Homoerotic Yogic Tantra & Masculine Intimacy

 

Introduction
I am not making a moral judgment when I teach that there is no good nor benefit to pornography nor am I stating that if you tell me that you like pornography that you are a bad person. That’s not the point. But I do find it deeply troubling when a grown man of average or higher intelligence tells me that he needs pornography! That is symptomatic of a disordered and pathological situation. That is not my conclusion but the conclusion of more than 40 years of scientific research.

That being said, it pornography and its harmful effects continue to be controversial, not because of the absence of good scientific evidence, but because of ignorance, economic interests, denial, and of course, individual rights and freedoms.

The man, who claims that in these times of pandemic, isolation, quarantine, social-distancing, he needs pornography to cope, is either a fool or already an addict. I would particularly condemn any tāntric or yogic practitioner who would make the claim that pornography has positive benefits; that man is a fraud.

Authentic Tantra (तन्त्र) does not teach pornography; Authentic Yoga (योग) does not teach promiscuity. Neither Tantra (तन्त्र) nor Yoga (योग) teach massage, erotic, gay, or sensuous, or whatever. Any man offering such a teaching is a false teacher.

What Yoga (योग) and Tantra (तन्त्र) do teach is the concept of brahmacarya (ब्रह्मचर्य), which is the personal ethical principle of restraint, conservation of one’s vital energies.

There is a difference between pornography and obscenity.

If we are to discuss pornography, we must first define the term as it is understood by the researchers I will be citing. The English term “pornography” has its origin in the ancient Greek words “porno” and “graphia” meaning “depictions of the activities of whores or prostitutes.” As we tend to use it today, it usually means “material that is sexually explicit and intended primarily for the purpose of sexual arousal.”

In the United States, the term “obscenity” is a legal term which was defined by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1973 Miller v. California decision; according to that decision, for something to be found obscene, and hence not protected by the First Amendment, a competent judge or a jury representative of the community at large must determine that the material:

• taken as a whole and in its context, appeals to a prurient (sick, morbid, shameful, or lascivious) interest in sex;
• depicts sexual conduct in a openly and conspicuously offensive manner (i.e.. goes beyond contemporary community standards with regard to depictions of sexual content or activity);
• taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value.

The concerned material must meet all three criteria before it can be found to be obscene in under the law, and its dissemination prohibited. The significance of this distinction is important, since it means that a given material may be regarded as “pornographic” but still fail to qualify as “obscene.” Common examples might include explicit sex film produced for use in medical education about human sexuality, or a film or book with serious artistic or literary value, which may include some explicit content.

That is the law at work in the United States; the Supreme Court has thus protected a wide variety of sexual material in a wide variety of formats and from being provided to adults — the legal standard is much higher concerning the intentional exposure of minors to such material. Under the Miller test, however, dissemination of pornographic material which is also obscene, such as most of what has been called “hardcore porn,” is prohibited and legal penalties may be imposed.

I am going to limit my discussion to pornography’s effects on adults, with a brief commentary on exposure of minors. Adults are generally considered human beings older than 18 years, but adult is no indication of maturity nor is it any indicator of intelligence or rationality. Being an adult means reaching a certain standard of chronology and biological development, and may imply some level of social and psychological development, but that is subject to a wide range of opinion.

I am also going to limit my discussion to landmark studies and data from clinical and case studies, that is, a very cursory but illuminating review of the scientific literature dealing with the effects of pornography. The information comes primarily from:

• clinical case history data
• field studies
• experimental  laboratory type studies.

There is also a great deal of anecdotal data that could be provided by professional healthcare professionals, clergy, law enforcement, and support organizations but I do not intend to include that sort of material because it tends to be somewhat biased and unscientific.

Overall, I found an array of four-factor common to nearly all of the individuals in their involvement with pornography. There were almost no exceptions. Those factors are:

1. 1. 1. Addiction
      2. Escalation
      3. Desensitization
      4. Acting-out.

Addiction

In addition, the user of the pornographic material gets hooked. Once hooked, he keeps coming back for more. There’s a very powerful stimulant effect, almost an aphrodisiac, which is followed by the “happy end” or release, mostly by masturbation.

The effect doesn’t stop there, because the user keeps craving more and more, and he frequently includes the imagery in his fantasies even when not viewing the actual material.

As in any addiction, the user cannot escape his dependence by himself, and he suffers a great many negative consequences.

