Movieguide® Awards presenter Terry Crews opened up about his past porn addiction and how it’s a dangerous thing for people to be involved in.
“Porn is hurting us. And what I mean by that is that it hurts the way we see people. It changes the way you see human beings and we were never meant to look at each other like objects,” he said on the “What Happens Next” podcast.
He acknowledged that pornography takes away humanity from its subjects. It turns them into body parts.
“It slowly disintegrates the humanity in yourself, and people younger and younger are getting more exposed to this,” he explained. “When I was young you had to go in your uncle’s basement. But now you can just click on the phone.”
Crews compared porn addiction to cigarettes. Before the anti-smoking campaign brought awareness to how smoking causes cancer and lung issues, many people thought it was fine.
“I say tell people what it is,” Crews said. “As long as you know what they do and you make that move, that’s your move. But tell me what this is doing.”
Related: Terry Crews Credits His Success to Hard Work: ‘Never Stopped’
Porn addiction can cause heavy psychological and even physical effects on the viewer. However, there are a multitude of problems with it that go beyond the viewer. It feeds sex trafficking and prostitution.
Crews previously said, “Pornography…really, really messed up my life in a lot of ways. I believed that I was more valuable than my wife as a human being because I was a man. And when you believe that you are more valuable than another person, you kind of feel like they owe you. And I was wrong.”
Actress Shailene Woodley has also been vocal about her displeasure with how sex is portrayed in porn.
“The way that sex is presented on the surface in this country is so fabricated,” she said, comparing it to junk food, “and it’s such a performance instead of true intimacy, vulnerability and connection…I’m like, ‘You’re selling everybody McDonald’s when you could have like, whoa.’”
Crews says he was just 12 years old when his addiction started. He turned to it when he felt sad and alone.
Clinical Psychologist Karen Stewart said, “You’d be surprised how many people think it’s an innocent behavior until they become addicted to it and they try to stop. Nine out of 10 college-age males and over a third of college-age females are looking at pornography on a regular basis.”
Hopefully Crews inspires more people to come forward about their own addiction. If porn addiction were taken more seriously, maybe less people would be drawn to it.
Read Next: Terry Crews Describes Power of Forgiveness Conquering Addiction
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
