Recap of Dr. Hilton's Presentation

A few weeks ago, Off the Hook at the University of Virginia had the privilege of welcoming Dr. Donald Hilton Jr. for a talk on Pornography and Male Malaise.  Dr. Hilton was able to effectively explain the correlation between the increased use of pornography by men and boys and the erosion of responsible and culturally emasculated men.  He also put forth a powerful defense for classifying sex as an addiction and proving the neurological harm done by pornography.

                Dr. Hilton claimed that the debate about pornography and sex being an addiction is often silenced by political motives and political correctness.  He showed the chemical and neurological basis for classifying sex as an addiction, in the same style as a drug addiction, though, and shared studies correlating the presence of the chemical ΔfosB and hypersexual activity.  This correlation, along with a number of other studies, helped prove Dr. Hilton’s point that pornography and sex are addictions that negatively affect brain function.

                Dr. Hilton also reflected on how pornography is contributing to the end of masculinity.  Pornography supports the objectification of females, but also in that same act dehumanizes the male, who separates the act from his emotions.  The 1948 Alfred Kinsey study claimed that unattached sexuality was a right, as expressed by the emergence of Hugh Hefner and the ‘playboy’ as the ideal man.  But this unattached sexuality and the pornography that often accompanies it can desexualize men, because pornography is a brain pheromone.  As said by Naomi Wolf, today, real women have just become bad porn.  That is a reflection on the end of masculinity, where men see women as objects to consume and discard, not people to love and cherish.

                This talk was a challenge to men to reclaim masculinity for what it should be, which is a devotion and love for all women.  Pornography is a weakness that many men have to deal with, but the harm it does is lasting and its negative consequences are vast.  To reclaim and revitalize masculinity, it is up to men, with the help and encouragement of women, to step up to the plate and stop trying to find easy outlets to express their frustration.

-Joseph Chelak