According to one law-enforcement professional: “Many people have testified as to their extreme addiction to the material in terms of having their whole lives consumed by it: sitting for hours masturbating to adult material and needing progressively stronger, heavier, harder material to give them a bigger kick. Like an alcoholic or a drug addict they are looking for that big kick and they need more just to keep them at that level of feeling’ OK.’”

Escalation

The next level in the downward spiral is the escalation phase.

Over time, he requires rougher, more explicit, more deviant, and “kinky” kinds of sexual material to get aroused, a situation comparable to substance addiction. Over time, the user demands more and more of the stimulant to get an equivalent effect.

If the man is in a relationship, he may try to get his partner involved in his habit, which may result in conflict and even failure of the relationship.

Being in a relationship with an intimate partner does not solve the problem because the escalation is due to the addiction to the sexual imagery from the exposure to the pornography. In fact, the user prefers the pornographic imagery together with masturbation more than actual personal intimacy with his partner!

This situation nearly always:

• • • reduces their capacity to show affection in intimate relations
    • diminishes their capacity to love and express affection to their partner in their intimate relations
    • the user’s sex drive is diverted from his partner to the pornography
    • the user’s partner feels alienated, lonely, and rejected.

The user frequently prefers to masturbate to pornography rather than to be fully engaged in intimacy with a flesh-and-blood partner.

Desensitization

Desensitization occurs when the user finds the pornographic material, which previously was considered immoral, shocking, offensive, illegal, or repulsive, to be acceptable or even normal. In other words, he legitimizes the once antisocial or deviant material, and convinces himself that “everyone does it; it must be OK.” He thus rationalizes his behavior and gives himself permission to continue it.

Acting Out a New Sexuality

When an individual is exposed to pornography over time, and has passed through the stages of addiction, escalation, and desensitization, he enters the fourth phase: acting out his newly learned behaviors. This fourth phase may include compulsive promiscuity, exhibitionism, voyeurism, group sex activities, erotic massage, and sadomasochistic behavior during sex.

The user gradually grew into a sexual addiction situation and he finds himself locked in, unable to change, regardless of the negative consequences in his life. Reality and fantasy has become blurred for him as he acts out his pathological sexual fantasies.

The most frequent consequences of being exposed to and enslaved by pornography is not the probability or possibility of committing a serious sex crime (though this can and does occur), but rather its destruction of the fragile bonds of intimacy and relationships; this is where the most pain, disruption, and suffering occurs. There is interference with or even annihilation of the ability to show warmth and affection and to establish respectful, loving, and healthy intimacy in relationships, or to establish bonds with long-term partners. This is only the “tip of the iceberg.”

Depending on the individual — and there is wide variation among those affected —, there can be an almost instant addiction, while with others the addiction process may take a much longer exposure. One fact is certain: the problem is like a cancer; it almost never disappears on its own or reverses its course unless there is some intervention.

Pornography’s Effect on a Man’s Psychosexual Development

Researchers report symptoms of arrested development in the psycho sexual growth of the pornography users they study.

A psychiatrist on the faculty of the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas, views pornography as a product that typically depicts unusual types of sex, degradation through sex, violent sex, and promiscuous, meaningless sex –all of which are indications of incomplete and abnormal human development; he notes that healthy mature men do not behave in these ways. He sees these men as developing a kind of addiction for pornography after having  exposures to it over time. The pornographic stimuli promote regressive behavior rather than mature behavior.

He also views exposure to pornography as especially damaging to young men who are on the threshold of entering into an active sexual life. For them these vital processes should be guided toward greater maturity and healthy socialization, not retrogressively toward perversion or wanton, meaningless sex. As he states, “Society and individuals alike can only be harmed when we legitimize abnormal behavior.”

Add to the list of dire consequences: the fact that some men become dissatisfied with their partners, whom they consider to be inadequate after viewing the exaggerated sexual prowess depicted in pornography.

Pornography Conditions a Man to be Deviant

The work of R.L. McGuire, author of a study, “Sexual Deviations as Conditioned Behavior: A Hypothesis, ” suggests that exposure to special sexual experiences, such as that provided in pornography, and then masturbating to his fantasies, condition a man to a deviant sexuality.

If you don’t think that exposure to pornography has a conditioning effect, you should review the considerable literature on therapy for sexual problems that use selective explicit sex presentations as therapeutic tools. If the therapies and the data from them are valid, then we must also allow for the possibility that intentional exposure to pornography or deviant real life sex experiences can also facilitate the conditioning of men into sexual aberrations.

