How to Free Yourself From the Shackles of Porn

In the time I’ve been on this site, I’ve seen quite a few posts from guys asking how to stop watching porn. Suggestions often include researching the harmful effects of pornography and setting up filters and passwords. While these should be done, they are only a part of the solution. There is more that you can and should do to get to the root of the problem.


Destroy your pornography

How to Free Yourself From the Shackles of Porn

Don’t just throw it away, but destroy it. Set a bonfire with your printed material and take a sledgehammer to your DVDs. Remove all traces; if anything is saved on your computer or phone, delete it and clear your trash bin. Reformat the hard drive if you have to. Unsubscribe from the websites and CLEAR YOUR SEARCH HISTORY. This way, when you’re searching for something legit, your search won’t auto-populate with a website or performer.


Go to bed an hour earlier

Turn off your computer, TV, and phone for half an hour beforehand. Leave them in a different room (or at least out of arm's length) and simply lie in darkness for a while so that your eyes can adjust to the darkness. Most importantly, it removes temptations.


Develop a healthier lifestyle

Everything – body, mind, and heart – is interconnected.


BODY – Go out for long runs or walks. Join a local sports league. Spend more time at the gym. You could also try a new hobby that requires discipline, endurance, and focus, like boxing or fencing. Don’t indulge in anything that will harm your body.


MIND – Pursue intellectual growth. Open new pathways in your mind to ease the stresses of recovery and withdrawal. Listen to classical music. Read poetry, history, physics, philosophy, or theology and spirituality. Consider keeping a journal.

HEART – Volunteer at a food pantry, homeless shelter, retirement home, or crisis pregnancy help center. In addition to looking beyond yourself, you will get to know people more personally.

As much as possible, avoid anything triggering

When you’re web browsing and you see lingerie or swimwear ads, refresh the page so that something different shows up. Inventory your movies, music, and TV shows and avoid those with sexual content. Take a different route to and from work or school so that you don’t pass by the provocative ads or lingerie store that you normally do. As for the GAG community, avoid Sexual Behavior, Sexual Health, and How Do I Look? You might think that you're just admiring a great body or helping a girl build self-esteem. What you’re actually doing is making yourself vulnerable and rationalizing it. There will be a time when you can do this, but not right now.

Know what is in fact triggering for you. Think of it as your "trip wire".


Discipline your media usage

How to Free Yourself From the Shackles of Porn

Some people recommend watching other things, but I advise against this. You’ll still be idle and vulnerable to boredom, which can lead to a relapse.

Clean up your vocabulary

Stop using the slang terms for the most intimate parts of our bodies. This might not seem like a significant step, but it really is because you will elevate these most sacred parts of the body to a greater sense of propriety. Don’t describe women as “hot” or “sexy”, but with more wholesome, affectionate, and humanizing terms like “pretty”, “beautiful”, “graceful”, or “elegant”; words that animate the heart of a woman rather than just her body.


And for what it’s worth, avoid innuendos.

Self-denial

How to Free Yourself From the Shackles of Porn

You could take cold showers or eat only two slices of bread at mealtime (just a couple of suggestions). This should be done regularly and with intention, meaning at least once a month; if you wait until after a relapse, this becomes a punishment more than a discipline. Furthermore, you’ll be able mentally prepare yourself. As you become more accustomed, do it bi-weekly and then weekly; do it on the same day each time.

Have an accountability partner

How to Free Yourself From the Shackles of Porn

You can’t do this alone. Meet with a friend and share your struggles. Have them give you a hug, encouragement, advice and yes, forgiveness if you’ve failed. This should also be done regularly. Use accountability software like Covenant Eyes or Net Nanny.

If you are Catholic, turn to the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, especially if you’ve been away from them.


Aspire to and embrace your masculinity

How to Free Yourself From the Shackles of Porn

See yourself as a “man” rather than a “guy”. Few things in this world draw out masculinity better than femininity. Place images of your mother, sisters, cousins, or female friends on your computer or phone. You should also seek inspiration in authentic masculinity. It could be represented by a real or fictional man. He should have a good and consistent moral code and strives to be better than he is. When he’s speaking, you’re listening. When you see him, you think “that’s what I need to be”. He could be General Patton back from the dead or a more humble and gentle soul. You could know him personally or not. In any case, the image should inspire you.


