The Progression of Porn Use – from mild to embarrassingly wild to illegal
If you use pornography regularly you will notice something happen. What used to excite you at one time has is less stimulating now. Porn addiction is like drug use. When you use regularly, you need a larger or stronger dose of it to experience the same high you did a while ago. You build up a tolerance to the drug to the point where you need just a bit more to get high each time.
In the world of pornography it works the same way. When you are first exposed to mild forms or porn you get a high from it. There is a chemical reaction in your brain similar to what happens when using drugs which gives you a high. In another entry we will explore this research, but for now let’s stick with this. You can use mild pornography for a while until you get bored with it and then you will seek out something different.
This is where the start and progression of porn usage scale come in. I developed this scale to demonstrate where porn addiction starts and how it progresses into using more perverted forms of pornography. When you slide down this scale to more perverse porn, your behaviors will change as you become willing to take more risks to feed your addiction. We are not going to address other behaviors outside of porn usage right now, but in another article. I must add that not everyone will escalate into more perverse forms of porn. It is not inevitable that you will slide down the scale, but very possible.
Porn usage progresses from mild to more hard core
Step 1: Sexual themes and innuendos. This step is what I consider the gateway into pornography. It seems rather innocent, but consider how 40 years ago sexual themes were taboo. Sexual themes and innuendos are seen on TV and read in books. They are usually attractive, flirtatious couples who joke and hint around at having sex. It may even be implied that they are having sex, but not shown together in bed. These themes will take your mind down the road to where it should not go. These themes will ignite the desire to explore sex on your own.
Step 2: Bikinis, underwear & lingerie. Scantily clad models seem to be the norm anymore on TV, magazines, and the movies. You can hardly have the TV on for an hour without seeing one. The supply of this material is endless. A young kid will easily be able to find these pictures in magazines and catalogs that come to your house. If a kid is curious, he will take these for himself and study them. Once the excitement from these wears off, it will lead to the next step.
Step 3: Soft Porn- Playboy, topless, nudes. After looking at scantily clad models, it won’t be too long before you want to see what is under those bikinis. Access to nude pictures is easy whether on the internet, a garage calendar or from a magazine purchased at the drug store. This step encompasses models posing nude and not in any suggestively sexual positions. Playboy magazine was made famous for showing off nude women.
Step 4: Teasing & suggestive sexual positions. Once looking at naked women loses its thrill, the next step is to see them in teasing photos and suggestive sexual positions. This is where Penthouse came to existence. Penthouse was a bit more hard core than Playboy in such as they had picture sequences of women pretending to masturbate or couples engaging in sex. The pictures in this progressive step do not show the actual sex act, but suggest it by positioning the models in poses leave the rest to the imagination.
Step 5: Photos & videos of sex acts. Once you get a taste of sex from the suggestive photos, you will want to see what those photos do not show. This step involves viewing photos and videos of couples having intercourse and nothing is left to the imagination. This step involves normal sexual activity that happens between a man and woman.
Step 6: Group Sex, fetishes. Some people will not progress beyond step 5, but others will get into step six. Step six includes porn such as group sex (more than 2 people), and fetishes (feet, huge breasts, bi-racial, nylons). This step breaks from the normal a bit and allows the addict to feed on a specific type of porn. This porn is a little more perverted, but does not break any laws.
Step 7: Teens, child porn, gay. Some people stay at step six, but some will progress into this area which is getting increasingly dangerous and perverted. Using this type of porn further erodes the moral boundaries of a person. The person who has progressed to this type of porn is in trouble. They are in risk of jail time and progressing to the next level.
Step 8: Beastiality, rape and violent porn. I considered how this could be merged in with step 7, but to me this type of pornography is the worst. When someone uses pornography and has gotten to this level, they are in mortal danger of becoming a criminal. Ted Bundy progressed to this level and he became a murderer. In an interview, he confessed that pornography and then violent pornography were a big part of his life and the next high he got was from murder.
This progressive usage of pornography scale is an example of how the addict seeks a stronger dose of porn as he gets bored with a lesser type. If there is a lesson in this example, it is to quit while you can! Wake up and access what step you are at on this scale. How easy has it been to get to the step you are on? How easy do you think it will be to go on to the next step?
Please leave your comments below. Tell me if I have misclassified the types or have missed some step altogether. Your feedback is appreciated.
im on 7 🙁 , i have watched porn since i was 7 or 8 , im 18 now
Patric, that is not uncommon. Do you want to quit?
Can anyone tell me why gay porn is in a higher category than group and fetishes.
I’m pretty sure gay people watch gay porn way before doing group and fetishes.
