We live in a world where Abercrombie and Fitch sell padded bras for eight year olds, where b-movie stars build their careers by tweeting demeaning selfies to their legions of voyeuristic knuckle dragging fans, and where an adjective like “sexy” is now used to describe everything from sports cars to sermon titles. In short, ours is a culture increasingly saturated with sexual obsession.
The year 2015 did see one superficially promising shift as Playboy Magazine, that cultural stronghold of porn since the 1950s, announced that they would no longer be printing pictures of naked women. Alas, the decision arose not from a new sense of social responsibility, but rather from the sheer market saturation of free titillation available on the internet.
And while men remain 543% more likely to look at pornography than women, a tale like 50 Shades of Grey can now top both the box office and the bestseller lists driven by an exploding market of sexually disinhibited women. And when they’re done with the book and film, they can turn to their Tinder app for a no-strings attached hookup.
Given a climate like this, it should be no surprise that pornography has gone mainstream as traditional sexual mores have evaporated like dew in the piercing rays of a sexually liberated dawn.
Sadly, things are not much better in the church. For example, one 2014 survey on pornography sponsored by Proven Men Ministries and conducted by the Barna Group revealed that 64% of 31-49 year old Christian men look at pornography at least once a month. Even worse, 36% of Christian 18-30 year olds look at pornography at least once a day. Another survey reports that upwards of 20% of Christian women are addicted to porn.
I’d say it’s time to say a bit more about this sexual epidemic, And so in this episode of The Tentative Apologist Podcast we are going to take a step back to reflect on the nature of pornography, the extent of the problem it presents, and to consider some advice on how a Christian should respond to it. To help us answer these questions I’ve enlisted the aid of my friend, Catholic apologist Matt Fradd. Matt heads a popular ministry called The Porn Effect which states as its mission, “To expose the reality behind the fantasy of pornography and to equip individuals to find freedom from it.” Amen to that!
Matt speaks around the world on the topic and has a book forthcoming on pornography in 2017 with Ignatius Press. He’s also written several articles on the topic including these four articles dealing with porn and marriage, sexual violence, erectile dysfunction, and the brain.
In the midst of ministry and writing, Matt also finds time to be a family man. He’s married to Cameron and together they are raising four children in north Georgia. You can visit Matt online at mattfradd.com.
Also, check out Matt’s video on “The Great Porn Experiment”.
