Hmmm...
Nope, doesn't do a thing for me at all.
Posted on 02/03/2007 10:22:53 PM PST by freedomdefender
Pornography is a "dirty little secret" and people are logging on to look at it, more than ever. They're doing it at home and at work. For some, it's an obsession.
"It felt like a high. It felt like, just an uncontrollable urge," said Justin VanAntwerp.
On the outside, Justin Van Antwerp "appeared" to have great life. He was a minister, who had a wife and two little girls. No one knew he was addicted to porn. It all started when he looked a playboy magazine when he was a teenager. "Then, that wouldn't satisfy. Then I found a whole new world of videos and webcams and all those sorts of things," said Antwerp. “I never got caught. I got really good at covering things up."
Justin is among the growing number of men and women who are dealing with pornography addiction. You used to have to go to an adult video store to get it. Now, you can see it all online.
Pornography on the internet is a 57-billion dollar industry. It's larger than all professional sports. There are 4.2 million pornographic websites. Those who view it are 72% male.
Justin was looking at pornography at home and at work.
Looking at pornography while at work isn't all that uncommon. Computer company Trivalent says they've investigated cases of pornography use at work, most are kept private, but in the case of the Cutlerville Fire department, where pornographic images were found on computers, the case ended up catching the media's attention. Trivalent says businesses need to take a pro-active approach.
"What can we do to stop that from happening to begin with? We implement things like content filtering." Richard Reiffer, Chief Technical Officer for Trivalent.
Dr. Paul Critelli sees patients who have all kinds of addictions. He's not surprised that pornography addiction is becoming more common. He says Americans have a different view of sex and nudity compared to people in other countries. American beliefs that nudity and sex should be kept out of view, create an addictive urge for some to get their eyes on it.
Psychologists say viewing porn at work is a sign that you have a problem. Other questions to ask include: Frequency - Are you logging on more often? Intensity - Are the pictures becoming more graphic? Duration - Are the sessions online becoming longer?
"If those things are increasing by jumps or rather steadily, I would say you have a problem. Those attributes are a good measure of any kind of problem behavior," said Critelli.
Critelli believes there are cases where people can view porn and not have a problem. He doesn't think small amounts are morally wrong or necessarily dangerous for a relationship, but psychologist Tom Karel disagrees.
"It creates unrealistic expectations and unrealistic ideas to what normal really looks like," said Karel.
In Justin's case, pornography ruined his relationship with his wife. He says he hit rock bottom when he picked up a female hitchhiker. " Nothing happened, but had the opportunity arisen, I would have cheated on my wife that day. That was a scary place to be."
A few months later, Justin told his wife about his addiction.
“She was devastated, and she left the following weekend. The next morning, I met with the elders of the church and resigned my position."
Justin went into therapy and is now involved with a local anti-pornography group called XXX Church. Justin hopes, by coming out about his problem, he can show others, that they can overcome their addiction.
“By God's grace, people lifting me up, I've been able to get a hold on it."
And the photoshopped super-skinny waif models in Vogue, Elle, and Glamour doesn't creat unrealistic expectations and unrealistic ideas of what women want to look like? And watching the steroid-inflated men of the NFL and MLB doesn't unrealistic expectations and unrealistic ideas of what a man should look like?
Sorry, even with your generous offer of giving me $9.95 a month I don't think I'd be interested. Thank you anyway.
yeah - nice helpmate.
It's not the same at all.
In past years, if you wanted porn, you had to go somewhere to see it. At the least, to your attic or basement or a friend's house; perhaps to a Pussycat theater or a roadway adult bookstore in a raincoat, or the section of the local video rental place with the drapes around it. Nowadays, you can watch porn on cable TV or at XXX websites, and nobody has to know but you and you-know-who.
But the biggest difference of all is this: if you have email, you have received at least one time an unsolicited obscene message inviting you to view online porn. Even if you have no interest, it's been put in your face to spur your curiosity. You used to have to go get porn; now, it comes to get you.
Actually I'm not so sure that internet porn creates unrealistic images at all. That was true of the pornography of 20 years ago, but if you view any of the online stuff today you quickly discover that there are literally millions of old, fat and ugly people out there doing everything but turning themselves inside out on camera. A lot of times it's too damn realistic. Like I really needed to know what an obese sixty year old looks like spreadeagled in lingerie.
Yeah. That's it. It's American hang-ups about nudity that cause addiction. If we would all just be more Swedish, no one would ever look at pornography.
you are a terrible terrible person for that.
I think you're right. And when a social conservative was nominated for AG - John Ashcroft - the fear that he would crack down on porn merchants made him subject to a firestorm of hate from Feinstein, Feingold, Shumer and other front-people for degeneracy, on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Upshot is that men like looking at boobs. Real shocker.
I love it!
Tax the daylights out of it, like they do smokers.
That cures everything, right? *sarc*
Ah, looking for those Rudy candy shots!
Hmmm...
Nope, doesn't do a thing for me at all.
Pornography's link to rape
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1674672/posts
Larry Flynt's Daughter Blasts Pornography
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3819eab51d8a.htm
That's not funny man. Not funny at all.
/retch
Got any complaints? Ask God!
Really, it's one thing to view anyone as "unattractive". Making public jokes at their expense? Could we say that is cruel?
Without facelifts, makeup, etc., we are as we were made.
Sorry. I've thrown cold water on the fun. Forget I said it.
Some of those more realistic women have been the biggest turn-ons for me. Something about having a personality that shows through in pictures does a lot more for me than silicon and "the perfect look."
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