I'm what's known as an "Xennial," born in that narrow gap between Gen X and Millennials, which means I was in middle school before I ever heard the first dial-up screech and was greeted with the "You've Got Mail!" sound from the America Online voice.
Then, seeing a woman naked was a difficult thing. Your best bet was National Geographic or trying to see something through an overtly fuzzy connection to Cinemax or HBO late at night. The antics of boys and young men whose hormones were beginning to rage, or in the middle of raging, produced some pretty funny stories, some of which have been immortalized with humor on the silver screen.
But then the internet happened, and, as it did, a porn boom occurred. You didn't need to hope to stumble across a naked woman anymore. You didn't even have to pay for it. If you went to the right website, you could just see it.
Soon, websites strictly dedicated to pornography sprang up, and they became some of the most trafficked websites on the net. You no longer needed porn stars, either. Anyone with the gumption could upload themselves or their partner, or several partners, doing whatever.
That was bad enough.
As technology developed, apps like OnlyFans arrived, which allowed men and women (mainly women) to become porn "influencers," some of whom made money so good that they rival most high-level jobs. The vast majority didn't make nearly that kind of cash. Still, the promise of financial independence, wealth, validation, and more draws women to participate in the practice, creating what is effectively an at-home porn industry.
The only reason OnlyFans works is because men are instinctually drawn to handing over resources in exchange for sex or sexual attention for mating and reproducing purposes; however, the lizard part of our brain can't tell the difference between getting rewarded through a phone vs by a real woman in the bedroom, so we get a high that's pretty close. Women are often blamed for the growth and success of OnlyFans, but really, it's the men handing over their cash to see a woman naked, and possibly interact with her via messaging.
Read: The OnlyFans Plague Is Getting Worse As Minors Look at It As a Career Option
But it doesn't even stop there.
As I've written on multiple occasions, AI companions are becoming sharper and more interactive every day. Some websites offer a subscription model, allowing you to choose from an array of AI characters that not only interact with you via text but also speak to you over the phone. You can request custom pictures and videos, and the program will generate them for you, oftentimes with no filter or censorship.
As I wrote in my last article about this, many people laugh this AI companion issue off, but I have to reiterate that this is becoming a massive problem, and the industry has grown into a multi-million dollar one that's growing every day. Once again, just like OnlyFans, the primary driver of its success is men of every stripe and background.
Read: The Oncoming AI Companion Plague Needs to Be Taken Far More Seriously
The common thread of men driving the success of these vices makes all this an uphill battle, not just for men, but for society.
Despite what modern pop-society claims, men are needed in order to grow, maintain, and protect society, and more and more, we're seeing men simply withdraw. While there are a lot of factors at play for this, I can't help but think one big one is our easy access to naked, and sexually explicit women, whether they're made of flesh and blood or pixels.
One clue we may have is that porn of any variety tends to hurt the mind and body when consumed regularly, and this includes spikes of anxiety and depression. An Institute for Family Studies/YouGov survey found a strong correlation between the two:
Frequent use of online pornography is linked to an increased occurrence of negative mental health outcomes among young adults. Nearly 1 in 3 young adults (32%) who watch pornography at least once a day report feeling “down, depressed, or hopeless” most or all of the time, compared with 19% of those who rarely or never watch porn.
Young adults who watch pornography on a daily basis are also more likely to experience loneliness. More than 1 in 3 young adults who watch pornography daily (36%) report feeling lonely most or all of the time, compared with 20% of young adults who rarely or never watch it.
Moreover, the link between frequent pornography use and young adults’ emotional well-being remains significant even after we control for factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, income, and education. Specifically, watching pornography at least once a day doubles the risk of being depressed and increases the risk of feeling lonely by a similar amount.
According to the New York Post, they found similar results and also that porn consumption can literally reduce the gray matter in your brain, reducing motivation:
A 2015 study found that men who frequently viewed porn had less gray matter in the brain’s area responsible for motivation and decision-making. Heavy consumers of X-rated content were also less responsive to sexual stimuli overall, likely due to desensitization.
“This in turn leads to increased cravings and impulsivity in order to achieve the previous levels of reward in the brain,” Sukenik wrote.
Research shows that regular porn users often report higher rates of depression, diminished quality of life and overall worse mental health compared to those who steer clear of it.
“Pornography use could have even more profound effects on the developing brain,” Sukenik wrote. “This is because adolescent brains are undergoing rapid development, and connections are being formed and reorganized at a high rate of speed during the teen years.”
A 2021 study found that more than 20% of students who compulsively consumed X-rated content experienced severe or extremely severe levels of depression, anxiety and stress.
I don't think it's any accident that depression has jumped up significantly, and in recent years, respectively.
Depression among young adults has jumped to 10.1 percent from 5.4 percent in 2014, according to CDC data. According to Science Direct, from 2005 to 2023, both men and women have seen a steady rise in depression across the board.
Again, this can't all just be laid on the feet of pornography, but if we're playing detective, it's a prime suspect.
Men were more willing to work, strive, and court before porn came around. With pornography scratching a primal itch in their brain artificially, that drive has decreased. Women were pursued more, and marriages were more frequent.
I think it's safe to say that the Western world has a porn problem, and it's killing us in many ways.