Practice humility

You cannot change the evil that you face, but you can change yourself and how you face it. In a very real way, humility strengthens you because you allow yourself the freedom to grow. You have the freedom to acknowledge and safeguard the vulnerabilities of your heart and mind. You have the freedom to accept responsibility so that you can make the changes.


Gratitude

Be thankful for every day of freedom, whether it’s one day or a thousand. Gratitude helps you to acknowledge the steps that you’ve taken and gives you hope for the future. Lastly though, be thankful in general. Why? Because gratitude is a solid defense against the negativity and anxiety that causes you to seek relief in things like pornography.

CONCLUSION


It’s estimated that there are twenty pornographic websites for every normal one. The porn industry boasts an average annual revenue of $14 billion (USD). One site is even trying to integrate itself in society by paying for college tuitions and running “family-friendly” promo campaigns. Many seem convinced that all men watch porn. There is much to rationalize, but you must not allow yourself to be deceived. You are not at the mercy of your desires. You have a choice. It might be difficult, but it is neither impossible nor hopeless.

How to Free Yourself From the Shackles of Porn

I will soon explain what I’ve said from a spiritual and theological perspective. Though I sincerely respect our religious differences, I do not feel that what I’ve said will be complete without this angle. Make of it what you will. I’m simply making it available.

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Most Helpful Guy

  • Shackles? LMMFAO.

    No, stranger on Teh Interwebz. Porn isn't shackling anything. Porn actually is one thing that can help break free of the shackles of common thought.

    Anyone who's taken an economics class, and paid attention/understood, knows what a substitute is in that context. For those that didn't take one, or couldn't be arsed to pay attention, basically when a product or service goes beyond a certain price, people will seek out alternatives that meet their needs/wants at a price they are willing to pay.

    Example: I really like Coca Cola, especially Cherry Coke Zero. Currently a 20 oz bottle generally runs around $2, depending on which state I'm in. I'm cool with paying $2 a bottle. If the price were to go up to $2.50 or $3 a bottle, without me having gotten a pay increase, I'd grumble but still generally pay it. If it were to go to $7 a bottle, I'm out. I'll increase my water intake again, or drink unsweetened tea.

    It's the same thing here, only the price isn't purely dollars. There's all the bullshit: the drama, the lies, the cheating, the fact that you have to game a girl constantly, even after you're married. Then there's the danger: she can decide at pretty much any time that she didn't like some thing you did, and make a false accusation. You lose your job, get kicked out of school, maybe end up in jail, on nothing more than her word.

    But let's say it works out... for a while... and you wife her up. Without getting into how irresponsible supposedly adult women are in damn near every arena, there's the ever-present threat of divorce, for any reason or no reason at all. Simply because she got 'bored'. Once again the false accusations can ruin a man. The cops will happily remove him from his home just because she's "scared". Even if he owned it before the marriage, the court will allow her to remain and make him pay all the bills. She'll get custody of the kid's 90% of the time, on top of getting the house and the bank accounts. He'll get... his clothes (usually) and all the debt.

    And 80% of men will have little to no options other than porn before they find that one special snowflake and get marrie, because they're not a drug dealer, gang member, jock, or 'musician'. Just regular guys, who believe the Shit they were taught about how to treat women.

    Porn isn't great, but it won't cheat on you with someone else because he's 'exciting', it won't get you locked up on false accusations, and it won't take everything from you, including your kids

    • That's what I mean. If female hypergamy didn't exist, men wouldn't seek prostitution or pornography. So yeah its kinda women's fault if you ask me lol

    • @Indigo91 They can't help it. It's how they're wired. They've been like that since the Ice Age, at least, and they will continue to be like that until something forces them to evolve. And as long as there are white knights and beta cucks to serve them, nothing will force them to evolve.

    • Well they need unwiring! lol Its quite simple the answer to mens problems if you think about it, all you got to do is make men free sexually meaning make women obsolete which will help eliminate hypergamy. Legalize prostitution and make sex affordable for your average man. Also apparently I read an article that in next 20 years Artificial intelligence will be a trend as advance sex toy. Don't you see women have to compete with these because they lose their power or control over men.

