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Chey DAngelo

Mr. Wilson

ECON-2010

July 17, 2016

Effects of Pornography On Human Relations

Pictures fly across the screen. You are paying 90% attention to them and 10% attention to

the sounds of the footsteps walking up and down the hall, not wanting to get caught. The door

swings open, but you are too engrossed in the content to realize that your wife just walked into

the dark room and saw what was playing. Next thing you know, you hear a loud gasp, followed

by crying. You turn around and realize that your life is about to come crashing down. The little

secret that you have had for the past year has just been unveiled. The reason that you spend less

time with your children, why your physical and emotional relationship with your wife has taken

a huge hit, and why your productivity at work has plummeted. Youre not sure why youve kept

your pornography addiction a secret for so long, but you just know that you dont want people to

know, even your wife. What is so wrong with it? Youre not cheating. They are just people that

you will never meet. But life as you know it is over. This secret addiction that many people

across the globe deal with, not only effects them, but it also affects their loved ones. Without you

even noticing, pornography crept in and destroyed your life. Adult movies and the adult industry,

in general, is one of the largest in the world. Because of it growing in size, the amount of people

being mentally effected by porn is also increasing. Both of these play a huge role in the world-

wide human trafficking problem. Porn isnt just something that look at in your free time, but it is

a world epidemic.
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The adult industry has always been a large industry in the world. No matter where you

are, Provo, Las Vegas, or Beijing you can find a store or a channel. With every technological

advancement, the industry expands and becomes even more of a problem. It used to be that you

would have to go to the store and buy a PlayBoy. Now, any child or person can get on their

phone and type in anything they want, and it is available in an instant. Jonathan Coopersmith

said that, The pornography industry has helped advance technology..The people that have

addictions and need the latest and greatest are willing to spend the big money on the newest in

the tech world, which leads to the funding of products being affordable and available to the

general public.. Pornography is available, even when you dont want it. I was at work last week,

as a consumer loan officer. I was trying to look something up for my boss, and I typed Google

into my web browser incorrectly. Now, at my place of work, you have to be extremely

professional, so our HR department was very strict controls on our computer. If we look up or

use a word that they do not like, they will contact our boss. When I incorrectly typed in Google,

it brought up a blocked site. It ended up being an adult site. If there had not been a block on this

sight, pornography would have pulled up on my work computer, and I would have inevitably

been fired. I do not think porn is okay in any setting. I strongly believe that it destroys lives, and

have seen that personally in loved ones lives. Even though I wasnt looking, it was available to

me. Often, this can start a persons addiction. Maybe you werent looking, but it came up, you

became interested, and you couldnt stop. Your brain saw one image, and craved an endless

amount more.

Porn effects every aspect of the brain. It effects the dopamine levels and how you

perceive pleasure. But repeatedly causing this surge in dopamine by regularly watching

pornography means the brain become desensitized to its effects, stated by Madlen Davies
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(2015). Like alcohol, meth, or any other drug, once the brain gets a taste, it craves it. You might

not think that you even like it, but your brain wants more and more, because it thinks of it as

pleasure. Over time, porn dulls the human response to actual sexual activity and stimulation.

You might have started to watch pornography either for or with your partner to be better in

bed, but in all actuality, it is effecting how you can love them and how you can internalize their

love towards you. What you see on the screen is an act. Its not what happens in real life. But,

because you watch it often enough, your brain now believes that you can treat people in that

nature, and they will do those things for you. Although that is a large part of how pornography

effects the body, its not the only way, and it doesnt mean that it is direct.

When most people think porn, they are either against it, or they are okay with it. No

matter what side of the spectrum you are on, you may not be aware of the darker side of porn.

Porn isnt just willing individuals, it also involves sex trafficking and rape of innocent men and

women from around the world. One of my younger extended-family members accidentally got

caught up in porn. One day he was on his iPhone, in his room, watching Youtube videos. He had

a friend send him a video. Two years after this link was sent, our uncle caught him touching

one of his daughters. With just one link, my cousin went from an innocent 14 year-old boy, to a

16 year old getting hauled off to juvenile detention for 6 months and probation for another 3

months for raping multiple people. Because of an innocent mistake that millions make a year, he

cant be around his siblings, and his family went through agonizing pain. Since the techno-

logical advances that have in-turn helped the porn industry grow as a whole, there needs to be

more videos and images being produced and sent out at a faster rate. According to Catherine

Mackinon, a Harvard Law professor, And in a very literal way, pornography is advertising for

trafficking, not just in general but also in the sense that traffickers and pimps use pornographic
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images of victims as specific advertising for their products. Why does the world view human

trafficking and rape as a terrible act, but turn around and watch porn, almost as a recreational

activity? Some of these woman and children who have been taken from their homes and off the

street, are taken to facilities and, in return for sexual acts, are allowed to live slightly longer than

they would usually be allowed to. These people are raped, beaten, and often times killed. Why?

Just for the money that comes from the industry, with no regard to human life.

No matter how you put it, there is a cost to pornography. Your secret that you might not

find a huge issue, is effecting every part of your life. With the advancement of technology, along

came multiple pieces of technology in most peoples homes. It is easier now than ever to get your

hands on pornography, even if you arent looking. Because there is such a large amount that you

can get ahold of, the brain is becoming addicted, and changing how you feel towards people,

without your knowledge. People are valuing actual sexual relations lower and lower, and putting

these fake, edited, staged images and films on a pedestal. Porn isnt just effecting how your

brain functions, but it is effecting other humans well-beings. Human trafficking has increased to

fill the needs and desires of porn producers and consumers. The next time you turn on your

phone or open your laptop to get your porn fix for the day, dont think that its just a secret, as

it is effecting those all over the globe, and your loved ones inside your home.
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Bibliography

Doidge, Norman. "Brain Scans of Porn Addicts." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 26
Sept. 2013. Web. 16 Sept. 2016.

Davies, Madlen. "Revealed... How Watching Porn Really Affects Your BRAIN." Mail Online.
Associated Newspapers, 14 Aug. 2015. Web. 16 Sept. 2016.

Borelli, Lizette. "This Is Your Brain On Porn." Medical Daily. N.p., 12 Aug. 2015. Web. 15 Sept.
2016.

"The Connections Between Pornography and Sex Trafficking." Covenant Eyes. N.p., 07 Sept.
2011. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.

"3 Reasons Why Watching Porn Is Harmful." Fight the New Drug. N.p., 16 Oct. 2015. Web. 13
July 2016.

Coopersmith, Jonathan. Pornography, Technology, and Progress. Vol. 4. N.p.: International

Committee for The History of Technology, 1998. Web. 13 July 2016.