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Porn Is Like Heroin In The Brain
Focus On The Family ^ | Nov. 19, 2004 | Stuart Shepard

Posted on 11/19/2004 3:07:51 PM PST by Lindykim

Porn Like Heroin in the Brain by Stuart Shepard, correspondent

Senate committee discusses pornography and the First Amendment.

Experts on pornography's effects on brain chemistry testified at a Senate hearing this week where a key point of discussion was whether porn is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment or addictive material that should be unlawful.

Psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover described how pornography is analogous to cigarettes, noting that "it is a very carefully designed delivery system for evoking a tremendous flood within the brain of endogenous opioids." It's time, he added, to stop regarding it as simply a form of expression. "Modern science," Satinover said, "allows us to understand that the underlying nature of an addiction to pornography is chemically nearly identical to a heroin addiction."

Dr. Mary Anne Layden with the Center for Cognitive Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania explained how a pornographic image is burned into the brain's pathways.

"That image is in your brain forever," she explained. "If that was an addictive substance, you, at any point for the rest of your life, could in a nanosecond draw it up."

Dr. Judith Reisman, president of the Institute for Media Education, called on the Senate to take action against pornography, saying it's time to mandate that law enforcement begin to collect all data and pornographic materials found in the possession of anyone involved in criminal activity. Doing so, she added, would yield data showing whether pornography is being used as a how-to manual for sex crimes.

"The evidence the panelists presented showed an overwhelming harm from pornography," said Daniel Weiss, media and sexuality analyst with Focus on the Family. He hopes the Senate will turn the evidence into action.

TAKE ACTION/FOR MORE INFORMATION If you think Congress should be taking serious action against pornography, you can start by thanking Sen. Sam Brownback for calling the hearing, then contact your representatives in Congress and let them know what you think. For help in contacting your elected representatives, please see our CitizenLink Action Center.

Also, to learn more about one person's struggles with pornography, we suggest the resource "An Affair of the Mind: One Woman's Courageous Battle to Salvage Her Family From the Devastation of Pornography." Author Laurie Hall shares her courageous struggle to protect herself and two children from her husband's addiction to pornography.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: addiction; brain; fotf; jennajameson; pantload; porn
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To: Paperdoll

make that "pole dancer"


61 posted on 11/19/2004 3:54:04 PM PST by John Lenin
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To: Rytwyng

***have perfect photographic memory of porn that I found when I was 12.**

At 57 I can honestly say that the the nudie mags I looked at in 1959 were artist's models.
Alright, so construction workers bought them too. Maybe they wanted a little class in their life.
My favorite book after all these years is still "Painting the nude" published by Walter Foster art books.

I also enjoy the History chanel's productions which use many of the artist's paintings of the 1800's when porn was banned, so the artists of the time began to illustrate great moments from history and the classics. Hellen of Troy, Cleopatra, The Slave Market,and many other beautiful, oh so beautiful paintings.


62 posted on 11/19/2004 3:54:10 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: oldleft

Ping to myself ...

Remember to check the article out in a few hours after I'm done downloading porn...


63 posted on 11/19/2004 3:54:38 PM PST by Gerasimov (John Kerry just got his SECOND dishonorable discharge.)
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To: Nightshift

ping


64 posted on 11/19/2004 3:55:26 PM PST by tutstar ( <{{--->< http://ripe4change.4-all.org Violations of Florida Statutes ongoing!)
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To: Lindykim

I support this group on a lot of issues but I'm not with them on this hyperbole.

I would like to bitch though that as to why so many "regular" movies seem to have been made by queers and there is no gaydar label.

I rented one last nite with Colin Farrell (A Home at the End of the World) and it was barf time homoerotica spitswap and worse.

I like my erotica old fashioned and hetero thank you.

My wife has been on Blockbuster's ass all day.

Homos are the new blacks in Hollywood storyline social engineering ....I get sick of it.


65 posted on 11/19/2004 3:56:34 PM PST by wardaddy
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To: Lindykim

Pleasure releases endorphins in the brain, and to some degree parallel the chemical reactions that characterize illegal drug addiction. All pleasure. That includes writing a good weekly report to your boss, gettin' down with the significant other, consuming a juicy steak, all pleasure. Since we all experience pleasure from one thing or another at sometime in our lives, and since the above biochemical statements made above are generally accepted medical fact, then we are all guilty of having "drug-like" behavior in our brains and since some drugs are illegal the laws regarding unreasonable search and seizure should be suspended because everyone is guilty. The perfect thoughtcrime.


