WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.180 Welcome to the psychology undergrad. Pull up 00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:05.580 a chair. I hope you brought caffeine because 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:08.000 looking at this stack of papers on the table, 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:11.039 we are going to need it. It is definitely a heavy 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:13.080 load this week. I feel like every time we open 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:15.439 the human sexuality syllabus, the reading list 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.239 like just doubles. Tell me about it. Honestly, 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:23.239 this is the module everyone in the lecture hall 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.079 has been whispering about. We are finally tackling 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:29.070 the pornography unit. But before we get into 00:00:29.070 --> 00:00:32.030 it, I have to be real with you. I was dreading 00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:34.609 this study session. I kind of expected this to 00:00:34.609 --> 00:00:38.929 be a moral panic lecture. Just a lot of finger 00:00:38.929 --> 00:00:41.429 wagging and back in my day kind of stuff. Forget 00:00:41.429 --> 00:00:44.619 that. It's such a loaded topic. We aren't here 00:00:44.619 --> 00:00:47.000 to preach. We are here to prep for the final. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:49.200 And if you actually look at the data we have 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:52.859 spread out here from the 2017 pilot studies all 00:00:52.859 --> 00:00:55.880 the way to this massive frontiers in child and 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:59.820 adolescent psychiatry paper from late 2025, the 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:02.079 shift in the academic consensus is just, it's 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:04.239 undeniable. This isn't really about morality 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.079 in the traditional sense. It's about public health. 00:01:06.230 --> 00:01:09.370 It's wild. Okay, so to kick off this study session, 00:01:09.849 --> 00:01:12.730 let's look at the sheer scale of the issue. I 00:01:12.730 --> 00:01:14.650 highlighted this metric from the Cindy Pierce 00:01:14.650 --> 00:01:17.170 notes. This is from her TEDx material. Oh, yeah, 00:01:17.170 --> 00:01:19.390 I saw that. She breaks down the traffic stats. 00:01:20.269 --> 00:01:22.269 If you take the number of clicks on internet 00:01:22.269 --> 00:01:25.269 porn sites in a single month, just one month, 00:01:25.310 --> 00:01:28.590 it equals the traffic of Netflix, Twitter, and 00:01:28.590 --> 00:01:33.239 Amazon. Wait. Combined. No. That can't be right. 00:01:33.500 --> 00:01:36.159 Combine. Combine. Just think about the bandwidth 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.879 that represents, I mean, Netflix alone is massive. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:42.400 Amazon is the global marketplace. Twitter is, 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:45.560 well, the town square. And porn traffic swallows 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:48.280 them all whole. Right. It suggests this isn't 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:50.980 a niche vice anymore. Statistically speaking, 00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:53.920 it is the primary way a huge chunk of the human 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:56.719 population interacts with the internet. It is 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.680 the water we are swimming in. Yeah. But here 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:01.000 is the hook. that really stopped me into, I think 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:02.879 this is going to be on the exam. Yeah. Warren 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:05.859 Binford, in her lecture notes, uses this phrase. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:07.819 Oh, I know what you're going to say. Digital 00:02:07.819 --> 00:02:09.900 castration. Yeah. I circled that twice in red. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.000 It's such an aggressive term. It sounds like 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:13.840 sci -fi, doesn't it? Yeah. But she's talking 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:17.259 about a very real phenomenon. We are seeing 18 00:02:17.259 --> 00:02:20.879 to 25 -year -old men, physically healthy, testosterone 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:23.879 levels are fine, prime of their biological lives. 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:28.240 who are unable to be aroused by real life partners. 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:30.879 Wow. They're effectively castrated by their own 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:33.460 consumption habits because they've rewired their 00:02:33.460 --> 00:02:36.300 arousal templates for pixels, not people. And 00:02:36.300 --> 00:02:39.259 that is the core mission of this study session, 00:02:39.259 --> 00:02:43.199 right? We have to unpack how this super normal 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.599 stimulus, that's the term psychology today uses, 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:48.500 how it interacts with the developing brain. Right. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:50.740 We need to figure out, is this just a bad habit? 00:02:51.300 --> 00:02:54.199 Is it an addiction or? And this is where that 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:57.400 new 2025 research throws a curveball. Yeah. Is 00:02:57.400 --> 00:02:59.939 it actually a form of trauma? The trauma angle 00:02:59.939 --> 00:03:01.819 is heavy. I mean, I really want to push back 00:03:01.819 --> 00:03:03.620 on that when we get there, because trauma is 00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:05.340 a big word to throw around for watching videos. 