Thinking about speaking about porn in my speech class, input needed ASAP

Alright guys, I'm at a crossroads here. I have one more speech in my speech class to go and it's a persuasive one on a social injustice. I originally wanted to do something about the treatment of animals in the entertainment industry (ie circuses and the likes), but I am strongly thinking of doing it on porn, how it affects the people in it and us, the consumers (or better yet, former consumers). I realize it's super risky talking about it, but it's something I've learned a lot about recently and am confident talking about it, plus it's just another step in my recovery, even though I feel confident I'll never return to that lifestyle again.

So, opinions? Should I do it? If so, any input on what I can talk about? The whole idea behind this speech is to identify a problem, list off some steps that can be done to stop it, show a positive or negative visualization of either taking action or not, and having a call to action to stop the problem. I realize this is going to take some major balls to talk about but I need something like this to push me out of my boundaries.

 

If you feel strongly about it, I think you should do it because you'll probably do it better than something you hardly care about.

I did a small desk research once about this subject, I can post bits of it if you want.

 

Sure I wouldn't mind, although I already have a good idea of what I'm going to do. And yeah, this is something I can speak passionately about and already have a good deal of knowledge on. My research will basically just be for statistics, whereas the other topic I don't know much on (my sister is big on the animal treatment thing so I got that idea from her).

@RepentMySins yeah that's how I feel about this decision. After my other speeches I walked away from them, regretting I didn't speak about something else. And one of the areas of my life I am focusing on is to no long second guess my decisions and wondering "what if".

Thanks guys! The professor approved me changing it so it's official!

 

@melancholy king, thanks man that helps a lot. Good to hear I'm not the only one here to do something like this. Here is a rough draft of an outline of it. The problem I'm going to have is the speech is only 6-7 minutes long and I want to get in a lot of information on dopamine and the reward system, but have to fit in the other things to meet the requirements for it. I guess that will come down to my research and finding the most concise information to summarize the neurochemical changes.

Pornography: A Millennial Nightmare

Specific Purpose: To share with my fellow scholars the damaging effects that pornography has caused to millions of young men and women in recent years with the advent of high speed internet. I will reveal what it does specifically to the brain’s chemistry and actions that can be taken to not only avoid getting involved in it but what to do if you or someone you know is struggling with this hidden addiction.

Central Idea: Pornography causes known changes in the brain and actions need to be taken to reverse those changes and to prevent young men and women from suffering from its addictive properties before those changes happen to them.

Introduction
I. Attention: Erectile dysfunction, it’s not just a problem that our dads suffer from anymore. Did you know that millions of young men have been reporting that they are suffering from this problem that previously was thought to be related to blood flow from aging and taking certain medications? The scariest part about all this? Popping a little blue pill does nothing to help them.

II. Topic Introduction: Pornography. More specifically high speed internet porn. Its consumption leads to physical changes in the brain’s chemistry. This change leads to many problems, not just ED, or as its better known as, PIED.

III. Relate topic to audience: You can’t avoid porn anymore like you used to. It’s everywhere. But it’s more than just about the porn, it’s the reward that it gives to its viewers. Everyone here has experienced some of the conveniences we are afforded in our culture. Did you know those simple things have an effect on our brain’s chemistry as well?

IV. Ethos Statement: After reading a recent article in Time magazine, it became clear to me that this issue is finally starting to come to the mainstream. I have done plenty of prior research on this issue and am looking to educate you all on this silent addiction afflicting millions worldwide. This issue goes beyond any religious beliefs, it’s an epidemic that is finally starting to be made aware to the public.

V. Preview:
A. Porn and its effects on the brain’s chemistry
B. Fight the new drug
C. Love kills porn

(Transition to 1st main point: Pornography has been around for hundreds of years so why now is it that millions worldwide are experiencing life altering effects from watching it?)

Body

I. Porn and its effects on the brain’s chemistry

a. It’s all about Dopamine
i. Unnatural reward system
ii. Negatives from too much Dopamine
iii. The brain, the most powerful sex organ

b. Brain plasticity
i. Reward pathways can be re-wired
ii. With re-wiring comes positive change

(Transition to 2nd main point: Now that you know how it negatively effects people what can be done to bring more awareness to this issue to prevent it from growing further?)

II. Fight the new drug

a. Educate yourself on brain chemistry and how it changes to certain stimuli.

b. Don’t be silent, this issue is taboo, but needs to be brought forward.
i. Silence never solved anything
ii. Utah declares porn a public health crisis

c. If you suspect you know someone in your life who is suffering from this addiction educate them on the damage it causes and why they need to quit.

d. Watch success stories on YouTube of people whose lives have changed by quitting.

(Transition to 3rd main point: It is scientifically proven that it negatively effects our brain’s chemistry, but what happens when a person is free from its chains?)

III. Love kills porn

a. A second chance at life
i. Many who have quit are coming forward to report their success

b. Life is too short
(Transition to conclusion: For far too long have people claimed ignorance when there are issues, no matter what they are. No one wants to speak up. But now that this issue has finally gone mainstream, maybe we can stop sweeping it under the rug and finally do something about it.)

Conclusion

I. Summary:
a. A new found problem in millions of young men has caused them to find the cause behind it.
b. Watching pornography causes changes in the brain’s reward system.
c. These changes lead to physical and psychological problems that many don’t know are caused by watching it.
d. Educate yourself on this epidemic to help put an end to it.

Call to Action: Porn kills love. Fight for love.

I kind of got lazy with a few of the headlines and used some stuff from fightthenewdrug.com, but I found it very fitting to get my point across so will run with it.

 

@melancholy king I agree, but the premise of the speech is to present a problem and have at minimum 4 action steps that the audience can take to stop the problem or stop contributing to it. We can't stop the porn industry unless the government gets involved. I guess 4 steps could be to stop watching it, educate yourself on how it affects dopamine levels, educate yourself on how it affects the actors and install blockers on your computer to prevent children from watching it?

 

Hahaha too late man it's on Monday so I can't really back out now. I decided I'm going to focus on the entirety of it and not just the addiction side. I won't mention anything that would give an indication of my former addiction. I'm going to focus on how there is finally information being put out there of the damage it causes overall. I'll also focus on the brain changes and how it applies to other addictions.

 

4 points maximum - that is all people can absorb in such a short time. I eagerly commend you for doing this. Well done. You want to thin out your material, so what you say stands out. If you talk at speed and present a blur of information, they will not remember anything. A nice touch would be to print off some small slips of paper for the class with the websites you have collated the information from. I would choose the best four. Again - don't swamp people with info and keep it simple.

 

It went...okay.

I ran into a few issues. First I got really nervous in the beginning and at one point my leg couldn't stop shaking, lol. The other issue I had, and what made me second guess doing it in the first place, was I didn't have nearly enough time to cover every thing that I wanted to, so I felt I didn't have as good as an argument on why porn is harmful. I spent a good chunk of time on how it affects the brain, but still wasn't able to flesh it out as much as I wanted. Overall though it wasn't too bad, and hopefully some of the people in the class took what I was saying serious. I mentioned how watching porn is similar to how people overeat from an addiction standpoint too, to help relate to them.

 

So today I spoke with someone who was in my speech class who heard my speech yesterday and he told me how when he started college he would look at porn for days on end. Even if he was the only one to take what I said to heart it makes me feel good knowing that he now knows about the damage porn causes. Probably one of the best decisions I've made, other than to stop pmoing my life away of course.