Pornography
Pornography is extremely addictive and destructive and it is more available now than it has ever been.
Dr. Reisman specializes in the communication effects of images on the brain, mind, and memory; fraud in the human sexuality field; and the addictive properties of sexually explicit images, commonly called pornography. She emphasized how pornography not only influences behavior but also actually alters brain chemistry, making children most vulnerable to its toxic imagery.
Thanks to the latest advances in neuroscience, we now know that emotionally arousing images imprint and alter the brain, triggering an instant, involuntary, but lasting, biochemical memory trail. This applies to so-called “soft-core” and “hard-core” pornography, which may, arguably, subvert the First Amendment by overriding the cognitive speech process.
Once our neurochemical pathways are established they are difficult or impossible to delete. Erotic images also commonly trigger the viewer’s “fight or flight” sex hormones producing intense arousal states that appear to fuse the conscious state of libidinous arousal with unconscious emotions of fear, shame, anger, and hostility.
These media erotic fantasies become deeply embedded, commonly coarsening, confusing, motivating, and addicting many of those exposed.
How does this “brain sabotage” occur? Brain scientists tell us that “in 3/10 of a second a visual image passes from the eye through the brain, and whether or not one wants to, the brain is structurally changed and memories are created. We literally “grow new brain” with each visual experience.
Children and others who cannot read can instantly decode and experience images. In fact, erotic (any highly arousing) images commonly subvert left hemisphere cognition.