One thing I’ve recently been thinking about are couples who have the issue of pornography in their relationship. For some, there is a sex addiction, or for others, it is simply a porn addiction. Pornography, in terms of how it is viewed under the terms of the human psyche, is actually a fascinating subject to me, because it demonstrates how powerful the concept of association truly is. From a mere visual stimulus, people are often elevated into a state of arousal, with assistance from the natural response the image will induct. For an industry that has billions of dollars founded on such a principle, the “sex industry” is quite possibly the only one of its kind. What does all of it mean in the scope of your romantic relationships?

For some, the imagery of porn is highly offensive. For others, it means an afternoon spent relaxing at home. In contrast, it is clear that the subject matter itself has proven to be, like virtually everything I have seen in my life’s experience, entirely subjective. To really understand the meaning of pornography being subjective, I am going to go ahead and repeat the same few concepts a number of times.

For many females, the subject of porn causes an upset; but for these females to be upset I think they need to first understand the true biological differences between males and females. For one, the first point you will often be told in relation to pornography is that pornography is largely a male oriented issue. Pornography is predominantly geared towards men in the mass market, because virtually all of the focus is on female sexual imagery. Females have a much smaller portion of the pornography market, and for good reason. What is one of the primary elements that might attribute the tendency for pornography to males? The answer: the hormone testosterone.

Testosterone, as we have all probably learned during our high school classes of biology studying the endocrine and nervous systems, is one of the two gender related hormones. Estrogen is more prominent in females and causes the formation of female-like features, where as testosterone causes the formation of the male figure. Both estrogen and testosterone have an emotional effect. Increased testosterone causes increased aggression, easier muscle building, and in particular – has a vast influence on the brain and behavior, causing many of the “masculine” behaviors we know males to make. Part of the step to the evolutionary truth that males are the more visually oriented creatures of the two human genders, lies with the influence of testosterone on memory, behavior, personality, and other attributes.

In part, the basis for males tending to look at pornography, or similarly repeatedly looking at other particular imagery, lies in the biology of the male body & brain. I’m sorry, ladies, but I’m not making this stuff up; just because you have a harder time looking at pornography than your boyfriend might really means nothing in relation to how much or how little he may care for you. And that is the overall truth that I can see. Pornography, like everything else, is subjective. It all depends on the perspective you have towards it that determines how much it either aids or harms a relationship. While some couples will literally end their relationship over pornography, other couples will watch it together.

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