THE EFFECTS AND DANGERS OF PORNOGRAPHY:

Those who treat pornography victims report that many who are exposed to pornography progress through four stages:

1. ADDICTION: This addiction of the mind can be as powerful as any drug, alcohol, or cigarette addiction of the body. Flashbacks are also experienced.
2. ESCALATION: Need for rougher and more sexually shocking material in order to get the same sexual stimulation as before.
3. DESENSITIZATION: With continued exposure, what at first was gross, shocking and disturbing becomes acceptable and commonplace.
4. ACTING OUT: There is an increased tendency to start "acting out" the sexual activities seen in the pornography.

What was first fantasy, in time, becomes reality. All sexual deviations - the best evidence suggests - are learned. This often happens through a pattern of "masturbatory conditioning." What is viewed is first masturbated to at the fantasy level then later acted out in real life behaviour. This in my clinical experience nearly always disturbs the individuals' marriage or psychological equilibrium.

- Dr. Victor Cline, University of Utah