About This Site

about this site

This site is secular (founded by an atheist, Gary Wilson), although everyone’s views are welcome. It is primarily science-based, and no one here is trying to ban porn. This is not a commercial site: we accept no ads or donations, and the proceeds from the YBOP book go to a UK registered charity that promotes education and research on porn’s effects. Gary Wilson accepts no fees for speaking (About Us).

We created the site because we don’t like people suffering needlessly simply because they lack critical information for improving their circumstances themselves. Please do not ask YBOP admins questions specific to your situation. YBOP does not diagnose or provide medical or sexual advice.

This site focuses on porn’s effects on the brain—male or female. However, since this has been predominantly a male challenge (and the self-reports are overwhelmingly from men), the site has a definite male slant. However, addiction is addiction, and more females are starting to report Internet porn problems. If you are female, you may want to see Articles of Special Interest to Women.

We don’t believe there is only one approach to recovery. We do, however, share diverse suggestions as to how others have reversed the unwanted effects of heavy porn use.

This site will help you understand exactly how today’s extreme Internet porn can alter the brain. Armed with that knowledge, you’ll realize that some primitive circuitry in your brain is just trying to do its job when it pushes you toward porn. And you’ll see that you need to outsmart it in order to restore your balance.

This site grew out of 20 years of research analysis on the effects of sex on the brain, and more than a decade of listening to recovering porn addicts. There’s a vacuum of critically important information about porn’s effects on the brain. It is lost in the gulf that exists between the folks who see porn use as immoral, and the mainstream who sees Internet porn as no different from Dad’s Playboy magazines.

In our view, porn use isn’t a moral issue (although exploitation of actors and sex trafficking are). Yet, to the human brain, Internet porn is as different from erotic magazines as “Fortnite” is from checkers. The ability of this unique supernormal stimulus to alter the brain has major implications for the user (especially during adolescence).

Support for visitors

You can start anywhere on the site, but it’s important to understand your predicament. To get the basics, watch the Your Brain On Porn PowerPoint presentation, or read the “start here” article. Next you may want to continue to “Articles” or “Videos” from the list below.

Support: Links to other helpful websites. YBOP has no forum.
Rebooting Basics article: Read the basics before you get started. Browse thousands of rebooting accounts (recovery stories). Note: YBOP’s policy is to not censor content of the rebooting stories or other self-reports, so some of the language may potentially offend some of our visitors.
Tools for Change article: Tools you can use to help you in your recovery, starting with rebooting and rewiring your brain. Contains many personal accounts and tips.
Porn Use & Rebooting FAQ’s: Here we (and porn users) answer the most commonly asked questions. Contains many personal accounts.
Videos: View our presentations, and other videos on addiction and porn addiction.
Articles: Porn related articles in six categories, covering a diverse range of subjects important to you. Written for the general public, with easy to understand science and porn users’ stories.
Research Page: Contains articles, excerpts and research that relate to porn addiction and recovery, as well as a Humor section. Also see the audio-visual presentations appear.
See Questionable & Misleading Studies for highly publicized papers and lay articles that are not what they claim to be.

It’s great to see so many visitors bounce back as they integrate the information here. Once they understand their options, they steer for the results they want. As we say, “Balance, not perfection, is the goal.”

No one here cares what you do with your genitals. We do care that you are accurately informed about your brain. Welcome.

What is YBOP claiming?

Internet porn addiction exists, although it is generally known as “compulsive sexual behavior” or “problematic pornography use” these days.
All addictions entail a constellation of shared fundamental brain changes, which have been documented in both substance and chemical addictions, and which are reflected in a specific set of signs, symptoms and behaviors.
Porn-induced sexual dysfunctions exist.
Internet porn is inducing morphing sexual tastes in some users.
Internet porn is exacerbating or inducing various other symptoms (loss of attraction to real partners, social anxiety, depression, brain fog, lack of motivation, emotional numbness, withdrawal symptoms, escalation to more extreme material, etc.) in some users.
Many who give up Internet porn often notice gradual improvement in items 3-5. The only variable they appear to have in common is their past Internet porn use.
Intense arousal has the power to condition sexuality, particularly adolescent sexuality, as a matter of neuroscience.

Is there any scientific foundation for these claims?

Relevant Research – first we have lists of studies that provide support for the claims made by YBOP. (See Questionable & Misleading Studies for highly publicized papers that are not what they claim to be.):

Porn/sex addiction? This page lists 55 neuroscience-based studies (MRI, fMRI, EEG, neuropsychological, hormonal). All provide strong support for the addiction model as their findings mirror the neurological findings reported in substance addiction studies.
The real experts’ opinions on porn/sex addiction? This list contains 31 recent neuroscience-based literature reviews & commentaries by some of the top neuroscientists in the world. All support the addiction model.
Signs of addiction and escalation to more extreme material? Over 60 studies reporting findings consistent with escalation of porn use (tolerance), habituation to porn, and even withdrawal symptoms (all signs and symptoms associated with addiction). Additional page with 14 studies reporting withdrawal symptoms in porn users.
An official diagnosis? The world’s most widely used medical diagnostic manual, The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), contains a new diagnosis suitable for porn addiction: “Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder.”
Debunking the unsupported talking point that “high sexual desire” explains away porn or sex addiction: Over 25 studies falsify the claim that sex & porn addicts “just have high sexual desire”
Porn and sexual problems? This list contains over 45 studies linking porn use/porn addiction to sexual problems and lower arousal to sexual stimuli. The first 7 studies in the list demonstrate causation, as participants eliminated porn use and healed chronic sexual dysfunctions.
Porn’s effects on relationships? Over 80 studies link porn use to less sexual and relationship satisfaction. As far as we know all studies involving males have reported more porn use linked to poorer sexual or relationship satisfaction. While a few studies report little effect of women’s porn use on women’s sexual and relationship satisfaction, many do report negative effects: Porn studies involving female subjects: Negative effects on arousal, sexual satisfaction, and relationships
Porn use affecting emotional and mental health? Over 95 studies link porn use to poorer mental-emotional health & poorer cognitive outcomes.
Porn use affecting beliefs, attitudes and behaviors? Check out individual studies – over 40 studies link porn use to “un-egalitarian attitudes” toward women and sexist views – or the summary from this 2016 meta-analysis of 135 relevant studies: Media and Sexualization: State of Empirical Research, 1995–2015. Excerpt:

The goal of this review was to synthesize empirical investigations testing effects of media sexualization. The focus was on research published in peer-reviewed, English-language journals between 1995 and 2015. A total of 109 publications that contained 135 studies were reviewed. The findings provided consistent evidence that both laboratory exposure and regular, everyday exposure to this content are directly associated with a range of consequences, including higher levels of body dissatisfaction, greater self-objectification, greater support of sexist beliefs and of adversarial sexual beliefs, and greater tolerance of sexual violence toward women. Moreover, experimental exposure to this content leads both women and men to have a diminished view of women’s competence, morality, and humanity.

