Research found in a recent American study, Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, has shown that a significant percentage of those amongst us who consider themselves religious still look at pornography on a regular basis.

 Many religious Americans consider watching porn to be deviant behaviour or a sinful addiction, and attempt to address it through preventative online software for individuals accessing porn or through therapy for people who are addicted to it.

The researchers presented participants with the evidence from the study showing them the discrepancy between reported and actual pornography use in those that consider themselves devout. Unsurprisingly, some highly religious participants did not like the results. They were also more likely than their non-religious peers to believe that the survey was conducted by politically motivated researchers.

There was found to be a correlation between religious states and online adult content use too. The researchers defined religious states as those with a higher percentage of individuals who self-identify as very religious and consider religion to be important to their daily lives. They found that there were more searches for sexual content on Google in these states.

Mark and Claire say: Here in the U.K. the LYP team has experienced the culture of fear in faith organisations. They are afraid to openly talk about pornography without being judged. Sadly there still remains a wall of secrecy due to fear of exposure, shame and guilt.  There’s also an in-house fear that talking about it will encourage young people to look for it and end up addicted. Pornography is only fuel for the emotional fire and most of the time there’s a deeper root of emotion that has not been addressed.

What do you think?

Mary Hodson is the spokes woman for Sex Therapy New Zealand. She has observed a connection between people with porn problems and the brain patterns of those with addictions.  She says research is yet to conclusively prove that the brains of people experiencing problems with porn are showing all the classic signs of addiction. A chemical change in the brain, probably linked to the feel-good hormone oxytocin, is likely to be proven soon.  Hodson prefers the term ‘Out of control sexual behaviour’ or OCSB to that of ‘addiction’. As public awareness increases the rise in porn connected discorders has risen to 40% of the case load at the organisations two North Island based centres.

Mark & Claire say:

This article is very interesting and reinforces the belief that watching pornography has a wider and deeper impact on the brain and consequently on our mental health. Although the article originates from New Zealand, we know Britain is facing the same issues and we are  also dealing with the lack of financial resources to prevent the situation getting worse. LYP is trying to bridge the gap. Please help us by spreading the word. #Preventionisbetterthancure.

This article was originally sourced and re-edited from The Big Read, NZ Herald article.

Last April (2016) The Women and Equalities Committee launched the first government probe into the scale and impact of sexual harassment and connected violence in our UK schools.

Concerns have been raised that teachers are not able to protect children from this kind of behaviour. Sexual offences in schools were revealed that 5,500 took place over a 3 year period and that this figure included 600 rapes.

School age girls are having to change their own behaviour to counteract sexual bullying, this has included wearing trousers to school. This measure is stop having their underwear exposed by others revealing them which is seen as ‘normal’ behaviour nowadays.

Online pornography use has been cited as a concerning factor saying that it confuses and clouds issues surrounding consent for young people.

Mark & Claire say, “We sincerely hope the the government and schools will start taking this more seriously as we believe that the evidence is overwhelming regarding the link between online pornography and the increase in sexual harassment. Unfortunately it’s only when something tragically goes wrong that people wake up to the reality that we have a very big problem and something needs to be done now! LYP is trying to tackle this but feels like the problem is so massive we need more people onboard…if you’re interested in helping us, message us or send us an email  office@loveyoungpeople.com“. 

Further evidence will be taken for Ofsted over the next few months to find out whether schools need to take evasive action.

What do you think? Have you been the subject of sexual harassment or violence at the hands of your classmates?