Al Mohler reviews William Struthers' book, Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain. From Mohler's post:
Why men rather than women? As Struthers explains, the male and female brains are wired differently. "A man's brain is a sexual mosaic influenced by hormone levels in the womb and in puberty and molded by his psychological experience." Over time, exposure to pornography takes a man or boy deeper along "a one-way neurological superhighway where a man's mental life is over-sexualized and narrowed. This superhighway has countless on-ramps but very few off-ramps.
Pornography is "visually magnetic" to the male brain. Struthers presents a fascinating review of the neurobiology involved, with pleasure hormones becoming linked to and released by the experience of a male viewing pornographic images. These experiences with pornography and pleasure hormones create new patterns in the brain's wiring, and repeated experiences formalize the rewiring.
And then, enough is never enough. "If I take the same dose of a drug over and over and my body begins to tolerate it, I will need to take a higher dose of the drug in order for it to have the same effect that it did with a lower dose the first time," Struthers reminds us. So, the experience of viewing pornography and acting out on it creates a demand in the brain for more and more, just to achieve the same level of pleasure in the brain.
Josh's blog links to Boundless Webzine, where Rachel Zoller helps readers see how girls (like her) can succumb to pornography. Her post, It's Not Just a 'Guy Problem', gives background to her addiction and the process of overcoming not only the habit, but the guilt. Over at Focus on the Family, she gives a more thorough article for girls needing help in this area.
Thanks be to God for grace that is greater than all our sin.
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