Psychologist Patrick Carnes (currently the leading U.S. researcher on sexual addictions) has published a series of research and data-based books, bringing to national awareness the problem of out-of-control, compulsive sexual behavior. Rather ironically, Dr. Carnes also found that many therapists (healthcare professionals, psychiatrists, therapists, and social workers) suffer from sexual addictions and inappropriate “acting out” sexual behavior.

As he put it, “One of the discoveries that emerged from our survey is that [individuals] seeking help are often sexually abused by their therapists.” This suggests that compulsive sexual behavior is a problem even for practitioners in the therapeutic community. Do we see this development in the erotic, gay, tāntric massage community as well?

Would there be any reason to suppose that the sacred sex guru-s and practitioners, and the body electric practitioners would be immune to these deviant behaviors?

All Sex Deviations Appear To Be Learned Behaviors

The best evidence to date suggests that most or all sexual behavior is learned behavior, usually through conditioning.

As a man repeatedly masturbates to a vivid sexual fantasy as his preferred or exclusive outlet (whether based on a real life experience or pornography), the pleasurable experiences give the fantasy increasing erotic value. The resulting orgasm experienced by his masturbation provides a critical reinforcement for the conditioning of the fantasy. Any type of sexual learning can be acquired in this way.

Related studies support this thesis. They found that masturbation fantasies very significantly affected the habit strength of a man’s sexual behavior. Most men are vulnerable to the effects of conditioning resulting from masturbation to pornography, and the result can be sexual disorders, because we are all susceptible to learning by experience and conditioning.

Sexual therapists report that any man who regularly masturbates to pornography is at risk of becoming, over time, a sexual addict, as well as running the risk conditioning him into having a sexual deviancy, failing to establish bonded relationships, or harming his intimacy with a partner. Other frequent side effects include:

• • • a dramatically reduction in a man’s capacity to love
    • a marked dissociation of sex from friendship, affection, caring, and other normal healthy emotions
    • appearance of traits that hinder the establishment of relationships
    • his sexual aspect becomes in a sense dehumanized
    • possible development of an “alien ego state” (or dark side), or antisocial lust devoid of most values
    • the “high” obtained from masturbating to pornography becomes more important than real life relationships
    • repeatedly masturbating to deviant pornographic imagery risks development of sexual addictions or other sexual pathology.

It makes no difference if the man is a physician, attorney, minister, athlete, corporate executive college president, unskilled laborer, or an average 15-year-old boy. Anyone can be conditioned to become a sexual deviant.

The negative outcomes of masturbatory conditioning are unavoidable and do not cure themselves. The course of this disorder may be slow and is nearly always concealed by the man; it is frequently a secret part of the man’s life. Denial by the male and refusal to confront the problem are typical and predictable, and this almost always leads to relationship and interpersonal disharmony, and sometimes failure of intimate relationships.

Imprinting the Brain with Sexual Images

Psychologist James L. McGaugh at the University of California, Irvine, published findings that suggest that memories of experiences, which occurred at times of emotional arousal (including sexual arousal), get “locked into the brain” by hormones, and are difficult to erase. This may partly explain pornography’s addicting effect.

Powerful sexually arousing memories of experiences from the past keep intruding themselves back on the mind’s memory screen, serving to stimulate and erotically arouse the viewer. If he masturbates to these fantasies, he reinforces tile linkage between sexual arousal and orgasm, with the particular scene or image repeatedly rehearsed in his mind.

One might quickly see the risks involved with large numbers of males being exposed to the pornographic material and masturbating. When that material is what is usually called hardcore pornography, and available on the Internet, this is exactly the kind of pornographic stimulus that the male viewer can replay again and again for his sexual gratification.

If the research of investigators in the area of human learning has any meaning at all, it would suggest that such pornography could be hazardous. It could potentially condition some male viewers into having reoccurring sexual fantasies (vividly imprinted into the brain), to which they may repeatedly masturbate to and then, later, be tempted to act out as sexual behaviors.
What about the research on aggressive pornography (porn-violence)? Good question.

Many pornographic films are also broadcast unedited on the Internet, and the typical film shows nude men in sexually arousing situations and postures, engaging in oral, anal sex, or abused is some way or another.

