Virtually every member of the military that I knew was a "porn user". There were exceptions, but the vast majority were "users". I trusted most of them with my life. I would in no way label them "habitual liars". Mileage may vary.
Clearly you’ve known more porn users than I do. lol. Which makes your observation more useful than mine since it’s a bigger sample. I don’t mean to malign the character of anybody who uses porn, and I do recognize that people are different. That’s why I wonder if there are scientific studies about the impact of porn.
I wonder if the lying comes from feeling a need to hide the behavior, whereas in the military where everybody knows and expects the behavior there’s no need to lie. It’s an interesting question.
This might be a bad thing to ask so ignore it if you prefer, but does the military do anything to prepare the soldier for the reality of actually having to kill an enemy? I mean, is there psychological preparation that involves the soldier being able to view the enemy as an object rather than a person? I think about that with my sons playing Black Ops, Modern Warfare, and other video games. It makes me wonder if it desensitizes them to the personhood of the people they’re shooting at.
The reason I ask about that is because one of the objections to porn is that it can lead to a guy viewing women as mere objects. Being able to similarly categorize enemies as objects rather than as human beings might be a necessary defense mechanism for dealing with combat. So objectifying people might actually be a critical skill for that setting. Whether that skill interferes with a different setting (such as marriage) might be another issue. Trusting somebody with your life in a combat setting is a little different than having to trust them with your feelings within marriage. =) I know a lot of military guys sacrifice their marriages, but there must be a hundred different things that factor into that as well.
I think about the rape that has been used as a punishment or weapon in tyrannical regimes or in war, and I always wonder what a wife must think her husband is doing to her when he does the same thing to her as he did to punish and belittle an enemy earlier that day or year. I can’t help but think it would have to diminish her somehow. Of course, that doesn’t apply to the US military because we don’t rape those we battle but the connection between combat and rape in history makes me wonder what happens to a guy during war.
And I am not an anti-war person, just so you know I’m not coming at this from any particular agenda.