Abstract
Samuel Perry’s Addicted to Lust: Pornography in the Lives of Conservative Protestants examines how the strong opposition to and framing of pornography within conservative Protestantism affects the lives of its followers. Perry argues that the current concern about sexual sin among conservative Protestants positions viewing pornography as a serious transgression. This specific social context creates heightened distress for conservative Protestants, much more so than for those outside this religious tradition.
Addicted to Lust uses the transcripts of 132 interviews and draws on national survey data to conduct this study. The author spoke with college-educated urban and suburban participants in person, over the phone, or by video call, with some follow-up questions via email. Some participants opted to be interviewed by his female assistants, but most opted to speak with the author. He recruited participants through his personal and professional networks. The survey data all used large probability samples of adults in the United States. He also carried out content analysis of monographs on pornography and sexuality written by conservative Protestants and participant observation at events where conservative Protestants publicly addressed these topics. Last, he led focus groups of conservative Protestant men.
Perry explains that in the United States, conservative Protestants “tend to be especially preoccupied with ‘sexual sin,’” and he calls this preoccupation “sexual exceptionalism,” which positions those sexual desires and activities generally understood as sinful as “uniquely and especially corrupting” for those who indulge in them (p. 65). This tendency edges out other sins, pressing them into the background and creating the belief that forgiving sexual sin is more difficult than granting forgiveness of other sins. It places sexual sin as unique and produces the idea that “it can corrupt even those who only hear about it” (p. 66). Therefore, even the confession of a struggle with porn to a fellow believer becomes troublesome.
This can isolate believers who struggle with pornography use. Participants reported withdrawal from church services as a result of their difficulty eradicating pornography use from their lives. National data showed that the more frequently conservative Protestants view porn, the less likely they are to hold leadership in the church. This religious ideology placing pornography use above other sins shapes how believers perceive their porn use and its importance in their religious life. One participant explained that using porn made them feel that they were “not good enough for God” (p. 83). Perry explains that this is because for believers the harm is less about “the practice of watching pornography and more about the experience of willingly violating those moral values that are most sacred” (p. 87).
Further, believers tend to describe themselves as “porn addicts” even when reporting infrequent use of pornography. For example, one participant explained that in the previous year, he had viewed porn five times; yet he described himself as a porn addict. By contrast, not one of the participants outside of conservative Protestantism self-labeled as a porn addict. For believers, the social meaning of the act drives their sense of themselves, their worthiness as a church leader, and their relationship to God. One participant mentioned that his porn use so eclipsed other sins that during periods of abstinence from porn, he “could not think of other sins to confess to God” (p. 68). And during periods of pornography use, some participants reported an inability to even pray to God because of their shame.
By contrast, unbelievers tend to see their own porn use as less serious, as well as that of their significant others. Believers reported fear of confessing their porn use to their spouses for fear of divorce—often a real fear because the spouse had previously threatened such recourse. Those who did discover a partner’s porn use became much more upset than nonbelievers. With this evidence, Perry makes the case that social context makes all the difference for the porn user. Those who belong to conservative Protestant churches will “feel condemned” by the habit, while those without memberships tend to give it much less importance. Thus, Perry argues, the “meaning of pornography use for religious persons negatively shapes their mental health and spiritual lives” (p. 72). Indeed, previous research cited by Perry concurs. One study found that the perception of addiction to pornography “mattered more for predicting” an individual’s religious struggle rather than the amount of porn use reported by the individual and that perception of oneself as an addict provoked symptoms of psychological distress within that individual.
Perry also explains that the gendered nature of conservative Protestants’ religious ideology means that for female believers, porn use functions as both a serious sexual sin and a gender transgression. Not only are these women committing one of the more serious sins, but they are also taking on what’s seen as a masculine role, which is a violation of God’s design within the conservative Protestant tradition. Even masturbation is gendered in the conservative Protestant church: while only a morally ambiguous issue for men, masturbation is unequivocally condemned in single women. Further, some leaders advise married women not to masturbate because it would “rob their husbands of sexual satisfaction” (p. 107). All of this “causes conservative Protestant women to be doubly punished, internally and socially, for their porn use, while conservative Protestant men” find that their masculinity is “affirmed in a way by that gender system” (p. 99). Perry explains that undergirding all this is the assumption within conservative Protestantism of women’s lack of sexual agency and men’s implied sexual agency.
Addicted also details conservative Protestantism’s attempts to help believers struggling with porn use. Perry suggests the way forward lies in reexamining sexual exceptionalism and creating a culture of openness for those affected. He explains that the current approach centers on the idea that healing comes from “valuing God more than porn” (p. 175) rather than a focus on practical steps like accountability and eliminating access to porn. Perry suggests that a key to tackling this issue within the church rests in “accepting one another as works-in-progress” (p. 190).