Pornography — broadly defined as sexually explicit images — has become a sort-of wallpaper of modern lives. It is everywhere: in our books, movies, computers, video games, social media posts, music and phones.
For many years, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint warned members that <a href='https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/09/28/if-porn-isnt-an-addiction/'>porn was “dangerous,” “evil” and “damnable.</a>” They taught that viewing porn was a sin. In the past decade, though, the church has suggested that <a href='https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/09/28/see-how-lds-church/'>repeated porn watching is an addiction</a>, like alcohol and drugs, often requiring professional help to overcome.
Earlier this month, apostle <a href='https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2025/03/01/lds-apostle-patrick-kearon/'>Patrick Kearon addressed attendees</a> at the Utah Coalition Against Pornography conference, saying he was no expert but acknowledging he did have “painful and heartbreaking personal experience with loved ones entrapped by addictions.”
Some Latter-day Saint — and other — therapists now question the addiction hypothesis.
Count Idaho psychologist Cameron Staley, author of “<a href='https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-LDS-Researcher-Cameron-Staley/dp/1961471043'>Confessions of an LDS Sex Researcher</a>” and creator of the “<a href='https://cameronstaley.com/programs/'>Life After Pornography</a>” online program, among them. On this week’s show, he discusses whether viewing porn is a compulsive behavior; why men and women watch it; how the church has improved its rhetoric on the topic; and how to help those who want to stop looking at such images.

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Why many Latter-day Saints and church leaders get wrong about pornography | Episode 382

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