Originally Posted by Yataghan50
^Good & reassuring explanation in regards to oxytocin release- because after all, if we end up with the same compulsions & general mental negatives from regular sex, what’s the point? We’ve just traded one for other, & might as well become monks & just give it all up now.
Yeah definitely not advocating giving up sex. Sex and masturbation are different things, in my opinion with affects on the body/brain. I believe, there are two key differences between sex and masturbation to porn.
(1) The levels of dopamine released by the brain is far higher when watching porn and masturbating than when having normal sex.
(2) Using porn and masturbating doesn’t release as much oxytocin as when having normal, full contact sex with a partner.
I’ve read studies regarding addiction to junk food. It’s interesting that our limbic brains cannot tell the difference between a real plate of food in front of us and a picture of a plate of food in front of us (not taking into account other senses like smell). When we see a picture of food, on TV for example, our limbic brain is triggered, dopamine is released, we get a craving (remember dopamine is the “wanting” neurohormone) and then we start salivating against our conscious will. Marketing people exploit this response in all of us when they show us those mouthwatering commercials of tasty-looking but shitty junk foods. Hint: if you need help stopping eating junk food, stop watching commerical TV.
In the same way our limbic brain cannot distinguish the difference between naked women and pictures of naked women (not taking into account other senses like touch). The problem with porn is that there’s a never ending supply of different, beautiful, willing, horny women who will do anything we desire. In a single session of watching porn, you could easily have “sex” with 10, 20 or more different women. As far as your limbic brain can tell, this is what’s happening. This saturates the brain with dopamine, which leads to decreased numbers of dopamine receptors in the brain and depleted dopamine levels over the long term. Our human brains are simply not equipped to deal with this level of sexual stimulation. In real life you’d be lucky to have sex with 2 different women in one session, nevermind 10, 20 or more. Technology has surpassed what normal women can offer our limbic brains. Porn exploits this vulnerability in the limbic brain, particularly the male brain. Of course, there’s more to sex, and indeed, life, than what can fulfil our limbic brains.