Pornography: The Dirty Little Secret

At first it starts out so “innocently.” At least it seems so. Just a glance, a quick look—a jolt of  excitement. And then another look. A moment of curiosity turns into a  fascination. It pulls you in, until you are sinking in a quicksand of shame and  guilt. One time becomes two, then three. One minute becomes an hour. A momentary diversion becomes a habit that  recurs over months and years. You lose some of the most valuable things in your  life. Maybe your job. Maybe your wife or husband, girlfriend or boyfriend. But  most painful of all, you lose your  integrity and self-respect.

It is “the new drug” in Western  culture: pornography. In the United States alone, four million people are addicted—roughly  as many as are hooked on cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines combined. And 40 million Americans admit  to viewing porn regularly. And it is not just a problem in the United States. Two thirds of  Australians admit to viewing pornography occasionally, with many heavily  addicted. Seventy percent of British men aged 18–34 admit to using porn at  least once a month. In a UN report on the  sexuality of teens in Ireland, 78 percent of teen boys and 40 percent of teen  girls reported watching porn on the Internet (“Changing the Future:  Experiencing Adolescence in Contemporary Ireland,” UNICEF, December, 2010).

What is going on? Is there hope for  millions being swallowed up by a lifestyle of lust?

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