What about sexual aggression and porn use? Another meta-analysis: A Meta‐Analysis of Pornography Consumption and Actual Acts of Sexual Aggression in General Population Studies (2015). Excerpt:

22 studies from 7 different countries were analyzed. Consumption was associated with sexual aggression in the United States and internationally, among males and females, and in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Associations were stronger for verbal than physical sexual aggression, although both were significant. The general pattern of results suggested that violent content may be an exacerbating factor.

“But hasn’t porn use reduced rape rates?” No, rape rates have been rising in recent years: “Rape rates are on the rise, so ignore the pro-porn propaganda.” See this page for over 100 studies linking porn use to sexual aggression, coercion & violence, and an extensive critique of the often-repeated assertion that an increased availability of porn has resulted in decreased rape rates.

What about the porn use and adolescents? Check out this list of some 300+ adolescent studies, or these reviews of the literature: review#1, review2, review#3, review#4, review#5, review#6, review#7, review#8, review#9, review#10, review#11, review#12, review#13, review#14, review#15, review #16, review #17. From the conclusion of this 2012 review of the research – The Impact of Internet Pornography on Adolescents: A Review of the Research:

Increased access to the Internet by adolescents has created unprecedented opportunities for sexual education, learning, and growth. Conversely, the risk of harm that is evident in the literature has led researchers to investigate adolescent exposure to online pornography in an effort to elucidate these relationships. Collectively, these studies suggest that youth who consume pornography may develop unrealistic sexual values and beliefs. Among the findings, higher levels of permissive sexual attitudes, sexual preoccupation, and earlier sexual experimentation have been correlated with more frequent consumption of pornography…. Nevertheless, consistent findings have emerged linking adolescent use of pornography that depicts violence with increased degrees of sexually aggressive behavior.

The literature does indicate some correlation between adolescents’ use of pornography and self-concept. Girls report feeling physically inferior to the women they view in pornographic material, while boys fear they may not be as virile or able to perform as the men in these media. Adolescents also report that their use of pornography decreased as their self-confidence and social development increase. Additionally, research suggests that adolescents who use pornography, especially that found on the Internet, have lower degrees of social integration, increases in conduct problems, higher levels of delinquent behavior, higher incidence of depressive symptoms, and decreased emotional bonding with caregivers.

Aren’t all studies correlative? Nope: Over 90 Studies demonstrating internet use & porn use causing negative outcomes & symptoms, and brain changes. Also see Dr. Paul Wright’s published piece on this subject: Paul Wright, PhD Calls Out Porn Researchers’ Questionable Tactics (2021).

For a debunking of nearly every naysayer talking point and cherry-picked study see this extensive critique: Debunking “Why Are We Still So Worried About Watching Porn?”, by Marty Klein, Taylor Kohut, and Nicole Prause (2018). How to recognize biased articles: They cite Prause et al., 2015 (falsely claiming it debunks porn addiction), while omitting over dozens of neurological studies supporting porn addiction.

Porn and healing from sexual problems…

And yet YBOP was created because anecdotal and clinical evidence pointed to a new phenomenon. The following pages contain about 6,000 first-person accounts of men giving up porn and healing sexual problems (ED, anorgasmia, low libido, morphing sexual tastes, etc.)

First we have the three pages of rebooting stories: Rebooting Accounts Page 1, Rebooting Accounts Page 2 and Rebooting Accounts page 3.
The following eight pages contain shorter stories describing recovery from porn-induced sexual dysfunctions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

In addition, to the above studies, this page contains articles and videos by over 150 experts (urology professors, urologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, sexologists, MDs) who acknowledge and have successfully treated porn-induced ED and porn-induced loss of sexual desire. In fact, porn-induced ED was presented at the American Urologic Association Conference, May 6-10, 2016: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

What about porn addiction?

But ‘porn addiction’ isn’t in the APA’s DSM-5, right? When the APA last updated the manual in 2013 (DSM-5), it didn’t formally consider “internet porn addiction,” opting instead to debate “hypersexual disorder.” The latter umbrella term for problematic sexual behavior was recommended for inclusion by the DSM-5’s own Sexuality Work Group after years of review. However, in an eleventh-hour “star chamber” session (according to a Sexuality Work Group member), other DSM-5 officials unilaterally rejected hypersexuality, citing reasons that have been described as illogical.

Just prior to the DSM-5’s publication in 2013, Thomas Insel, then Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, warned that it was time for the mental health field to stop relying on the DSM. Its “weakness is its lack of validity,” he explained, and “we cannot succeed if we use DSM categories as the “gold standard.” He added, “That is why NIMH will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories.” In other words, the NIMH planned to stop funding research based on DSM labels (and their absence).

American Society of Addiction Medicine

Major medical organizations are moving ahead of the APA. The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) hammered what should have been the final nail in the porn-addiction debate coffin in August, 2011, a few months before I prepared my TEDx talk “The Great Porn Experiment.” Top addiction experts at ASAM released their carefully crafted definition of addiction. The new definition makes some of the major points I made in my talk. Foremost, behavioral addictions affect the brain in the same fundamental ways as drugs do. In other words, addiction is essentially one disease (condition), not many. ASAM explicitly stated that sexual behavior addiction exists and must necessarily be caused by the same fundamental brain changes found in substance addictions.

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization has now set right the APA’s excessive caution. The latest edition of its diagnostic manual, the ICD, was formally adopted in spring of 2019. The new ICD-11 includes a diagnosis for “Compulsive sexual behavior disorder,” as well as one for “Disorders due to addictive behaviors.” Compulsive sexual behavior disorder, or CSBD, is the umbrella term for “porn addiction” and “sex addiction.” WHO created this new diagnosis because clinical and empirical evidence is mounting. Research has shown that more than 80% of those seeking treatment for CSBD want help with their problematic porn use.

Reviews and commentaries

There are now 33+ literature reviews & commentaries, including this 2015 paper by two medical doctors: Sex Addiction as a Disease: Evidence for Assessment, Diagnosis, and Response to Critics (2015), which provides a chart from that takes on specific criticisms and offers citations that counter them. For a thorough review of the neuroscience literature related to Internet addiction subtypes, with special focus on internet porn addiction, see – Neuroscience of Internet Pornography Addiction: A Review and Update (2015). The review also critiques two headline-grabbing EEG studies which purport to have “debunked porn addiction (see this page for critiques and analysis of highly questionable and misleading studies). This short review, Neurobiology of Compulsive Sexual Behavior: Emerging Science (2016), stated:

“Given some similarities between CSB and drug addictions, interventions effective for addictions may hold promise for CSB, thus providing insight into future research directions to investigate this possibility directly.”

