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?