The results of this research suggest the possibility of conditioning viewers into associating sexual arousal with inflicting abuse, violence, injury, humiliation, etc. on other men. These scenes can be repeatedly viewed in privacy, and masturbated to, with the associated risks of negative or antisocial conditioning and behavior, previously noted.

Researchers Neil Malamuth and Edward Donnerstein noted in their book, “Pornography and Sexual Aggression” that “Certain forms of pornography (aggressive) can affect aggressive attitudes toward [men] and can desensitize an individual’s perception of [violence]. These attitudes and perceptions are, furthermore, directly related to actual aggressive behavior against [men]. … These results suggest, again, that aggressive pornography does increase aggression ….” These authors conclude, “There can be relatively long-term, antisocial effects of movies that portray sexual violence as having positive consequences.”

The literature on aggressive pornography is rather impressive in its consistency in suggesting a variety of harms or possibility of antisocial outcomes from exposure to this material. This should not be surprising after 40 years of research on film and TV violence arriving essentially at the same conclusion.

And what about the effects of non-violent pornography?
The issue which has caught the attention of some behavioral scientists doing work in this area is whether it is the violence or the sex that is doing most of the “harm” when it is fused together in so-called aggressive pornography or porno-violence. Some will say, “Just eliminate the violence–the sex is OK.”

If we look at non-violent pornography which is totally devoid of violence, we may ask, what about its effects? First, we might indicate several examples of non-violent pornography which most therapists, as well as most ordinary citizens, would not regard as healthy models of sexual behavior:

• • • Child pornography
    • Incest type porn (e.g., father seducing son, son seducing father, older brother seducing younger brother, etc.)
    • Sex with animals
    • Group sex
    • Sex which humiliates and denigrates men and their sex role in man-man relationships (viewed without overt violence)
    • Obscene films which present a massive amount of misinformation or gross distortions about human sexuality.

All of the above, while lacking violence, still have the potential of having negative effects on some viewers because they model unhealthy sex role behavior, or give false information about human sexuality. Additionally, nonviolent porn can contribute to acquiring a great variety of sexual addictions.

Additionally, there is empirical research available on the effects of “adult” non-violent pornography. This research suggests that when experimental subjects are exposed to repeated presentations of hardcore non-violent adult pornography over a six-week period, they:

• • • develop an increased callousness towards sex partners;
    • trivialize violence as a criminal offense; to some it was becomes no longer a crime at all;
    • develop distorted, perceptions about sexuality;
    • develop an appetite for more deviant, bizarre or violent types of pornography (escalation); normal sex no longer seemed to “do the job;”
    • devalue the importance of monogamy and lack confidence in relationship as either a viable or lasting option, and
    • view non-monogamous, casual relationships, and promiscuity as normal and natural behavior.

Pornography’s Effect on Sexual Satisfaction and Personal Values

In further research on prolonged consumption of nonviolent pornography, subjects, after several weeks’ exposure to non-violent pornography, reported less satisfaction with their partner’s sexual performance, affection, and physical appearance.

The researchers also found an incompatibility of the sexual values in pornography and the sexual values implicit in enduring intimate relationships, and, in particular, in committed relationships. The chief proclamation of pornography is great sexual joy without any attachment, commitment or responsibility.

Exposure to pornography also lowered their evaluation of committed relationship, making the institution of marriage appear less significant and less viable in the future.

The authors saw these attitudes as reflecting the deranged pornographic projection of carefree and consequence-free, promiscuous sexuality. This would suggest that pornography erodes personal values and the institution of marriage itself.

Additionally, it was found that exposure to non-aggressive pornography changed the attitudes and feelings of adult subjects in the direction of making sexual improprieties and transgressions seem less bad. The victims of such transgressions were also perceived to suffer less and be less severely wronged. In other words, as a result of exposure to pornography, they had become to some degree desensitized to the breaking of sexual taboos.

As Dr. Jennings Bryant comments, “If the values which permeate the content of most hardcore pornography are examined, what is found is an almost total suspension of the sorts of moral judgment that have been espoused in the value systems of most civilized cultures. Forget trust. Forget family. Forget relationship. Forget love. Forget commitment. Here, in this world of ultimate physical hedonism, anything goes.”

“If we take seriously the social science research literature in areas such as social learning or cultivation effects, we should expect that the heavy consumer of hardcore pornography should acquire some of these values which are so markedly different from those of our mainstream society, especially if the consumer does not have a well developed value system of his or her own.”

