Pornography, the US Senate was told on 18 October, is a drug more dangerous than crack cocaine. That, at least, was the opinion of some witnesses invited to testify on 鈥渢he science behind pornography addiction鈥�. It鈥檚 not a view shared by everyone.
Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the sexual trauma and psychopathology programme at the University of Pennsylvania, said unpublished research showed that 鈥渆ven non-sex-addicts will show brain reactions on PET scans while viewing pornography similar to cocaine addicts looking at images of people taking cocaine鈥�. Jeffrey Satinover, a doctor whose website outlines therapies for homosexuals, described porn as a designer drug, delivered efficiently over the internet, which 鈥渄oes what heroin can鈥檛 do鈥�. A third expert witness said there was an urgent need for research on addiction to 鈥渆roto-toxins鈥�.
Porn, like sex, can trigger the release of natural opioids, which have a feel-good effect. But Joe Herbert, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge and former president of the International Academy of Sex Research, takes issue with the use of the label 鈥渆roto-toxins鈥� and the implication that these chemicals are somehow harmful. 鈥淲hat evidence is there for that?鈥� he asks. 鈥淭his is saying sex is naughty and you shouldn鈥檛 do it.鈥� The brain lights up in response to the sight of any reward. To conclude that this means porn can be compared to hard drugs is 鈥渃omplete rubbish鈥�, he says.
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