A 2016 review of compulsive sexual behaviors (CSB) by neuroscientists at Yale and Cambridge universities – Should compulsive sexual behavior be considered an addiction? – concluded that:

“Overlapping features exist between CSB and substance use disorders. Common neurotransmitter systems may contribute to CSB and substance use disorders, and recent neuroimaging studies highlight similarities relating to craving and attentional biases.“

And a 2016 review by neuroscientists from the Max Planck institute – Neurobiological Basis of Hypersexuality – concluded;

“Taken together, the evidence seems to imply that alterations in the frontal lobe, amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, septum, and brain regions that process reward play a prominent role in the emergence of hypersexuality. Genetic studies and neuropharmacological treatment approaches point at an involvement of the dopaminergic system.”

Co-authored by US Navy doctors, Is Internet Pornography Causing Sexual Dysfunctions? A Review with Clinical Reports (2016) is an extensive review of the literature on porn-induced sexual problems. The review provides data revealing a tremendous rise in youthful sexual problems since the advent of internet porn. The paper also examines the neurological studies related to porn addiction and sexual conditioning. The doctors provide 3 clinical reports of men who developed porn-induced sexual dysfunctions.

A chapter by two top neuroscientists: Neuroscientific Approaches to Online Pornography Addiction (2017) – Excerpt:

“In the last two decades, several studies with neuroscientific approaches, especially functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), were conducted to explore the neural correlates of watching pornography under experimental conditions and the neural correlates of excessive pornography use. Given previous results, excessive pornography consumption can be connected to already known neurobiological mechanisms underlying the development of substance-related addictions.”

A commentary by neuroscientists at Yale and Cambridge: Is excessive sexual behaviour an addictive disorder? (2017) – Excerpts:

“Research into the neurobiology of compulsive sexual behaviour disorder has generated findings relating to attentional biases, incentive salience attributions, and brain-based cue reactivity that suggest substantial similarities with addictions. We believe that classification of compulsive sexual behaviour disorder as an addictive disorder is consistent with recent data and might benefit clinicians, researchers, and individuals suffering from and personally affected by this disorder.”

Neurological studies on porn users and sex addicts

In addition to the 33+ reviews and commentaries, all published neurological studies except one support the claims put forth by YBOP. Here’s a partial list:

