Thursday 7th April: “Sexy isn’t Sexist” Paula Wright
@ The Clarence , Whitehall (Nearest tube: Charing Cross)
TIckets about £4.00 – check link below
“Paula Wright left Shotton Hall Comprehensive at 16 with zero qualifications and a recommendation from the careers advisor to do a YTS on the cheese counter at Prestos. Today Paula is an independent scholar in evolutionary theory. Her area of research is a consilience of the natural and social sciences and includes, but is not limited to, evolutionary anthropology, palaeoanthropology, psychology, biology, ecology, population genetics, economics, primatology and empirical gender studies. For brevity’s sake, she refers to this as “Darwinian Gender Studies”.
Paula has published in the Journal of Evolutionary Behavioural Sciences, writes, blogs, Tweets @SexyIsntSexist, speaks, performs and runs a popular academic discussion forum on Facebook. This evening Paula will be discussing the evolution of the human female breast and why evolutionary logic and feminist theory are such incompatible bed fellows. Trigger warning: includes boobs – audience participation may be requested.”
Paula Wright 
Do you ever speak in the States?
If I am invited I will speak anywhere.
A little thing:
I’ve noticed you saying porn is good. Ok, it’s good, but so is, for example. totally unrestricted US style gun ownership. Or giving out amphetamines to college students (was sorta common in 1950’s.). That it lowers sex crimes is very possible, and a good thing. The question is whether the downsides are worth it.
There’s considerable anecdotal evidence(as in, loads on web and fairly common in certain circles) that , specifically, prolonged and intense use causes addiction and a complete inability to maintain an erection even in men with perfect physiological health. This is chiefly a problem where ubiquitous and wildly variety of porn is available. Now that that is not constrained by law, finances or social stigma..
Never had a panic attack in my life. Still have never had – but quitting porn gave me five days of irritability, restlessness with some episodes of illusory shortness of breath and extremely obtrusive heartbeat, which I’m told are some of the physiological symptoms of panic attacks, to which I’m likely immune because I don’t experience fear consciously.
Some science also: mostly correlational. Germans found porn use correlated with lower densities of dopamine receptors in the brain. Valerie Voon’s team at U of Cambridge claimed that brain activity in porn users when exposed to porn cues is very similar to that of alcoholics.
One thing that really calls for further research is that long-time heavy porn users seem to completely lack nocturnal penile erections and also erections on waking. Which should only happen in people with circulatory issues preventing erection, or severely depressed people, or those hypogonadal. Many of the personal accounts of porn addicts mention this, or how long they had to stay clear for the erections to return (months sometimes).
There is no explanation for people having that kind of problem, and it’s not something scientists with their overall liberal bias are eager to explore, since porn decriminalization and spread is seen as a great victory for free speech and over those stodgy, no-fun social conservatives.
This is sort-of hub that collects information on the problem:
http://yourbrainonporn.com/
You’re referring to an essay by a colleague of minehttps://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hive-mind/201308/short-word-about-porn-good
This isn’t my area of speciality so I put your query to an expert in the area, Dr David Ley. His response in full below:
“I’d be interested to see urologists publish research on nighttime erections in porn users. No such data exists. The YBOP stories are subject to tremendous peer pressure and compliance theory. As a result, they offer poor evidence. Alternatively, I’d push back to these folks and point out that porn is harmless and probably positive in 99% of people. This is based on multiple well done studies. Fewer than 1% have problems. It’s an interesting argument to ban/restrict something that negatively affects only 1% of people. Where are the rights of the 99?”
It’s nice that Dr. Ley is trying to gaslight everyone (we’re only imagining our unexplained anxiety attacks, withdrawal symptoms, absence of nocturnal erections and the like to fit in! Even if we are suspicious, mistrustful loners who don’t care about fitting in such as me) , but he really should go and talk to people who are in contact with the actual problem demographic. Or talk, one on one to awkward young men who don’t date but have internet and raging hormones. Of whom there is a lot.
And he’s also ascribing to addicts intentions they don’t have. Like banning porn. As if it could be banned! When I ran out of porn in a cabin in the woods with no internet I wrote my own, on a cellphone. Praise Nokia for word prediction! It was rudimentary but still a powerful aid for fantasy.
He’ll be eating crow eventually. This isn’t something that’s going to go away (in Japan, where the future is already present, porn is as weird as it could be 30% of 30 year old men are single and have never been in a relationship).
Something like this:
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1874574
Will be eventually followed by a study that’ll establish a causal relationship.
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Keep fighting the good fight! Veritas Vincit! (though I imagine it pays to be sly. Because… )