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Porn on the Brain

Episode 2 of 3

Meeting a scientist, a surgeon and porn addicts, the group explore the impact that pornography is having on their brain, body, relationships, sex life and on wider society.

Touring porn sets in Spain the group have seen what the adult film industry means for producers and performers – good and bad - but now it’s time to reflect on themselves and consider the impact that porn is having on their life, their relationships, and on wider society. The group explore questions including how porn effects the brain, how it shapes our views of our own and others’ bodies, how it shapes societal attitudes towards racial groups, women and our understanding of sexuality, and asks if porn addiction is becoming a problem amongst heavy users.

To help answer these questions three of the group submit themselves to scientific tests by neuroscientist Dr Nicole Prause where their brainwaves and genital responses are measured when watching different types of pornography. One member’s results when presented with gay porn and an adult film with black performers provokes a heated discussion between the group, leading to disagreement about how porn fetishizes certain racial groups. Two of the group also seek to explore the impact of porn on body image by visiting a plastic surgeon Dr Ignacio Sanza who is operating on a man who wants a penis enlargement and two extra testicles inserted to create a bigger bulge. They then get into their scrubs and witness the surgery as they are invited into the operating theatre. Two of the cast decide to delve into the world of gay porn and explore how it differs to the heterosexual shoots they’ve attended so far, meeting director Macho Serge as he shoots an aristocratic themed porn film in Barcelona.

Meanwhile one cast member concerned about his dependency on pornography enters therapy and makes a profound revelation about his life and reflects on his own problematic porn usage. Finally, two cast members who reported a dependency on porn visits a representative of the ‘NoFap’ movement, Jesús Gomis, who advocates giving up porn and masturbation as a way to overcome porn addiction.

Release date:

46 minutes