Preliminary investigation of the impulsive and neuroanatomical characteristics of compulsive sexual behavior (2009) Primarily sex addicts. Study reports more impulsive behavior in a Go-NoGo task in sex addicts (hypersexuals) compared to control participants. Brain scans revealed that sex addicts had greater disorganized prefrontal cortex white matter. This finding is consistent with hypofrontality, a hallmark of addiction.
Sexual Desire, not Hypersexuality, is Related to Neurophysiological Responses Elicited by Sexual Images (2013) [greater cue-reactivity correlated with less sexual desire: sensitization and habituation] – This EEG study was touted in the media as evidence against the existence of porn/sex addiction. Not so. Steele et al. 2013 actually lends support to the existence of both porn addiction and porn use down-regulating sexual desire. Eight peer-reviewed papers explain the truth: Peer-reviewed critiques of Steele et al., 2013.
Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn (2014) A German study which found 3 significant addiction-related brain changes that correlated with the amount of porn consumed. It also found that the more porn consumed the less activity in the reward circuit, indicating desensitization, and increasing the need for greater stimulation (tolerance).
Neural Correlates of Sexual Cue Reactivity in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours (2014) The first in a series of studies. It found the same brain activity as seen in drug addicts and alcoholics. It also found that porn addicts fit the accepted addiction model of wanting “it” more, but not liking “it” more. One other major finding (not reported in the media), was that over 50% of subjects (average age: 25) had difficulty achieving erections/arousal with real partners, yet could achieve erections with porn.
Enhanced Attentional Bias towards Sexually Explicit Cues in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours (2014) Findings match those seen in drug addiction.
Novelty, Conditioning and Attentional Bias to Sexual Rewards (2015) Compared to controls porn addicts preferred sexual novelty and conditioned cues associated porn. However, the brains of porn addicts habituated faster to sexual images. Since novelty preference wasn’t pre-existing, porn addiction drives novelty-seeking in an attempt to overcome habituation and desensitization.
Neural Substrates of Sexual Desire in Individuals with Problematic Hypersexual Behavior (2015) This Korean fMRI study replicates other brain studies on porn users. Like the Cambridge University studies it found cue-induced brain activation patterns in sex addicts which mirrored the patterns of drug addicts. In line with several German studies it found alterations in the prefrontal cortex which match the changes observed in drug addicts.
Modulation of Late Positive Potentials by Sexual Images in Problem Users and Controls Inconsistent with “Porn Addiction” (2015) Another SPAN Lab EEG study comparing the 2013 subjects from Steele et al., 2013 to an actual control group. The results: compared to controls porn addicts had less response to photos of vanilla porn. The lead author, Nicole Prause, claims these results debunk porn addiction, yet these findings align perfectly with Kühn & Gallinat (2014), which found that more porn use correlated with less brain activation in response to pictures of vanilla porn.Ten peer-reviewed papers agree that this study actually found desensitization/habituation in frequent porn users (consistent with addiction): Peer-reviewed critiques of Prause et al., 2015
HPA axis dysregulation in men with hypersexual disorder (2015) A study with 67 male sex addicts and 39 age-matched controls. The Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis is the central player in our stress response. Addictions alter the brain’s stress circuits leading to a dysfunctional HPA axis. This study on sex addicts (hypersexuals) found altered stress responses that mirror the findings with substance addictions (the press release).
The Role of Neuroinflammation in the Pathophysiology of Hypersexual Disorder (2016) This study reported higher levels of circulating Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) in sex addicts when compared to healthy controls. Elevated levels of TNF (a marker of inflammation) have also been found in substance abusers and drug addicted animals (alcohol, heroin, meth).
Compulsive sexual behavior: Prefrontal and limbic volume and interactions (2016) Compared to healthy controls CSB subjects (porn addicts) had increased left amygdala volume and reduced functional connectivity between the amygdala and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex DLPFC.
Ventral striatum activity when watching preferred pornographic pictures is correlated with symptoms of Internet pornography addiction (2016) Finding #1: Reward center activity (ventral striatum) was higher for preferred pornographic pictures. Finding #2: Ventral striatum reactivity correlated with the internet sex addiction score. Both findings indicate sensitization and align with the addiction model. The authors state that the “Neural basis of Internet pornography addiction is comparable to other addictions.“
Altered Appetitive Conditioning and Neural Connectivity in Subjects With Compulsive Sexual Behavior (2016) A German fMRI study replicating two major findings from Voon et al., 2014 and Kuhn & Gallinat 2014. Main Findings: The neural correlates of appetitive conditioning and neural connectivity were altered in the CSB group. According to the researchers, the first alteration – heightened amygdala activation – might reflect facilitated conditioning (greater “wiring” to previously neutral cues predicting porn images). The second alteration – decreased connectivity between the ventral striatum and the prefrontal cortex – could be a marker for impaired ability to control impulses. Said the researchers, “These [alterations] are in line with other studies investigating the neural correlates of addiction disorders and impulse control deficits.” The findings of greater amygdalar activation to cues (sensitization) and decreased connectivity between the reward center and the prefrontal cortex (hypofrontality) are two of the major brain changes seen in substance addiction. In addition, 3 of the 20 compulsive porn users suffered from “orgasmic-erection disorder”.
Compulsivity across the pathological misuse of drug and non-drug rewards (2016) A Cambridge University study comparing aspects of compulsivity in alcoholics, binge-eaters, video game addicts and porn addicts (CSB). Excerpts: CSB subjects were faster to learning from rewards in the acquisition phase compared to healthy volunteers and were more likely to perseverate or stay after either a loss or a win in the Reward condition. These findings converge with our previous findings of enhanced preference for stimuli conditioned to either sexual or monetary outcomes, overall suggesting enhanced sensitivity to rewards (Banca et al., 2016).
Methylation of HPA Axis Related Genes in Men With Hypersexual Disorder (2017) This found that sex addicts have dysfunctional stress systems – a key neuro-endocrine change caused by addiction. The current study found epigenetic changes on genes central to the human stress response and closely associated with addiction
Can Pornography be Addictive? An fMRI Study of Men Seeking Treatment for Problematic Pornography Use (2017) Excerpts: Problematic pornography use (PPU) subjects when compared to control subjects showed increased activation of ventral striatum specifically for cues predicting erotic pictures but not for cues predicting monetary gains. Our findings suggest that, similar to what is observed in substance and gambling addictions, the neural and behavioral mechanisms associated with the anticipatory processing of cues specifically predicting erotic rewards relate importantly to clinically relevant features of PPU.
Conscious and Non-Conscious Measures of Emotion: Do They Vary with Frequency of Pornography Use? (2017) Study assessed porn user’s responses (EEG readings & Startle Response) to various emotion-inducing images – including erotica. The study found several neurological differences between low frequency porn users and high frequency porn users. An excerpt: Findings suggest that increased pornography use appears to have an influence on the brain’s non-conscious responses to emotion-inducing stimuli which was not shown by explicit self-report.
Pornography Addiction Detection based on Neurophysiological Computational Approach (2018) Excerpt: Experimental results show that the addicted participants had low alpha waves activity in the frontal brain region compared to non-addicted participants. The theta band also show there is disparity between addicted and non-addicted. However, the distinction is not as obvious as alpha band.
Gray matter deficits and altered resting-state connectivity in the superior temporal gyrus among individuals with problematic hypersexual behavior (2018) fMRI study. Summary: …study showed gray matter deficits and altered functional connectivity in the temporal gyrus among individuals with PHB (sex addicts). More importantly, the diminished structure and functional connectivity were negatively correlated with the severity of PHB. These findings provide new insights into the underlying neural mechanisms of PHB.
Altered Prefrontal and Inferior Parietal Activity During a Stroop Task in Individuals With Problematic Hypersexual Behavior (2018) fMRI & neuropsychological study comparing controls to porn/sex addicts. Findings mirror studies on drug addicts: sex/porn addicts exhibited poorer executive control & decreased PFC activation during a stroop test correlating with severity of addiction scores. All this indicates poorer prefrontal cortex functioning, which is a hallmark of addiction, and manifests as the inability to control use or suppress cravings.
Hypermethylation-associated downregulation of microRNA-4456 in hypersexual disorder with putative influence on oxytocin signalling: A DNA methylation analysis of miRNA genes (2019) Study on subjects with hypersexuality (porn/sex addiction) reports epigenetic changes mirroring those occurring in alcoholics. The epigenetic changes occurred in genes associated with the oxytocin system (which is important in love, bonding, addiction, stress, sexual functioning, etc.).
Gray matter volume differences in impulse control and addictive disorders (Draps et al., 2020) Excerpts: Affected individuals compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD), gambling disorder (GD), and alcohol use disorder (AUD) compared to controls showed smaller GMVs in the left frontal pole, specifically in the orbitofrontal cortex… Higher severity of CSBD symptoms was correlated with decreased GMV in the right anterior cingulate gyrus… Our findings suggest similarities between specific impulse control disorders and addictions.
High Plasma Oxytocin Levels in Men With Hypersexual Disorder (2020) Excerpts: The results suggest hyperactive oxytonergic system in male patients with hypersexual disorder which may be a compensatory mechanism to attenuate hyperactive stress system. A successful CBT group therapy may have effect on hyperactive oxytonergic system.
Normal Testosterone but Higher Luteinizing Hormone Plasma Levels in Men With Hypersexual Disorder (2020) Excerpts: The proposed mechanisms might include the HPA and HPG interaction, the reward neural network, or the inhibition of regulation impulse control of prefrontal cortex regions.³²In conclusion, we report for the first time increased LH plasma levels in hypersexual men compared with healthy volunteers. These preliminary findings contribute to growing literature on the involvement of neuroendocrine systems and dysregulation in HD.
Inhibitory control and problematic Internet-pornography use – The important balancing role of the insula (2020) Excerpts: Effects of tolerance and motivational aspects may explain the better inhibitory control performance in individuals with higher symptom severity which was associated with differential activity of the interoceptive and reflective system. Diminished control over IP use presumably results from the interaction between the impulsive, reflective, and interoceptive systems.
Sexual cues alter working memory performance and brain processing in men with compulsive sexual behavior (2020) Excerpts: These findings are in line with the incentive salience theory of addiction, especially the higher functional connectivity to the salience network with the insula as a key hub and the higher lingual activity during processing of pornographic pictures depending on recent pornography consumption.
Subjective reward value of visual sexual stimuli is coded in human striatum and orbitofrontal cortex (2020) – Excerpts: We not only found an association of NAcc and caudate activity with sexual arousal ratings during VSS viewing but the strength of this association was greater when the subject reported more problematic pornography use (PPU). The result supports the hypothesis, that incentive value responses in NAcc and caudate differentiate more strongly between differently preferred stimuli, the more a subject experiences PPU.
The Neurosciences of Health Communication: An fNIRS Analysis of Prefrontal Cortex and Porn Consumption in Young Women for the Development of Prevention Health Programs (2020) – Excerpts: The results indicate that the viewing of the pornographic clip (vs. control clip) causes an activation of Brodmann’s area 45 of the right hemisphere. An effect also appears between the level of self-reported consumption and the activation of right BA 45: the higher the level of self-reported consumption, the greater the activation. On the other hand, those participants who have never consumed pornographic material do not show activity of the right BA 45 compared to the control clip (indicating a qualitative difference between non-consumers and consumers. These results are consistent with other research made in the field of addictions.
Event-related potentials in a two-choice oddball task of impaired behavioral inhibitory control among males with tendencies towards cybersex addiction (2020) – Excerpts: Theoretically, our results indicate that cybersex addiction resembles substance use disorder and impulse control disorder in terms of impulsivity at electrophysiological and behavioral levels. Our findings may fuel the persistent controversy about the possibility of cybersex addiction as a novel type of psychiatric disorder.
White matter microstructural and Compulsive Sexual Behaviors Disorder – Diffusion Tensor Imaging study (2020) – Excerpts: This is one of the first DTI studies assessing differences between patients with the Compulsive Sexual Behaviors Disorder and healthy controls. Our analysis has uncovered FA reductions in six regions of the brain in CSBD subjects, compared to controls. Our DTI data shows that the neural correlates of CSBD overlap with regions previously reported in the literature as related both, to addiction and OCD.

