Friday, June 26, 2015

Help for overcoming porn

While it may seem a hidden, or minor, issue for many, there is a growing problem with porn, primarily on the Internet. It especially affects young men. It's discouraging to learn that a large number of boys begin consuming pornography in their early teens.

I am persuaded by the things I read that this isn't only about sexual morality. Consuming porn hobbles an individual's ability to socialize; and it has to have an effect on how men and women enter into healthy intimacy, including sexual intimacy. If you train your mind to seek and be satisfied only by an unreal, unattainable phantom, of course you're going to be disappointed by boring reality.

There are lots of people who get this, and who want to kick the habit. But they find it very hard to do. I've been doing some reading, and hunting around, for resources that might help.

Here are several I found recently that look promising:




This last one requires some explanation. It's an online forum for mutual support in abstaining from consuming pornography and all that goes with it.

None of these are, that I can see, specifically Catholic or Christian, although there are some spiritual elements here and there. I mention this so that people realize the limitations in what I'm offering. And, if anyone finds anything problematic in these sites, please let me know.

The NoFap forum looks especially promising, precisely because what makes it hard to overcome these habits is the sense of isolation. Who do you talk to about it? What holds you accountable? 

If you're reading this, and this is a problem you face, don't give up hope. I'm praying for you (and I'm not the only one).

4 comments:

Kathy said...

Don't forget the work Matt Fradd is doing. Google him and Covenant Eyes--both great resources.

Kathy said...

Don't forget the work Matt Fradd is doing. Google him and Covenant Eyes--both great resources.

Jennifer said...

I grew up in a family of porn fans, and a few porn performers. In the 1970s when I was young, it was relatively rare to be a porn fan, but I grew up surrounded by such people. It changed my life in many ways, usually for the worse. But It has caused me to value chastity in a way that people with more conventional upbringings could never appreciate.

And I have come to realize something else that few porn fans consider...those who are participating in the world's oldest profession on film are true victims. It is very important to consider the dignity of the porn performers...they usually have very little dignity or feelings of self-worth. By watching them, you are degrading another human being so deeply. Watching pornography is a great spiritual ill, and one of the great sins that I can think of. When I caught my estranged husband watching pornography a couple of times, it ended our marriage. I can't be involved with someone who watches something so disgusting and harmful to others.

Anonymous said...

Also, the Angelic Warfare Confraternity (www.angelicwarfareconfraternity.org) provides spiritual and social support for chastity of all kinds.