Porn Actresses and Mental Health

In a study published last June, researchers in California examined the mental health of women in the porn industry and compared them to measures taken of women in a statewide survey. In short, the researchers recruited women who had been in at least one porn film in the previous six months. They contacted the women by e-mail after their information had been gleaned from the adult film database website. Also, they invited women on an adult film jobs website to participate in the study. The women were given a $50 gift card as incentive and a modified version of the statewide survey was given to these women online.
There were some rather interesting findings. They are:

• Women in the adult film industry reported a higher number of poor mental health days in the previous month when compared to controls.
• Approximately 33% of the adult film women met the criteria for depression when compared to 13% of the control group.
• Female adult film performers were more likely to have been victims of forced sex, lived in poverty, and placed in foster care as children.
• Nearly half of the performers reported living in poverty as adults.
• Over a third had experienced domestic violence - five times the rate of that in the control group.
• There was a rate of 27% who had experienced forced sex when compared to 9% of the control group.

The conclusions of the researchers are pretty straightforward. Being a woman in the porn industry is correlated with having a significantly worse mental health status and much higher rates of depression when compared to women across the state. Whether it is the chicken or the egg, this is the reality. So the next time anyone tells you that being a woman in the porn industry is glamorous or that these are women who grew up like everyone else, just direct them to the study and you might find that they may change their tune. If they still don't get it, my guess is that they just don't want to.

Update: Research on women in the Adult Film Industry and other stuff

It has been far too long since I have sent off a blog post, and I'm excited to send this one out because there are couple of very interesting projects and happenings as we are moving into the month of March.

First off, there has been an increase in interest on the psychological impact of being involved in the sex industry. There are two studies which of come out recently that I will be reviewing which examine how involvement in pornography and prostitution are more than just matters of morality or law, but they are also matters of mental health. Next week I will be reviewing the first of these entitled, Comparison of the mental health of female adult film performers and other young women in California.

On the research side, as of last week, our research lab has launched a study which will be looking at the reasons and circumstances around why women go into the adult film industry. Because of a generous donation from a local organization we will be offering a financial incentive for their participation and are planning to use this information to better advocate and care for women in the pornography industry. Be on the look-out for more information as well as preliminary findings in the next couple of months.

On other fronts, here are couple of things that are on the horizon:

1. I have been invited to speak at a conference for youth workers in the United Kingdom. This May I will be speaking at the Youthwork Summit in one of my favorite cities on the planet, London. This is a TEDS-style event for youth workers in the church who are grappling with issues that young people face today. In true British form, I've got a few curve balls and a bit of cheekiness to share with our brothers and sisters across the pond.

2. In the following month of June, I will be traveling to Thailand to work with a ministry directed at women who are in the sex industry in Bangkok. Servantworks sponsors The Well, a ministry that provides counseling, training and job development services to bar girls and sex workers and their families.

3. In July I will be flying to New York to take part in the filming of a documentary on pornography addiction by an Australian documentary crew, Jaypaq Productions. A link to the promo for it can be found here (the password is: guiltypromo).

4. After I get back from filming, it's off to Honey Rock Camp where I will be working with wilderness counselors who will be guiding and caring for campers and young adults. Specifically I will be involved in training them to deal with issues related to sexual brokenness. It should be an enriching time, and I'm looking forward to being with those who are dedicated to caring for the next generation.

Well, that does it for now. I'll be back soon with a review of that article.

Peace,

-Dr. S

Interesting piece in The Point

In the most recent issue of the magazine The Point, John Lingan has put together a piece entitled Salvation for Civilians: Porn as a Way of Life. In it he profiles his take on WFI and contrasts it with porn star and author Zak Smith. It contains quite a bit of personal material about me, but captures the essence of what I believe in and what I am working for as a person of faith, husband, father, and psychologist.

Give it a look over if you get a chance. In dealing with journalists I rarely feel as if they have presented our conversations accurately. Mr. Lingan, however, has somehow managed to make me seem more interesting than I am and makes my points better than I am able to.