00:03:05.379 --> 00:03:07.319 For sure. But let's stick to the syllabus structure 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:10.560 for now. OK. Section one, prevalence and the 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.360 new normal. What is Dad's telling us? The landscape 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:15.360 has completely shifted from what the textbooks 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:17.919 used to say even like 10 years ago. Totally. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:19.960 If you look at the Recovery Alberta notes and 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:23.439 the Cindy Pierce material, the age of onset You 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:26.180 know, the first exposure has just cratered. Cratered 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:29.180 is the right word. We are seeing boys exposed 00:03:29.180 --> 00:03:32.300 around age 10 on average. 10 years old. 10. That 00:03:32.300 --> 00:03:35.280 is fourth grade. They are still trading Pokemon 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:39.379 cards. And girls around 12 or 13. But the crucial 00:03:39.379 --> 00:03:41.979 variable here isn't just the age, it's the mechanism 00:03:41.979 --> 00:03:44.780 of delivery. Right. In previous developmental 00:03:44.780 --> 00:03:48.000 psych models, exposure happened via, like, magazines 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.120 found in the woods or a stolen VHS tape. It was 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:54.060 static, finite, and hard to access. And now? 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:58.120 It is 90 % mobile devices. Which changes the 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:00.719 parenting dynamic entirely. You can't monitor 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:02.759 a screen that's four inches wide, lives in a 00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:04.539 backpack, and goes to the bathroom with them. 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:07.439 No way. But there's this really specific mechanism 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:09.539 in the Cindy Pierce notes about how they find 00:04:09.539 --> 00:04:12.139 it. She calls it the boobies algorithm. Right. 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:14.780 This is critical because it just debunks the 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:17.759 bad kid myth. We often assume kids are out there 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:20.680 actively hunting for hardcore content. Exactly. 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:23.860 Pierce notes that parents freak out when they 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:26.439 see the browser history, but the entry point 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:29.379 is usually so innocent. A 10 -year -old boy types 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:32.319 in boobies. He doesn't use the clinical term 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:34.879 breasts, of course not. No, and he certainly 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:37.120 isn't being in the graphic porn terms yet. He 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:40.560 uses a child's word. But the algorithm, it doesn't 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:43.040 care that the user is 10. It doesn't care about 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:46.370 innocence. It operates on one metric. Engagement. 00:04:46.850 --> 00:04:49.769 And engaging in the algorithm's code means extreme. 00:04:50.129 --> 00:04:52.550 So it sees boobies, and it says, OK, that's a 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:54.209 start. But if I show you this graphic video, 00:04:54.629 --> 00:04:56.750 you're 400 % more likely to stay on the site. 00:04:56.850 --> 00:04:59.189 So it escalates immediately. Instantly. From 00:04:59.189 --> 00:05:02.230 a curious search to hardcore suggestions, because 00:05:02.230 --> 00:05:04.470 that is what retains the click. And it's not 00:05:04.470 --> 00:05:07.209 always even a search, is it? The CDC source with 00:05:07.209 --> 00:05:09.829 Sonya Thompson mentions this trap effect. This 00:05:09.829 --> 00:05:11.670 one really freaked me out. The pop -up trap. 00:05:11.930 --> 00:05:14.449 Yes. There's a case study in the notes of a boy 00:05:14.449 --> 00:05:16.569 named Joseph. He was nine years old. He wasn't 00:05:16.569 --> 00:05:18.949 looking for girls. He was playing a video game 00:05:18.949 --> 00:05:22.370 on a free site. A pop -up ad appeared. He clicked 00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:24.529 it thinking it was part of the game. And he was 00:05:24.529 --> 00:05:27.089 just lured in. It wasn't a search. It was a stumble. 00:05:27.850 --> 00:05:31.129 And Thompson makes this distinction between curiosity 00:05:31.129 --> 00:05:35.329 and craving. That's a key psychological distinction 00:05:35.329 --> 00:05:37.389 for us. Totally. You think it's just curiosity 00:05:37.389 --> 00:05:40.500 at first, the seeking system in the brain? But 00:05:40.500 --> 00:05:43.980 the content is so hyper stimulating that the 00:05:43.980 --> 00:05:47.279 brain gets hooked Before the kid even cognitively 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:49.620 processes what they're seeing so it becomes a 00:05:49.620 --> 00:05:51.800 craving almost instantly Yeah, that brings us 00:05:51.800 --> 00:05:53.899 to the content itself because if I'm reading 00:05:53.899 --> 00:05:56.540 the recovery Alberta notes correctly our definitions 00:05:56.540 --> 00:05:59.560 of porn are like completely outdated how so what 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:02.680 we consider vanilla or soft core now would have 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:05.439 been illegal or at least deeply underground 20 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:07.779 years ago. This is the normalization of violence 00:06:07.779 --> 00:06:11.199 aspect. The source notes that historically, hardcore 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:14.019 meant showing genitals or actual intercourse. 