Changing the Way People, Politics & the Media Look at Sex

‘masturbation’

Why does anyone look at porn?

by on ·Pornography & Porn Addiction, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Why does anyone look at porn? For tens of millions of American men and women, there’s only one answer: To get more sexually excited. The goal of getting excited, of course, is to enhance the process by which people eventually get not-excited—also called satisfaction. Lather, rinse, repeat three times per week for 75 years. How someone feels about that—deliberately doing something to get more aroused—is an excellent predictor of how they will feel about pornography. For those suspicious of sexual arousal, porn is bad. For those who think that tinkering with our own arousal is selfish or creepy, porn is…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments

Your Husband Watches Porn—Now What?

by on ·Pornography & Porn Addiction, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Another woman leaves my office, broken-hearted that her husband looks at porn. Or enraged that her husband looks at porn. Or terrified, confused, or ashamed. I understand the anguish, I do. It’s all the more poignant because it’s so unnecessary. Although porn feels like the problem, focusing on that rarely brings domestic peace or more intimacy. It certainly doesn’t bring more or better sex. Here’s what various women say they feel in this situation: * “I hate that he keeps secrets. I feel left out.” * “I can’t compete with those damn women who perform in porn films. I’ll never…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments

Another Guy Who Isn’t a Sex Addict

by on ·Sex Addiction, Sexual Intelligence Blog

He was 50, married, and he had all the symptoms of “sex addiction.” Let’s call him Joe. As he travelled the country lecturing (he was a pioneering ear surgeon), he’d hire an escort to spend the night with him. He’d lie about it to his wife, of course. He became a regular—or rather he had a few “regulars”—in cities he visited frequently, such as Chicago and St. Louis. What had started 12 years ago as an occasional treat eventually became a virtual necessity. While he wanted to be an attentive father and husband, he worked long hours and was emotionally…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments

World Sexual Health Day 2014

by on ·Sex Around the World, Sexual Intelligence Blog

According to the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS), today is World Sexual Health Day. Adopted along with the UN, here’s their definition of sexual health. Some of the key challenges to sexual health in the U.S. today include: * Childhood sexual exploitation: It can alienate people from their bodies and from sex, entangle sex with coercion, entangle attention with shame and pain, and create lifelong secrets or hatred. * Shame about our bodies, learned from an early age: No baby is born ashamed of her or his body. And no baby thinks their genitalia is any different than any…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments

The Myth of Porn’s Perfect Bodies

by on ·Pornography & Porn Addiction, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Among the complaints I repeatedly hear about porn is that it features perfect female bodies, which supposedly makes male consumers lose interest in normal, imperfect bodies. Normal imperfect bodies, of course, are what most men are limited to in real life. People who watch a lot of porn don’t say this. Only those unfamiliar with actual porn say it, because it simply isn’t true. Sure, many porn consumers seek out and enjoy conventionally perfect bodies—young, blemish- and wrinkle-free, incredibly round where they’re round, as smooth and firm as polished teak where they’re smooth and firm. But an enormous percentage of…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments