I'd agree... get out of the trough, find something better. Personal accounts from women in the 'industry' would suggest that much of the time, what goes on is borderline rape. What's on screen is quite distinct from 'two people having sex', and a lot more like eroticized domination/degradation.
Do be aware that the women who are victims of those types of scenarios are paraded around the media because it attracts far more sensationalism than the
many, many sex workers who are completely healthy of mind in making the decision to do what they do, and happy with their work.
I do not mean to dismiss the experience of sex workers who have been abused in their work
at all, but really, there's nothing to suggest that they are the majority. There has long been this attitude in society that women (and why only women? though that's a whole different can of worms) in sex work (be it pornography, prostitution, or what have you) must automatically have chosen that route because life gave them no other choice, or that they had been maliciously lead in that path, and that they need to be rescued from their plight. The reality is that a lot of people like sex, like sex on camera, like helping others achieve sexual gratification, and like getting paid for it. Recently, movements to clear up misconceptions about sex work have thankfully taken off.
As for the "your brain on porn" thing, this really seems to me to be a case of black and white thinking. One extreme or another. A glance through that website shows a ton of stories about how people supposedly regained their confidence, freed themselves of all depression, gained new goals in life, became more enthusiastic and charismatic etc etc... all because they stopped looking at pornography and masturbating. To be frank, I think porn and masturbation has been made into a scapegoat.. it's being talked about as if it's behind all ills in life. This is really common in a lot of contexts. How many times have we all heard "start doing or stop doing ____ and you'll get a soulmate, be more confident, attain all of your goals in life, be calmer and more focused..etc"?
I'm not saying that true addiction to pornography or masturbation isn't a problem. If that's all you do all day and all you can think about, then of course. But there is nothing wrong with having a high sex drive and getting relief. Having regular orgasms is actually really good for mental health, and preventing yourself from getting relief when you need it, well... isn't.
There have been a lot of points made pointing to a rise in access to porn with a rise in erectile dysfunction and personal accounts of people who stopped masturbating and looking at porn apparently feeling better in every way. We have to remind ourselves that correlation does not equal causation. There are a ton of other factors that are not being accounted for here. Could the rise of erectile dysfunction be related to the rise of extremely unhealthy lifestyles? Could the anecdotal reports of people who felt better after quitting porn be not because of the porn itself, but because the person made other changes in their life along with quitting porn? Could it be pure placebo? I can only speculate on the answers, but I can say that we need to be looking at the big picture here.
TL;DR It's more complex than it seems and I echo the "everything in moderation" stance.
