{"id":28604,"date":"2013-01-09T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T17:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?p=28604"},"modified":"2013-01-09T11:03:51","modified_gmt":"2013-01-09T18:03:51","slug":"dirty-minded-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Men Like to Look At Naked Girls On The Internet. Here’s Why They Should Stop That."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I had a bit of a personal crisis when I saw this link from The Huffington Post<\/em> titled, \u201cResearch Suggests that All Men Watch Pornography<\/a>.\u201d My first thought was that they could not have possibly talked to all men. I know this, because I do not watch pornography. This made me suspicious that the link was tied to a pornographic Web site designed to trick me, the last man standing, into accidentally seeing pornography in order to validate their research. (Or, more disturbingly, it could be that I am not actually a man because I do not watch pornography.)<\/p>\n

Do not mistake my assertion for some kind of moral high ground. I have seen pornographic images before, and my mind is fairly full of sexual imagery that I have stored from various fantasies; I don\u2019t really need pornography to qualify as a pervert. I do not think that this makes me abnormal, as the sexual drive is a gift from God. It\u2019s just that I believe pursuing pornographic fantasy is like driving a car at high speed down the wrong lane.<\/p>\n

I discovered that the title of the article was a bit misleading, as it suggests that all<\/em> men currently<\/span> watch porn. In fact, the research documented that they could not find any man who hadn\u2019t seen it before<\/em>. And that I can believe. It is possible that there is not a man in the United States over the age of 20 who has never seen pornography.<\/p>\n

So how is a Christian man or woman supposed to respond to this research? I suppose that we could act shocked, as if we did not previously know that men like to look at naked women. Or we can pretend that a curious, 18-year-old boy with an Internet connection and no supervision would always refuse to click on that flashing picture of a buxom woman that popped up in the advertisement section of his e-mail account.<\/p>\n

But the reality is, for a multitude of reasons\u2014from our creation as sexual beings to the result of the fall and sin\u2014men today like to look at naked women via pornography. We know why\u00a0they do it, and we know\u00a0that<\/em> they do it. The question is why\u00a0shouldn\u2019t<\/em> they do it?<\/p>\n

The research shows that there is little reason for men not to indulge:<\/p>\n

\u201cNot one subject had a pathological sexuality,\u201d he said. \u201cIn fact, all of their sexual practices were quite conventional.
\n\u201cPornography hasn\u2019t changed their perception of women or their relationship, which they all want to be as harmonious and fulfilling as possible,\u201d he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Before I can take this statement at face value, I have to wonder what \u201cpathological sexuality\u201d means. I wonder how they know that watching pornography hasn\u2019t changed men\u2019s perceptions of women or their relationships. Really? Their perceptions haven\u2019t changed at all by watching pornography? Their expectations for sex haven\u2019t changed? I find that difficult to believe.<\/p>\n

Gary Wilson gave a great talk<\/a> at TEDs titled \u201cThe Great Porn Experiment\u201d on this very subject. (I highly recommend this talk to you. Highly, highly recommend it.) He used the information gleaned from this study, but he came up with a different answer: Porn does affect a man\u2019s relationships, and it affects his ability to even have sex at all. But asking the man about it isn\u2019t helpful. Why? Because asking a man who looks at porn about the negative influence it may be having is like asking a fish about water. It\u2019s all he knows. Wilson goes on to say that \u201cof all activities on the internet, porn has the most potential to become addictive.\u201d And Gary Wilson is simply looking at this from the science side of things, not from a Christian perspective. (He may be a Christian, I have no idea. But that is not the nature of his talk here.)<\/p>\n

