Is porn addiction all by itself a thing?

Lol I'll feed the curiosity for you.

I'm in a happy relationship, averaged 4 PMO instances a week for about 10 years starting at age 13. No PM since April. (Yay?)

Still crave erotica. I don't think I really want the acts I used to read about. They're fantasies. But I definitely don't need P to M or O. Just this wiring in my body that makes me want the content itself. I want to lookup new P and fantasize about situations other than my SO. Annoying as all hell to me, I'm still wrestling with conviction there.

You're right, P and O are very connected, but I think there's a special situation for folks that have achieved that addiction via PM versus M. The visual stimuli is certainly craved by this weak man's mind.

 

I personally wouldn't say I have a porn addiction a such... I haven't had any craving for porn but definitely for orgasm.

 

I think with porn you have to look at the whole package, i think PMO is a good way to describe it because you need all three 'porn masturbation and orgasm' in order to develop the compulsion/addiction. Part of the PMO process is the ritualistic behaviour which is quite a hallmark of substance abuse addictions..the preperation, setting up, making sure everything is in its place etc. I personally would find it difficult to believe that someone was addicted to just porn, like they just sit there and look at it and not do anything. I see porn like adding never ending rocket fuel where masturbation and orgasm is concerned, it also creates a path for a train of thought to develop which is guided in part by the content, narratives and messages held within. What ever way you look at it, porn is powerful stuff as it taps into our most basic human instincts.

 

So, you're asking, are there people who take drugs without getting high? My answer is, NO, unless they are unable to get high. The analogy is PIED: you still crave for porn but can't get it up. And yet, if porn didn't provide us with the sexual stimulus to achieve an orgasm, why would we even start to watch it?

In short, these two things can't be separated most of the time, so it's the combination which makes us addicted. If porn was not arousing, we wouldn't use it. But since it is, the only thing we use it for is the arousal. (Yes, there's an emotional and maybe even esthetic components, but I don't think that's the reason we're here.)

 

I would like to point out that my boyfriend (the PA) has admitted to just leaving porn constantly running while playing video games or scrolling through his phone and has watched it or searched photos just for the sake of seeing it during work, in the car, etc. It is my impression that he watches porn sometimes just to watch it. While he certainly does get aroused and often masturbates after a few hours/videos, I still believe that his is an addiction to pornography with a bit of MO addiction to add if that makes sense