Most of these articles were written for other websites, and follow a format of neuroscience combined with anecdotes—generally from porn users (a few were written by other authors). Many of the articles were written between 2009-2013, before most of the recent brain studies on porn users were published. While accurate, they read as though there is little brain research on the effects of porn. To date every neurological study offers support for the porn addiction model. All support the premise that internet porn use can cause addiction-related brain changes, as do recent neuroscience-based reviews of the literature. For a short overview of key concepts, with lots of citations, read this article. For lists of hundreds of studies lending support to porn addiction and porn use leading to multiple negative outcomes, see this page.
The core concepts of how Internet porn is unique and how use can cause addiction, sexual problems, and many other negative outcomes
- Intoxicating Behaviors: 300 Vaginas = A Lot of Dopamine (2010)
- Porn, Novelty, and the Coolidge effect (2011)
- Porn Then and Now: Welcome to Brain Training (2011)
- Why Shouldn’t Johnny Watch Porn If He Likes? (2011)
- Why Do I Find Porn More Exciting Than A Partner? (2011)
- Porn-Induced Sexual Dysfunction Is A Growing Problem (2011)
- Porn, Pseudoscience and DeltaFosB (2013)
- Are Porn Tube Sites Causing Erectile Dysfunction? (2013)
- Can You Trust Your Johnson? (2011)
- Are Sexual Tastes Immutable? (2012)
- Young Porn Users Need Longer To Recover Their Mojo (2012)
- Toss Your Textbooks: Docs Redefine Sexual Behavior Addictions (2011)
- Porn Addiction is Not Sex Addiction–And Why It Matters (2011)
- The Other Porn Experiment (2012)
- Guys Who Gave Up Porn: On Sex and Romance (2012)
- Men: Does Frequent Ejaculation Cause a Hangover (2012)
- Porn, Masturbation and Mojo: A Neuroscience Perspective (2012)
- Porn Problems: Here Come the Women (2013
- (Video) Porn Myths – The Truth Behind Addiction And Sexual Dysfunctions, by Gabe Deem (2015)
- A 2016 peer-reviewed paper by Gary Wilson: Eliminate Chronic Internet Pornography Use to Reveal Its Effects (2016)
Articles
Section One: You Evolved to be Hooked on Porn
- Why Shouldn’t Johnny Watch Porn If He Likes? (2011)
- Has Evolution Trained Our Brains to Gorge on Food and Sex? (2010)
- Porn, Novelty, and the Coolidge effect (2011)
- The Great Porn Experiment (2011)
- What If She Were Always in the Mood? (2010)
- When the Internet Is Better Than People (2012)
Section Two: What’s Driving Your Addiction?
- Intoxicating Behaviors: 300 Vaginas = A Lot of Dopamine (2010)
- Porn Then and Now: Welcome to Brain Training (2011)
- Why Do I Find Porn More Exciting Than A Partner? (2011)
- Recent Internet Addiction Brain Studies Include Porn (2013)
- Ominous News for Porn Users: Internet Addiction Atrophies Brains (2011)
- Are You Hooked on Porn? Ask ASAM (2011)
- Porn On The Brain (2010)
- Protect Your Appetite for Pleasure (2010)
- What Porn Users Taught Me (2010)
- Kids and Porn: It Ain’t Your Father’s ‘Playboy’ (2010)
Section Three: The Effects of Porn on the User
- Dr. Oz Show Investigates Porn-Induced ED (2013)
- Porn Recovery and The Mysterious Flatline (2013)
- Are Porn Tube Sites Causing Erectile Dysfunction? (2013)
- Porn-Induced Sexual Dysfunction Is A Growing Problem (2011)
- Porn Problems: Here Come the Women (2013)
- Youthful ED: More to the Story? (2013)
- Quitting porn? Prepare for more vibrant emotions (2013)
- Young Porn Users Need Longer To Recover Their Mojo (2012)
- Was the Cowardly Lion Just Masturbating Too Much To Porn? (2010)
- Porn, Masturbation and Mojo: A Neuroscience Perspective (2012)
- Porn and Perception: Is Your Limbic Brain Distorting Your Vision? (2010)
- “How I Recovered from Porn-related Erectile Dysfunction” (2010)
- Can You Trust Your Johnson? (2012)
- ‘Straight Men, Gay Porn’ and Other Brain Map Mysteries (2010)
- Losing at Porn Roulette (2010)
- As Porn Goes Up, Performance Goes Down? (2010)
- Wiring Sexual Tastes to Hairless Genitals…Oops! (2012)
- Exposure Therapy for HOCD? (2012)
- No Porn, Better Working Memory? (2012)
- Bill Gates and Better Condoms: Error 404? (2013)
Section Four: The Porn Debate (also see: Questionable & Misleading Studies)
- (Video) “People Recognize Porn-Science Propaganda When They See It” by Jacob Hess (2018) – An overview of tactics employed by “astroturfers” who deny the possible negative effects of porn use.