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Most Helpful Girl

  • "It’s estimated that there are twenty pornographic websites for every normal one"

    This ^^ is obviously not true. I mean... duh.

    Maybe the statistic was "1 out of 20 websites" -- which would still be high, but at least believable.

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What Girls & Guys Said

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  • I like this!
    Excellent take with tips that sound effective.
    I am sure you will shine and have so much inner substance.

    I struggle with watching porn - I want to stop so bad because it doesn't feel healthy to gain pleasure from strangers. It isn't fulfilling or rewarding.

    I want to value and respect all sexual beings. Not make them a commodity.

  • Just long for no reason. Two simple methods that worked for me when i was younger and first discovered porn and masturbation was
    -Try to always be in a public area
    -No touchy

  • I went to a private Christian college for a year and we had to attend a certain number of chapel/church sessions each semester. SO many of these focused on the dangers of porn addiction and how evil it was. It was really funny because I never was much interested in porn until they keep talking about it-so, I started watching like once a week until I got bored and stopped a few months later.

    The problem with religious people making it such a big deal is that I don't think it's as big of a deal as they make it out to be.

    And some of those porn prevention preachers are CREEPY AS FUCK. One guy was talking about how he counsels people with their spirituality and he said this "If Halle Berry walked through the doors, I wouldn't be able to control myself. If there's a pretty woman who needs my help, I can't help her, I get my wife to help her because she'll tempt me and I don't know what I'd do."

    Know excuse me, but that's creepy as fuck and that guy is a pervert, albeit an honest one, but that's weird.

    And I think it's this kind of sexual repression that breeds so many devoutly religious perverts.

    Just like porn isn't the problem, beautiful women aren't the problem, women in short skirts and tight tops aren't the problem, people with sexual issues are the problem.

    And they should get help, but what they're fixated on is not the problem.

    • Lmao christian colleges and schools are smh. Life skills i didn't even take i learned all i needed to from porn, except i was 16 and an idiot so first time i didn't use a condom smh, good job HS

  • i can't be the only one who feels more stupid for reading this? one of the first "solutions" is to go outside and exercise? lol. like how stupid are u? clearly u are just spouting off myths and know nothing of how the body works. most people with a healthy body have sex more often than those who are NOT in shape. with in an hour after exercise u are also more prone to aggresion and sexual acts. i could feel my brain cells dying as i kept on reading. ya its all my fault. u know guys use to just take what they wanted, this wouldn't even be an issue. we have a civilization now and we have discipline to behave... yet we have the issues? lol. and im guessing ur in the same bus of people who are first to wonder why their bf/gf cheat/s on them.

    • Haha thank you. I'm glad I could help. I hope it's working well for you.

    • Yes of course. I stopped it completely. Then I realised that I'm not that happy. So, I started again because sometimes I forget how a naked woman looks. But I never masturbate to it because that's hazardous to health. Now, I watch it 3-4 times a month, compared to every single day before I asked this question. All thanks to you :)

  • Just curious, are you a Christian?

    Also, I don't know why you can't just masturbate furiously when you have an urge to look at porn. lol. You can argue porn has some very negative consequences sometimes, but masturbation on the other hand has a well documented history of in fact being very very good for you.
    If you feel the urge to watch porn, why not instead just drop trow and beat ur meat like it owes you money? That should help negate your needs for porn in a big way lol.

  • I consider myself moderate with pornography. It's no where near an addiction and I go weeks and sometimes over a month before I even think about looking at porn.

    I dated a girl that was nuts for Porn. Actually, she was nuts for sex. She was always on the hunt. It was crazy. You think you'd be in heaven because she wants it ALL the time, but it was hell. Every night, two or three times with a lot of porn watching. It was ridiculous and not healthy. Rather than go out for dinner and a movie, she'd rather order a pizza, watch porn and have sex all night and the next morning. Her sexual appetite was probably 5 times the average woman to begin with, and adding Porn to her diet only threw gasoline on that sexual desire. It was out of control. So I get the addiction because I saw it first hand.

    I read that we can thank the Porn industry for our high speed internet. Porn evidently drove the need for broadband big time. Other than that, it can be a wicked curse.

