Watching pornography isn’t only a sexual health issue; it seeps into your idea of mental wellness. With porn being more readily available than ever before, you can worry about what life in the age of porn is doing to the mental wellbeing of those who watch it – especially if you’re one of those people. Does pornography distort your expectations of sex with real people? Let’s take a look at what the experts say watching porn does to your brain.
According to Paul Wright, PhD, an assistant professor at Indiana University who researches the social aspects of sex, a woman’s appearance can give more clues to her ability to reproduce than a man’s can. This may be why men have seemingly evolved to pursue lusty, busty women who are willing to engage in casual sex. However, research out of Emory University shows less of a gender divide in watching porn, albeit still showing a difference in the reasons for men and women liking it. Study author Heather Rupp, PhD, now a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute, details, ‘Men prefer novelty, while women are more interested in stable dynamics.’
Still, for men, pornography solves somewhat of a primal problem: how to access commitment-free sex with multiple partners. Evolution teaches us that, on some level, a man is more reproductively successful if he has inseminated as many women – ideally young and beautiful i.e. fertile women – as possible. For women, on the other hand, reproductive success is more measured by how much the men they choose are interested in and have the resources for parenting. Wright explains, ‘Men still have instinctual preferences today because those preferences served a reproductive purpose for their ancestors. Men’s modern environment has changed dramatically, but their evolved sexual preferences have not.’
When a man watches porn, his physical responses – such as a faster heart rate, increased blood flow and an erection — is preceded by a deeper neurological process. However, scientists who have attempted to capture through brain scans have come out with a wide range of results. William Struthers, PhD, a biopsychologist and the author of Wired for Intimacy, notes, ‘There are so many moving parts in this equation. How old is the man? Is he involved in a sexual relationship? Is he regularly masturbating? People think sex is always the same. It’s not. You look at food very differently when you’re hungry compared with when you’ve just finished a meal.’
Nonetheless, there are a few broad themes that consistently emerge from these types of studies. For example, there’s a cognitive component of visual processing, attention, and reward. Struthers clarifies, ‘Pornographic images seem to activate a man’s visual system in a manner that goes beyond just looking at trees or even people. It’s almost like a high-definition signal compared with a standard signal.’ Once this signal hits a man’s antenna, your mesolimbic (reward) system kicks in and gives you a rush of feel-good dopamine – reinforcing your behaviour much in the same way that drugs like cocaine would. Struthers comments, ‘Guys freak out when they think porn might be “rewiring” their brains. The reality is, our brains are regularly being “rewired”—we wouldn’t learn anything otherwise.’
The perhaps more troublesome outcome is what occurs after your surge of pleasure: the brain regions tied to motivation become activated, driving you to seek sexual release. Struthers points out, ‘Several brain regions, called the higher cortical component, have to decide, “What’s the best way to deal with this?” The problem is, these cortical systems can shut off—that is, they may receive less blood as the visual and arousal systems become more active. Essentially the decision-making system is turning itself over to the experience; it’s almost like the men are hypnotized. This is the classic male stereotype: When men think with what’s below, they don’t make good decisions.’