On November 18, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space held a hearing on pornography addiction and its effect on families and communities.
Subcommittee Chair Sam Brownback (R-KS) explained the purpose of the hearing: “Today’s hearing will explore a number of issues related to pornography addiction, including how viewing pornography affects brain development and chemistry in the addict, how addiction to pornography compares with addiction to drugs in its effects on the brain, how pornography addiction affects the addict’s family, person, and professional interactions, and what role the federal government should play in studying and treating pornography addiction.” Sen. Brownback noted that a recent study indicated that 6 percent of the respondents fulfilled the criteria for full-fledged pornography addicts.
Highlighting the impact the “pervasiveness of pornography” has on families and children, Sen. Brownback said, “According to recent reports, one in five children ages 10-17 have received a sexual solicitation over the Internet, and 9 out of 10 children ages 8 to 16 who have Internet access have viewed porn web sites, usually in the course of looking up information for homework.”
Judith Reisman, advisor at the California Protective Parents Association, affirmed that “pornographic visual images imprint and alter the brain, triggering an instant, involuntary, but lasting, biochemical memory trail, arguably, subverting the First Amendment by overriding the cognitive speech process.” She added, “Once new neurochemical pathways are established, they are difficult or impossible to delete.” Dr. Reisman pointed out that children and teens are deeply affected since their brains, which are still developing, “process emotions differently, with significantly less rationality and cognition than the adult brain.” Dr. Reisman suggested that “an offensive strategy should be planned,” which would include “mandating law enforcement collection of all pornography data at crime sites.”
Explaining that the “particular form of expression we call pornography, unlike all other forms of expression, is a delivery system that has a distinct and powerful effect upon the human brain and nervous system,” Jeffrey Satinover, visiting lecturer at Princeton University, argued that pornography addiction “is chemically nearly identical to a heroin addiction.” Noting the impact of the Internet on pornography addiction, he stated: “It is as though we have devised a form of heroin 100 times more powerful than before, usable in the privacy of one’s home and injected directly to the brain through the eyes. It’s now available in unlimited supply via a self-replicating distribution network, glorified as art and protected by the Constitution.” Dr. Satinover pointed out that, due to the streamlined marketing strategies, pornography is “fine-tuned” and “tailored” to what people want. “It’s like a designer drug,” he said.
Co-Director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Cognitive Therapy Mary Ann Layden outlined the damage pornography inflicts on the users and their families. “Research…indicates and my clinical experience supports that 40 percent of sex addicts will lose their spouse, 58 percent will suffer severe financial losses, and 27-40 percent will lose their job or profession,” she stated, adding that pornography users “are more likely to go to prostitutes, engage in domestic violence, stranger rape, date rape, and incest.” She noted that pornography viewers are direct victims, but their families suffer too: “My clinical experience indicates that the spouses of porn viewers are often depressed, and are more likely to have eating disorders, body image disorders and low self-esteem…The children also show the damage. As pornography becomes normalized, it is left around the house. Children can get exposed to it. These are tender minds that are just developing their conceptualizations of sex. Normalizing abnormal sex increases the likelihood that they will engage in these behaviors.”
James Weaver, professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, presented research findings on pornography addiction. The studies indicated that prolonged exposure to pornography has harmful effects, including:
Dr. Weaver also said that exposure to pornography results in negative perceptions of women “in everyday, nonsexual circumstances,” and promotes “acceptance of the notion that women are subservient to men.”
During the question and answer period, Dr. Weaver stressed the need for the public to talk about the adverse effects of pornography and suggested an active public health campaign. Dr. Layden supported this idea, and added that more research is needed. She highlighted the role of the media, stating that “clinicians can’t get a forum” to publicize their findings. Sen. Brownback applauded the role of the public in protesting against indecent incidents on television and stated that the fines for indecency need to be increased.
