I have many friends who claim porn is “bad for your brain.” What does this mean? Can casual porn viewing negatively impact your body?
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Differences in the brain between people who frequently view pornography and people who do not have been observed and reported in scientific literature. However, it is unclear if frequent viewing causes these differences, or if the differences pre-dispose someone to frequent viewing.
Several studies have reported negative effects of frequent porn viewing, including difficulty in maintaining romantic relationships, lack of sexual satisfaction, increases in infidelity, etc. There are also reports of behavior common among addicts, including feeling out of control, lying about viewing, and “habituation”.
“Effects of Pornography on Relationships”[https://extension.usu.edu/relationships/research/effects-of-pornography-on-relationships](https://extension.usu.edu/relationships/research/effects-of-pornography-on-relationships)
“Is Porn Bad For You?”[https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/is-pornography-harmful/](https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/is-pornography-harmful/)
“Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption” [[https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1874574]](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1874574]) ([https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1874574](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1874574))
“Prevalence, Patterns and Self-Perceived Effects of Pornographyt Consumption..”[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6571756/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6571756/)
There is a lot of uninformed commentary about this, so you have to be careful what you read. Unfortunately, there also isn’t a lot of scientific literature on the subject.
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