Negative Effects Of Pornography On The Brain

Pornography, Affect On Brain, Negative, and Addiction

Pornography’s Negative And Addictive Affect On The Brain

Jon Caplan

Mass College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

According to a news article published by Fox News and written by Tia Ghose, Playboy magazine, an adult magazine offering pornographic images of ladies, will no longer be including pictures of naked women in their publications. Though the decision was made mostly due to the uprise in Internet pornography providing an easier, more affordable, greater variety of experiences, it may also have been impacted by recent scientific evidence. Ghose reports that there is evidence that shows pornography has negative impacts on the brain: “Porn may also literally shrink the brain,

It serves as a method of reproduction and it can also be pleasurable. In fact, the human brain is programed to see sex as a necessity of life: “Along with eating, drinking and sleeping, sex is one of the most fundamental human drives. That means it activates ancient parts of the brain such as the limbic system, which also controls basic emotions such as fear and anger, said Joseph J. Plaud, a private, clinical forensic psychologist in Boston, Massachusetts, who has studied the effects of pornography” (Ghose, 2014). Sex has evolved throughout the years, and it can even be somewhat addictive, especially in the modern

In the process of trying to prove that pornography is detrimental to the brain, what has been found is that pornography and sex are addictive. One study asks, “Would the findings seen in eating addiction be seen in excessive sexual behavior? … It concludes for the first time that a sexual compulsion can cause physical, anatomic change in the brain, the hallmark of brain addiction. A preliminary study showed frontal dysfunction specifically in patients unable to control their sexual behavior. [ 16 ] This study used diffusion MRI to evaluate function of nerve transmission through white matter. It demonstrated abnormality in the superior frontal region, an area associated with compulsivity” (Hilton et al.,