i was shown porn at age 9 by my best friend

[lizelle]

When I was in the shower my mom recently reminded me that in like grade 3 my friend showed me porn every time we hung out and my mom only knew about it because she was helping me find a song in my youtube history and it was filled with that because my friend of looked it up on my ipod when we weren’t at her house. But my question is, is this what caused me to be de-sensitized to sex and over sexualize myself? And could this possibly have contributed to my other mental shit?

 

[tawnigraham]

@lizelle It's possible, I think it has a different impact on everyone. I was also exposed to porn at a very young age, it was shocking to me at first but then I started to watch it more and more. I stopped watching it after I got older and began to understand that the depiction of sex in porn is wrong and learned more about the porn industry. I'm 18 now and I haven't watched porn in 6-7 years. I hate it now, just thinking about the vast majority of it makes me feel disgusted. Personally, I think giving up on watching porn has helped me achieve a healthy and long lasting relationship and not sexualize myself.

 

[reginap]

@lizelle Possibly, though it's most likely not the only factor. First time I came across porn was 10 years old, though it was because of some popup ad or link and I didn't watch it often; I have a pretty normal relationship with sex. Conversely, my boyfriend was 9 when he started watching porn on a regular basis and masturbating, and he has somewhat oversexualized himself and it takes forever for him to complete (desensitized maybe?), though he enjoys sex.

I think, as usual, there are bio-psycho-social factors that made you more prone to these types of attitude and behaviour. How sex was talked about at home and school when you were growing up, how your mom talked to you about finding the porn, your own sexual relationships as a younger person, and how you responded to/coped with these discussions and experiences. Plus how your brain and body react to sexual stimuli.