Amanda Marcotte: No, Porn Addiction Is Not Really A Thing

[Warren DeMontague]

119. who said there's no such thing as addiction? Not me.

personally I do distinguish between people having trouble modulating their self-control vis a vis something like gambling, for instance- even though, clearly, the reward pathway goes haywire- and the physiological syndrome that an alcoholic or heroin addict experiences-- but leaving aside the distinction between physiological addiction and behavior, psychological addiction (or habituation, which I consider a more appropriate term)... yes, people can seemingly become addicted or habituated to just about anything, including porn.

That said, Amanda Marcotte makes several good points, not the least of which is, these religious right anti-porn crusaders- have a history of dressing up what is clearly religious (or ideological) dogma in pseudo-medical terminology, to try to make it sound more legit. Remember our old friend Judith Reisman, who tried to say that something called "erotoxins" meant that those bad ol' picshurs of nekkid ladies were, quote, "1000 times more addictive than heroin"?

Yes, certainly people can become "addicted" to just about anything, from doing laundry to slot machines to looking at porn. That doesn't mean that everyone who gets turned on looking at a playboy centerfold is an "addict", any more than someone who smoked a joint at a Jimmy Buffet concert once has a "marijuana problem".