chillinworried Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 Hey I was wondering if watching porn can lead to being a pedophile. I have really bad anxiety worrying that I am a pedophile. Even though I don't look at or masturbate to CP, and I have anxiety attacks for hours if I get a fleeting thought about a kid and I stay away from kids and being near them worries me. I am worried about that and haven't watched porn for months cause I am worried it will lead me to being a pedophile. What do you all think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 I doubt it. My reasoning is that porn is a multi-billion $US industry per year, and that's just the stuff that people pay for. With so much porn being viewed around the world, society should be overrun with pedophiles if it were the case that a causal link existed between simply watching any sort of porn and becoming a pedophile. Instead, higher availability of pornography has coincided with a decrease in sexual crimes (http://reason.com/archives/2007/11/05/is-pornography-a-catalyst-of-s). If porn caused rape, then rape would increase along with porn consumption. Since the reverse is observed, at worst porn induces no more people to commit sexual offenses than would have done so anyway. While this doesn't address pedophilia directly, if porn doesn't induce rape, it shouldn't induce child molestation either. There also doesn't seem to be a logical connection. Why would watching adult mating rituals cause one to become a pedophile? IMHO that is like worrying that eating burritos would make me a cocaine addict. While some people who eat burritos do become coke addicts, it's hard to see one causing the other. Maybe I'm wrong. By chance do you perceive any mechanism whereby adult porn could cause pedophilia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SomethingOrOther Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 I think: why is it important for you to watch porn?While I don't think it can lead to a drastic change in sexuality, I think it can lead to unrealistic views on sexuality. I also think your anxiety about pedophilia is there, whether you watch porn or not, so it might be good to view it as an independent issue. You'll find that there are several people on here who share this worry and it can mean that your problem is excessive worrying rather than being a pedophile. S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillinworried Posted April 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 Ralph I have no evidence that it does I was just making sure.And I don't need to watch porn i was just wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Hi Chillinworried, I am aware of an argument that porn leads to worse things kind of like a gateway drug. In some cases those worse things could be child porn or pedophilia. In my web travels, I have only seen this argument amongst Christians who are advocating legal prohibition of all explicit materials. Since it only appears along with materials that are clearly promoting a political agenda, I discount it immediately on the grounds that the authors are actively cultivating a confirmation bias (selecting only evidence that agrees with preconceived view). I would revise my view if the argument was promoted by an expert with a neutral agenda. Further, I believe this argument to be false because I find any form of the gateway argument specious. That is, it looks reasonable on the surface but on closer inspection is very weak, as I alluded to in my burritos leading to cocaine addiction joke earlier . I mean, if you look at a bunch of cocaine addicts you will probably find at least 99% had burritos before they tried cocaine. Does that mean burritos lead to cocaine? Clearly not, as many people safely enjoy burritos and people who try cocaine most likely would have done so with or without a past history of burrito consumption:DI used an absurd example to highlight the speciousness of the argument. Replace cocaine with pedophilia and Burritos with porn, and you get the same form of argument, with an equally valid conclusion, IMHO. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatemeds Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Further, I believe this argument to be false because I find the any form of gateway argument specious. That is, it looks reasonable on the surface but on closer inspection is very weak, as I alluded to in my burritos leading to cocaine addiction joke earlier . I mean, if you look at a bunch of cocaine addicts you will probably find at least 99% had burritos before they tried cocaine. Does that mean burritos lead to cocaine? Clearly not, as many people safely enjoy burritos and people who try cocaine most likely would have done so with or without a past history of burrito consumptionSpot on and so true - the one does not necessitate the other - all you have to do is look at the research stats of those (who are brave enough to own up to which leaves an unknown multitude unaccounted for) who use porn and the paeds stats and you'll soon cop that the one is no brother of the other!**** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calla Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 You sound like someone who knows their own mind. I personally think it would stem from something deeper than watching porn. In this day and age of "political correctness" most of us feel the need to "Regulate" ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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