  • Bravo, awesome post!

  • Great post!

    • Thank you.

  • I view porn all the time. But I also am able to not be consumed by it. Although my list of porn bookmarks has become rather extensive, I have no need to sift through it as fast as possible. I could maybe fap once every day, and maybe I could avoid fapping for a whole week. Depends.

  • soooo... what to you beat off to. @bcranger10 This sounds like how to be asexual with avoid triggering... Are you asexual?

  • Is this a serious problem? The only difference between pornography and more artistic films like "Blue is the Warmest Color" or "A Bigger Splash" is the production values. Do you think watching pornography is worse than watching eighteen hours of football a week, or playing some video game for the same amount of time? Watching pornography doesn't harm a person bodily or financially. I would argue that it's much better to watch pornography than it is to listen to radio and television that incites people to hatred or violence.

  • This is pretty interesting. I myself actually don't watch porn, though I have looked at it here and there in the past, but not as a habit. I do like the message you're sending but a few things are a bit tough, and reminiscent of those books Every Man's Battle. Avoiding certain things that are normal everyday life will make it worse I think, because you're programming yourself to see all those things as threatening. When you create a list of too many things to avoid, it will only cause more stumbling.

    I would also say that if a guy is struggling with such an addiction, then he should leave GaG altogether, not just avoid parts of it. This is a pretty sexually-charged environment overall, so you're bound to run into something sexual at some point. Again, I definitely like the message you send and support any guy who's trying to break loose from the hold.

    • Thank you for the feedback. I actually haven't read that book, Every Man's Battle (I don't really care for the title either; it's not "every man's battle". There are men who don't watch porn). I can see what you mean, but even so I do think that guys who struggle with it should avoid certain things, at least for a while. Maybe until they've disciplined their hearts and minds a bit and can finally say "okay, I've spent some time away from this. I think I'm ready to watch this movie or TV show again". Yes, I would agree with you that we are a bit sexually over-saturated. That's why I mentioned to control what they can.

    • I read some of it years back when I was younger, and I thought it was BS mostly to be honest. It's a Christian publication meant to help men who struggle with their "ungodly" sexual habits and compulsions. I see your point there. Yeah, avoiding those things for a time would be a good idea, you're right. They do have to reach a point of certain discipline before they can handle those things again, that's definitely true.

    • I have some serious problems with how many Christian churches today address sexuality. I really don't appreciate the puritanical and accusatory approach that they take. I mean, given the world we live in today, it's not hard for me to understand why they approach things the way that they do, but I still don't agree with it.

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  • that was a nice one!!
    good take

  • Going to the gym nonstop is the easiest way because it burns a lot of testosterone. One positive I've noticed at least is that when you cut out porn, your confidence with women goes up. Ironically masturbation becomes more pleasurable too because there is more imagination and creativity. I once went 155 days without masturbation and it was not worth it. But the no porn is definitely a worthy endeavor.

  • One of my all time favorite takes. Well done and very helpful for a lot of people I think.

  • Sexual oppresion and denial... That's kind of the offer here...

    Here's my take... DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT! Weather you're a man or a women you're just into sex that's how it is... There's no need to press your real nature because there's nothing wrong with it

    • Who said anything about sexual oppression?

    • HEU..."How to free yourself from the shackles of Porn..." Porn is nothing bad, it's nothing to be ashamed off... Nothing you need to "free" yourself from it's "shackles"... Get outta here with that bullshit... Like I said... Do whatever the F you want

    • And..."Discipline your media usage." Seriously... If that's not fucking causing you to decline on your impulses and making you become stuck up and sexually oppressed I don't know what else is.

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  • With the silly rape-by-deception laws in various state legislatures to the point you need a written contract to fuck so your ass is legally covered jacking off to porn is safer and far cheaper since it's now free.

  • Fuck it dude. I love porns especially hardcore ones. Watching porn and masturbating is like dreaming. I think dreaming daily enough is good.

    • you made me laugh.

  • I just watch it to fap even other day.. Especially it helps in relaxing.. Keeps prostate healthy... I was a addicted person back then.. But now it's just in limit and yes the consequences are worse then your said..

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