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For many years porn has been labelled just a men’s problem. Well, we now know that isn’t true! If you’re a woman and have spent hours or minutes checking out porn you might be wondering if porn is affecting you and if you’re normal at all?

Here are some ways that it could be changing your life.

Porn isn’t just a problem for men

As a woman, there’s lots of reasons why you might view porn. You might just be curious. You might have a partner or father who’s looking at it and you want to see what it’s all about. You might find you are drawn in by an emotional aspect i.e. it’s filing a very real emotional need. Or it might just fill a void in wanting acceptance of your body image. You might also be using it to escape some pain in your life. These feelings are all very normal and we can assure you that you’re not alone in this. There are many women who’ve felt just as confused about this as you. There is help out there for women, so you don’t need to struggle alone.

Porn is addictive

A clear negative consequence of your pornography use is that it may escalate to the level of addiction and it can be just as addictive as drugs. As a woman you can get just as addicted to porn as a man.1 Just like the male orgasm, the female orgasm compares directly with the euphoric states seen in heroin and cocaine users. The more porn you view, the more of the rewarding neurotransmitter dopamine is released in your brain. This causes you to want more and to make the decision to pursue it, which can become an endless cycle.2 It’s no wonder you can get hooked!

Porn can destroy your relationships

More and more women are finding that they are addicted to masturbation and are finding that their porn viewing habit is affecting their relationships. Lots of women have reported that porn viewing inhibits their desire for their partner to the point where they cannot be bothered doing the real thing at all.  Plus porn can seed a deep “lack of worth” feeling for women as they are seen just as sexual objects designed for only pleasure.3

Porn can make you lonely

Women are getting into pornography in a way that we’ve never seen before and because it’s always been seen as a man’s issue, those women are not inclined to come forward and say “I need help.”4 In fact, if you are one of these women affected, profound shame might be keeping you from seeking help at all. Porn is all about you and the images and stories you find on the internet, no one else required. Before long you can find that it has totally replaced your normal life and is interrupting study, family and relationship time.5

Porn changes your brain

The compulsive use of pornography can cause measurable physical, anatomic changes in your brain, the hallmark of brain addiction.6

“Pornography, delivered by high-speed internet connections, satisfies every one of the prerequisites for neuroplastic change.”7 

Excessive viewing of pornography can actually reduce the grey matter in the reward sections of your brain. This creates less nerve connections, which means you have to view more novel images and thus seek out new porn or types of porn to get the reward circuitry of your brain firing.8

Porn leaves you empty

Porn can leave you feeling like you are a bad and unworthy person. It can make you feel like your desires are not being met and that sex is your most important need.9 Some research has shown that prolonged porn use can cause significant changes in mental health including depression, hostility and anxiety.10 So it’s no wonder you feel empty and alone after viewing. Regaining control of your life begins when you start a journey of recovery and reduce your porn viewing to zero.

So what next?

If any of this rings true for you, we’d love to help you find freedom from the effects of porn

GET HELP NOW

The truth will set you free.

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1 Ferree (2001) “Females and Sex Addiction: Myths and Diagnostic Implications,” Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 8:287-300, Brunner-Routledge
2 Struthers, W. (2009). Your brain on porn. In Wired for intimacy: How pornography hijacks the male brain. Downers Grove, Ill., Illinois: InterVarsity Press.
3 Porn Problems: Here Come the Women. (2013, July 1). Retrieved November 16, 2015, from http://www.yourbrainonporn.com/porn-problems-here-come-women
4 Kirkey, S. (2012, January 5). Sex addiction growing among women: Psychologists. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/sex-addiction-growing-among-women-psychologists
5 Porn Problems: Here Come the Women. (2013, July 1). Retrieved November 16, 2015, from http://www.yourbrainonporn.com/porn-problems-here-come-women
6 Hilton, D., & Watts, C. (2011, February 21). Pornography addiction: A neuroscience perspective. Retrieved November 13, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050060
7 Doidge, N. (2010). Acquiring Tastes and Loves. In The brain that changes itself: Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science. Carlton Nth, Victoria: Scribe Publishing Pty.
8 Kühn S, Gallinat J. Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn. JAMA Psychiatry. 2014;71(7):827-834.
9 Patrick J. Carnes PhD. (2001) Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction. (Third Addition) Center City Minnesota: Hazelden Publishing
10 Wilson, G. (2014). Isolating cause and effect. In Your Brain on Porn. Commonwealth Publishing..