What makes porn so irresistible and tempting?
Hurdle 1: Pornography is More Novel than Primitive Sex
Have you ever heard of the Coolidge effect? It’s a graphic example of how unrelentingly sexual novelty can drive behavior. The effect shows up in mammals ranging from rams to rats, and here’s how it works: Drop a male rat into a cage.
With a receptive female rat. First, you see a frenzy of copulation. Then, progressively, the male tires of that particular female. Even if she wants more, he has had enough.
However, replace the original female with a fresh one, and the male immediately revives and gallantly struggles to fertilise her. You can repeat this process with new females until he is completely wiped out.
Reproduction, after all, is genes’ top priority. Just ask the male antechinus, a mouse-like creature from Australia, which engages in a furious mating frenzy that destroys its immune system and drops dead.
Human mating is generally more complex. For one thing, we’re among the peculiar three to five percent of mammal species with the capacity for long-term bonds. Yet sexual novelty can enthrall us too.
The Coolidge effect itself gets its name from US President Calvin Coolidge. He and his wife were once touring a farm. While the president was elsewhere, the farmer proudly showed Mrs. Coolidge a rooster that could copulate with hens all day long, day after day. Mrs. Coolidge suggested that the farmer tell Mr. Coolidge, which he did. The president thought for a moment and then inquired, ‘With the same hen?’ ‘No, sir,’ replied the farmer. ‘Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge,’ retorted the president.
Hurdle 2: Pornography is More arousing than Primitive Sex
Porn poses unique risks beyond supernormal stimulation. First, it’s easy to access, available 24/7, free and private. Second, most users start watching porn by puberty. Their brains are at the peak of dopamine sensitivity, neuroplasticity, and vulnerability to addiction.
Humans are not resistant to the effects of unreal stimuli. Porn addicts binge on videos of naked actresses with surgically enhanced body parts beyond usual limitations. Fantasy has no limits. Sexy romance novels cater to our craving for the supernormal, plunging us into the intensity of narratives that stimulate our deepest sexual desires that would never occur in the real world.
On a chemical level, this supernormal intensity is delivered to us as a neurochemical payload that is far more powerful than any natural sexual stimulation could. And since the reward system propels us to learn by repetition and behavior reinforcement, exposure to unnatural stimuli makes us seek more exposure to more potent stimuli.
Porn producers are becoming more efficient at creating graphic content. This is not out of malice, but they are simply making more of what sells. This created trends in the porn industry. Mainstream porn is not getting softcore. It is becoming kinkier and more seductive. This is quite disturbing because it simply means that pornographers are getting better at making porn addicts.
Tolerance: When the twisted and Supernormal Becomes the New Norm
A common indication for the progression of any addiction is tolerance. Tolerance occurs when addicts no longer get the same pleasure from stimuli that “did it” for them. The same way an alcoholic may start with a cup or a few cups of beer a day to drinking hard liquor.
The heroin addict may start with a bump now and then, only to die from an overdose years later because he needed a large dose to get his fix.
Tolerance can be depicted when a user looks at more and more extreme porn or a combination of different porn genres to satisfy and maintain a certain level of dopamine. This is where pornography addiction gets dangerous.
When an addict builds up a tolerance to porn, the need for it develops to more frequent and consistently intense use. Spending 8 minutes surfing porn sites will just not be satisfying anymore. He will begin to binge on multiple videos at a time, searching for the non-existent perfect scene.
The chemical mechanism of « sensitization » involves a protein known as deltafosb. As the brain's reward system floods with more neurotransmitters in response to porn, deltafosb builds up in the cell nuclei, enhancing the neurotransmitters–particularly dopamine–prompting them to have a more significant effect—the result: more hardcore material cravings.