The Bible, it turns out, is not trying to put a damper on our sexual enjoyment. Pornography inhibits in real life relationships. It causes people to suffer emotionally and physically. Sex was designed by God to be intimate, not anonymous. It was designed to cause us to value our lover, our spouse, as one with whom our pleasures are fulfilled. God knows that real skin, real kisses, real sex with our covenant partner is so much sexier than digital images that can never embrace us.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a bit of a personal crisis when I saw this link from The Huffington Post titled, \u201cResearch Suggests that All Men Watch Pornography.\u201d My first thought was that they could not have possibly talked to all men. I know this, because I do not watch pornography. This made me suspicious that the link […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1484,18],"tags":[1767,1769,1768],"class_list":["post-28604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-culture","category-ofthemoment","category-technology","tag-pornography","tag-relationships","tag-sexual-intimacy"],"yoast_head":"\nMen Like to Look At Naked Girls On The Internet. Here's Why They Should Stop That.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I had a bit of a personal crisis when I saw this link from The Huffington Post titled, "Research Suggests that All Men Watch Pornography." My first\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Men Like to Look At Naked Girls On The Internet. Here's Why They Should Stop That.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had a bit of a personal crisis when I saw this link from The Huffington Post titled, "Research Suggests that All Men Watch Pornography." My first\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ and Pop Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-09T17:00:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-09T18:03:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brad Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/\",\"name\":\"Men Like to Look At Naked Girls On The Internet. Here's Why They Should Stop That.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-09T17:00:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-09T18:03:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/3f8190a82835a6984ecd05286c57aa04\"},\"description\":\"I had a bit of a personal crisis when I saw this link from The Huffington Post titled, \\\"Research Suggests that All Men Watch Pornography.\\\" My first\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Men Like to Look At Naked Girls On The Internet. Here’s Why They Should Stop That.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\",\"name\":\"Christ and Pop Culture\",\"description\":\"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/3f8190a82835a6984ecd05286c57aa04\",\"name\":\"Brad Williams\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e24583b7358a77e8aaae1f0d23e5a23c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e24583b7358a77e8aaae1f0d23e5a23c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brad Williams\"},\"description\":\"Brad is the pastor of a Baptist church in a small town in Alabama. Brad has a lovely wife, two children, two dogs, a cat, a turtle, and five bee hives. Besides the incredible fact that he managed to persuade his wife to marry him, he is proud that he served six years in the Army National Guard, managed to graduate college with an English Lit. degree, graduate seminary, and finish the original Bard's Tale as a youngster by making maps on graph paper.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/bwilliams\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Men Like to Look At Naked Girls On The Internet. Here's Why They Should Stop That.","description":"I had a bit of a personal crisis when I saw this link from The Huffington Post titled, \"Research Suggests that All Men Watch Pornography.\" My first","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Men Like to Look At Naked Girls On The Internet. Here's Why They Should Stop That.","og_description":"I had a bit of a personal crisis when I saw this link from The Huffington Post titled, \"Research Suggests that All Men Watch Pornography.\" My first","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/","og_site_name":"Christ and Pop Culture","article_published_time":"2013-01-09T17:00:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-09T18:03:51+00:00","author":"Brad Williams","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brad Williams","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/","name":"Men Like to Look At Naked Girls On The Internet. Here's Why They Should Stop That.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-09T17:00:03+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-09T18:03:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/3f8190a82835a6984ecd05286c57aa04"},"description":"I had a bit of a personal crisis when I saw this link from The Huffington Post titled, \"Research Suggests that All Men Watch Pornography.\" My first","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/01\/dirty-minded-men\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Men Like to Look At Naked Girls On The Internet. Here’s Why They Should Stop That."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/","name":"Christ and Pop Culture","description":"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/3f8190a82835a6984ecd05286c57aa04","name":"Brad Williams","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e24583b7358a77e8aaae1f0d23e5a23c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e24583b7358a77e8aaae1f0d23e5a23c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brad Williams"},"description":"Brad is the pastor of a Baptist church in a small town in Alabama. Brad has a lovely wife, two children, two dogs, a cat, a turtle, and five bee hives. Besides the incredible fact that he managed to persuade his wife to marry him, he is proud that he served six years in the Army National Guard, managed to graduate college with an English Lit. degree, graduate seminary, and finish the original Bard's Tale as a youngster by making maps on graph paper.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/bwilliams\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}