‘Fight the new drug’ session at La Horquetta

The Archdiocesan Family Life Commission in collaboration with Fight the New Drug hosted an awareness and education session on Sunday, February 17 at the Church of the Resurrection, La Horquetta.

Fifty young adults gathered to hear about the harmful effects of pornography. Many had either directly or indirectly been exposed to it via social media or WhatsApp groups shared by friends. The session dealt with how porn affects the brain, the heart and the society.

In a 2012 survey of 1,500 males, 56 per cent of them said their tastes in porn had become “increasingly extreme or deviant” the more porn they watched. This happens because porn consumers’ brains quickly become accustomed to the porn they’ve already seen, so they have to constantly be moving on to more extreme forms to get aroused.

As a result, many porn users find themselves getting aroused by things that used to unsettle them or that go against personal values of what they think is acceptable. As this happens, porn consumers often start to look to porn rather than real partners for intimacy and relationships (fightthenewdrug.org).

As pornography consumption escalates, the consumer has a whole new set of problems because porn impacts the brain like a drug. Porn can be addictive, and addiction damages the part of the brain that helps people think things through to make good choices—the brain’s limit-setting system.

For more than 10 years, studies have shown that drug addictions can cause the brain’s frontal lobes to start shrinking. While “frontal lobe” sounds really technical, basically it’s the part of the brain that controls logical problem solving and decision making. (fightthenewdrug.org).

For more information and to host a session in your parish/community/organisation, please contact 767–3571.

Recently at a meeting with parents at a primary school, a parent shared:

“I discussed information with my husband who unfortunately was unable to attend. He was very pleased to hear of the work you all are doing and was also pleased with the approach taken.

We wish to encourage you in this act of service that you have committed yourself to. My son was well informed as he came home to share that

1) porn is like a drug

2) porn kills love and

3) it was where persons record themselves having sex.

This is why I shared never underestimate how much information children can process and that knowledge is power. So please continue to do the work you do as you do it.” – AFLC