The following neuropsychology studies add support to the above “brain” studies:

2010 to 2014 papers

2014 to 2015 papers

2016 to 2017 papers

2018 to present papers

Taken together these neurological studies report:

The 3 major addiction-related brain changes: sensitization, desensitization, and hypofrontality.
More porn use correlated with less grey matter in the reward circuit (dorsal striatum).
More porn use correlated with less reward circuit activation when briefly viewing sexual images.
And more porn use correlated with disrupted neural connections between the reward circuit and prefrontal cortex.
Addicts had greater prefrontal activity to sexual cues, but less brain activity to normal stimuli (matches drug addiction).
Porn use/exposure to porn related to greater delayed discounting (inability to delay gratification). This is a sign of poorer executive functioning.
60% of compulsive porn addicted subjects in one study experienced ED or low libido with partners, but not with porn: all stated that internet porn use caused their ED/low libido.
Enhanced attentional bias comparable to drug users. Indicates sensitization (a product of DeltaFosb).
Greater wanting & craving for porn, but not greater liking. This aligns with the accepted model of addiction – incentive sensitization.
Porn addicts have greater preference for sexual novelty yet their brains habituated faster to sexual images. Not pre-existing.
The younger the porn users the greater the cue-induced reactivity in the reward center.
Higher EEG (P300) readings when porn users were exposed to porn cues (which occurs in other addictions).
Less desire for sex with a person correlating with greater cue-reactivity to porn images.
More porn use correlated with lower LPP amplitude when briefly viewing sexual photos: indicates habituation or desensitization.
Dysfunctional HPA axis and altered brain stress circuits, which occurs in drug addictions (and greater amygdala volume, which is associated with chronic social stress).
Epigenetic changes on genes central to the human stress response and closely associated with addiction.
Higher levels of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) – which also occurs in drug abuse and addiction.
A deficit in temporal cortex gray matter; poorer connectivity between temporal corporate and several other regions.
Greater state impulsivity.
Decreased prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus gray matter compared to healthy controls.

How widespread are porn problems?

While we don’t offer any estimates of percentages of guys with Internet porn-related symptoms, we do warn that Internet porn appears to be hooking a greater percentage of users than porn of the past. Early on, we based this claim on hundreds of recent Internet addiction/online gaming studies (some including Internet porn use). Some show percentages of addicts as high as one in four among young males.

High rates of Internet addiction in young males would be consistent with what young porn users report about their peers, i.e, that both Internet porn usage and related problems are extremely common. The rise of streaming tube porn sites is apparently a key variable in symptom prevalence/severity. We suspect that Internet porn addiction rates may someday rival food addiction rates because both junk food and Internet porn are supernormal variations of the two prime natural rewards the human brain evolved to pursue. More than two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight and almost half of those obese (most of them addicted to high-fat, high-sugar, extra salty foods).

It is most unscientific to ignore the Internet addiction studies and assert (as do porn-addiction skeptics) that only (the less prevalent) studies that isolate Internet porn use could prove its existence. First, although Internet porn taps into our innate sexual programming in a hyperstimulating way (due to its constant novelty), Internet porn addiction is, above all, an Internet addiction–just like online gaming addiction and general Internet addiction. Without high-speed Internet, no Internet addictions would exist.

Difficult to research

First, control groups of non-porn users among young males would be very difficult to round up. Second, ethics boards wouldn’t permit half of the subjects to be exposed to years of hardcore porn use in order to study the effects. Third, ethics boards would not allow research where porn users are asked to eliminate masturbation to porn for months to create ex-users for comparison.

Since the research shows that Internet addiction and online gaming addiction exist and are not harmless, the burden of proof is now on the porn skeptics to reveal scientific reasons why Internet porn use would be uniquely harmless. (Keep in mind that Dutch researchers have already shown that of all cyber pastimes, cyber erotica is the most compelling, i.e., potentially addictive.)

Is there scientific evidence for the claim that Internet porn can recondition sexual tastes?

Both sexual conditioning and addiction are related. That is, addiction hijacks the sexual-conditioning mechanism in the brain. See Natural and Drug Rewards Act on Common Neural Plasticity Mechanisms with ΔFosB as a Key Mediator (2013)

Lots of guys are reporting porn-related sexual performance and other problems who do not view themselves as addicts. (Who here doing NoFap isn’t/wasn’t an “addict?”) Their experience that they have somehow rewired their sexuality even without having fallen into addiction is supported by research on virgin rats. Using high-arousal states, scientists have successfully conditioned young rats to prefer same-sex partners and partners who smell like rotting flesh (normally aversive). Researchers have also shown that early sexual conditioning is more lasting than sexual conditioning induced in adults after normal sexual behavior patterns are established.

Escalation

Compulsive porn users often describe escalation in their porn use. It takes the form of greater time viewing or seeking out new genres of porn. New genres that induce shock, surprise, violation of expectations or even anxiety can function to increase sexual arousal. In porn users whose response to stimuli is growing blunted due to overuse, this phenomenon is extremely common. Norman Doidge MD wrote about this in his book The Brain That Changes Itself:

The current porn epidemic gives a graphic demonstration that sexual tastes can be acquired. Pornography, delivered by high-speed Internet connections, satisfies every one of the prerequisites for neuroplastic change…. When pornographers boast that they are pushing the envelope by introducing new, harder themes, what they don’t say is that they must, because their customers are building up a tolerance to the content

There is research to back this up. Kinsey researchers Bancroft and Janssen (“The Dual Control Model: The Role Of Sexual Inhibition & Excitation In Sexual Arousal And Behavior”) were the first to report that high exposure to streaming porn, “seemed to have resulted in a lower responsivity to “vanilla sex” erotica and an increased need for novelty and variation, in some cases combined with a need for very specific types of stimuli in order to get aroused.”

