of porn will begin to find that he fantasizes
throughout the day about sex. Each woman he sees will be seen through a
pornographic lens. People become an object of consumption or a
competitor against whom they compare themselves.3 They will
be evaluated as to their stimulating ability. It should come as no
surprise that that these consequences can destroy a marriage, family,
ministry, or career. While it offers the promise of intimacy and
connection, pornography only delivers isolation, disconnectedness, and
depravity.
The human body consumes and digests food. In a similar way, we can
think about the brain as a consumer of stimuli and information. When we
eat, food is broken down by the digestive system and used to supply the
body with the energy it needs to survive and thrive. Once it has been
fully digested, whatever that is unusable (waste) is excreted. This
helps to ensure the healthy functioning of the organism. If we take this
analogy and extend it to the brain, the brain’s job is to consume and
digest information. This information is taken in through the eyes and
other senses and digested and stored with meaning and memories. Anything
that might have strong emotional content or is highlighted as being
important information is stored and used later. The brain doesn’t always
get to decide what it wants to keep and what it doesn’t. Sexual images
are inherently powerful and have emotional content. As such, pornography
forces itself on the brain. Whether one consents or not, pornography
becomes a part of the fabric of the mind.
In academic circles the working models of understanding how
pornography affects people often focus on sexual attitudes and
behaviors, with a special emphasis on social harm. This would include
acceptance of rape myths, the prevalence and intensity of sexist
attitudes, emotional insensitivity in sexual settings, and a variety of
influences on sexual offenses.4 The majority of this research
has been broadly psychological, looking at scores on tests and
screening tools, but more recently brain researchers have the ability to
look into the brain while someone is viewing pornographic materials and
see what effects it has on its activity.
SEDUCTION OF THE BRAIN
There are few people today who would deny that the brain is the
primary organ of psychological experience. While we can debate the place
of the soul, the brain’s involvement in how we live and have our being
is undeniable. The brain is constantly changing in response to what it
is being given to process. The things that we see, smell, hear, taste,
touch, and experience throughout our day affect it and modify it. The
brain’s ability to be modified—to learn—helps us process information and
integrate these experiences with our memories in order to choose
appropriate responses. The brain integrates what it is being fed into
memories, making sense of the world, and developing our sense of self.
If the brain is being fed Scripture, it should come as no surprise that
it sees the world through the lens of Scripture. If it is being fed
images of political conspiracies or violent sexuality, it should not
come as any surprise that it begins to see the world through a filter of
politics, depravity, or sensuality. For some, this view of the brain’s
role is a relief; it helps them understand depression, anxiety, or
addiction as a wiring problem. It is a fundamental part of how they are
put together and can be extraordinarily helpful in understanding why
they struggle. For others that knowledge leads to a fatalist view, or a
“my-brain-made-me-do-it” defense, when they sin or act out. Because the
human brain is the biological anchor of our psychological experience, it
is helpful to understand how it operates. Knowing how it is wired
together and where it is sensitive can help us understand why
pornography affects people the way it does. The plasticity of the
beautiful, complex brain can be a blessing or a curse. While the brain
is malleable, it typically follows a set of rules in performing its
functions. These rules govern how connections are made, how images are
processed, how behaviors are executed, and how emotions are triggered.
It is here in some of these circuits that pornography seems to be
exploiting one of the brain’s Achilles’ heels: the naked human form.
There are few things in the world that can grab someone’s attention
like the naked human body, and fewer still than naked bodies engaged in
an intimate sexual act. One need look no further than prime time
television, DVD sales, and the most frequently viewed websites to see
that a great amount of time, energy, and resources take advantage of
this fact of life. Sexuality and nakedness are used to entice us to
watch, to buy, to follow, and to arouse us to any number of other
actions. Our sexual nature provides a powerful impulse that tends to
drive us. While it is true that not everyone who looks at sexually
explicit images develops addictive or compulsive patterns of consumption
and acting out, it is important to note that these images of nakedness
and sexuality tap into a reflexive arousal response in many men, which
can lead to devastating outcomes.
From time to time, brain scientists confirm something that we seem to
know intuitively. The question, “Do men like looking at porn?” would
seem to be one that common sense and straightforward observation would
be sufficient to answer. If, however, one felt the need to actually prove it
with brain imaging technology such as a multimillion dollar fMRI
machine, then one can rest assured that there is actual scientific data
to make this claim. In a small number of studies where people have had
their brains imaged while viewing sexually explicit material, the
effects on sexual response have been observed, resulting in several
interesting findings.
