What Porn Did to American Culture?

Edited: Please read and reply if you disagree with my view that porn reflects the greater social contract of society.

An apathetic vacuum. (American? Capitalist? Global 'Elite'?) Society does not care about the people, actively seeking to use and exploit.

When things go badly who gets the pain? The common person, the modern serf. When things go well who takes the rewards? Their boss's boss's boss.

Porn is just a scapegoat, a symptom of the larger issues. Of the broken social contract for being part of a larger whole and everyone being better off for that collective work.

Though perhaps it's also a symptom of the failed liberation of society from outdated gender roles. Movements towards equality made some progress on empowering women, but didn't finish the job of shattering the yolk of stereotypical roles entirely to reshape the social contract for equality, inclusion, and freedom from old stereotypes. Echos of those old stereotypes, and new flawed ones, can be seen as the basis of the roles explored through exaggerated fiction even if it's erotic in nature.

I've been helping young men escape the clutches of porn for over a decade now (leading what you might call recovery groups). Never once have I found a single story that ended well (but that's more or less expected given the groups I run). It all starts with an introduction to porn and ends with an addiction that seems to slowly transforms their brains in unpleasant ways, objectification of women being the primary one.

One of the best tools that I continue to employ is deprogramming that objectification. Helping them to see the humanity and personhood of women again. It's incredible how most porn can turn from enticing to absolutely repulsive once you adopt this mindset.

Why is porn such a big deal? I've seen it, but the real thing is much better. How is it even possible to get addicted that just seems weird.

You do understand that your anecdote is an example of confirmation bias, right? You claim is tantamount to saying you ran an AA group and only heard bad things about alcohol. No shit!? Next you'll start a sports gambling recovery group and let us know there's nothing good about sports.

Porn might not be good but your anecdote is a long way from evidence. What you've seen is a tautology; the people who DON'T have a problem aren't showing up in your program.