New Study Reveals 'Wiring' Differences Between Men and Women

A study recently published in the journal NeuroImage has reported widespread differences between men and women in the way neural circuits are put together. The article (click here) which utilizes a brain imaging technique known as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was conducted to characterize the differences between the white matter (made predominantly of myelin which serves to insulate the neurons). DTI is commonly used to examine the examine the microstructure of large tracts of connections between brain regions.

If you are planning on getting this article and reading it, be warned....it is incredibly technical. That being said, let me give you a quick summary. The researchers observed that there were significant differences in three critical regions of the brain:

• The thalamus (the region for sensory inputs)
• The corpus callosum (which connects the two cortical hemispheres) 
• The cingulum which connects the cingulate cortex with another cortical region (the entorhinal cortex) that is is involved in the processing of memories.
• The major issue is that higher anisotropy was seen in these areas in men when compared to women. In layman's terms, the brain circuit's insulation in these regions are thicker which might indicated being more 'hardwired' or that these circuits are carrying a heavier neurological load. This is where interpretations can go in any number of directions.

One way to think of this, is to compare how the brain utilizes electical signals and compare it to how we use electricity in our homes. In the brain, each neuron receives a chemical signal called a neurotransmitter which causes that neuron to become electrically charged. If that neuron is sufficiently charged it will fire - this is called an action potential. The action potential is an electrical signal that is sent down the output part of the neuron (called an axon), so that it can release its neurotransmitters onto other neurons. In our homes, the electrical current that passes through the wires needs to be insulated so that it doesn't cause a fire or jump to a ground source. Needless to say, that is why the wires in our walls are insulated and covered in a continuous sheath of rubber. In the brain, however, the insulation is called myelin. It is this myelin that DTI is measuring - in essence it is looking at the thickness of the wiring in these brain regions.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes the media to get hold of this and how the research community responds to it.

Our next project

As you can tell, it has been quite a while since I've sat down and done this whole blogging thing. Needless to say things have been exceptionally busy. We've got several studies that we have wrapped up and are getting ready to send off to the journals and I've been busy reading through manuscripts in preparation for my next text.

This summer I had the opportunity to do some prep work and have been encouraged to write a book on women's brains and sexuality. The proposal has been accepted (thank you, Al Hsu and IVP) and I will be working with my wife, Donna, on the project and we will co-author. Not being a woman, it seemed logical to partner with the woman I knew best on this project. This book will deal more broadly than just pornography but with a variety of issues related to sexuality (i.e. prostitution, abuse, sexting), so we've got a lot more to cover. Our hope is that it will not just be informational (as WFI was) but will include more practical advice (something I intentionally steered clear of in WFI), more stories of people who have struggled, and even more of a Biblical and theological flavor.

Once again, if there are any questions or studies that you would like to suggest we review here on WFI's blog, please drop a note in the comments or send me the reference.

Just a reminder to continue supporting the Esther Fund and to look forward to a year of more/actual blogging on this site.

Peace and have a Happy New Year!!

Link to Pornography History Survey

Some of you have contacted me and indicated that you are interested in filling out/participating in our survey on the individual's experiences with Pornography. A copy of the survey can be found here and you can fill out the survey online. We will be allowing anyone to sign up, so you can direct anyone you might know who may be interested to the link or this blog. A copy of the link will also be posted in the left panel as well.

Peace,
-Dr. S

Covenant Eyes Interview

Here's a link to the Covenant Eyes Blog for an interview I did with them.
Your Brain on Porn
It was loads of fun working with these guys and they have a wonderful ministry. one of the things that I really enjoyed about them is their honesty and their desire to really address this issue as openly as possible.  A few months ago I had the opportunity to visit with them in Michigan and to meet up with several others who are working in this area.  Michael Leahy , the author of several books including Porn @ Work , Crystal Renaud of Dirty Girls Ministries, and Francois Driessen of Firetrigger, Inc. who is putting together a documentary on the issue and titled, "Scratching the Surface".