Porn and the Pandemic is written by Joshua Shea, a pornography addiction educator and advocate and an addict in recovery. It’s part of a series of short books by publisher MSI Press covering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This book was written in less than 3 weeks in May 2020 to capture the impact of the pandemic on pornography use and, in particular, pornography addiction.
The book is written in the first person, with the author wearing the hats of ex-addict, educator, and journalist. Much of the book is devoted to interviews with a diverse set of people including addicts, webcam models, and therapists.
Some interviews capture the havoc that porn addiction can wreak on people’s lives. For instance, one interview got an STD from hooking up with someone he met online. He got an extra dose of medication from his doctor and slipped it into his wife’s morning vitamins so she wouldn’t notice. There are also interviews with addicts who relapsed with their porn addiction during the pandemic lockdown.
The author breaks down statistics that are available around pornography use, and points out what they do and do not capture. He also suggests that, based on the number of videos available for different search terms, statistics released may be fudged to have more mainstream acceptability.
The book shows how the adult industry has taken advantage of the pandemic, including a major site that offered free premium memberships. One site even offered laid off employees a larger cut of their proceeds on the site.
Various sites for accessing porn are discussed, including Youtube (who knew?), OnlyFans, and Chaturbate. There are interviews with both male and female cam models, including one who began camming during the pandemic.
There’s also the therapist perspective, including the therapist who has observed increased relapses during the pandemic among porn addicts that they’re treating.
What makes this book especially interesting is the number of different angles from which it looks at the issue. Not only is it relevant for people with a connection to pornography addictions, it offers insights into the industry that general readers are likely to find interesting. I certainly learned a lot (like porn on Youtube!). The short book format makes a quick read, and I would definitely recommend it.
Porn and the Pandemic is available on Amazon (affiliate link). You can visit Josh on his blog, paddictrecovery.com.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
You can find my other book reviews here, including Josh’s other books on porn addiction:
Is there hard core porn on YouTube? I once stumbled upon ‘something’ while searching yoga videos, imagine my surprise! It was more a soft nature but there was a ‘lot’ to see that wasn’t in my yoga class 😅
I guess I learned already something from the book!
Josh mentioned that you can find it by searching in languages other than English; I don’t recall offhand which ones.
No problem, I’m looking for it! YouTube is such a weird platform.
Btw while searching WP for ‘I-don’t-remember-what-anymore’ I stumbled upon someone who reviews dildos. What a Saturday morning that was! The internet can be surprising that way.
There’s always an adventure just a click or two away!
Oops, I wanted to say ‘I am *not* looking for it. Freud wouldn’t believe me on this one.
🙄
😁
Yeah, it was when I learned dirty search terms in multiple languages that the true problem of porn addiction should have come into focus 🙂
The unexpected impact of Google Translate…
Great review! And, It sounds very interesting. 🙂
Yes, it is!
Thanks for the great review Ashley. Hopefully people take interest.
You’re welcome! I hope so too!
That’s very interesting, not something you might consider until it’s brought your attention.
For sure.
Sounds like an interesting read. Youtubing it? Who’d have known.
I know, right?!
Made me laugh!
I think that social media addiction is far worse than porn because people have normalized the use of it and very few think of it as a problem. 🙁