- (Video) “Porn Research: Fact or Fiction?” by Gary Wilson (2018) – Wilson exposes the truth behind 5 studies propagandists cite to support their claims that porn addiction doesn’t exist or that porn use is largely beneficial.
- (Video) PORN MYTHS – The Truth Behind Addiction And Sexual Dysfunctions, by Gabe Deem (2015)
- How Porn Is Messing with Your Manhood, by Philip Zimbardo & Gary Wilson (2016)
- For a debunking of nearly every naysayer talking point and cherry-picked study see this extensive critique: Debunking “Why Are We Still So Worried About Watching Porn?”, by Marty Klein, Taylor Kohut, and Nicole Prause (2018).
- How to recognize biased articles: They cite Prause et al., 2015 (falsely claiming it debunks porn addiction), while omitting over 3 dozen neurological studies supporting porn addiction (2017)
- More on Porn: Guard Your Manhood—A Response to Marty Klein, by Philip Zimbardo & Gary Wilson (2016)
- A 2016 peer-reviewed paper by Gary Wilson: Eliminate Chronic Internet Pornography Use to Reveal Its Effects (2016)
- Norman Doidge, MD on pornography and neuroplasticity: “The Brain That Changes Itself” (2007)
- Toss Your Textbooks: Docs Redefine Sexual Behavior Addictions (2013)
- Porn, Pseudoscience and DeltaFosB (2013)
- The Other Porn Experiment (2012)
- Is there evidence supporting the existence of pornography addiction?, by Don Hilton, MD (2013)
- The Wages of Sexual-Addiction Politics (2011)
- Porn Addiction is Not Sex Addiction (2011)
- Porn and DSM-5: Are Sexual Politics At Play? (2012)
- DSM-5 Attempts to Sweep Porn Addiction Under the Rug (2011)
- Politics, Porn and Addiction Neuroscience (2012)
- Exclusion of Internet Porn Addiction Makes No Biological Sense (2012)
- Measuring Porn’s Effects: What About the Users? (2010)
- The End of The Porn Debate? (2010)
- Boys and Porn: A Moving Target (2014)
- How can we bring the problem of porn addiction into the mainstream? (2012)
- Rethinking Ogas and Gaddam’s ‘A Billion Wicked Thoughts’ (2012)
- ‘A Billion Wicked Thoughts’ Is Only A Snapshot (2012)
- Post-Porn Culture (2012)
- Teach Porn In Schools? (2013)
- Drumroll: An Academic Journal For Porn Fans (2013)
- Is Joshua Grubbs pulling the wool over our eyes with his “perceived pornography addiction” research? (2016)
- Critique of: Letter to the editor “Prause et al. (2015) the latest falsification of addiction predictions” (2016)
- Analysis of “Pornography Consumption Effect Scale: Useful or Not?” (Hald & Malamuth, 2008)
- Analysis of “Does Viewing Explain Doing—Or Not?” (2013)
- Analysis of “No Evidence of Emotion Dysregulation in “Hypersexuals” Reporting Their Emotions to a Sexual Film” (Prause et al., 2013)
- Analysis of “Sexual desire, not hypersexuality, is related to neurophysiological responses elicited by sexual images” (Steele et al., 2013)
- Analysis of “The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Review of the ‘Pornography Addiction’ Model”, by David Ley, Nicole Prause & Peter Finn (2014)
- Analysis of “Modulation of late positive potentials by sexual images in problem users and controls inconsistent with ‘porn addiction'” (Prause et al., 2015)
- Critique of: “Damaged Goods: Perception of Pornography Addiction as a Mediator Between Religiosity and Relationship Anxiety Surrounding Pornography Use” (Leonhardt, Willoughby, & Young-Petersen, 2017)