66 posted on 11/19/2004 3:57:20 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: Wolfie

"That image is in your brain forever," she explained.

I sure hope so.


67 posted on 11/19/2004 3:58:12 PM PST by rbg81
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To: Lindykim
Sorry, you fell prey to a common logical fallacy.

(A implies B does not mean that B implies A)

The behavior of serial killers is not relevant to the question of whether or not there should be restrictions on the creation and dissemination of porn.

68 posted on 11/19/2004 3:58:58 PM PST by trek
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To: Dead Corpse
We've been getting inundated with this same bogus crap over teh last few days. I think some church group may have had a council meeting or something...

Seems like this same article has been posted multiple times over the last 2-3 days.

69 posted on 11/19/2004 3:59:07 PM PST by COEXERJ145
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
I also enjoy the History chanel's productions which use many of the artist's paintings of the 1800's when porn was banned, so the artists of the time began to illustrate great moments from history and the classics. Hellen of Troy, Cleopatra, The Slave Market,and many other beautiful, oh so beautiful paintings.

You should see what an original Vargas goes for now.

70 posted on 11/19/2004 3:59:35 PM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Lindykim

I'm sorry, because I know that your heart is in the right place, but the argument that porn creates serial killers as put forth by Dobson in his interviews with Ted Bundy is just plain wrong.

Isn't it true that most serial killers were abandoned by their mothers? Does that mean we have to lock up boy orphans? By the 'porn made me do it' argument, you'd have to say it would.

How about the one that most serial killers were bedwetters as children?

I mean, really, the list goes on.


71 posted on 11/19/2004 4:00:05 PM PST by hleewilder
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To: SpaceBar
Pleasure releases endorphins in the brain, and to some degree parallel the chemical reactions that characterize illegal drug addiction. All pleasure. That includes writing a good weekly report to your boss, gettin' down with the significant other, consuming a juicy steak, all pleasure. Since we all experience pleasure from one thing or another at sometime in our lives, and since the above biochemical statements made above are generally accepted medical fact, then we are all guilty of having "drug-like" behavior in our brains and since some drugs are illegal the laws regarding unreasonable search and seizure should be suspended because everyone is guilty. The perfect thoughtcrime.

Same reason people addicted to "runners high" will go out an pound their joints to gravel day after day, even after their doctor tells them if they don't quit they're going to end up crippled.

72 posted on 11/19/2004 4:03:08 PM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: mowkeka
The point is pornography is very, very addictive.

Not but women are.

73 posted on 11/19/2004 4:04:20 PM PST by wardaddy
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To: Lindykim

"Burned in your brain forever." Sounds like the movie "Videodrome."


74 posted on 11/19/2004 4:05:15 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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To: oldleft

***The problem with what you're saying is that it's impossible in a secular society to define "porn." Is it people engaged in sexual acts? Is it nudity? Is it images, or does the written word fall into the category?***

Woe is me! What shall I do with my copies of Leda and the Swan from the 1500's! Or my pictures of David and Bathsheba? What of my pictures of Jupiter getting it on with various women!

What must I do with my copy of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Hemmingway! The cadence of his words so, so, perverse! Yet he says nothing offensive!


75 posted on 11/19/2004 4:05:20 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: trek

The vast majority of serial killers are male.

All males are serial killers.


The vast majority of serial killers are queer...both male and female.

All queers are serial killers.


guess one can say anything


I am on the side of these folks in the culture war but porn or nudity for adults is not the primary problem...not to me anyhow.


76 posted on 11/19/2004 4:07:31 PM PST by wardaddy
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To: Lindykim

A how to manual for sex crimes? I can't believe people are wasting the governments time with this crap. Looking at pictures doesn't cause sane people to commit crime. You don't need research to confirm that. People who are sex addicts (and potential sex addicts) need therapy, not a government body to protect them. Its something that many individuals struggle with and overcome WITH THEIR OWN FREE WILL.


77 posted on 11/19/2004 4:07:49 PM PST by stacytec
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To: John Lenin

LOL. Love your puppy. I'm getting a little Boston Terrier tonight, God willing.


78 posted on 11/19/2004 4:11:02 PM PST by Paperdoll (on the cutting edge)
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To: John Lenin

>make that pole dancer<

Gotcha.


79 posted on 11/19/2004 4:12:07 PM PST by Paperdoll (on the cutting edge)
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To: Dead Corpse
We've been getting inundated with this same bogus crap over teh last few days.

Somewhere along the way federal porn laws came to be seen as an entitlement.

80 posted on 11/19/2004 4:13:40 PM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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