Jack Glascock, “Degrading content and character Sex: Accounting for Men and Women’s Differential Reaction to Pornography. Communication Reports, 2005, 18(1), 43-53.

Def. of Sexually Violent Porn = inflicting of pain and use of threat or force.

Def. of Non-Violent Porn = no physical violence, but men or women are verbally abused or portrayed as having animal characteristics; women are instantly responsive to male sexual demands.

Def. of Erotica = Sexuality that expresses positive, affectionate human interaction between consenting adults with a balance of power.

Women were not aroused by the degrading porn videos.

Men were able to get aroused by viewing female degradation; hypothesis is that men were able to identify with the power and sexual arousal of the male in porn who is not degraded.

Frederick Toates, “An Integrative Theoretical Framework for Understanding Sexual Motivation, Arousal and Behavior.” Journal of Sex Research 46 (2-3) 2009, 168-193.

Low seratonin levels are associated with and trend towards impulsivity and exaggerated stimulus reactivity.

Exposure to a sexually explicit film activates the amygdala = state of wanting.

Novelty and Increased appetitive behavior = increase in dopamine.

High Activation of Dopamine = Sensation Seeking.

“Childhood Characteristics and Personal Dispositions to Sexually Compulsive Behavior Among Young Adults. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, April-June 2009, 16(2), 131-145

Sex abuse experiences and poor family environments were associated with sexual sensation seeking and sexual compulsive tendencies. Neither sexual compulsivity nor sexual sensation seeking was associated with childhood self-esteem. Conclusion: those that are challenged by sexual compulsive behaviors may likely need long-term treatment.

Demoralization, Hypomanic Activation, and Disconstraint Scores on MMPI-2 Scales as Significant Predictors of Hypersexual Behavior. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, July-September 2009, 16(3), 173-189.

Definition of Hypersexuality: for a least 6 months duration (1) difficulty controlling sexual thoughts, urges and behaviors; (2) adverse consequences causing significant psychological distress; (3) volitional impairment across interpersonal, social or occupational domains.
Hypersexual patients often use sex as a tension-reduction behavior.

Conclusions:
1. Clinicians should focus on affect regulation as a core strategy when working with hypersexual patients. Emotional distress, psychological turmoil, poor self-esteem, discouragement and feelings of self doubt appear to be correlated with greater levels of hypersexual behavior.
2. Strategies to cope with stress should be a part of treatment as this population appears to react to stressful situations in maladaptive ways.
3. Behavioral relaxation (and possible referrals for medication, biofeedback, etc.) should be considered to address patients who experience restless thoughts, intense energy, elevated moods, irritability, poor impulse control and risky behavior patterns.
4. Need to help hypersexual patients increase tolerance for unpleasant affective experiences. Recommends mindfulness exercises and theoretical perspectives outlined in “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy” and “Emotion Focused Therapy”.

“Wives’ Experience of Husbands’ Pornography Use and Concomitant Deception as an Attachment threat in the Adult Pair-Bond Relationship.” Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity. July-September 2009 16(3), 210-240.

Evidence is growing that pornography use can negatively impact attachment trust in the adult pair-bond relationship.

The following features of compulsive pornography use are diagnostically characteristic of addiction: (1) producing an intense, highly preoccupation altered state of conscious awareness and experience; (2) capacitating escape from reality and/or escape into fantasy; (3) a maladaptive coping strategy; (4) a definable cycle of relapse; (5) failure or inability to avoid high-risk behavior; (6) personal, relationship or work impairment; (7) repeated failed attempts to quit; ( 8 ) development of physical and/or psychological tolerance or desensitization leading to diminishing returns; (9) physical and/or psychological dependency or “entrapment,” with an associated experience of powerlessness.

A synonym for secure attachment, trust refers to more than mere honesty, connoting a belief, confidence and anticipation that a spouse will be consistently, reliably, and faithfully available, attentive and responsive – physically, emotionally and psychologically – to one’s needs. A securely attached adult is assured a relationship safe haven to which he or she can return in times of stress and distress. Couples’ reports of distress and loss of trust over a spouse’s pornography use signifies impediment, impairment or disruption of secure attachment.

Pornography scripts expectations and behaviors that place it on a collision course with the requisite dynamics for secure attachment and authentic intimacy in the pair-bond relationship. Among other things, pornography’s scripts are promiscuous and focused on self-gratification. The detached, objectifying, exploitive sexuality of pornography directly impacts attachment trust, eroding any safe expectation of one’s partner being faithfully for the other. (p. 214 )

The sexual behavior associated with pornography is autoerotic in intent and outcome, regardless of whether only one or more persons are involved – the interpersonal detachment is profound. Pornography’s primary stimulus is autoerotic behavior and preoccupation, combined with its complete eroticization of sexual experience, readily produces profound disconnection of the sexual experience from relationship context, meaning and responsibility. (p.214)

Pornography elicits and entrenches emotional, psychological and spiritual/existential disconnection of sexuality from relationship context, meaning and constraints. Thus, the pornographic depiction promotes and induces sexual arousal, climax and resolution with real relationship attentiveness, responsiveness or commitment – the key dimensions of attachment. Relationship-oriented self-discipline is not a part of pornography’s script for sexuality. (p. 215)

Results for Female Partners:
1. An intense, labile and disruptive psychological and emotional experience: disturbing, disorienting and destabilizing: akin to psychological trauma.
2. An erosion of attachment trust and security: magnified where deception had been successful, leading the wife to doubt herself as well as mistrust her husband, and concomitant decrease in respect for him.
3. Voluntary disclosure lessened the loss of trust. But, the disclosure had to be accompanied by a wife’s perception of her husband’s sincere intent and effort to change.
4. A deterioration of the attachment bond – perceived indifference by their husband’s to the wife’s well-being.
5. Wives clearly perceived a logically close attitudinal and behavioral connection between a husband’s virtual infidelity and the possibility of real-life infidelity.

Wives’ perception of the profoundly egocentric nature of husbands’ pornography use and concomitant deception directly signified them both as attachment-corrosive behaviors – a perceived being for oneself rather than for the relationship.

Concomitant with husbands’ pornography use was sustained pattern of deception, consisting variously of secrecy, withholding, minimizing, piecemeal disclosure, denial and outright lying. For wives, deception represented a second significant and recurring attachment injury: an attachment trauma. Deception seemed to put the exclamation point to wives’ perception of their husbands quite decidedly being for themselves in the relationship and represented a sever injury to attachment. Also, because of deception, for the wives at any given moment the person or his behavior might not be what it seems. Consequently, the husband and the marital relationship relied upon to provide safety, security and constancy in one’s life was no longer tangible, but rather an amorphous,shape-shifting entity.

Also see http://www.winst.org/family_marriage_and_democracy/social_costs_of_pornography/Bridges%20-%20Pornography%27s%20Effects%20on%20Interpersonal%20Relationships.pdf

Michael Twohig et.al, “Viewing Internet Pornography: For Whom is it Problematic, How and Why?” Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity 2009, 16 (4), 253-266.

Depending on the domain (our 9 categories), 20% to 60% of those viewing pornography indicated that viewing pornography was problematic.

Viewing porn was associated with problematic outcomes for some but not all.

Problematic results from viewing porn were not associated with how often one viewed porn.

*** Increased attempts to control sexual urges, as measured by the Sexual Compulsivity Scale, were associated with problematic pornography viewing.