And it also makes it seem like its equal to f$%king child porn.
That is just my point of view. My belief is that heterosexuality is the norm and the further you get from a man and woman, the more perverse the sexual activity.
Thank you for this posting. I am not sure what research you have done or if this is just your opinion but I feel in my heart you are correct. I can tell you that it is easy to progess to the higher up steps, and sometimes it takes losing someone very close to you to come out of denial. I stopped looking at porn over a year ago (let’s just say I was past step 5 and leave it at that) when my girlfriend (who I loved more then anything in the world) found the material on my computer.
I have since dedicated myself to staying clean and sober, and I even started seeing a sex therapist to try and understand why I wanted to view the (past step 5) material, but my therapist feels that it is some childhood truama? however, I dont recall anything ever happening?
I feel the real answer may be that deviancy progesses if we become depended on it, and the more we long for the that “high” the more deviant we will allow our self to become.
One last thing, that Ted Bundy example was chilling, but very accurate. I m not an overly religous person but I feel this is one of the truest forms of Evil.
I have dedicated my life to staying away from it.
Tom
Tom, this chart was a combination of research plus what I know to be true. I don’t believe you have to of been sexually abused or other trauma to want to view material past step 5. I do know that pornography is an addiction and we need more explicit materials as we progress to get the same high we once felt. You get desensitized and used to the lower levels enough to where you need more explicit materials to satisfy. So, you are correct on the deviancy progression. It is great that you recognize the evil that porn is and dedicate your life to staying away from it. Stay vigilant, it is so easy to regress and fall back into it. Once you get yourself sober for a while, reach out to help others. I am always looking for articles and guest blog writers if you or anyone else is interested.
Secrecy behind a laptop. How about picking through a bit while watching tv with your loved one in a different seat. I opened the door and I am trying to find the root of the problem. Have a house, respectable job, loving people, play christian music, go to church and do habitual PORN. I followed the path right on. People ask me the reason I play without showing my face,always looking at the ground, the reason is that it got to the point where I find it really hard to look at their face. I am glad I found this site.
Shame will cause you to shy away from people. Your guilt is very normal since we are Christians and find it so hard to resist the temptation of pornography. May I suggest you confide in someone about your problem? You will feel better having someone know your struggles and praying for you. If I can help you in any way, contact me via the contact page.
Anyone who doesn’t believe the progression of pornography addiction as presented on this website is in denial. I’m a family therapist and I see this every week. It just takes some longer to complete the cycle of progression than others.
It’s like saying, “a human will not necessarily die” and using the rationality that there are people who are 100 years old who haven’t died. Oh, they’ll die alright, it just hasn’t happened yet.
Don’t take the chance by even starting viewing porn.
Thanks for the comment CS. Don’t even start is good advice!
I heard a locally syndicated radio show here in Cleveland rip a study that recently came out about how pornography users are more likely to commit rape, have an affair, or become a pedophile than those who don’t use pornography. I know they are porn users who don’t want to face the evidence of it’s destructiveness because they like it so much. (If someone knows where I can find the study please send it to me). Truth is that you get desensitized to porn the more you watch it and it leads you into more hard-core & deviant versions. You may be the type of person who will never act out in rape or molestation, but there will be those who will. It is a fine line to cross.
Hello,
YES! I agree with you in some ways that for many people the use pornography leaves them in danger (vulnerable to) a progressing into stronger or more extreme forms of adult content. However, were I totally disagree is that such a progression is NOT inevitable, its not a foregone conclusion. Its not a given that a person who uses porn will always end up using more & more extreme material. Why? because the kind of material that a person uses (consumes or views) is related to the amount of mascochism present inside that person. And further more it also relates to the degree of underlying pain that person is attempting to numb out by using porn in the first place. Everyone is different and therefore the use of porn will be invidual but its true that common patterns or trends do exsist if you examine the research.
I don’t think it is a given that people will progress further into porn. It is very likely, but not inevitable. Are you then saying that those who progress into more extreme forms of porn have greater pain to medicate? I would say that users get lost in the porn world. They get into this world where there seem to be no rules and anything goes. It goes along with our rebelious nature and the things we once considered wrong or disgusting now are palatable. Once we start knocking down the rules/morals one by one, the next stage seems easier to justify and enter into. We all won’t enter that next stage, but it is possible.
True – it is not a given that our progression will follow the path I outlined. It gets easier as you get further into porn and progressively bad stuff. I read a post just today from quitpornaddiction that was from a reader who detailed how he has become so numb from such depraved material that he can’t believe it. He feels like a zombie.