Very excited to share this one with you all!

It was both a shock & an honor to get an email from the editors at Current Directions asking for a paper on this topic, and I'm glad to see it out in print.

Feel free to share/RT widely (please!)

Obviously, as I'm sure you all know, internet pornography use is incredibly common.
Yet, despite how common pornography use is, the premiere outlets for psychological science have all-but-ignored the topic for 30th years.
Now, it wasn't always this way. In the 1960s-1980s, there were actually quite a few excellent (though early) papers in JPSP and even American Psychologist about the use of "erotica," but since about 1985, there's just nothing.
Now, I suppose that this would be reasonable if nothing significant had changed about use in the past three decades, but, as I'm sure you are all aware, there have been some major technological changes that have affected use.
I also suppose that it would be reasonable for such an absence of research if these journals had also ignored other major technological trends, yet we all know this isn't the case. There are dozens of papers on video games, screen time, social media, and even virtual reality...
Honestly, I'm not sure why there's been less of an emphasis on pornography use. Perhaps it's because of the taboo nature of the topic. Perhaps it's because there are just less researchers interested in sex science, but in any case, we think it's time for this to change
In the paper, we lay out three domains we think that there should be a natural interest in this behavior: 1) Relationship science, 2) developmental science (especially among those who study sexual development), and 3) Clinical science
We go into more detail in the paper, but there's clear evidence already in the literature about why these fields should be interested in pornography use as a key behavior of interest, but in short, it seems likely that pornography is not always a neutral behavior
That is, there are times that use may cause problems that are worth studying, and there are also likely times that it may be a net positive in people's lives. But, until we have more rigorous scientific approaches to this topic, we won't know what the full range of possibilities
Ultimately, we favor an approach to this science that takes into account the full spectrum possibilities
And, of key importance, this type of research is not going to happen without investment, and it's beyond time for funding agencies to take this science seriously.

A behavior that over half the U.S. population regularly engages in is probably worth spending money on.

More from Culture

OK. Chapter 7 of Book 4 of #WealthOfNations is tough going. It's long. It's serious. It's all about colonies.

We can take comfort, though, in knowing that the chapter #AdamSmith says is about colonies is, in fact, about colonies. (IV.vii) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets


Colonies were a vexed subject when #AdamSmith was writing, and they’re even more complicated now. So, before we even get to the tweeting, here’s a link to that thread on Smith and “savage nations.” (IV.vii) #WealthOfTweets


The reason for the ancient Greeks and Romans to settle colonies was straightforward: they didn’t have enough space for their growing populations. Their colonies were treated as “emancipated children”—connected but independent. (IV.vii.a.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

(Both these things are in contrast to the European colonies, as we'll see.) (IV.vii.a.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Ancient Greeks and Romans needed more space because the land was owned by an increasingly small number of citizens and farming and nearly all trades and arts were performed by slaves. It was hard for a poor freeman to improve his life. (IV.vii.a.3) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

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**Thread on Bravery of Sikhs**
(I am forced to do this due to continuous hounding of Sikh Extremists since yesterday)

Rani Jindan Kaur, wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh had illegitimate relations with Lal Singh (PM of Ranjit Singh). Along with Lal Singh, she attacked Jammu, burnt - https://t.co/EfjAq59AyI


Hindu villages of Jasrota, caused rebellion in Jammu, attacked Kishtwar.

Ancestors of Raja Ranjit Singh, The Sansi Tribe used to give daughters as concubines to Jahangir.


The Ludhiana Political Agency (Later NW Fronties Prov) was formed by less than 4000 British soldiers who advanced from Delhi and reached Ludhiana, receiving submissions of all sikh chiefs along the way. The submission of the troops of Raja of Lahore (Ranjit Singh) at Ambala.

Dabistan a contemporary book on Sikh History tells us that Guru Hargobind broke Naina devi Idol Same source describes Guru Hargobind serving a eunuch
YarKhan. (ref was proudly shared by a sikh on twitter)
Gobind Singh followed Bahadur Shah to Deccan to fight for him.


In Zafarnama, Guru Gobind Singh states that the reason he was in conflict with the Hill Rajas was that while they were worshiping idols, while he was an idol-breaker.

And idiot Hindus place him along Maharana, Prithviraj and Shivaji as saviours of Dharma.