Mistral wrote:
The question then that this leads me to ask ... is this: since we do know that visual stimuli can affect the brain (as strobe lights an epileptic), and since we do know that sexual arousal has a definite effect on (or really occurs in) the brain, do we actually know that viewing titillating material _doesn't_ cause these addictive-type changes in brain chemistry? There is such a thing as sex addiction, after all. I'm certain someone must have done some studies on the subject of the effects on the brain of viewing sexually explicit material; is anyone aware of such?
Point taken, and no, I'm not aware of any research on this subject.
However, traditionally physically-addictive substances (eg nicotine) exert their effects, as far as I know, on a very high proportion of those individuals who sample them. The point I was originally trying to make (and clearly failing dismally) is that visual pornography only exerts an addictive effect (which I would claim is akin to emotional addiction or habituation, rather than physical addiction, but admit I don't have any evidence to back this point up) on those who *respond positively* to it. Those who have no response or who respond negatively are not going to become habituated to such material. I guess it would be pretty hard to do a study to find out what proportion of people fall into each of the three categories.
Tavia