It would be ignorant to hold the judgment that without porn there would be no kinks, no fetishes, no taboo preferences in any one person's sexual desires. Porn does not tell people what should turn them on. Porn can, however, assist some people in discovering their personal desires. For instance, say Jane, a woman who is new to porn and currently partakes in what we would call "vanilla" sex, after her first viewing experience realizes that she enjoys watching porn and clicks around her website of choice out of curiosity. She finds herself watching a video where a couple is participating in "vanilla" sex when suddenly the man pulls out of his partner and begins to cum on her face. Jane might wonder to herself why in the hell someone would find that sexy and realizes this act does not turn her on, or she might find herself becoming increasingly excited at this new depiction of sexual release and become eager to see more of this act.

In the latter case, Jane would realize that a simple click just added a bit of welcome variety to her pornographic viewing preferences and exploring more videos could open up even more. Do you remember what your first porn experience was like? Did you watch soft-core or vanilla porn starting out? Would that first video have the same effect on you now as it did then? Unless prior to watching your first porn you already knew 100% what your kinks or fetishes were from the start, it probably won't. For the average Jane or John who currently enjoys porn, their first pornographic viewing experience was probably fairly tame. Pretty soon he/she would have discovered the collection of different varieties of porn that is readily available and become curious. Curiosity will eventually, if not immediately, lead to exploration. The brain will reward this task with the incentive of feel-good chemicals.

It's no secret that many Americans enjoy watching porn, but it's not commonly known that some viewers suffer from porn addiction. Porn addiction is a serious illness where the afflicted person, being desensitized by feel-good chemicals, has developed a physically and emotionally damaging attachment to obsessive viewing of pornography. Desensitization due to excessive use of porn may cause a person to need more time to achieve an orgasm and invoke a feeling of need to watch porn, rather than watching porn as an occasional treat.

A neurotransmitter called Dopamine is a porn addict's real drug. The chemical helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. It not only helps regulate our movement but influences our emotional responses. Its purpose is to enable and promote our desire to achieve rewards and delivers the dopamine chemical to please our brains when we do. This chemical is also released during sexual intercourse, pornographic viewing, and unfortunately drug use. This chemical, though beneficial to our system and brain, works very quickly and can have negative effects on our psyche like addiction. In excess, dopamine can eventually desensitize our nerve cells which could quickly lead to a decreased sexual appetite, poor performance, or overall sexual dissatisfaction. Too much damage caused by the numbing effects of desensitization due to frying our nerve cells with dopamine will have a major negative effect on the ability to hold a healthy relationship. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

The path to recovery from desensitization, porn addiction, or dopamine dependence is a long and difficult one to take. Like any addiction, it requires a person to acknowledge their illness and the agitator causing their dependence. Gaining independence from this illness requires both emotional and physical diligence to recover from the damage that has been done. Like withdrawing from a drug or nicotine, withdrawal symptoms associated with porn addiction can be emotionally and physically draining but require effort and a real desire to get better to accomplish the goal. Luckily there are many available tools in assisting in recovery. Having a support system such as a spouse or partner can greatly increase the chances of succeeding in this pursuit.

Though there are varying factors that contribute to who is and who is not most susceptible to addiction, precautions should always be in place when dealing with something that has been proven to affect many men and women in an addictive manner. Porn is a great sexual aide but should be viewed in safe moderation. We know there are many great health benefits with masturbation and sexual intercourse. We also know the consequences that may come without practicing safe sex. Why is it that we don't recognize the consequences that could arise by not practicing moderation of porn?