- Op-ed: Who exactly is misrepresenting the science on pornography? (2016)
- Critique of “Is Pornography Really about “Making Hate to Women”? Pornography Users Hold More Gender Egalitarian Attitudes Than Nonusers in a Representative American Sample” (2016)
- Critique of “Perceived Effects of Pornography on the Couple Relationship: Initial Findings of Open-Ended, Participant-Informed, Bottom-Up Research” (2016)
- Studies linking porn use or porn/sex addiction to sexual dysfunctions, lower arousal and lower sexual & relationship satisfaction
- YBOP response to Jim Pfaus’s “Trust a scientist: sex addiction is a myth” (January, 2016)
- Debunking Kris Taylor’s “A Few Hard Truths about Porn and Erectile Dysfunction” (2017)
- Debunking “Should you be worried about porn-induced erectile dysfunction?” – by The Daily Dot’s Claire Downs. (2018)
- Debunking the “Men’s Health” article by Gavin Evans: “Can Watching Too Much Porn Give You Erectile Dysfunction?” (2018)
- The World Health Organization Says CSBD Includes Porn Use (2022)
Section Five: Relationships and Porn
- Guys Who Gave Up Porn: On Sex and Romance (2012)
- Porn, Novelty and Dissatisfaction (2011)
- Why Is Romeo Ignoring Juliet? (2011)
- Boyfriend Quitting Porn? 5 Tips (2012)
- Dating A Heavy Porn User? (2011)
- Pair Bonding 101: Beware Novelty-As-Aphrodisiac (2011)
- Are Pair Bonders More Vulnerable to Addiction? (2010)
Section Six: Masturbation & Ejaculation Articles
- Rethinking the Wonders of Adult Masturbation (2012)
- Men: Does Frequent Ejaculation Cause A Hangover? (2012)
- Ejaculation: How Often for Good Health? (2012)
- Masturbation, Fantasy and Captivity (2010)
- WEIRD Masturbation Habits (2011)
- The Right Masturbation Advice (2010)
- Are You Exiting the Gene Pool Due to Low Sperm Count or ED? (2011)
- Vibrators and Other Pleasures: When Moderation Fails (2011)
Section Seven: Sexuality and the Brain
- Are Sexual Tastes Immutable? (2012)
- First Sex: Just The Science Please (2013)
- Sexual Fantasy: The More You Scratch the More You Itch (2010)
- Do You Need a Chaser After Sex? (2010)
- Supersize Orgasms? (2010)
- Sex and Morality: A Debate Between Competing Neurons (2011)
- New Finding Calls Into Question Assumptions About Sexuality (2012)
Section Eight: Intimate Relationships and the Brain
- Human Brains Are Built to Fall in Love (2010)
- Committed Relationship: You’re Wired For It (2011)
- Guys: Where Do You Fall on the Monogamy Spectrum? (2011)
- How to Talk to Cupid (2011)
- The Lazy Way to Stay in Love (2010)
- Staying in Love Monkey-Style (2010)
- Calling All Skin-Hungry Cuddle Sluts (2010)
- Can’t She/He See I Need Sex? (2010)
- Oxytocin, Fidelity and Sex (2012)
Section Nine: Articles of Special Interest to Women
- Woman, Vibrators, and Shaky Sex Research (2013)
- Vibrators and “Dead Vagina Syndrome”: research and mainstream press (2018)
- Vibrators and Other Pleasures: When Moderation Fails (2011)
Chapter Six: The Road to Excess is a chapter from our book Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow. It’s an easy read, and explains what we knew about porn’s effects circa 2008.
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