00:06:14.139 --> 00:06:17.899 Right. Pretty basic stuff. Today, if you go to 00:06:17.899 --> 00:06:20.939 the front page of a tube site, hardcore involves 00:06:20.939 --> 00:06:24.600 violent anal penetration, deep oral sex to the 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:27.720 point of vomiting. Literally gagging as a fetish. 00:06:27.819 --> 00:06:30.920 Yeah. and themes of incest and gang rape. And 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:33.839 the terrifying part is that the source says this 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:37.100 extreme stuff is now accepted as soft core in 00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:39.819 the mainstream. It's the default setting. The 00:06:39.819 --> 00:06:43.459 baseline for arousal has just, it's moved. We 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:45.540 have to pause on the morality of that for a second. 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:48.699 Even from a secular... you know, psychological 00:06:48.699 --> 00:06:51.139 perspective. What does that do to a developing 00:06:51.139 --> 00:06:53.579 moral compass? I mean, if you watch people being 00:06:53.579 --> 00:06:55.939 gagged and slapped and treated like garbage every 00:06:55.939 --> 00:06:59.100 day for five years, doesn't that shift your window 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:02.269 of what acceptable human behavior is? It has 00:07:02.269 --> 00:07:05.050 to. It's systematic desensitization. We use that 00:07:05.050 --> 00:07:07.189 in therapy to help people get over phobias, right? 00:07:07.430 --> 00:07:08.970 You expose them to the thing they fear until 00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:11.829 they feel nothing. So here, we are exposing kids 00:07:11.829 --> 00:07:13.970 to violence and degradation. Until they feel 00:07:13.970 --> 00:07:15.970 nothing. We are essentially boiling the frog. 00:07:16.089 --> 00:07:18.629 And the parents are totally in the dark. I circled 00:07:18.629 --> 00:07:21.750 this stat. 75 % of parents think their kids haven't 00:07:21.750 --> 00:07:26.470 seen it. Versus the reality, which is over 68%. 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:29.740 and up to 90 % in some cohorts, having seen it. 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:32.920 That is a massive awareness gap. It is cognitive 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:35.899 dissonance on a parental level. Denial is a powerful 00:07:35.899 --> 00:07:38.139 drug. Well, speaking of drugs, let's move to 00:07:38.139 --> 00:07:40.079 section two. We've got to put our neuropsych 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:42.240 hats on. We need to talk about the construction 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:44.759 zone. This is probably going to be the technical 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:47.720 part of the exam. This is crucial. If you don't 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:50.079 understand the adolescent brain architecture, 00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:52.920 none of this makes any sense. The psychology 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:55.660 today, and Warren Binford notes, break this down. 00:07:56.100 --> 00:07:58.120 You have to imagine the brain as a construction 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:00.459 site where the foreman has like walked off the 00:08:00.459 --> 00:08:02.399 job. Right. And the two main players we need 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:05.779 to know are the prefrontal cortex, the PFC, and 00:08:05.779 --> 00:08:08.339 the limbic system. Specifically, the nucleus 00:08:08.339 --> 00:08:11.060 accumbens. Correct. So the limbic system is the 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:13.100 primitive engine. It's the emotional brain, the 00:08:13.100 --> 00:08:16.550 reward center. In teenage the nucleus accumbens, 00:08:16.569 --> 00:08:18.689 that's the part that screams do that again when 00:08:18.689 --> 00:08:21.949 it gets dopamine, is fully mature. It's fully 00:08:21.949 --> 00:08:24.269 gassed up. Totally. It is a Ferrari engine. But 00:08:24.269 --> 00:08:26.709 the prefrontal cortex. That's the brake system. 00:08:26.810 --> 00:08:29.230 That's the rational decision -making impulse 00:08:29.230 --> 00:08:32.970 control center. And crucially, it is not finished. 00:08:33.110 --> 00:08:36.110 This is the myelination gap. Exactly. Myelination 00:08:36.110 --> 00:08:38.690 is the process of insulating the neural pathways 00:08:38.690 --> 00:08:41.149 with this fatty sheath so signals can move fast. 00:08:41.429 --> 00:08:43.970 It connects the brakes to the engine. Right. 00:08:44.110 --> 00:08:46.590 that connection to the prefrontal cortex isn't 00:08:46.590 --> 00:08:49.889 finished until the mid -20s. So adolescents have 00:08:49.889 --> 00:08:52.970 a heightened sensitivity to rewards. They feel 00:08:52.970 --> 00:08:56.730 the gas way more intensely than adults, but they 00:08:56.730 --> 00:08:59.370 have a much lower capacity to regulate the impulse. 00:08:59.769 --> 00:09:01.669 So you have a Ferrari engine, bicycle brakes, 00:09:01.710 --> 00:09:04.210 and you drive it onto a track made of ice. And 00:09:04.210 --> 00:09:07.269 then you flood that system with a supernormal 00:09:07.269 --> 00:09:10.210 stimulus. Explain that term. Supernormal stimulus. 00:09:10.370 --> 00:09:12.429 Sounds like a superpower. It's a mythology term, 00:09:12.429 --> 00:09:15.220 actually. It refers to an artificial version 00:09:15.220 --> 00:09:17.620 of a stimulus that is way more attractive than 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:20.080 the real thing, like a bird that prefers a giant 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:23.559 plastic egg over its own real egg. Internet porn 00:09:23.559 --> 00:09:26.200 is high speed, it's infinite, it's novel, and 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:29.039 it's perfectly lit. It is a super normal stimulus 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:32.659 compared to real life interaction. And when you 00:09:32.659 --> 00:09:35.179 drop that into a developing limbic system? You 00:09:35.179 --> 00:09:37.899 hijack the reward system. It's a dopamine loop. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:40.519 But here is the technical nuance we need to get 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:43.269 right. It's not just that they like it. It's 00:09:43.269 --> 00:09:45.730 about receptor downregulation. Okay, walk us 00:09:45.730 --> 00:09:47.990 through that. When you flood the brain with way 00:09:47.990 --> 00:09:50.769 too much dopamine, the brain says, whoa, this 00:09:50.769 --> 00:09:54.149 is too loud. To protect itself, it actually starts 00:09:54.149 --> 00:09:56.769 to kill off dopamine receptors. Turns down the 00:09:56.769 --> 00:09:59.549 volume. It turns down the volume. That's downregulation. 00:09:59.690 --> 00:10:02.500 So now... normal things, like hanging out with 00:10:02.500 --> 00:10:04.559 friends, eating a good meal, or just regular 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:06.940 sex they don't register. Exactly. You feel numb. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.820 The baseline is too low. The Psychology Today 00:10:09.820 --> 00:10:12.860 source compares this explicitly to drug tolerance. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:16.240 You need more extreme, more novel, more shocking 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:19.539 content just to feel normal, let alone high. 00:10:19.740 --> 00:10:23.019 Which explains why they spiral from boobies to... 00:10:22.889 --> 00:10:25.730 choking and vomiting videos. They aren't necessarily 00:10:25.730 --> 00:10:28.149 deviants. They're just chasing the dopamine dragon 00:10:28.149 --> 00:10:30.470 because their receptors are fried. Precisely. 00:10:30.570 --> 00:10:32.309 And while we are on brain structure, we have 00:10:32.309 --> 00:10:35.049 to talk about pruning. This is the other side 00:10:35.049 --> 00:10:37.289 of the coin. Use it or lose it. It is the fundamental 00:10:37.289 --> 00:10:40.289 rule of adolescent brain development. The brain 00:10:40.289 --> 00:10:43.269 looks at which pathways are being used and it 00:10:43.269 --> 00:10:45.169 strengthens them. That's the myelination. And 00:10:45.169 --> 00:10:46.870 the ones that aren't being used. It marks them 00:10:46.870 --> 00:10:49.190 as waste and it just cuts them away. Pruning. 00:10:49.509 --> 00:10:52.710 So if a young man is spending two hours a day 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:55.539 Strengthening the pathway for digital voyeurism, 00:10:55.960 --> 00:10:59.000 for solitary sexual gratification via a screen. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:01.700 He is building a superhighway for isolation. 00:11:02.500 --> 00:11:05.080 And meanwhile, the pathways for reading facial 00:11:05.080 --> 00:11:08.100 cues, for handling awkward silence, for emotional 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:10.980 intimacy. Those are overgrown trails that the 00:11:10.980 --> 00:11:13.720 brain might just decide to, uh, pave over. That 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.440 is the risk. You are biologically prioritizing 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:19.100 isolation over connection. You are hardwiring 00:11:19.100 --> 00:11:21.580 the brain to be alone. And we see the physical 00:11:21.580 --> 00:11:24.009 result of that? Going back to Cindy Pierce and 00:11:24.009 --> 00:11:26.750 the fraternity guys, the porn induced erectile 00:11:26.750 --> 00:11:29.250 dysfunction. Yeah. This is the most concrete 00:11:29.250 --> 00:11:31.649 evidence of the wiring change. These are 20 -year 00:11:31.649 --> 00:11:35.029 -old men. Vascularly, they are fine. Right. But 00:11:35.029 --> 00:11:37.230 they cannot get an erection with a real woman. 00:11:37.309 --> 00:11:38.990 Because their brain doesn't recognize her as 00:11:38.990 --> 00:11:41.769 a sexual stimulus? Exactly. She doesn't have 00:11:41.769 --> 00:11:44.049 4K resolution. She doesn't have a mute button. 00:11:44.330 --> 00:11:46.529 She doesn't change position every 15 seconds. 00:11:47.309 --> 00:11:50.720 The brain has been conditioned. Pavlovian style 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:55.059 to respond to pixels. A real person is a sensory 00:11:55.059 --> 00:11:57.799 mismatch. Totally. It's like trying to eat a 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:00.059 raw apple after you've been living on pure high 00:12:00.059 --> 00:12:02.080 fructose corn syrup for 10 years. Apple just 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:04.139 doesn't taste like anything. That is a perfect 00:12:04.139 --> 00:12:07.379 analogy. It's a desensitization to reality. Okay, 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:09.399 that's the hardware. Let's shift gears to section 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:13.049 three. Social psychology, because the brain isn't 00:12:13.049 --> 00:12:16.049 just wiring itself in a vacuum. It's downloading 00:12:16.049 --> 00:12:19.769 software, the social scripts. Cindy Pierce has 00:12:19.769 --> 00:12:22.470 this term compliance training. This is where 00:12:22.470 --> 00:12:24.549 the sociology intersects with the psychology. 00:12:24.940 --> 00:12:27.279 Pierce argues that society already socializes 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:29.799 girls to be nice, to be assertive, but not a 00:12:29.799 --> 00:12:32.200 bitch. And then porn comes in and reinforces 00:12:32.200 --> 00:12:34.820 a very specific script. Women are there to provide 00:12:34.820 --> 00:12:37.460 services. They endure pain. They are compliant. 00:12:37.620 --> 00:12:39.779 But wait, isn't that just like a feminist critique? 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.179 Is there actual data backing up that this changes 00:12:42.179 --> 00:12:45.120 how people think? Well, look at the orgasm gap 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:48.379 data. The script in porn is usually insertion, 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:50.480 aggressive thrusting, and then the woman has 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:53.340 an earth shattering orgasm within minutes. It 00:12:53.340 --> 00:12:56.190 looks easy. It looks mechanical. But the biological 00:12:56.190 --> 00:12:59.230 reality is that 70 % of women do not climax from 00:12:59.230 --> 00:13:02.370 penetration alone. The anatomy of the clitoris, 00:13:02.509 --> 00:13:05.750 which Cindy Pierce notes has 8 ,000 nerve endings, 00:13:06.570 --> 00:13:09.669 is often just ignored in mainstream porns groups 00:13:09.669 --> 00:13:11.769 because it's not visual enough for the camera. 