New sexual interests

A 2016 study reported that half of porn users reported escalating to material that was formerly uninteresting or repelling (“Online sexual activities: An exploratory study of problematic and non-problematic usage patterns in a sample of men”). A 2017 study found that one in 5 heterosexual-identified men report viewing porn containing male same-sex behaviour, and more than half of gay-identified men report viewing heterosexual behaviour in porn (“Sexually Explicit Media Use by Sexual Identity: A Comparative Analysis of Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Men in the United States”). Why might escalation occur? Cambridge neuroscientists have found evidence that problematic porn users habituate to images more quickly and that their brains show greater activation to novel images (“Novelty, conditioning and attentional bias to sexual rewards”).

In summary, various studies have now directly asked porn users specifically about escalation into new genres or tolerance, confirming both (1, 2, 3, 4). Employing various indirect methods, an additional 50+ studies have reported findings consistent with habituation to “regular porn” or escalation into more extreme and unusual genres.

Porn-induced sexual dysfunctions provide the most convincing indicator of sexual conditioning. Studies assessing young male sexuality since 2010 report historic levels of sexual dysfunctions. They also show startling rates of another scourge: low libido. Documented in this lay article and in this peer-reviewed paper involving 7 US Navy doctors – Is Internet Pornography Causing Sexual Dysfunctions? A Review with Clinical Reports (2016)

Erectile dysfunction rates

Erectile dysfunction rates in recent studies range from 14% to 35%. The rates for low libido (hypo-sexuality) range from 16% to 37%. Some studies involve teens and men 25 and under, while other studies involve men 40 and under.

Prior to the advent of free streaming porn (2006), cross-sectional studies and meta-analysis consistently reported erectile dysfunction rates of 2-5% in men under 40. That’s nearly a 1000% increase in youthful ED rates in the last 10-15 years. What variable has changed in the last 15 years that could account for this astronomical rise?

There are over 40 studies link porn use/sex addiction to sexual problems and lower arousal to sexual stimuli. The first 7 studies in the list demonstrate causation, as participants eliminated porn use and healed chronic sexual dysfunctions.

In addition to the above studies, this page contains articles and videos by over 150 experts (urology professors, urologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, sexologists, MDs) who acknowledge and have successfully treated porn-induced ED and porn-induced loss of sexual desire.

What about neurological studies that debunk porn addiction?

No responsible studies claim to “debunk” porn addiction. (Read why this paper falsified nothing). This page lists all the studies assessing the brain structure and functioning of internet porn users. As of this edit of this page, every study but one offers support for the porn addiction model. However, whenever an article claiming to debunk porn addiction cites a study, I expect you will find one of Nicole Prause’s two EEG studies, or an irresponsible “review” by Prause, Ley and Finn. Here they are for easy reference:

Kinsey Institute grad Nicole Prause is the lead author and spokesperson on studies 1 and 2, and is the second author on paper #3. Let’s start with Prause’s 2015 EEG study (Prause et al., 2015). Nicole Prause boldly claimed on her SPAN lab website that this solitary study “debunks porn addiction”. Not so.

Results show tolerance

Compared to controls, more frequent porn users had lower brain activation to one-second exposure to photos of vanilla porn. Because this paper reported less brain activation to vanilla porn (pictures) related to greater porn use, it supports the hypothesis that chronic porn use down regulates sexual arousal. Put simply, chronic porn users were bored by static images of ho-hum porn. Its findings parallel Kuhn & Gallinat., 2014 and are consistent with tolerance, a sign of addiction. Tolerance is defined as a person’s diminished response to a drug or stimulus that is the result of repeated use. Ten peer-reviewed papers agree with YBOP’s assessment of Prause et al., 2015: Peer-reviewed critiques of Prause et al., 2015

Author of the second critique, neuroscientist Mateusz Gola, summed up it up nicely:

“Unfortunately the bold title of Prause et al. (2015) article has already had an impact on mass media, thus popularizing a scientifically unjustified conclusion.”

To address the unwarranted mythology surrounding Prause et al. 2015, and the many articles that ignored every study but Prause’s, YBOP wrote this: How to recognize biased Articles: They cite Prause et al. 2015 (falsely claiming it debunks porn addiction), while omitting over 40 neurological studies supporting porn addiction (April, 2016)

We already saw above that study #2 (Prause et al., 2015) lends support to the porn addiction model. But how does Prause’s 2013 EEG study (Steele et al., 2013), touted in the media as evidence against the existence of porn addiction, actually support the porn addiction model?

Less desire for sex with a partner

This study’s only significant finding was that individuals with greater cue-reactivity to porn had less desire for sex with a partner. They did not have a lower desire to masturbate to porn. Put another way, individuals with more brain activation and cravings for porn would rather masturbate to porn than have sex with a real person. This is typical of addicts, not healthy subjects.

Study spokesman Nicole Prause claimed that frequent porn users merely had high libido. Yet the results of the study say something quite different. As Valerie Voon (and 10 other neuroscientists) explained, Prause’s 2013 findings of greater cue-reactivity to porn coupled with lower desire for sex with real partners aligned with their 2014 brain scan study on porn addicts. Put simply, the actual findings of the 2013 EEG study in no way match the unsupported “debunking” headlines. Eight peer-reviewed papers expose the truth about this earlier study by Prause’s team: Peer-reviewed critiques of Steele et al., 2013 (also see this extensive YBOP critique).

Reaction to cues

As a side note, this same 2013 study reported higher EEG readings (P300) when subjects were exposed to porn photos. Studies consistently show that an elevated P300 occurs when addicts are exposed to cues (such as images) related to their addiction. This finding supports the porn addiction model, as the above peer-reviewed papers explained and psychology professor emeritus John A. Johnson pointed out in a comment under a 2013 Psychology Today Prause interview:

“My mind still boggles at the Prause claim that her subjects’ brains did not respond to sexual images like drug addicts’ brains respond to their drug, given that she reports higher P300 readings for the sexual images. Just like addicts who show P300 spikes when presented with their drug of choice. How could she draw a conclusion that is the opposite of the actual results?”

