Albert Mohler highlights the new book by William Struthers Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain:
To no one’s surprise, the vast majority of those who consume pornography are males. It is no trade secret that males are highly stimulated by visual images, whether still or video. That is not a new development, as ancient forms of pornography attest. What is new is all about access. Today’s men and boys are not looking at line pictures drawn on cave walls. They have almost instant access to countless forms of pornography in a myriad of forms.
But, even as technology has brought new avenues for the transmission of pornography, modern knowledge also brings a new understanding of how pornography works in the male brain. While this research does nothing to reduce the moral culpability of males who consume pornography, it does help to explain how the habit becomes so addictive.
As William M. Struthers of Wheaton College explains, “Men seem to be wired in such a way that pornography hijacks the proper functioning of their brains and has a long-lasting effect on their thoughts and lives.”
Struthers is a psychologist with a background in neuroscience and a teaching concentration in the biological bases of human behavior. In Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain, Struthers presents key insights from neuroscience that go a long way toward explaining why pornography is such a temptation for the male mind.
“The simplest explanation for why men view pornography (or solicit prostitutes) is that they are driven to seek out sexual intimacy,” he explains. The urge for sexual intimacy is God-given and essential to the male, he acknowledges, but it is easy misdirected. Men are tempted to seek “a shortcut to sexual pleasure via pornography” and now find this shortcut easily accessed.
In a fallen world, pornography becomes more than a distraction and a distortion of God’s intention for human sexuality. It comes as an addictive poison.
Struthers explains:
Viewing pornography is not an emotionally or physiologically neutral experience. It is fundamentally different from looking at black and white photos of the Lincoln Memorial or taking in a color map of the provinces of Canada. Men are reflexively drawn to the content of pornographic material. As such, pornography has wide-reaching effects to energize a man toward intimacy. It is not a neutral stimulus. It draws us in. Porn is vicarious and voyeuristic at its core, but it is also something more. Porn is a whispered promise. It promises more sex, better sex, endless sex, sex on demand, more intense orgasms, experiences of transcendence.
Pornography “acts as a polydrug,” Struthers explains. As Dr. Patrick Carnes asserts, “it is pathological relationship with a mood-altering experience.” Boredom and curiosity lead many boys and men into experiences that become more like drug addiction than is often admitted.
Please read Mr. Mohlers full blog post Hijacking the Brain — How Pornography Works
I look forward to reading that book. I don’t think I have any personal thoughts to add to the discussion except that I find the whole area of neuroscience and neurobiology fascinating. I also love that Mr. Struthers points to the false promise of porn including “… experiences of transcendence.”
Sexual intimacy is supposed to be the most powerful, meaningful and transcendent experience we have on this earth that is symbolic of a Higher purpose … not an “inner monster.”
It would also be interesting to see studies done on the increasing number of women who are becoming addicted to pornography. Mr. Mohler says that a vast majority of those addicted to porn are men. I think that is true but the number of women addicted, from my unscientific perspective, seems to be rapidly climbing as well.
MORE:
About Randy Thomas
This is a fantastic post. I run a blog on how to quit pornography. Much of what you are saying is covered in my posts.
This is a fantastic post. I run a blog on how to quit pornography. Much of what you are saying is covered in my posts.
Thanks for writing about this book, Randy. I thought it was a good read, personally. Chapter 4 is great. I also had a chance to interview him for our podcast and got some great feedback about it. Take a listen when you get a chance!
Thanks for writing about this book, Randy. I thought it was a good read, personally. Chapter 4 is great. I also had a chance to interview him for our podcast and got some great feedback about it. Take a listen when you get a chance!