Pornography, religiosity, and social work

Abstract

Summary The effects of pornography have received increased scrutiny in the digital age. Several U.S. states have recently passed resolutions declaring pornography a public health crisis, and clients are increasingly seeking help for related concerns. Given the pornography debate encompasses micro and macro arenas, social workers have reason to be engaged. But there is a dearth of literature examining social workers' views on these issues. Given values play an integral role in informing attitudes about sexuality, we sought to better understand the role of religiosity in shaping social work students’ views on pornography via a web-based survey ( n = 136). Findings Results from a path analysis suggest highly religious students are more likely to believe pornography is a serious public health issue, and this relationship is mediated through their perception of pornography’s addictiveness. Applications That highly religious social work students are more likely to pathologize pornography has implications for policy advocacy and clinical social work practice. If highly religious social workers are more likely to rate pornography as addictive, they may be more likely to pathologize their clients' use of it. This is significant in that addiction is a heavy label that may harm clients. Our findings further speak to the importance of educating social work students and practitioners about reflexivity, not only in the context of individual practice but also in the macro practice arena. We argue that staying cognizant of their biases and utilizing a biopsychosocial perspective, social workers can bring a valuable perspective to the pornography debate.

Addiction or Transgression? Moral Incongruence and Self-Reported Problematic Pornography Use in a Nationally Representative Sample

“…If clinicians are careful to follow these new diagnostic criteria, these types of issues may be avoided. However, as previously alluded to, clinician judgment can be clouded by both personal and client individual differences (Droubay & Butters, 2019; Klein et al, 2019). Given the novelty of this diagnosis and its likely widespread integration into a variety of mental health care settings, there is a clear need to accurately understand any potential factors that may affect client self-report to more properly inform clinicians working with these clients.…”

“…For example, despite intense debates about whether CSBD represents an addictive disorder (Kowalewska et al, 2018; Kraus et al, 2016), in lay audiences, excessive pornography use is often viewed as an addiction (Perry, 2019; Taylor, 2020). There is also evidence that the application of the CSBD diagnosis can be skewed by demographic differences in clients (Klein, Briken, Schroder, & Fuss, 2019) or greater religiousness on the part of therapists (Droubay & Butters, 2019; Hecker, Trepper, Wetchler, & Fontaine, 1995). In addition, a body of prior work has suggested that self-reports of pornography addiction may be inflated for individuals for whom such sexual behaviors were in conflict with their religious or moral beliefs (Burke & Haltom, 2020; Grubbs, Perry, Wilt, & Reid, 2019; Perry, 2019), which we consider more fully below.…”

Sexual addiction 25 years on: A systematic and methodological review of empirical literature and an agenda for future research

“…This finding is hardly novel, as work from the late 1990s noted that sex addiction was a more commonly used diagnosis among religious therapists (Hecker et al, 1995). Similarly, much more recent work has found that religious social workers are more likely to see sexual behaviors as addictive or compulsive (Droubay & Butters, 2019). Taken with the above reviewed findings about individual religiosity and morality often contributing to feelings of addiction or compulsivity in sexual behaviors, these findings suggest that therapists need to be particularly self-aware of how personal beliefs and values might influence their conceptualizations of clients.…”

“…Others have argued that the evidence in support of such disorders is lacking (Ley et al, 2014;Prause et al, 2017). Still, others have noted that application of such diagnoses may be complicated by extraneous variables such as client or therapist religiosity or client sexual orientation (Droubay & Butters, 2019;Klein et al, 2019). Despite these controversies, the recognition of this new disorder has highlighted the need for rigorous research into out-of-control sexual behaviors and has generated new interest within clinical psychology with regards to the appropriate classification of such behaviors (for example, see: Klein et al, 2019).…”

“…Naltrexone in Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder: A Feasibility Study of Twenty Men. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 17(8), 1544-1552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.04.318 Schmidt, C., Morris, L. S., Kvamme, T. L.,Hall, P., Birchard, T., & Voon, V. (2017). Compulsive sexual behavior: Prefrontal and limbic volume and interactions.…”