Expert comments

Dr. Johnson, who has no opinion on sex addiction, commented a second time under the Prause interview:

Mustanski asks, “What was the purpose of the study?” And Prause replies, “Our study tested whether people who report such problems [problems with regulating their viewing of online erotica] look like other addicts from their brain responses to sexual images.”
But the study did not compare brain recordings from persons having problems regulating their viewing of online erotica to brain recordings from drug addicts and brain recordings from a non-addict control group, which would have been the obvious way to see if brain responses from the troubled group look more like the brain responses of addicts or non-addicts…..

Aside from the many unsupported claims in the press, it’s disturbing that Prause’s 2013 EGG study passed peer-review, as it suffered from serious methodological flaws:

subjects were heterogeneous (males, females, non-heterosexuals);
subjects were not screened for mental disorders or addictions;
study had no control group for comparison;
questionnaires were not validated for porn addiction.

Unjustified spin

The third paper listed above is not a study at all. Instead, it poses as an impartial “review of the literature” on porn addiction and porn’s effects. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The lead author, David Ley, is the author of The Myth of Sex Addiction. Nicole Prause is its second author. Ley & Prause not only teamed up to write paper #3, they also teamed up to write a Psychology Today blog post about paper #1. The blog post appeared 5 months before Prause’s paper was formally published (so no one could refute it). You may have seen Ley’s blog post with the oh-so-catchy title: “Your Brain on Porn – It’s NOT Addictive.” Ley, who is compensated by x-Hamster’s Stripchat via his participation in the Sexual Health Alliance (populated by pro-porn sexologists), zealously denies both sex and porn addiction. He has written 20 or so blog posts attacking porn-recovery forums, and dismissing porn addiction and porn-induced ED. He is not an addiction scientist, but rather a clinical psychologist, and like Prause is not associated with any university or research institute. Read more about Ley and Prause and their collaborations here.

Poor quality science

The following is a very long analysis of paper #3, which goes line-by-line, showing all the shenanigans Ley & Prause incorporated in their “review”: The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Fractured Fairytale Posing As A Review. It completely dismantles the mistakenly labelled “review,” and documents dozens of misrepresentations of the research the authors cited. The most shocking aspect of the Ley review is that it omitted ALL the many studies that reported negative effects. This included those that related to porn use or which found porn addiction!

Yes, you read that right. While purporting to write an “objective” review, Ley & Prause rationalized omitting hundreds of studies on the grounds that these were correlational studies. Guess what? Virtually all studies on porn published before the “review” were correlational, even those they did cite, or misuse. Proving causation is tough with porn. Researchers cannot compare users with “porn virgins” or by keeping subjects off of porn for extended periods in order compare effects. Thousands of guys are quitting porn voluntarily on various forums. However, these quitters results suggest that removing internet porn is the key variable in their symptoms and recoveries.

Way Beyond Inherent Bias

Nicole Prause

It’s unprecedented for a researcher (Prause) to claim that their anomalous study has debunked a hypothesis supported by multiple neurological studies and decades of relevant research. Moreover, what legitimate researcher would constantly tweet that she has debunked porn addiction and porn-induced ED? Nicole Prause is obsessed with debunking PIED, having waged a years-long war against this academic paper, while simultaneously harassing and libeling young men who have recovered from porn-induced sexual dysfunctions. See documentation: Gabe Deem #1, Gabe Deem #2, Alexander Rhodes #1, Alexander Rhodes #2, Alexander Rhodes #3, Noah Church, Alexander Rhodes #4, Alexander Rhodes #5, Alexander Rhodes #6, Alexander Rhodes #7, Alexander Rhodes #8, Alexander Rhodes #9, Alexander Rhodes#10, Alex Rhodes#11, Gabe Deem & Alex Rhodes together#12, Alexander Rhodes#13, Alexander Rhodes #14, Gabe Deem#4, Alexander Rhodes #15.

What’s going on here? By her own admission, Prause rejects the concept of porn addiction. For example, a quote from a Martin Daubney article about sex/porn addictions:

Dr Nicole Prause, principal investigator at the Sexual Psychophysiology and Affective Neuroscience (Span) Laboratory in Los Angeles, calls herself a “professional debunker” of sex addiction.

In addition, Nicole Prause’s former Twitter slogan suggests she may lack the impartiality required for scientific research:

“Studying why people choose to engage in sexual behaviors without invoking addiction nonsense”Prause is a former academic with a long history of harassing and defaming authors, researchers, therapists, reporters, men in recovery, Journal editors, multiple organizations, and others who dare to report evidence of harms from internet porn use. She appears to be quite cozy with the pornography industry, as can beseen from this image of her (far right) on the red carpet of the X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) awards ceremony. (According to Wikipedia the XRCO Awards are given by the American X-Rated Critics Organization annually to people working in adult entertainment and it is the only adult industry awards show reserved exclusively for industry members.^[1]).

It also appears that Prause may have obtained porn performers as subjects through another porn industry interest group, the Free Speech Coalition. The FSC-obtained subjects were allegedly used in her hired-gun study on the heavily tainted and very commercial “Orgasmic Meditation” scheme (investigated by the FBI and thoroughly discredited by the BBC series “The Orgasm Cult”). Prause has also made unsupported claims about the results of her studies and her studies’ methodologies. For much more documentation, see: Is Nicole Prause Influenced by the Porn Industry?

Many articles continued to describe Prause as a UCLA researcher long after the University set her free. She hasn’t been employed by any university since the beginning of 2015. Finally, it’s important to know that the enterprising Prause offered (for a fee) her “expert” testimony against sex addiction and porn addiction. It seems as though Prause sold her services to profit from the unsupportable anti-porn addiction conclusions of her two EEG studies (1, 2), even though 18 peer-reviewed analyses say both studies support the addiction model!

David Ley

Conflicts of interest (COI) are nothing new for David Ley. First, David Ley is being paid via the Sexual Health Alliance to debunk porn and sex addiction. At the end of this Psychology Today blog post Ley advertises his services:

“Disclosure: David Ley has provided testimony in legal cases involving claims of sex addiction.”

In 2019 David Ley’s website offered his well-compensated “debunking” services:

David J. Ley, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and AASECT-certified supervisor of sex therapy, based in Albuquerque, NM. He has provided expert witness and forensic testimony in a number of cases around the United States. Dr. Ley is regarded as an expert in debunking claims of sexual addiction. He has been certified as an expert witness on this topic. He has testified in state and federal courts.
Contact him to obtain his fee schedule and arrange an appointment to discuss your interest.

