Pornography causes addiction, problems

Advice. It's cheap and plentiful. Unfortunately, a lot of it is bad. \nI hope most readers realized Matt Csanyi's Nov. 20 advice that "pornography is fun for all" is among the worst ever given. The columnist reached his positive conclusion about pornography by renting a porn movie. \nThis is college. Assertions should be based on research. So I did some research on the effects of porn. Here are four reasons why pornography is anything but good: \n•Pornography and rape: Psychologist E. Donnerstein of the University of Wisconsin found that male viewers of porn tend to be more aggressive toward women, less responsive to the pain and suffering of rape victims and more willing to accept various myths about rape. Researcher Victor Cline of the University of Utah documented how some men can become addicted to porn, begin to desire more explicit material, and end up acting out what they have seen.\n• Pornography distorts how we see each other, turning men and women into sex objects to use and discard. Things such as character, personality, kindness, compassion, generosity -- traits that will last long after breasts sag and wrinkles set in -- are pushed aside. It teaches us shallow values and cheapens the human soul. Who among us has the perfect body? Who here wants to be valued for their body alone? "Pornography, like rape, is … designed to dehumanize women," writes Susan Brownmiller in "Against our will."\n• Pornography is damaging to relationships. It "reduced sexual satisfaction with his/her affection … reduced satisfaction with the respondants' present intimate relationship … [E]xposure to pornography diminishes the importance of faithfulness…," write D. Zillman and J. Bryant in "Pornography's Impact on Sexual Satisfaction" in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. Feminist author Diana Russell in "Rape and Marriage" says she's found porn leads men and women to experience conflict, suffering and sexual dissatisfaction.\n• Studies show porn is progressive and addictive for many. It often leads to the user acting out his fantasy -- often on children, states Victor Cline in his "Pornography effects: Empirical and clinical evidence." For some, porn can be as addictive as cocaine, writes James Dobson in Life on the Edge.\nBack to my earlier point that it changes how we view our fellow humans, from people to objects. FBI records show most serial murderers (81 percent) are addicted to hard-core pornography. Ted Bundy, who committed some of the most repulsive acts of sexual violence and murder against women, stated in an interview shortly before his execution that his slippery descent began when he was only 12 years old and stumbled upon soft-core porn. He quickly became addicted, which led to harder and harder material, eventually driving him to go beyond what he saw and act upon it.\nPornography is fun for all? Hardly.