Campus Chronicle
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The Campus Chronicle is a free publication.
a publication of the Pacific Union College Student Association
vol. XC
no. 11
THURSDAY 15 MAY 2014
One Church
REVOfest: 2014
Introverts
By C. Uechi & S. Martinez NEWS & FEATURES pg. 2
By Amanda Navarrete REVO pg. 4
By W. Chen & A. Moss OP-ED pg. 7
Pornography: The Real Story The story of those who deal with pornography. By Taylor Pittenger *Some names have been changed to respect individual’s privacy. Why hide it? Pornography is an issue that people all over the world experience every day. According to a news source, some of the most visited sites in a few Islamic countries were pornographic sites. In America, over 40 million people watch pornography on the internet daily. Many Christian denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists, believe pornography is sinful. The official statement on pornography is: “[It is] destructive, demeaning, desensitizing, and exploitative.” Not only do religious establishments disagree with pornography, but secular sources also find it to have destructive nature. An article from the New York Times said, “In heterosexual couples, men who habitually use pornography sometimes withdraw from intimacy with female partners, and sometimes make demands on female partners for sexual acts that are uncomfortable, painful, or degrading to the women.” This issue is typically targeted towards men, however statistics show that one in three people that watch pornography are women. This topic will be addressed later in this article. Fred Brown*, an individual who has watched pornography, said, “I feel like this is one of those topics that never gets talked about. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the church or not, people just don’t want to talk about it.” Brown also expressed that now more than ever people have access to pornography. He said, “With [the Internet] it’s easy to get it when you want it. It’s not like it was a few decades ago, when you had to go down to the store to get a magazine. Now people can watch it in the comfort of their own home.” With the Internet, pornography has become accessible to anyone, including youth. Many individuals who have expressed their beginnings with pornography state they started at a young age. Another individual Charles Jones* talks about his journey with pornography and said, “Back in the 90’s, I feel like computers had more pop-ups. When I was a kid I feel like it was easy to see.” Jones recalls seeking out pornography in middle school. “I may have looked up ‘naked women,’” Jones joked, “it started off pretty mild. But it just escalated from there.” Brown explains that in his experience it became more of a routine: “In high school, I would come home every day, and end up watching porn. After a while I became so numb to the fact that I was doing this. It was almost like I was after a rush, after a stressful day at school. But the rush never lasted.” Michael Jefferson a counselor at the PUC Career and Counseling Center said, “Pornography is used quite a bit as a way of self-medicating for feeling depressed or not feeling good about one’s self esteem. An individual typically uses porn to stimulate for masturbation so that they experience orgasm, which is the release of dopamine. That becomes a loop that makes them feel better for a short period of time.” After the “rush,” individuals report feeling more depressed than before. “I remember thinking I was not going to receive salvation every single time I finished watching my porn,” Brown said. “The emptiness just ate me alive.” Jones also described the aftermath of watching pornography: “I hated watching porn. I hated having watched porn. I’d do stuff like that, and then I’d feel bad about it. Like God disapproves of it, and I was really afraid that God would oust me.” Jones continued to say, “I’d go on mission trips sometimes, and then I’d have a huge spiritual high, and I wouldn’t watch porn. I think the highest I got was about six months. But then I would watch it again and splurge. I’d feel really bad, and slowly recede off the spiritual high. It just became a cycle.”
“I really want to feel LOVED and not judged about this.”
When asked the question why watch pornography for such little reward, Brown answered, “It’s because it’s the only way for me to feel better. I know it’s my choice and I can choose not to do this, but it just always comes back into my life.” As stated earlier in the article, this is often viewed as a problem that males endure, however females are also involved in this problem. Jill Anderson* describes her encounter with porn similar to her male friend’s experiences: “I started watching porn when I was about twelve. I was just curious about it because I heard about it from my guy friend. In time it was just something I did.” Anderson gave a female perspective on pornography: “Growing up I never had trouble with my self-esteem with girls on magazines or girls at school. I thought I wasn’t beautiful because I felt like I couldn’t be like the women in porn. I felt like I couldn’t be as sexy as them, or put out as quickly as those women did.” Although pornography is considered a private matter, it has the capability to ruin relationships. Statistics show that one of the number one reasons for divorce has to do with pornography. Jefferson said a scenario that typically happens is, “a boyfriend or a girlfriend will say ‘this has to stop if we want to continue this relationship.’” He went on to say that “if they’re dating and one partner finds that the other partner is using pornography, it can be very damaging to that relationship, the intimacy and to the trust.” “It robs a person for a need for a relationship potentially.” He gives a typical male who watches pornography scenario: “Let’s say I have porn, I don’t have to find a girlfriend. I don’t have to behave with that girlfriend in an appropriate way to make sure we work up to a level of intimacy. I want intimacy immediately. It distorts kind of the timeline of how a relationship ideally develops. You should start out by holding hands, not by going to bed the first night, ideally.” Anderson expresses her experience with pornography and how it affected her real life relationships. “While I was dating an ex-boyfriend of mine, pornography really became the reason why we broke up, in my opinion. There were times I wouldn’t want to have simple intimacy with him like kissing on the cheek or holding hands. All I wanted was that instant ‘feel good’ feeling.” Anderson continued, “Pornography also distorted my view of love. To me, getting physical with my boyfriend was the only way we could express love because I rewired my brain to believe that love and desire comes from being sought after. In my head, why should I hold hands if I can just be loved quicker by getting physical. I think if I took things a lot slower my relationship wouldn’t have fallen apart. However in the long run, I can’t blame porn I have to blame myself.” Pornography can not only be damaging in personal relationships but also one’s relationship with God and the church. Brown said, “I feel like this isn’t talked about in the church. Things like drugs or alcohol I feel like are addressed more. I know for me — I’m sure other people feel the same — but I turn to the internet for answers instead of talking about it with people. I wish sex education had a little more on this topic only because I think it would have made me think twice about it.” Anderson added to the topic about her spirituality and church, “I love our church, and I love what it offers us spiritually, but I always felt like I didn’t have a safe place to talk about my problems without being judged. For this topic I feel like it’s a lot harder for women to talk about this in the church setting or anywhere for that matter. I really want to feel loved and not judged about this. However after all of that, I know that my God still wants me and finds me (Continued on next page)
“Pornography is used quite a bit as a way of self-medicating for feeling depressed or not feeling good about one’s self esteem.”