Second, Ley makes money selling two books that deny sex and porn addiction. They are “The Myth of Sex Addiction,” (2012) and “Ethical Porn for Dicks,” (2016). Pornhub (which is owned by porn giant MindGeek) is one of the five back-cover endorsements listed for Ley’s 2016 book about porn:

“David Ley’s voice brings much-needed nuance to some of the most important conversations occurring about pornography today.”―Pornhub

Third, David Ley makes money via CEU seminars, where he promotes the addiction-deniers’ ideology set forth in his two books (which recklessly(?) ignore dozens of studies and the significance of the new Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder diagnosis in the World Health Organization’s diagnostic manual). Ley is compensated for his many talks featuring his biased views on porn use. In this 2019 presentation Ley appeared to support and promote adolescent porn use: Developing Positive Sexuality and Responsible Pornography Use in Adolescents.

Fourth, David Ley is indirectly compensated by porn industry giant xHamster via the Sexual Health Alliance to promote their websites (i.e. StripChat) and to convince users that porn addiction and sex addiction are myths! Notice how Ley is going to tell xHamster customers what “medical studies truly say about porn, camming and sexuality.” All this while he’s harassing and defaming individuals and organizations who speak up about the possible negative effects of internet porn. For more see: David Ley is now being compensated by porn industry giant xHamster to promote its websites and convince users that porn addiction and sex addiction are myths!

Attempted theft of YBOP trademark

(April, 2019): In retaliation for critiquing their papers, a handful of authors (including Prause and Ley) formed a group to steal YBOP’s trademark in an attempt to silence their critics. See this page for details: Aggressive Trademark Infringement Waged by Porn Addiction Deniers (www.realyourbrainonporn.com). See this page for complete examination in of this groups’ “research page” with its cherry-picked list of outlier studies, bias, egregious omission, and deception: Porn Science Deniers Alliance (AKA: “RealYourBrainOnPorn.com” and “PornographyResearch.com”).

Defamation, trademark and SLAPP suits

(Summer, 2019): On May 8, 2019 Donald Hilton, MD filed a defamation per se lawsuit against Nicole Prause & Liberos LLC. On July 24, 2019 Donald Hilton amended his defamation complaint to highlight (1) a malicious Texas Board of Medical Examiners complaint, (2) false accusations that Dr. Hilton had falsified his credentials, and (3) affidavits from 9 other Prause victims of similar harassment & defamation (John Adler, MD, Gary Wilson, Alexander Rhodes, Staci Sprout, LICSW, Linda Hatch, PhD, Bradley Green, PhD, Stefanie Carnes, PhD, Geoff Goodman, PhD, Laila Haddad.) When the case settled in 2021, we can only conjecture that Prause’s liability insurance company paid out a hefty sum.

(October, 2019): On October 23, 2019 Alexander Rhodes (founder of reddit/nofap and NoFap.com) filed a defamation lawsuit against Nicole R Prause and Liberos LLC. See the court docket here. See this page for three primary court documents filed by Rhodes: NoFap founder Alexander Rhodes defamation lawsuit against Nicole Prause / Liberos. When the case settled in 2021, we can only conjecture that Prause’s liability insurance company again paid out a hefty sum.

(Summer, 2020) court rulings fully exposed Nicole Prause as the perpetrator, not the victim. In March of 2020, Prause sought a groundless temporary restraining order (TRO) against me using fabricated “evidence” and her usual lies (falsely accusing me of stalking). In Prause’s request for the restraining order she perjured herself, saying I had an existing restraining order against me (I have never been the subject of such an order). She rested her bogus demand on a claim that I had posted her address on YBOP and Twitter (perjury is nothing new with Prause), and that she believed I attended an addiction conference in Germany to confront her (even though she had not registered for or been invited to the conference….and did not attend it). I filed an anti-SLAPP motion lawsuit against Prause for misusing the legal system (TRO) to silence and harass me. On August 6, the Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled that Prause’s attempt to obtain a restraining order against me constituted a frivolous and illegal “strategic lawsuit against public participation” (commonly called a “SLAPP suit”). Prause lied throughout her fraudulent TRO, providing zero verifiable evidence to support her outlandish claims that I stalked or harassed her. In essence, the Court found that Prause abused the restraining order process to bully me into silence and undercut my rights to free speech. By law, the SLAPP ruling obligated Prause to pay my attorney fees, but she filed bankruptcy to evade this obligation.

(September, 2020) On September 9, 2020 Aaron Minc, JD filed a defamation suit against Melissa Farmer and Nicole Prause for retweeting defamatory tweets authored by Nicole Prause. Farmer swiftly settled. [Update: Prause hoped her California bankruptcy judge would protect her against Minc’s suit, but he let it go forward in Ohio. The trials is scheduled for 2022, the Ohio judge having rejected Prause’s Motion to Dismiss in late 2021.]

(January, 2021): I, Gary Wilson, now own the RealYBOP URL (the trademark-squatting website Prause apparently managed). See press release – ATTENTION: YBOP acquires www.RealYourBrainOnPorn.com in trademark infringement settlement.

(January, 2021): Prause filed a second frivolous legal proceeding against me in December, 2020 for alleged defamation. At a hearing on January 22, 2021 an Oregon court ruled in my favor and charged Prause with costs and an additional penalty. This failed effort was one of a dozen lawsuits Prause had publicly threatened and/or filed in the previous months. For a quick summary see – Legal victories over serial harasser/defamer Nicole Prause.

Accurate media coverage

November, 2019: Here’ some accurate media coverage on Nicole Prause: “Alex Rhodes of Porn Addiction Support Group ‘NoFap’ Sues Obsessed Pro-Porn Sexologist for Defamation” by Megan Fox of PJ Media and “Porn wars get personal in No Nut November”, by Diana Davison of The Post Millennial. Davison also produced this 6-minute video about Prause’s egregious behaviors & absence of evidence for her claims: “Is Porn Addictive?”.

August, 2020: Anti-porn crusader details legal victory against ‘porn prof’ who tried to use the court to shut him down” (LifeSiteNews)

Dismantling The Naysayers’ Talking Points

If you want a quick refutation of the naysayers’ pseudoscientific claims that they have “dismantled porn addiction,” watch Gabe Deem’s video: PORN MYTHS – The Truth Behind Addiction And Sexual Dysfunctions.

The following articles cite numerous studies and furnish illustrative examples. They elaborate logical arguments to dismantle many common anti-porn addiction propaganda talking points:

This section collects studies about which YBOP and others have reservations – Questionable & Misleading Studies. In some, the methodology raises concerns while in others, the conclusions appear inadequately supported. In others, the title or terminology used is misleading given the actual study results. Some grossly misrepresent the actual findings.

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Pingback: If you’re on twitter, make sure to follow @YourBrainOnPorn (Gary Wilson). He’s been one of the Godfathers of this movement with his 2012 Ted Talk and amazing website. He shares some great tweets / resources / research and should have more love on his

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