00:13:12.169 --> 00:13:14.470 So you have young women watching this thinking, 00:13:14.470 --> 00:13:17.149 I'm supposed to orgasm just from this piston 00:13:17.149 --> 00:13:19.850 action. And when they don't, they think they're 00:13:19.850 --> 00:13:22.929 broken. And many admit to faking it to please 00:13:22.929 --> 00:13:25.149 their partner, which just reinforces the bad 00:13:25.149 --> 00:13:27.450 script. It's a feedback loop of misinformation. 00:13:27.769 --> 00:13:29.549 So the boys think they're doing it right because 00:13:29.549 --> 00:13:31.629 the porn and the faking tells them so. Exactly. 00:13:31.750 --> 00:13:33.669 Speaking of boys getting the wrong data, I laughed 00:13:33.669 --> 00:13:35.350 out loud at the penis size part of the notes. 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:38.929 But then I realized how sad it is. The body dysmorphia 00:13:38.929 --> 00:13:41.909 is massive. The average penis size in pornography 00:13:41.909 --> 00:13:44.870 is around eight inches. Which is, statistically, 00:13:45.230 --> 00:13:48.500 a unicorn. It is a massive statistical outlier, 00:13:48.820 --> 00:13:52.580 but the average real -world penis is 5 .1 inches. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:54.720 And Cindy Pierce tells that story about the fraternity 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.639 brothers. She reveals this stat to them that 00:13:57.639 --> 00:14:00.779 5 .1 is normal, and they literally jump up and 00:14:00.779 --> 00:14:02.919 high -five each other. Think about the psychology 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:05.360 of that moment. They have been carrying the secret 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:08.220 shame, thinking they are inadequate because their 00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:10.679 reference point is a fictionalized, surgically 00:14:10.679 --> 00:14:13.860 altered camera angle tricked industry standard. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:16.220 It's just heartbreaking that they needed a lady 00:14:16.220 --> 00:14:19.080 in her 40s to come into a frat house to tell 00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:21.399 them they are normal. It shows how much silence 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:23.620 there is around this. But there is a darker side 00:14:23.620 --> 00:14:25.600 to these social scripts too. We can't just talk 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:27.559 about insecurity. We have to talk about Warren 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:30.360 Binford's points on hostile sexism. Yeah, this 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:32.120 isn't just about feeling bad about yourself. 00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:34.659 This is about how they view women. The research 00:14:34.659 --> 00:14:36.700 suggests that heavy porn consumption in males 00:14:36.700 --> 00:14:39.299 is linked to what they call regressive attitudes. 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:42.179 They start seeing women less as equals and more 00:14:42.179 --> 00:14:45.200 as objects or or even threats to their dominance. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:48.100 So if your primary teacher of sexuality shows 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:50.590 women enjoying degradation. It becomes harder 00:14:50.590 --> 00:14:52.909 to respect female authority in the workplace 00:14:52.909 --> 00:14:55.929 or the classroom. And that bleeds into the bystander 00:14:55.929 --> 00:14:58.549 apathy point Binford makes. This really scared 00:14:58.549 --> 00:15:01.750 me. It should. There is a correlation between 00:15:01.750 --> 00:15:05.710 heavy porn use in both men and women, actually. 00:15:05.750 --> 00:15:08.610 And women do. Yeah, in both men and women. And 00:15:08.610 --> 00:15:11.389 a decreased likelihood of intervening in a sexual 00:15:11.389 --> 00:15:13.669 assault. Hold on. Explain the mechanism there. 00:15:14.230 --> 00:15:16.590 Why would watching porn make you less likely 00:15:16.590 --> 00:15:20.909 to help someone? The theory is normative desensitization. 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:25.480 If you consume media where non -consensual or 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:28.519 pseudo -consensual behavior is the norm, where 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:31.740 women saying no eventually means yes, it just 00:15:31.740 --> 00:15:33.759 numbs your radar. You become a passive witness. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.019 Exactly. You see something in real life that 00:15:36.019 --> 00:15:38.279 looks like harassment, but your brain has seen 00:15:38.279 --> 00:15:40.379 thousands of hours of that being presented as 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:42.539 entertainment so the alarm bells don't ring. 00:15:42.679 --> 00:15:45.519 So we are morally numbing ourselves to real -world 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:48.500 suffering. We are training ourselves to be spectators 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:51.190 of abuse. That's a good way to put it. That is 00:15:51.190 --> 00:15:53.570 heavy. It is. It's the blurring of the line between 00:15:53.570 --> 00:15:56.009 violence and sex. Okay, speaking of heavy, we 00:15:56.009 --> 00:15:59.389 need to get to the new stuff. Section four. Advanced 00:15:59.389 --> 00:16:03.289 Theory. This is the 2025 paper from Frontiers 00:16:03.289 --> 00:16:05.730 in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. This is the 00:16:05.730 --> 00:16:07.850 centerpiece of the new curriculum. And I have 00:16:07.850 --> 00:16:09.389 to be honest, when I first read the abstract, 00:16:09.549 --> 00:16:13.370 I was skeptical. They're proposing we view early 00:16:13.370 --> 00:16:16.570 porn exposure not as a habit, but as a form of 00:16:16.570 --> 00:16:20.139 trauma. Capital T trauma. Yes. Capital T trauma. