Pornography is a popular part of our culture that devalues people, like you and me, every day. People receive temporary physical pleasure through pornography all the time, but what happens after their pleasure subsides?

According to Jill C. Manning, in a 2005 article she wrote for The Heritage Foundation, an in-depth study on the consequences of pornography in marriage revealed there are many long-lasting negative outcomes. A few she discovered are as follows: an increase in marital distress, a decrease in marital intimacy and child rearing, and an increase in the “appetite for more graphic types of pornography.”

Manning’s study also showed an increase in addictive sexual behavior when pornography was introduced into the bedroom. As can be seen by this study — as well as many others — when people allow pornography into their lives, they are giving it permission, or at the very least a risky opportunity, to control their minds. Those graphic mental pictures no longer exist only in magazines or on television screens, but are burned into people’s memories, causing them to long for something that is not real and never will be. 

According to a study done by psychologist and author Dr. Patrick Carnes, of 932 people with compulsive sexual behavior, nearly 90 percent of men and 77 percent of women attribute pornography as a significant factor to their sexual addictions. I don’t need to tell you those are big numbers. Although it is true pornography won’t show negative effects in all users, the research available makes it too high of a risk to take.

Sadly, I am not surprised pornography is as big of a cultural issue as it is today. People are forced to see it everywhere they go: in movies and magazines and on billboards and television screens. People are even forced to see pornography in their own homes, against their will, because pop-up advertisements take over their computer screens. 

Men: think about your sister or your mother. These are the women being devalued by pornography everyday. Regular women do not deserve to have expectations placed on them for how they look in order to please men, and that is exactly the type of problem pornography exacerbates.

The same thing goes for women. Think about the men being shown in erotic films: buff, statuesque-looking figures. Do not submit yourself to pornography. By doing so, we encourage the defilement and devaluation of our brothers and fathers, just as women have been devalued. No one can live up to such standards.