Addictive Behavior: Pastors and Pornography: Loneliness, Anger and Boredom Often Play a Role in the Development of Sexual Addiction

Frykholm, Amy, The Christian Century

ACCORDING TO MANY Christian groups, pornography is a disturbing and increasing problem. A Promise Keepers survey found that 53 percent of its members consume pornography. A 2000 Christianity Today survey found that 37 percent of pastors said pornography is a "current struggle" of theirs. Fifty-seven percent called pornography the most sexually damaging issue for their congregations. A Barna Research Group study released in February 2007 said that 35 percent of men and 17 percent of women reported having used pornography in the past month.

The pornography industry in the United States is indeed large. Adult Video News, an industry publication, estimates the industry's 2006 revenues at $13.3 billion. The U.S. is the world's largest producer and consumer of pornographic material. Porn Web sites draw 72 million visitors every month; more than 13,000 pornographic video titles are produced yearly.

Reliable data on porn are hard to come by, however, given the private and often secretive nature of porn use. Statistics frequently come from sources that have their own reasons to exaggerate--either the pornography industry itself, which wants to show how popular its products are, or groups trying to combat pornography that are eager to demonstrate how pervasive it is.

One of the most reliable sources on sexual behavior is the General Social Survey (GSS), a wide random sample of American opinion and behavior. In 2002 the GSS found that 14 percent of respondents had visited a pornographic Web site in the past 30 days (25 percent of men and 4 percent of women).

Whatever the exact numbers, pornography clearly touches the lives of a significant number of people, …

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Publication information: Article title: Addictive Behavior: Pastors and Pornography: Loneliness, Anger and Boredom Often Play a Role in the Development of Sexual Addiction. Contributors: Frykholm, Amy - Author. Magazine title: The Christian Century. Volume: 124. Issue: 18 Publication date: September 4, 2007. Page number: 20+. © 2009 The Christian Century Foundation. COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group.

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