People Are Affected by What They See and Hear

However, for someone to suggest that pornography cannot have an effect on you (including a harmful one) is to deny the whole notion of education, generally, or to suggest that people are not affected by what they read and see. If you believe that a pornographic book or film cannot affect you, then you must also say that Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, the Bible, the Koran or advertising have no effect on their readers or viewers. But, of course, books and other media do have an effect on their consumers.

Additionally, astute businessmen would not spend billions of dollars a year on television advertising if their visual/verbal messages and imagery did not motivate people to buy deodorant, Volkswagens, iPods, or Pampers. Therefore, the key question is, not whether, but what kind of an effect does pornography have?

Use of sexually explicit films are used to change sexual behavior and attitudes in hundreds of sex counseling clinics in the United States daily that make use of explicit sexual pictures, films, books, and videos to change couples’ sexual behavior, beliefs, and attitudes. Other centers use graphic sex films in an attempt to recondition the sexual behavior of sex offenders.

You cannot logically argue that the kind of change which takes place in a sex counseling clinic can function only one way (just to make people healthy). The possibility certainly exists that some pornography can harm people through accidental conditioning processes or modeling and imitative learning of destructive, unhealthy, or illegal kinds of sexual activity, which some viewers may later act out. This could be especially true for more impressionable, immature, and vulnerable children and adolescents.

Pornography As A Form of Sex [Mis]Education

Consider also the spread of sex education courses through schools in the United States and in other countries. The assumption is that you can change attitudes and behavior about sex through some form of teaching and instruction. If you assume that this is so (still a controversial issue with some researchers), then you have to admit to the possibility that films, magazines, and books which model loveless sex, abuse, misuse, and the dehumanization of men in sexual scenes – pornography — are also powerful forms of sex education. This latter type of material educates, but not in healthy ways.

Anyone who has seen much pornography knows that most of it is made by men for male consumption; is extremely sexist; gives a great deal of misinformation about human sexuality-, is devoid of love, relationship, responsibility; mentions nothing about the risks of sexually transmitted diseases, and for the most part, dehumanizes both male and female participants.

Pornography falsely represents sex, and some of it is very hostile to females who are often denigrated and humiliated. If you were to regard pornography as a form of sex education, you would have to label most of it as miseducation because it presents and models scientifically inaccurate, false and misleading information about human sexuality, especially female sexual nature and response.

In addition, pornography portrays “unhealthy” or even antisocial kinds of sexual expression such as sadomasochism, abuse and humiliation of one of the participants. It may imply involvement of minors, incest, group sex, voyeurism, exhibitionism, bestiality, etc. Thus, if we examine just its educative impact, it presents us with some very serious grounds for concern.

Why Some Claim ‘No Effects’

Some of the educated commentators or even “experts” that I know who publicly suggest that pornography has no effects are just simply unaware of the new research/studies suggesting harm. There are others who really do not believe what they are asserting. And, there are still others who will only reluctantly admit to the possibility of harm from just “violent pornography.” Still others will claim no harm because they’re making big money on porn or porn-related services, or the services benefiting from a man’s addiction to porn.

In some cases, they are pretending “not to know” because of their concern over what they falsely believe is censorship or loss of First Amendment rights. Some fear the tyranny of a moralist minority who might take away their rights to view and use pornography, then later maybe free speech and expression. And, some are themselves sex addicts with a hidden agenda behind their public posturing. Thus, for some of them, the issue is political. It also has to do with their personal values and much less with what any contrary evidence might suggest.

Some of the tobacco institute scientists are still claiming there is no proof of harm from smoking despite 30 years of carefully researched evidence to the contrary and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of victims.

Research Methodology

The average reader is unfamiliar with the complexities of medical and behavioral science, and scientific research methodology, so I should mention an important issue which has to do with whether two things being studied are in some or any way related (“correlated” with each other) or whether one causes or results in the other to happening (a “cause-effect” or “causal” relationship). You can have a correlation without a cause-effect relationship, which confuses many people, and even researchers come to grief over this issue.

Correlation alone never demonstrates or proves a causal relationship, though it can be suggestive or raise that possibility.

For example, if the sun rises each morning and a person is consistently hungry at that time, the relationship is correlation; the events are related events but the one is not causing the other to happen. On the other hand, the sun rising in the morning and the outdoor temperature increasing are correlated in a causal way. Thus, a number of studies suggest a relationship (correlation) between early exposure to pornography and later sexual promiscuity and deviancy. Pornography could be one cause of promiscuity, for example.

