Former Pornography Addict - Reflections

Reflections

By a Former Pornography Addict

RESOLVED: That pornography is a vile sin, evil in its effects, and damaging to all peoples in civil society.

RESOLVED: That, in the wake of the psychological addiction, human trafficking, rapes, and dehumanization that pornography is directly responsible for, the only acceptable action regarding pornography is to oppose it.

THEREFORE: Responding to the emergent and imminent threat of pornography is of the utmost importance in order to prevent and fight the injury and descration of the physical, psychological, and spiritual constitution of all humankind.

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED: That the duty of every person is to stop the usage and demand of pornography in order to prevent further harm to the collective wellbeing of humanity, and to facilitate the healing and restitution of the damaging effects that pornography has already caused.

First and foremost, this work is inspired by the original Meditations of an ex-porn addict, as posted in the Resources section of EasyPeasy Method. It would be pertinent to mention that this work is a series of short pieces, originally written for myself, written over the span of multiple months. As such, many of these pieces are self-contained.

The EasyPeasy Method is the only reason why I can call myself a former porn addict. It is the only successful method Ive ever encountered. I cannot rate it highly enough, and I encourage everyone who is struggling with porn addiction to read it. I believe it is so great that even if you were to stop reading this right now, and click off to read EasyPeasy, I would still be happy.

I wrote this book as a psychological release for all the reflecting I did while and after quitting porn. It kept my mind busy, and seeing it fleshed out provided a lot of satisfaction. A type of satisfaction that I knew porn would never bring. I encourage everyone to also find some release in the form of something tangible - something you can see being built up, and take pride in.

As a fair warning, this book is written from the perspective of a devout Christian. However, this should not dissuade any reader, for the reasons why I oppose pornography are not entirely religious in nature. I genuinely believe that pornography is a great source of tangible harm and trauma in todays society. In other words, a sin.

I address this because while my language may be colored by my faith, and while I may use some religious imagery, I do not want to give the impression that I am being against pornography just because my religion said so. Rather, this book documents my realizations about the horrid nature of pornography, and how to combat it.

I do not seek to convert you with this book. I only seek to provide another resource for people to identify with, and hopefully something that they can find support from. After all, the porn industry does not care what demographic you are.

It is true that EasyPeasy gives you all the knowledge and advice you need to escape porn addiction forever. However, I feel that this view of freeing oneself from porn addiction is flat and one-note, which makes it limiting and unhelpful. Certainly there are people who can just read EasyPeasy cover-to-cover and walk away truly freed from porn, never using ever again. Good on these people. I have no intention to make them feel like they havent earned it or that it wasnt hard enough for them. They reclaimed their lives, and I am happy for them.

However, I was most definitely not one of those people. I struggled to keep pornography out of my life for nearly a month and a half after reading. I hadnt understood it enough, and that was my problem. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but it wont make a difference if you dont understand it.

I struggled, mostly because of my already shitty personal and professional life being wrecked by the COVID quarantine. Most of everything that made my life worth living was taken away from me. This was of course the time that I tried to quit my porn addiction.

Suffice to say, such a person like moi might need a bit more advice and guidance to quit such an easy source of dopamine. In such a scenario, it is very easy to see how addicts fool themselves into thinking that porn is a crutch or a pick-me-up. I certainly did. This of course runs inherently contradictory to one of the precepts of EasyPeasy Method. Theres even a whole chapter dedicated to dispelling it.

This leads to one point that I found particularly useful in reshaping the way I thought about porn use and addiction - repetition. By that I mean repeated readings of EasyPeasy. Not necessarily the whole book but specific passages and chapters. If you have relapsed, pick yourself up and reread Chapters 5, 6, 7, 13 & 23. If you are having urges, reread Chapter 6 & 22. And do more than simply read it, you must absorb it. Meditate and contemplate on its precepts and try to get at how it applies to you. Hell, print it out and write notes on it. Rest assured, repeated readings is a very good tool to stamp out any doubt and brainwashing. Anyone who has ever done inductive Bible study (or Quran or Torah or etc.) can attest to this.

Additionally, it is a good mental practice to read and know as much as you can about the harms of pornography. Not just on an individual, medical & psychological focused view, but also its impact on society. Read about the dozens of papers that link porn to the development of more disgusting fetishes, the abuse and mistreatment of porn actors, and the direct link between porn and sex slavery. Porn has absolutely ruined lives, families, and societies.

Some resources I recommend are:

• The Porn Paradox - Megan Johnson ( Sources for this video )
• Fight The New Drug - Get The Facts Articles
• Why I Stopped Watching Porn - Ran Gavrieli
• Escaping Porn Addiction - Eli Nash
• Consider Before Consuming
• Truth About Porn - Philip Zimbardo, PhD. ( Website with more sources )
• This anime shitpost video (no really, its full of sources)

And the list of sources that give insight on the very grave implications that porn has on society just keeps expanding. Porn addicts will squeal and shout about correlation causation. And this is true. But do not forget that many of these studies are pointing out a causation.

A causation between porn and erectile dysfunction.

A causation between porn and hypofrontality.

A causation between porn and blunted dopamine receptors.

A causation between porn and human trafficking.

A causation between porn and the abuse and objectification of women.

A causation between porn and the deaths of thousands of women a year.

And the list goes on.

To hammer home the negative aspects of porn, I suggest one further thought experiment: For every one of these sources that you have read or watched, take a moment to reflect upon if any of those findings apply to you. Have your views of others been warped? Did porn (mis)inform you about the nature of sex and what people find attractive? If you are reading this, changes are you are or have been realizing that you are addicted to pornography. Dont let any defensive coomer try to undermine and invalidate the true phenomena that you have experienced. Hold onto them, and let these aspects be a guide and reference to your recovery.

When reading the list of harms of pornography, the only response that you should have is anger and sorrow at what porn is doing to the world, as well as gratitude of knowing that you have realized this, and are actively trying to better yourself.

After I grasped the fundamental precepts of EasyPeasy , I started my new porn-free life by doing something that I thought I would never be in a position to do. I admitted that I had struggled with porn addiction to a close friend of mine. He checked up on me; the opportunity presented itself, and I took it. It feels good to confess. Most of all, it feels good to be free of this wretched evil.