What counts as pornography?

Porn is whatever gets you sexuality excited. It can be pictures on social media, sexy music videos or video game characters, browsing dating sites. Thinking about sex is pretty bad as well but it's a lot better.
Great choice to recover gradually instead of trying hard mode (noPMO) and failing for a few years like many of us did. I recommend you do indeed move to masturbating without material.

 

What stimuli must I avoid during my reboot (did I relapse)?

What about fantasizing during a reboot?

Why do porn cues still trigger a rush (sensitization)?

Are there any guidelines for healthy masturbation?

How do I masturbate without porn?

 

I think that the 'qualification question' is subordinate to what you really want, which is I suppose breaking free from a habit that serves you no good.

What is an important factor here is intent. Do you go on that website to extract visual sexual pleasure to obtain an orgasm? Well, I'd qualify that as porn (again, the label is just a label). If a guy quits hardcore porn to subsequently only visit models on Instagram for some pleasure isn't he really just replacing a vice with another vice (it may become a question of the lesser of two evils)?

 

Thanks for sharing bro, well i recommend you getting off anything that makes you feel lust towards woman, sooner or later you will end up getting back to the old life

 

You’re in a not good zone.

Seeking erotic images - nude, non-nude, softcore, hardcore, medium core (ha-ha), drawings, paintings, photos, whatever - is sexual attraction.

Porn addicts (my opinion) are sex addicts. It’s just that porn is their drug of choice. Weirdly that can be maybe a better thing only in the sense that it’s safer than going with prostitutes or doing online hookups. Or, how about being a peeping Tom or exhibitionist, which are illegal? So is porn okay because it provides sexual satisfaction without landing you in jail?

Let’s get real. If you have a problem with compulsive seeking of erotic material, then (duh) any erotic material is a problem. Because...

1. You’re still hooked, obsessing and using the sh*t.
2. The chance, in the long run, it will never go beyond that is about as likely as an an alcoholic drinking only beer.

I always qualify my statement by letting you know, and reminding myself, I’m a porn addict with a 25 year history of failure, so who the heck am I go give advice. But that does, I think, qualify me to tell you what failure looks like.

Failure is thinking you’re okay as long as you’re not using the hard stuff. Hope no one takes this the wrong way (stretching here) but I do see a lot of stuff on the threads here that, to me at least, looks like addicts trying to hope like heck they can believe they’re okay when likely they actually know they’re not.

So, pardon my long-windedness here. I’ll end on this exceedingly brief note: Stop!

 

Everyone needs to make their own definitions.

For myself, my goal was to cut pornography out completely. Attempts in the past to reduce usage or slim down certain aspects didn't just fail, they failed spectacularly and made things worse in the long run.

So, right now, pornography is anything sexually stimulating that I search out be in online, social, tv, movies, real life, etc. This means your "sexy" chive girls counts. If i pick a netflix show because I know there are steamy scenes or an actress I find attractive, it counts. If I linger too long at someone at the pool or running on the side of the road, it may count. If I read sex advice columns just to put thoughts into my head, it counts. You get the point.

 

Sounds good. You can do this.