OK, I must admit that when I first was asked to write about going from “softcore” pornography to “harcore” pornography, my first thought was “Porn is porn.” But It really is amazing—and also pretty self-deceptive—to think that so long as what you’re watching is “softcore porn,” that it’s really not all that bad. In fact, take it from me: That is exactly what Satan wants you to think.
I mean, do you really believe that the Archbishop who recently got busted for having over 100,000 (100,000?!?) child porn videos stashed away started out with that many out the gate? Sin is progressive. (Tweet This!) You start off with something that seems “innocent enough” like perhaps watching a Real Sex episode out of curiosity and then you look up to discover that your mental hard drive and your laptop’s browser history are filled with all kinds of crap.
And so, just for clarity’s sake, let’s go through three signs that you’re quickly slipping from the so-called “soft” stuff to the hard (no pun intended) stuff.
1) “Reading porn” is not good enough. Okay, this one is actually more for the ladies than the fellas. You know, James 5:16 tells us that with confession comes healing. So, let me take out a moment and by a show of hands ask, how many of you read 50 Shades of Grey? Okay. Now how many of you found yourself more intrigued than ever by porn after doing so?
You know, back in my porn-viewing days, I actually liked reading erotica. However, after a while, I didn’t just want to read about sex acts; I also wanted to see and hear what was going on in them as well. If I’ve said it once,
I’ve said it a million times (relatively speaking): “Reading porn” is porn. However, when you realize that reading about sex is no longer appealing to you, that you “need” a lot more than words to stimulate you, you are going from bad to worse. Step. Away. From. The. Tree. It’s just another way to tempt you away from softcore and into hardcore porn.
2) What’s on television and in daily media no longer satisfies you. Look, I’m not even sure if what’s on television would qualify as softcore porn anymore. Dating Naked simply blurs out certain parts and just last week, I saw Amber Rose completely naked on an entertainment blog without a “warning click.”
But if you’re someone who used to look at television, media sites or—let’s take it a step further, the racy programming that you can find on channels like HBO or Cinemax—and you’re finding yourself suddenly and inexplicably irritated because you’re not able to see more nudity or the sex scenes, to you, are simply not graphic enough…yep, you are headed towards hardcore porn.
3) The kind and the amount shifts. For the record, one definition of hardcore is “pruriently explicit; graphically depicted.” So technically, the very moment that you start looking at any porn sites, you have crossed over into hardcore porn.
However, the reason why I’m sharing this one is because there are some folks who feel like watching one man and one woman isn’t all-that-hardcore. Eh. It actually is. Yet when you do find that watching a man and a woman is boring and so now you need to check out some threesomes, some orgies, some homosexual action, etc., then yes, you are going even deeper into hardcore porn.
And here’s the thing about this final point. Do you know what another definition of hardcore is? It’s “chronic.” Therefore, when you’re at a point that you’re watching a sex scene in a R-rated movie (which tends to also qualify as softcore in most cases, by the way) and it triggers you to go online and watch a couple of flicks each and every time, then you’re also caught up in hardcore porn.
Yes, hardcore porn is not just about porn that is graphic; it’s also about developing the kind of habit where you feel like you need to watch it frequently. And what qualifies as “frequently”? You tell us. How long can you go without watching porn on a daily, weekly or monthly basis? Hit us up. Let us know.
So, if anyone was wondering where they fall in between softcore and hardcore porn, I hope this shed some light in those dark places.
Oh, and whether you’re watching “soft” or “hard”, drop us an email so that we can pray for you.
Any kind of porn is bad for you, and you truly deserve better. (Tweet This!)
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3 Signs You’re Going from Bad To Worse by Shellie Warren is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://xxxchurch.com.