title seems kinda sensationalized, going off the abstract of the paper they're citing. god knows i can't actually read the goddamn paper, i love academia

there's not really a debate about whether the feeling of shame around being addicted to porn can come from religious circumstances, and i think it therefore makes sense that many people would feel they're "addicted" even when they're not really due to that shame, which seems to be what the paper is about. that doesn't disprove the idea of pornography being addictive, it just links religious shame and feeling like one is addicted together (i assume anyway, again can't read the paper. god i love that you have to get ur info from clickbaity articles rather than research papers themselves, what a good system)

[–] BynarsAreOk@hexbear.net 25 points 5 months ago

I don't think this is correct, read the article quote below it counters your point entirely

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.

[–] dat_math@hexbear.net 20 points 5 months ago

The title is 100% sensationalized. I think the author is conflating a variable's usefulness as a predictor of porn addiction associated behavior with that variable having a causal relationship with porn addiction associated behavior

[–] sewer_rat_420@hexbear.net 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

From my own anecdotal experience, I only "struggled" with porn when I was actively religious. The shame from the religious aspect (I failed god, failed my future wife, my grandma saw me do it from heaven) only worsened my mental state and made me binge for more porn.

I have little to no shame associated with it now since im not really religious anymore and I consume way the fuck less porn overall.

So I see what they are trying to say and yeah, sex work is something that will always exist and no one should feel that shame for indulging in it

[–] TheSpectreOfGay@hexbear.net 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

oh no there for sure is a correlation how i said, it's just not that addiction isn't real for anyone at all because of that correlation existing

[–] sewer_rat_420@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah there definitely is, I don't think my experience is typical of most sex addicts. People have addictions for a variety of reasons or even no reason at all

[–] TheSpectreOfGay@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago

i appreciate you sharing your experience stalin-heart