Questioning Pornography Lily

John Carr, OBE, is a globally recognized expert on child safety; he is working towards implementing age verification legislation in the UK aimed at protecting children from exposure to online pornography.  My friend Alexander is skeptical that age verification for pornography websites can really be effective. In this episode, Alexander raises his concerns and tough questions and John Carr responds.

Questions discussed include: With millions of porn websites currently existing and hundreds more popping up every day, how can governments hope to monitor all these sites for compliance? Is it a valid argument to say that since age verification works for online gambling sites, it can work for porn sites? What would have the biggest impact: requiring porn websites to age verify users, or requiring search engines to age-gate pornographic content?

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Within the field of pornography research, longitudinal data is arguably the most robust evidence one can get for causation. The paper highlighted in today's episode is a review of various longitudinal studies which examine the impact pornography consumption has on adolescents. 



Paper Highlighted: Longitudinal associations between the use of sexually explicit material and adolescents' attitudes and behaviors: A narrative review of studies by Goran Koletic

For further research on pornography's impact on adolescents see this webpage

For a more thorough discussion of causation vs. correlation in pornography research and the advantages of longitudinal studies, I recommend you listen to this episode.

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I was so grateful to chat with Dr. Mateusz Gola, leading expert on the neuroscience of problematic pornography use. I was able to ask some burning questions, correct my previous misunderstandings of the research, and have some laughs! 



To read Dr. Gola's studies or to seek treatment, visit drgola.online



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Christopher Bueker discusses how parents can help their children recover from pornography addiction, authoritative vs. authoritarian parenting, signs that a child is addicted to pornography, what makes an individual susceptible to addiction, and more.
Further Resources: 

Christopher's new book Break Free of Chains: How to Help Your Child Recover from Pornography Addiction



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What does the overall body of research have to say on how porn affects sexual and relationship satisfaction? What about body satisfaction and self-esteem? Are the answers to these questions different for men and women? This meta-analysis explores these questions!

Study highlighted: 

Pornography Consumption and Satisfaction: a Meta-Analysis

Other studies mentioned:

Studies linking porn to lower sexual/relationship satisfaction for women

Studies linking porn to lower body satisfaction and self-esteem

Study showing female porn consumers watch more violent content than men 

Mary Sharpe, the CEO of the Reward Foundation, speaks to the effect of pornography on people with autism, increasing consumption of child sexual abuse material (aka. child pornography), and increasing rates of sexual strangulation and "rough sex gone wrong".

Sources for further learning: 

Mary Sharpe & Darryl Mead's new paper: Problematic Pornography Use: Legal and Health Policy Considerations 

The Reward Foundation Website

If you enjoy these conversations, please consider supporting me on Patreon to help me continue producing episodes.