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:23.259 I had the same reaction. Usually trauma is reserved 00:16:23.259 --> 00:16:27.519 for, you know, war zones, physical abuse or severe 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:29.679 neglect. It feels like we might be watering down 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:31.539 the definition. Exactly. Are we just being dramatic? 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:33.480 But then you look at their methodology. They 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:36.019 are comparing the neurological footprint of early 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:39.679 porn exposure to the ACEs framework adverse childhood 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:42.299 experiences. Right. And they argue that trauma 00:16:42.299 --> 00:16:45.299 is defined as an event that exceeds an individual's 00:16:45.299 --> 00:16:48.159 internal resources to cope. Okay, that definition 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:50.340 I can work with. So if a child sees violent, 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:53.139 hardcore sex, they cannot cognitively process 00:16:53.139 --> 00:16:54.919 it. They don't have the files in their brain 00:16:54.919 --> 00:16:57.120 to sort that information. It creates a state 00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:59.720 of shock and overwhelming arousal that the system 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:02.320 just can't handle. And the paper makes this fascinating 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:05.140 distinction between the bonding system and the 00:17:05.140 --> 00:17:07.880 sexual system. Right. This is key. In a healthy 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:11.769 development, the bonding system love Trust safety 00:17:11.769 --> 00:17:14.450 develops first. The sexual system comes online 00:17:14.450 --> 00:17:17.130 later, during puberty, and integrates into the 00:17:17.130 --> 00:17:19.910 bonding system. But porn trauma flips the script. 00:17:20.049 --> 00:17:22.170 It attacks the developing sexual system before 00:17:22.170 --> 00:17:25.190 the bonding system is ready. It introduces the 00:17:25.190 --> 00:17:28.230 erotization of violence before the child understands 00:17:28.230 --> 00:17:31.710 love or consent. It pairs arousal with degradation. 00:17:32.029 --> 00:17:34.569 And the paper applies the classic trauma responses. 00:17:34.750 --> 00:17:38.720 Fight. flight dissociation, specifically to porn 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:40.900 consumers. Let's walk through those because this 00:17:40.900 --> 00:17:43.059 helps explain the behaviors we see on campus. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:45.579 Good idea. What does flight look like here? Flight 00:17:45.579 --> 00:17:48.490 is usually about escaping a threat. Here, the 00:17:48.490 --> 00:17:51.089 threat is the complexity of the real world. So 00:17:51.089 --> 00:17:54.069 flight manifests as disconnecting, social isolation, 00:17:54.430 --> 00:17:56.430 depression. So the addiction itself becomes the 00:17:56.430 --> 00:17:58.450 escape. Exactly. The addiction to the screen 00:17:58.450 --> 00:18:01.430 becomes the bunker. They are fleeing reality 00:18:01.430 --> 00:18:03.490 into the digital world because the real world 00:18:03.490 --> 00:18:05.950 feels too demanding or scary compared to the 00:18:05.950 --> 00:18:08.789 easy, reliable reward of the screen. OK. And 00:18:08.789 --> 00:18:11.470 fight. This seems like the one that leads to 00:18:11.470 --> 00:18:13.410 the hostile sexism we talked about. Exactly. 00:18:13.930 --> 00:18:16.750 Fight manifests as identifying with the aggressor. 00:18:16.990 --> 00:18:20.430 To avoid feeling humiliated or weak, which is 00:18:20.430 --> 00:18:22.490 how the child felt when they first saw the scary 00:18:22.490 --> 00:18:25.690 content, they adopt the persona of the dominant 00:18:25.690 --> 00:18:28.049 performer. And that leads to? It can lead to 00:18:28.049 --> 00:18:31.029 sexual coercion, dominant behaviors, or antisocial 00:18:31.029 --> 00:18:34.309 actions. They are trying to regain control by 00:18:34.309 --> 00:18:37.789 becoming the perpetrator. And dissociation. This 00:18:37.789 --> 00:18:40.430 one seems particularly relevant for girls or 00:18:40.430 --> 00:18:43.289 victims of what the paper calls re -victimization. 00:18:43.650 --> 00:18:46.269 Dissociation is the freeze response. It's mentally 00:18:46.269 --> 00:18:49.190 leaving the room. The paper suggests that exposure 00:18:49.190 --> 00:18:51.930 to degrading content can teach a child, especially 00:18:51.930 --> 00:18:55.009 a girl, that their role is to surrender. So during 00:18:55.009 --> 00:18:57.450 sex, they dissociate. They check out. Starfishing. 00:18:57.609 --> 00:18:59.670 Right. And this makes them compliant, which fits 00:18:59.670 --> 00:19:02.029 the porn script, but it also makes them incredibly 00:19:02.029 --> 00:19:04.869 vulnerable to abuse because they aren't present 00:19:04.869 --> 00:19:08.289 to assert boundaries. to turn themselves into 00:19:08.289 --> 00:19:10.670 objects. That is devastating. It's not just learning 00:19:10.670 --> 00:19:13.829 bad tricks, it's fundamentally breaking the mechanism 00:19:13.829 --> 00:19:16.410 of self -protection. It's a staining of the psyche 00:19:16.410 --> 00:19:19.549 if we want to get philosophical. Even using secular 00:19:19.549 --> 00:19:22.450 terms, it's a loss of innocence. You are exposing 00:19:22.450 --> 00:19:24.829 a child to adult degradation before they have 00:19:24.829 --> 00:19:27.069 a self -concept. We have to talk about the legal 00:19:27.069 --> 00:19:30.190 side of this because if it's trauma, if it's 00:19:30.190 --> 00:19:33.529 actual psychological damage, why is it so accessible? 00:19:34.089 --> 00:19:38.200 Section 5. Law and Ethics. We have the Canadian 00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:40.559 context from the Justice Department notes. Right. 