PORN ON THE BRAIN
It should come as no surprise that the majority of pornography
viewers are men. And while it is true that women also notice sexual cues
in their environment, there seems to be a sensitivity to pornography
that many men have built into their neurological wiring. The male brain
seems to be built in such a way that visual cues that have sexual
relevance (e.g., the naked female form, solicitous facial expressions)
have a hypnotic effect on him. When these cues are detected, they
trigger a cascade of neurological, chemical, and hormonal events.5
In some ways they are like the “hit” of a drug—there is a rush of
sexual arousal and energy that accompanies it. How a man learns to deal
with this energy and to form an appropriate response to it is part of
becoming a mature adult. The psychological, behavioral, and emotional
habits that form our sexual character will be based on the decisions we
make. Whenever the sequence of arousal and response is activated, it
forms a neurological memory that will influence future processing and
response to sexual cues. As this pathway becomes activated and traveled,
it becomes a preferred route—a mental journey—that is regularly trod.
The consequences of this are far-reaching.6
Another relevant finding by those who are conducting brain research is in the area of what are being called mirror neurons.
These neurons make up a circuit located in the frontal and parietal
lobes (the region near the top of your head). These neurons are involved
with the process for how to mimic a behavior. They contain a motor
system that correlates to the planning out of a behavior. Consider this
example: if you see someone grab a hammer and pound it, the same part of
your brain that you would use to actually pound a hammer would also be
activated. Other brain regions may hold that behavior in check, but you
now have primed a neural circuit to hammer a nail. These neurons were
originally called “monkey see, monkey do” neurons (they were first
discovered in monkeys), and constitute the way we neurologically learn
by observing others. Whenever we see a behavior, there is a silent echo;
a neurological mirror of ourselves doing that behavior resides in the
brain. This is a wonderful thing as we can learn by watching others, but
it can also have negative effects, especially with respect to
pornography.7
These mirror neurons are involved when someone views pornography
because what they view, they vicariously experience and learn from. As
men watch the sexually charged scene onscreen, they vicariously “mirror”
this, which triggers sexual arousal.8 This mirror neuron
system triggers the arousal, which leads to sexual tension and a need
for an outlet. The unfortunate reality is that when he acts out (often
by masturbating), this leads to hormonal and neurological consequences,
which are designed to bind him to the object he is focusing on. In God’s
plan, this would be his wife, but for many men it is an image on a
screen. Pornography thus enslaves the viewer to an image, hijacking the
biological response intended to bond a man to his wife and therefore
inevitably loosening that bond.
But it would be wrong to think of viewing pornography as just a
simple circuit board. The human brain is not like a computer; it has a
chemical soup in which it operates and functions. There are hormones and
brain chemicals (known as neurotransmitters), which provide the
chemical medium for brain activity. Viewing pornography does not just
activate circuits; it generates feelings intended for sexual longing,
desire, love, and romance. It also alters the chemical medium of the
entire body in profound ways. These chemicals include the
neurotransmitters that brain cells use to communicate with each other,
as well as the hormones the body and the brain produce in response to
sexual arousal and sexual activity.
THE BIG FIVE
In men, there are five noteworthy chemicals involved in sexual
arousal and response. Testosterone is the male hormone that seems to
drive sexual interest. It has long been known that castrating animals
(removal of the testes that produce the majority of testosterone in
males) is an effective way to decrease sex drive and castration also
reduces interest in sex in men as well (i.e., eunuchs). Testosterone
seems to be an enabler of sex drive and its production is triggered by
the brain through a hormonal process that can be adjusted throughout the
day in response to what is going on in the environment. When sexual
cues are identified by the brain, a surge of testosterone production is
triggered. This testosterone surge heightens sexual anticipation and
prepares the body for sexual encounters. What is fascinating is that
these cues can be produced by pornography or through sexual fantasizing.
So it’s not just what you see that causes the testosterone surge to
increase sexual interest, it is also what you dwell on that can produce
the surge as well.
A second player in the cavalcade of chemicals is dopamine. Dopamine
is a neurotransmitter that is known to underlie all drugs of addiction.
Dopamine seems to play an important role in helping people identify what
things in their environment are significant. This chemical is going to
be the primary reason why craving occurs. Often dopamine is referred to
as a pleasure chemical. Its levels are increased when we do things that
generally perpetuate our lives and the survival of our species. For
example, satisfying hunger by eating a meal, satisfying thirst by
drinking water, and satisfying the sex drive by engaging in intercourse
all are correlated with heightened dopamine levels. External or internal
sexual cues can trigger the release of dopamine in key brain regions
that are also sensitive to testosterone. The key element to remember
here is that dopamine is directing us toward resolving the tension that
is being produced by the sexual images and anticipation of sexual
release. It provides the rush that men feel when they view pornography.
Another neurotransmitter involved in heightening this rush is
norepinephrine. It has two functions in the development of sexual
addictions. First, norepinephrine is a significant player in promoting
sexual arousal. It is a cousin to adrenaline chemically, and it is
involved in helping the body prepare for sexual activity. In addition to
preparing the body, it also is readying the brain to remember how the
sexual drive is being met. Norepinephrine helps to store the memories of
this event. It should come as no surprise that many men who can’t
remember what they had for breakfast last week can still remember the
image of the first Playboy centerfold that they ever saw.
