Matt Fradd has the kind of job that makes his mom twist the truth when explaining to her friends what he does for a living. The Australian native, who now lives in Georgia, travels the country talking and writing about pornography.
Fradd’s goal wasn’t to tell his audience what to do, but instead he wanted to inform the group gathered Wednesday in the Bowen Thompson Student Union Ballroom about their continuous behaviors and the negative consequences that result.
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During the event co-hosted by the University’s Catholic Falcon Community and the Catholic Diocese of Toledo, Fradd laid out seven myths that the porn industry doesn’t want the world to know.
1. We need porn
Porn is not the same thing as sex, sexual desire or nudity, Fradd said.
Pulling in Bible verses from his Catholic background, Fradd said God calls us to be fruitful and multiply, and that sex and sexual desire are good.
“[Not feeling sexual desire] isn’t a sign that you’re holy. That’s a sign that you’re dead,” he said.
However, porn isn’t necessary, and it dehumanizes. He said we don’t see people in porn, we watch them.
“She seems to get the most attention but is actually the most ignored,” he said of pornography actresses.
2. Porn is adult entertainment
Porn is not adult-like, Fradd said. In high school, he had a friend who would never go to the strip club with the rest of the group.
“I just don’t think it’s manly to have to pay a woman to pretend to like you,” Fradd quoted his friend.
3. Porn is essentially the same thing as naked art
The difference between porn and nude artwork is the end, Fradd said.
“[The] end of pornography isn’t something beautiful…and the end to art isn’t masturbation,” he said.
4. Those in the industry are just well-rounded nymphomaniacs
“Does a woman’s inability to know and live from her own dignity give you and me the right to take whatever she is willing to give?” he asked.
In the vast majority of cases, women in the pornography industry are not just having fun. They often feel like they don’t have a choice or are preyed on by the pornography industry.
“These stories are drearily predictable. They almost always contain some kind of trauma,” Fradd said.
5. It’s only fantasy
The brain doesn’t differentiate between reality and fantasy. All it does is respond like it’s participating.
“It absolutely affects what we think about sex, our bodies and the other,” Fradd said.
Fradd said porn induces erectile dysfunction in some men.
“The problem isn’t below the belt. It’s between the ears,” he said.
6. Pornography isn’t addictive
Of 37 neurological studies, all of them say pornography is addictive, despite prior beliefs that only substances taken into the body could be addictive. Behaviors also can.
Dopamine is a key factor in addiction, and when pornography produces a dopamine boost in the body, that pleasure is hard to match without it. To feel that same dopamine boost, people may have to advance to harder porn eventually.
“Without dopamine, sex would be as exciting as celery,” Fradd said.
7. It’s impossible to stop
Despite the addictive properties of porn, it is possible to quit. It’s a gradual process that may take tools and a support system, which he has helped to offer. He created an app called Victory, which tracks progress in the fight to stop watching porn.
