The Porn Circuit | Covenant Eyes Internet Accountability and Filtering

XXX
Chapter 4:
32 Flavors: Why We Like Sexual Variety
A wife who stumbles on the Internet tracks of her husband’s porn tour is often shocked at the
number of images and videos in this cyber harem. Why so many? Why so varied?
As we discovered in previous chapters, people learn sexual attachments over time and with
practice. Dopamine likes novelty. Men and women who struggle with porn become desensitized
to the original images that turned them on. Exploration to increase dopamine rewards often
leads to a collage of porn similar to the type they originally liked or to a library of widely
varying interests.
People, and even some scientific studies, have offered simplistic answers to explain the depth
and breadth of a porn user’s cyber trough, but the real reasons lie in the neurochemistry of our
incredible brains.
Simplistic Explanations for Why We Love Variety
A prevalent explanation for a man’s cyber brothel is that guys are acting on their evolutionary
impulses to breed as many females as possible. This concept is based on a phenomenon known
as the Coolidge Effect, which has been seen in testing a variety of mammals since the 1950s.
The scenario goes like this: a male rat is placed in a cage with a willing female with which
he excitedly breeds until he is satiated. Though he’s no longer in the mood with the current
female, as soon as another female is introduced he immediately overcomes his boredom and
mates with the new gal. He becomes bored again, until a new female is introduced, and the
scenario repeats itself until the male rat is physically exhausted.
A number of analysts, citing these studies, believe that evolution tells guys, “Get it while the
getting is good. You are exposed to a limited number of possible mates on the savannah of life,
so when the opportunity presents itself, take advantage of it.” The same can be said of eating
high fat foods and engaging other behaviors that propagate the species or ensure survival. And
since this applies to other mammals, it must be all-consuming for people too.
The Porn Circuit | 20