Norepinephrine serves to help store these memories and get these images
stuck in the brain because, presumably, they were memories that were
important to be stored.
While dopamine and norepinephrine may provide the immediate rush that
men get from viewing porn, the key event in determining whether or not
viewing becomes a habitual pattern is going to be the release of
endogenous opiates produced during sexual release (most notably in
response to orgasm). Many men will report that this experience is
accompanied by feelings of transcendence and euphoria that are known to
be related to the release of endogenous opiates. It has been known for
decades that the brain produces its own opiates that are involved in
pain relief and pleasure. Street drugs such as heroin and medicines such
as morphine can produce feelings of euphoria and reduce pain. This
ability of orgasm to produce euphoria or release from sexual tension is
what provides the psychological reward to the sexual drive. The release
of endogenous opiates during masturbation or sexual activity with a
partner is part of a larger sequence of sexual arousal and response.
Viewing pornography provides the stimuli that help prepare the body for
sexual response. When the viewer sexually acts out, resulting in orgasm,
it gets stored as a behavior that is known to have a significant
payoff. That significant payoff is the release of opiates that provide
the chemical substrate for the psychological experience of orgasm.
While the payoff for orgasm is powerful, it is not an easy thing to
achieve. The highs of orgasm are not available on demand. In the real
world with real people, considerable effort has to go into cultivating a
relationship that may result in a sexual encounter. A great deal of
neurological effort, hormonal preparation, and appropriate behaviors
usually precede this high. Here is where pornography hijacks God’s
intended pattern of sexual attraction, arousal, and response.
Viewing pornography for sexual arousal and using it to produce the
release and euphoria of orgasm provides a merely transient fix to any
number of psychological problems. Whether it is depression, poor
self-esteem, anger, or any other number of things that cause a person to
feel a need for relief or release, pornography becomes part of the
ritual that is used to get a short-term fix. Like eating candy to
satisfy hunger, pornography can feel like a healthy way to satisfy the
drive for intimacy. In truth, it provides no nourishment whatsoever, and
results in a greater degree of need. Even in the absence of acting out,
the images have such a robust, salient character that they are stored
as memories that can produce a warped sense of sexuality and
objectification.
SO NOW WHAT?
How do we avoid falling into despair once we realize that the use of
pornography can produce long-lasting neurological and hormonal effects
on the brain? It is important to remember that the guidelines we are
given in Scripture about how to conduct ourselves sexually are fairly
straightforward.
When we follow these guidelines, we will be more likely to develop
minds that focus on those things that are good and noble, right, and
pure. When we choose not to follow these guidelines and act in a way
that is sexually immoral, we are affected—our thoughts and bodies become
polluted. The same can be said for watching immorality, that is to say,
viewing pornography. It corrupts and pollutes our brains as it attempts
to make sense of humanity’s sexual nature. But if we choose to follow
the guidelines of Scripture, we will find that we are better able to
appreciate the image of God in each person and have a healthy view of
sexuality where we honor one another rather than consume each other.
This is not only a spiritual reality, but also a neurological one.
When a husband and wife restrict themselves to each other, directing
their sexual energies toward one another, they will find that they
occupy each other’s thoughts. They will find that they will be more
closely bound to each other. This is God’s plan for a husband and
wife—that they will image God’s exclusive love for His people as they
exclusively set this part of themselves (their reproductive nature)
aside for one another. For the single person, realizing that needs for
intimacy can be met in ways beyond sexual gratification is an important
process. When someone is deceived into thinking that sexual intimacy
(i.e., sexual intercourse) is a necessary part of living a life worth
living, it comes as no surprise that pornography, masturbation, or
promiscuity become a cycle of unmet needs and unfulfilled promises of
intimacy, love, and connectedness.
These neurological habits of compulsion and depravity were not
established overnight and the expectation is that they will not be
changed overnight. But if we can appreciate that God uses our embodied
nature and the laws that govern it to our benefit and His glory, then we
should also appreciate that God can reveal Himself in a unique way
through our brokenness. In other words, He exhibits both His grace and
power through the process of redemption as we continue to walk with Him
by faith. If we understand that our sexuality need not hinder us as we
pursue sanctification but instead can be harnessed and used to propel us
forward, we then can also see that it plays a critical in our life’s
purpose, which is to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). By
moving beyond the lie of pornography—that people are nothing more than
sexual objects to be consumed—we can appreciate each other as brothers
and sisters in Christ. We can begin to move beyond objectification and
false intimacy to real relationships, which honor the dignity of each
person.
Sexual intimacy is a complex neurochemical, hormonal, and spiritual
event. It is one of the most powerful God-given means by which human
beings form attachments. The question “Who or what are you
bound to?” has to be asked in the arena of sexuality, and it has a
neurobiological answer. There is no such thing as “just looking” at
porn. There can be no doubt that it affects us neurologically in
long-lasting ways. How we choose to exercise that knowledge—for
sanctification or for depravity—is up to each one of us.
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