Female Use Of Pornography

I had the pleasure of recently discussing with a female friend why gender stereotypes are inherently fallacious and unbiblical, with it following that there is no basis for gender roles in society.  In part of the conversation we discussed ways that these stereotypes can hurt people very deeply, and how one of the areas where they can wound is sexuality.  My friend did not hesitate to tell me that both men and women alike have told her of past struggles with pornography and that women can have their struggles compounded by beliefs about nonphysical gender differences.

Unfortunately, stereotypes embraced by the church at large can greatly amplify the difficulty in women admitting a pornography addiction to others, since they might not be believed or rightly understood--or might be treated as especially vile.  I will clarify as I have before that pornography is a specific subset of erotic media [1], so here I am certainly not implying that of all erotic media is sinful (because it is not); pornography is immoral, but this does not indict all of erotic media.  The point is that the denial or trivialization of female sexuality is not only illogical, contrary to reality, and wholly contra-Biblical, but also very dangerous in that it can deprive women of encouragement to honestly admit struggles with lust (fucking Genesis 39 acknowledges this pretty early on) or pornography.

By extension, women can also feel incredibly confused or even ashamed of themselves for experiencing sexual feelings that others might tell them aren't there or aren't actually that potent.  There is no justification for irrationality as it is, but some fallacies and errors can have drastic consequences.  It is simultaneously infuriating and saddening to me that many Christians I know defend, proclaim, and even seemingly cherish asinine beliefs about gender on one hand and then are shocked when reality defies their pathetic, untrue constructs.

Imagine men being told that only women struggle with drug addiction or selfishness, only to find that they, too, can fight these sins because personality traits have nothing to do with gender.  Imagine women being told that they aren't ever tempted to lie or steal.  Double standards and gender-based generalizations are stupid, untrue, and unbiblical in those cases, and they are also stupid, untrue, and unbiblical in the case of any sin related to sexuality.  Only when the church as a whole exchanges error for truth and reason for fallacies will future damage such beliefs can cause be prevented.

Logic, people.  It is very damn helpful.

[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-truth-about-erotic-media-part-1.html