Take another example: if a man associates with individuals interested or practicing bizarre sexual behaviors, his choice of company or activities could be a factor contributing to an interest in pornography as well as to participation in dangerous or promiscuous sexual activities.

For example, almost all of the evidence linking drunk driving with high accident rates and deaths is correlational and anecdotal. Despite this, nearly all of us would agree that there is very likely a cause-effect relationship between alcohol and fatal accidents. Laws and public policy decisions have been made on the basis of this correlation, and many lives have been saved. I am not aware of any scientists who are critical of this interpretation of the data and evidence, even though it is only “correlational.”

Frequently, good judgment, correct inference, and sound logic have to be used-along with the scientific data to make reasonable judgments about risk of harm. Everyone has to make daily decisions, without conclusive knowledge as to whether or not to continue smoking or eating unhealthy foods, and, similarly, whether or not to expose himself or his partner to pornographic materials or their effects.

Because ethical scientific research prohibits doing harm to research subjects, we may never have “direct” evidence or proof of a cause-effect relationship; consequently, we will continue, as in the past, to make personal, community, social policy decisions and laws on the basis of the best evidence available, good common sense, and the available scientific data, including that out of the laboratory of our everyday experience, in handling pornography, carcinogens in our environment, job and sex discrimination, and a number of other matters.

We need not claim that we are paralyzed or immobilized or unable to make decisions just because you choose to deny the evidence, question the scientific data, or simply are already addicted. Some men live in perpetual darkness and deny reality some out of a self-destructive tendency, all out of ignorance. While cigarette manufacturers are still claiming that there is no conclusive evidence of a causal connection between smoking and lung cancer many pulmonary and respiratory diseases, millions of Americans have chosen to stop smoking based on the evidence.

This raises the question of Why so many gay and bisexual men practice unsafe sex given the evidence and the history of AIDS? One answer may be in the professional and amateur pornography they expose themselves to online, much of which promotes unsafe sex!

A final note…

I have to emphasize that I cannot claim to have covered all relevant approaches to the problem of such a vast and variegated entity as pornography. It has been impossible to review any more than a few representative studies, and to summarize some of the current trends as well as past research on pornography’s effects, focusing especially on the negative findings, given that there are no positive findings on the issue.

Even if my review of the research and other evidence should still be considered by some to be insufficient to give the reader a sense of the field and, thus, answer for himself or herself the question of pornography’s potential to change or influence sexual attitudes and behavior in adults as well as children, I feel the vast majority of readers will necessarily come to the conclusion that pornography is very, very bad.

Regardless of what evidence is offered, there will still be many men who will argue that immersing himself in pornography is devoid of any negative consequences. But, that perhaps reflects their refusal to examine their own behavior, their unfamiliarity with the literature and research, perhaps they may have had a very [un]protected life experience, or they may be so addicted and helpless, they cannot accept the facts.

In the published scientific studies, we find reports of both children and adults who have been unequivocally and repeatedly injured by exposure to pornography, where the accumulated evidence over the many years of published research demonstrates a cause-effect relationship between such exposure to pornography and a wide range of harmful outcomes.

If anyone who reviews this report still has doubts about pornography’s effects, I would suggest that he or she attend some meetings of “Sexaholics Anonymous” or “Sex Addicts Anonymous”  and personally witness the pain, trauma, and evidence first hand. Most members of these groups, when they share their stories, will point to pornography as a significant facilitator of their compulsive, out-of-control sexual behavior.

There are certainly risks and there seems little doubt that there are at least some people, even those who are initially healthy, who will be eventually harmed through exposure to pornography.

In a culture and society where some types of pornographic material are protected by the Constitution, and where obscenity laws often go unenforced, some individuals may choose to immerse themselves pornography, just as some people may choose to drink or smoke excessively, or use illegal drugs. These individuals should be made aware of the health hazards involved and should have a sufficient understanding of the many risks involved.

---

This article draws on the work of many recognized authorities on the subject of pornography and behavior, and pornography and health risks. I am deeply indebted to Dr Victor B. Cline, a clinical psychologist who has treated hundreds of men with sexual dysfunction, and who has published numerous articles on the subject of pornography.

I have not included here the most recent reviews on the research or the physiological and anatomical, and the neurological changes that have been found to be caused by exposure to pornography. I shall provide those citations on request.

This is a shortened version of the complete article, which is available on request to gay.daka.karuna@gmail.com.