A new study shows a link between the amount of pornography a man views and the size of his brain. The study, conducted by lead author Simone Kühn of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, included testing on 64 men the ages of 21 and 45.
Researchers discovered that the more porn men said they watched, the smaller their brains were. Also, men who watched more porn showed less activity in the “reward center” of the brain when they were shown pornographic images during the tests.
The scientists involved made clear that their study could not determine whether there was a causal relationship between pornography viewing and brain size/function. In other words, they don’t know if porn makes the brain smaller and less responsive to sexual imagery, or if people with smaller, less responsive brains simply view more porn.
But what is undeniable is that there is a relationship between brain function and porn consumption. And the results of this latest study simply confirm what most of us know by way of common sense–pornography does produce a gradual dulling of the senses. Thus it leads users to ever more extreme imagery in order to arouse the equivalent response.
Like most addictions, in other words, porn is progressive in nature. The obvious consequence is that users of porn find real world sexual relationships less and less satisfying. A related study out of Florida State University showed a connection between porn use and relationship commitment. The more porn men or women watched, the less committed they were to their real world romantic relationships.
Those of us who claim that porn is damaging often do so with a view toward its darkening effect on the soul. But the latest neuroscience is giving us biological evidence to support those claims. The more scientists learn about the connection between porn and the brain, the more difficult it is to believe that porn is harmless.
Nathan Harden is editor of The College Fix and author of the book SEX & GOD AT YALE: Porn, Political Correctness, and a Good Education Gone Bad.
Follow Nathan on Twitter @NathanHarden
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