00:19:40.819 --> 00:19:43.640 So legally, the age of consent in Canada is 16. 00:19:43.740 --> 00:19:45.680 That's the baseline. But there are exceptions. 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:47.900 And this always confuses people on the exams. 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:50.339 The close -in -age exception. It's important 00:19:50.339 --> 00:19:53.160 nuance. A 14 -year -old can legally be with a 00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:55.259 16 -year -old because the gap is less than five 00:19:55.259 --> 00:19:58.529 years. The law recognizes that peers exploring 00:19:58.529 --> 00:20:00.869 sexuality is different from an adult exploiting 00:20:00.869 --> 00:20:03.170 a child. Right. No exploitation, no position 00:20:03.170 --> 00:20:05.990 of trust. Exactly. But the definition of child 00:20:05.990 --> 00:20:08.529 pornography is broader than people think. It's 00:20:08.529 --> 00:20:10.869 not just photos. It includes written or audio 00:20:10.869 --> 00:20:13.210 material that advocates sexual activity with 00:20:13.210 --> 00:20:15.890 minors. So a story about it counts? Potentially, 00:20:16.109 --> 00:20:18.430 yes. The law is trying to create a hard boundary. 00:20:18.829 --> 00:20:20.960 But then we have the regulation debate. Warren 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:23.700 Binford brings up this uniquely American but 00:20:23.700 --> 00:20:26.759 globally relevant tension. She says Americans 00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:30.180 love sex, guns, and money. And freedom of speech. 00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:33.339 Right. And the argument is often made that regulating 00:20:33.339 --> 00:20:36.220 the internet infringes on speech. But Binford 00:20:36.220 --> 00:20:38.640 pushes back hard. She asks a question that I 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:41.119 think we need to wrestle with. What's that? Should 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:44.460 the... freedom of speech argument protect a hundred 00:20:44.460 --> 00:20:47.559 billion dollar industry that is actively exploiting 00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:50.200 children's developing brains. She calls for treating 00:20:50.200 --> 00:20:52.380 it like a utility, right? It's like we regulate 00:20:52.380 --> 00:20:55.240 water. You can't pump sewage into the tap water 00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:57.500 and say, hey, freedom of fluids. Exactly. We 00:20:57.500 --> 00:20:59.799 regulate electricity. Why don't we regulate the 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:01.579 Internet so it doesn't have hazardous material 00:21:01.579 --> 00:21:04.460 for kids? Precisely. She wants age verification 00:21:04.460 --> 00:21:07.079 that actually works because right now the Click 00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:10.220 here if you are 18 button is a joke. It's not 00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:12.440 a barrier, it's speed bump. It's barely a speed 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:15.259 bump. It's a welcome mat. It effectively transfers 00:21:15.259 --> 00:21:17.440 liability to the user. Well, you lied, so it's 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.039 not our fault. Which is, yeah. And the legal 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:22.599 system is lagging so far behind the technology. 00:21:23.099 --> 00:21:25.839 We are trying to apply 20th century laws to a 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:29.039 21st century super stimulus. OK, we have been 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:31.779 pretty dark for this whole session. My cortisol 00:21:31.779 --> 00:21:34.579 levels are spiking. I feel you. Let's move to 00:21:34.579 --> 00:21:38.539 section six. Applied psychology, interventions 00:21:38.539 --> 00:21:41.750 and hope. Please tell me there is hope. There 00:21:41.750 --> 00:21:43.970 is absolutely hope, and it goes back to the brain 00:21:43.970 --> 00:21:46.990 science we started with. Neuroplasticity. The 00:21:46.990 --> 00:21:50.690 brain is plastic. It can change. Exactly. Neuroplasticity 00:21:50.690 --> 00:21:53.490 cuts both ways. Just as the brain rewired itself 00:21:53.490 --> 00:21:55.730 to get addicted to porn, it can rewire itself 00:21:55.730 --> 00:21:58.609 back. The synapses that are pruned can't necessarily 00:21:58.609 --> 00:22:01.529 grow back instantly, but new pathways can be 00:22:01.529 --> 00:22:03.529 formed. Cindy Pierce has that great case study 00:22:03.529 --> 00:22:05.589 about the detox. The fraternity brother. This 00:22:05.589 --> 00:22:07.309 is a great anecdotal evidence point. He quit 00:22:07.309 --> 00:22:09.269 porn for six months. Cold turkey. You have the 00:22:09.269 --> 00:22:11.500 result? His erectile dysfunction. disappeared 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:14.039 his depression lifted and and this is the most 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:16.819 interesting part his fantasy highlight reel changed 00:22:16.819 --> 00:22:19.539 he told Pierce that he stopped fantasizing about 00:22:19.539 --> 00:22:22.220 the violent aggressive stuff and started fantasizing 00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:25.599 about connection and real intimacy again he detoxed 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:28.140 his brain he lowered his tolerance threshold 00:22:28.140 --> 00:22:31.259 he did But there is a warning here. Another student 00:22:31.259 --> 00:22:33.640 in the study only quit for two months. And when 00:22:33.640 --> 00:22:36.599 he went back to it, thinking he was cured, the 00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:39.339 symptoms crept back almost immediately. So it's 00:22:39.339 --> 00:22:41.740 not a quick fix. It's a lifestyle change. It 00:22:41.740 --> 00:22:43.839 requires long -term maintenance. Exactly. It's 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:45.740 like getting in shape. You can't go to the gym 00:22:45.740 --> 00:22:47.940 for two months and then expect to stay fit while 00:22:47.940 --> 00:22:50.460 eating junk food for the rest of the year. The 00:22:50.460 --> 00:22:53.519 brain is an organ. It responds to what you feed 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:55.640 it. So that's the intervention for the user. 00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:58.460 What about prevention? We need to talk about 00:22:58.460 --> 00:23:01.559 communication strategies. Because clearly, whatever 00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:04.480 parents are doing now isn't working. The experts, 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:07.380 Pierce, Binford, all of them, agree on one thing. 