Church Counsels Women Addicted to Pornography

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/us/03addiction.html?hp

Church Counsels Women Addicted to Pornography

LENEXA, Kan. — It was the final session for the women at Westside Family Church’s Victory Over Porn Addiction group, and the youngest member, a 17-year-old named Kelsie, had not had a good week.

“I slipped two nights this week,” she said, to nods of support from the other women in the group.

---------------

To the wide array of programs offered by evangelical megachurches like Westside, the group adds what Ms. Renaud says is something long overdue. While churches have addressed pornography use among the men in their congregations and among the clergy, a group for women who say they are addicted to pornography is new territory, she said.

“In the Christian culture, women are supposed to be the nonsexual ones,” said Ms. Renaud, who also runs an Internet site called Dirty Girls Ministries, choosing the name to attract people searching for pornography. “It’s an injustice that the church is not more open about physical sexuality. God created sex. But the enemy has twisted it.”

--------------

The programs at Ms. Renaud’s group and at XXX Church diverge from secular sexual theory by treating masturbation and arousal as sins rather than elements of healthy sexuality. Emphasis is on recovering “sexual purity,” in which thoughts of sex outside marriage are illicit.

[Captain Hilts]

1. I hope they're counselling the men too. nt

[BlooInBloo]

2. Huh. Always thought girls hated pr0n.

[liberal_at_heart]

7. Red Shoe Diaries and Bliss are great. It's porn made for men we hate.

[BlooInBloo]

10. Ah. Good to know.

[harry_pothead]

27. Please tell me you're kidding.

[AnnieBW]

15. We read it, not watch it

Google "slash fan fiction" and see what you get. 99.9% of the slash fanfic writers and readers are females.

[BlooInBloo]

24. Huh. Looky at that. You horny little vixens.

:P

[Withywindle]

32. We write it too. We're very participatory.

And if it's fanfiction, you know pretty much by definition no one's just doing it for the money. There IS no money involved at all. It's a labor of lust. :D

[Missy Vixen]

18. The erotica market is really booming right now

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36835812/ns/health-sexual_health/

Those I know that write erotica are selling their work as rapidly as they can produce it.

[deutsey]

40. It's interesting that the article doesn't mention Blakely St. James from the '70s/'80s

I believe the popular "Christina Series" (there were about 50 books published from mid '70s to mid '80s) was written by men in the guise of the female persona Blakely St. James.

The pornographic books followed the sexual exploits of a beautiful heiress named Christina van Bell who basically did anything with anyone. They were available in the book sections of chain stores like Rite Aid, Drug Fair, and Ames; B. Dalton also had these books on shelves. I remember kids (girls, especially) in high school passing around dog-eared copies.

Most of the books were pretty cheesy, but very graphic.

[AlphaCentauri]

3. They need to counsel people who suffer voyeurism n/t

[get the red out]

4. So I guess thinking of sex

makes a FEMALE a porn addict. How lovely.

[Missy Vixen]

19. Women aren't supposed to think about sex

They're certainly not allowed to enjoy it.

:sarcasm:

[get the red out]

37. Exactly!!!

I've been pretty damn sick of religion since about age 13, which corresponds with all that "wow, boys might be ok" stuff that kicked in then, LOL.

[usregimechange]

5. How do you develop effective comprehensive counterstrategies to sin?

Answer: You don't.

[AnArmyVeteran]

6. What if during watching an XXX movie they saw the pastor & his wife getting it on?

I haven't met one Christian who wasn't a hypocrite. I'm not trying to be mean. It's just a fact. Has anyone ever met a Christian who wasn't a hypocrite?

[seabeyond]

14. yes. nt

[AnArmyVeteran]

29. Fair enough, but give them time. :)

[MUAD_DIB]

16. Replace Christian with human.

[mediaman007]

28. My pastor addressed hypocrites this morning!

Pastor: Welcome young man, would you like to join our church?

Young Man: No I couldn't do that. Churches are full of hypocrites!

Pastor: We always have room for one more!

[proteus_lives]

35. Yep. Lots of the them.

[get the red out]

38. No

Not yet anyway.

[ismnotwasm]

8. Ugh

I always kind of think the destructive sexual dichotomies that western churches teach lead to things like porn addiction. 'Dirty' girl ministries indeed. Jesus.

"treating masturbation and arousal as sins"???? I see no hope for this program with its participants receiving a sick message like that.

[chollybocker]

9. "Dirty Girls Ministries"

:rofl:

Wacky Christians. All they ever think about is sects, sects, sects.

[RainDog]

12. I know. it's like naming a political group founded by Dick Armey "The Teabaggers." nt

[RainDog]

11. I thought this was an Onion article at first

but, sadly, it's not.

[DJ13]

13. So.... how does one become a Pastor there?

Uh, purely for research of course.......

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. You gotta think one step ahead, brother.

Man of genius, that guy.

"Dirty girls ministry"? Why didn't I think of that! :think:

[AnArmyVeteran]

30. Check out the Universal Life Church. I became a minister for 3 bucks! My dad became a bishop for $5!

[ShortnFiery]

17. This thread is no good without pictorial examples.

:evilgrin:

[MrScorpio]

20. It's always been my belief that women are much more sexual than men

And groups like this are an outcrop of puritanism to suppress female sexuality.

[shedevil69taz]

22. It has been true with my own experience

most girls I have talked to about sexual matters think about it at least as often if not more than I do.

As an aside when my wife was pregnant holy shit I think she tried to hump me to death.

[kestrel91316]

23. The only porn I have any interest in whatsoever is gay male porn, lol.

And that's just a bizarre voyeurism that I have never pursued, but just find myself curious about.......

Yeah, I just said that. And I'm a straight woman.......

:crazy: :wow: :rofl:

[snagglepuss]

33. I like gay porn male and too am female and I actually read somewhere

that gay male porn is really popular amongst women. Go figure.

[kestrel91316]

41. I heard lesbian porn is popular with straight males, so maybe there

is some commonality there.......

[Xenotime]

25. How long before THIS story is made into a porno?

[BlooInBloo]

31. Rule 34.

[harry_pothead]

26. This phrase made me want to punch a wall

______________________________________________________________
17-year-old named Kelsie, had not had a good week.
“I slipped two nights this week,” she said, to nods of support from the other women in the group.
______________________________________________________________

The leaders in that church should be tried for severe emotional abuse upon a minor.

[get the red out]

39. They should

What comes next, electric shocks when responding to pictures of good looking naked men?

[Warren DeMontague]

34. What about people who are addicted to going to church so some fuckwit can guilt-trip them over

perfectly natural human behaviors? Where's the program for that?

:shrug:

[Matariki]

36. lol

spot on!

[pipi_k]

42. Oh no...it's that elusive little fucker

called "The enemy" who is causing all kinds of trouble again!


sigh...

I have a couple of very nutbag religious friends (OK, picture recovering alcoholics trading one addiction for another) who are constantly talking about THE ENEMY.

The Enemy is everywhere...on the internet, in images, on TV, in politics...even residing in their own heads...


It's almost like they have some sort of exclusive personal relationship with "him". He's certainly responsible for all the bad stuff they think and do.

Almost like a 4 year old kid's imaginary friend.


I get so sick of hearing about THE enemy. Much the way I am sick of hearing about THE terrorists.

Just all sounds so stupid.

The Smiths. The Joneses. The Browns.

The enemy.

The terrorists.


anyway, I know it's probably a diversion from the original discussion, but I just wanted a chance to rant about it.