00:23:07.700 --> 00:23:11.180 The talk is dead. You mean the one big birds 00:23:11.180 --> 00:23:13.259 and bees speech where the dad sweats and the 00:23:13.259 --> 00:23:15.200 kid looks at the floor? Right. That doesn't work. 00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:17.420 It's too late and it's too awkward. It needs 00:23:17.420 --> 00:23:19.519 to be a continuous conversation and it needs 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:22.960 to start early. How early? Pierre suggests using 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:26.440 anatomical names penis, vulva, by age three. 00:23:26.579 --> 00:23:29.079 Get rid of the shame. Exactly. If you can't say 00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:31.160 the words, you can't talk about the problem. 00:23:31.619 --> 00:23:34.339 If a kid only knows the word peepee, they aren't 00:23:34.339 --> 00:23:36.380 equipped to talk about sexual boundaries. That 00:23:36.380 --> 00:23:39.059 makes sense. And I love the fire drill approach 00:23:39.059 --> 00:23:41.599 she mentions. Oh, this is practical gold. Tell 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.079 us about the fire drill. You know how we do fire 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.200 drills so kids know what to do before there is 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:48.259 smoke. Yeah. You do the same for the internet. 00:23:48.740 --> 00:23:50.519 You tell your kids before they see anything, 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:52.819 you say, hey, the internet is big and weird. 00:23:52.940 --> 00:23:55.200 If you see something naked or scary or gross 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:57.359 on the screen, come tell me. And the important 00:23:57.359 --> 00:23:59.460 part. You will not be in trouble. We will just 00:23:59.460 --> 00:24:02.420 fix it. That you will not be in trouble part 00:24:02.420 --> 00:24:05.079 is key. Yeah. Because if the kid thinks they'll 00:24:05.079 --> 00:24:08.000 lose their iPad or that mom will be mad. They 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:09.779 will hide it. And if they hide it, the shame 00:24:09.779 --> 00:24:12.599 grows. And shame is the fertilizer for addiction. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:15.900 You have to be a safe harbor. And finally, porn 00:24:15.900 --> 00:24:18.660 literacy. This is what we're doing right now, 00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:22.000 basically. It is. We don't just ban it. We explain 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.470 it. We explain that these are actors, there is 00:24:24.470 --> 00:24:27.269 lighting, there is editing, that the women are 00:24:27.269 --> 00:24:30.390 often in pain but acting like they aren't. Deconstruct 00:24:30.390 --> 00:24:33.170 the media. Yes. If a kid can look at a video 00:24:33.170 --> 00:24:35.809 and say, that's fake, that's acting, that's not 00:24:35.809 --> 00:24:38.549 real life, they are inoculated against the worst 00:24:38.549 --> 00:24:40.609 effects. They can critically analyze it rather 00:24:40.609 --> 00:24:43.490 than absorbing it as truth. It's like showing 00:24:43.490 --> 00:24:45.150 them the behind the scenes of a horror movie 00:24:45.150 --> 00:24:46.829 so they aren't scared of the monster anymore. 00:24:46.950 --> 00:24:49.529 Look, it's just a guy in a rubber suit. Exactly. 00:24:50.180 --> 00:24:52.700 demystify it, take away its power. All right, 00:24:52.779 --> 00:24:55.660 class, let's wrap this up. We have covered a 00:24:55.660 --> 00:24:59.279 lot. We have. We went from the dopamine -fueled 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:01.940 adolescent brain rushing on gas with no breaks 00:25:01.940 --> 00:25:04.880 to the social scripts of sexism and compliance, 00:25:05.339 --> 00:25:07.900 all the way to the potential trauma of early 00:25:07.900 --> 00:25:11.279 exposure. And the digital castration of a generation. 00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:14.039 Yeah. It's a lot to process. My brain is definitely 00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:17.339 full. But we promised an exam question, a final 00:25:17.339 --> 00:25:19.299 provocative thought to leave you with. Right. 00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:21.960 So here is the question I want you to mull over. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:26.339 If we accept the core tenet of biology and psychology, 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:29.400 that the organism is shaped by its environment. 00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:31.880 Nature and nurture. Exactly. If the environment 00:25:31.880 --> 00:25:34.519 shapes the organism, then we have to ask, what 00:25:34.519 --> 00:25:36.960 kind of human being is inevitably designed by 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:39.200 an environment where the primary sexual teacher 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:42.240 is an algorithm that rewards extreme violence? 00:25:42.359 --> 00:25:45.559 Wow. If the input is dehumanization, can the 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:48.259 output be anything other than a dehumanized society? 00:25:48.509 --> 00:25:50.849 That is a terrifying question. Yeah. But one 00:25:50.849 --> 00:25:53.670 we have to answer. It's the question of our generation. 00:25:53.789 --> 00:25:56.089 All right. I need to go touch some grass. Class 00:25:56.089 --> 00:25:57.750 dismissed. Good luck with the reading. See you 00:25:57.750 --> 00:25:58.670 next semester. See you then.