First, I’ve been lurking on TRP for a couple years now and I can say this sub, and some of the books it's lead me to, have, without exaggeration, transformed my life. Won’t give you my life story, but thank you all for creating this community. Left some comments here and there recently, but this is my first post.

 


Summary: I'm hypothesizing that porn can be used to deliberately link sexual rewards to constructive behaviors, stimulate masculine instincts, and help foster an alpha frame of mind.

 


Body: I’ve noticed that every once in a while TRP fires up a debate about whether or not porn is bad for you. There’s some fairly convincing evidence that, as a supernormal stimulus, it can be addictive, and/or dull our response to regular stimuli. I won’t get into it too much here — go to nofap if you’re interested, but it’s fairly convincing.

 

Besides the scientific evidence, recently someone on here rightly pointed out that porn is BP because it’s tantamount to being cuckholded — after all you’re watching a woman you desire get fucked by someone else. That stuck with me.

 

I think it’s pretty clear that porn CAN be destructive and BP. With any other stimuli though it’s been demonstrated that whether they are constructive or destructive is based on our reaction, not the stimuli themselves. E.g. stress can be destructive if you let it overtake your thoughts, but it can be constructive if it fuels you to work harder, get stronger, etc. This gets at the essence of TRP. The world is what it is, but you have the power to frame it and respond how you want.

 

I have a hypothesis that the same might be true for porn. Of course, given today’s feminist media environment, no experimental psychologists are going to come out and suggest that porn can be anything but bad. At the very best they will say it’s neutral, or someone may say it’s positive because it “celebrates human sexuality,” or, though some truly astounding hamster gymnastics, somehow empowers women. No experimental psychologist will ever suggest that porn can make men STRONGER. What could be more terrifying.

 

In short, I have an idea that porn could be a tool, which, properly used, could be used to trigger masculine instincts, feelings of dominance, and motivation to accomplish meaningful work.

 

We imagine porn addicts as fat neckbeards in their mother’s basements. It makes sense — weak men watch porn to feel powerful. Then when we finish, the feelings of power evaporate. (Feelings of stress may evaporate too, but I’m not advocating that. Numbness is bad). What happens when we cum to pornography is that, at the end, we feel weak, because we’ve succumbed to the women in the pictures. But more importantly, we’ve succumbed to a basic animal instinct. As non-basic animals, that’s disempowering. We lost.

 

On the other hand, we know that sexual attraction can be motivational. Hot women at the gym make you work out harder. Ad agencies use this instinctive reaction to get you to buy shit. To quote JD, “What brought me here tonight? Why do men build bridges? Why are there jets? I was hoping to get laid tonight.”

 

So what if you could harness that animal instinct, that supernormal physiological reaction, instead of succumbing to it? What if you could stimulate that masculine wildness within you, without the pathetic squirts of blue pill sperm into a tissue at the end? The media machines of the world know that sexual images have power to shape your habits and preferences -- what if you harness that power and use it with purpose, to better yourself?

 

That’s I want to find out. I’ve been doing some experimentation on my own, but obviously my own experience is not sufficient to prove or disprove a hypothesis. I want to hear if you guys have done anything like this, what your experiences have been, and hear what you think about the idea.

 

For the past few days I have been watching different types of porn without even loosening my belt. Instead, I watch it, focus on my breath, and think “this is for me, these women are mine for the taking, women submit to me, etc.” I focus on the feelings of power and freedom that arise. A controlled adrenaline surge. Then I stop and go do whatever I need to do. Lift. Build something. Go out.

 

Then throughout the day, I remember those feelings and try to call them back up. Not the thoughts, although that may help resurface the feeling, but actually feel it in my chest. Long term I suppose the goal would be to remove the porn altogether, and be able to conjure up the concentrated dominating, masculine energy independently (like with anti-depressants or any other drug).

 


Lessons Learned / Topics for Debate: Here is what I have found so far, and some questions I’m still working out, which I’d like to get input on. Peer review me y’all.

  • By linking sexual rewards to constructive behaviors, I was able to overcome inertia on work that mattered to me.

  • When I try to recall the feelings while I'm out buying groceries for instance, my posture corrects, my gaze steadies, and I focus better.

  • If you watch porn WHILE you lift (American Psycho style), its too much. I don’t know if this is possible, but it honestly felt like I could feel the dopamine flooding my fucking head. That said, I did work out harder and longer. The key was to stick to softcore, fitness related porn. Use with caution.

  • Most people think dopamine comes from rewards, but dopamine actually comes from anticipation of a reward, to push us to complete a task. Because of that, I’m interested to hear what you guys think/find about hardcore vs. softcore porn. For me, softcore actually worked better in most cases.

  • Do not let yourself use “motivational porn” as an excuse to procrastinate. If it’s preventing you from getting real work done, that’s the opposite of the purpose.

  • Is this idea a perversion of meditation that will ultimately counteract any progress that could be made from traditional meditation practices?

  • I want to be objective about this - is this just rationalizing a lingering piece of blue pill behavior? Or can this work as a reminder of masculine power, like caffeine for a cloudy mind?

  • Can anyone weigh in on the hormone / neurotransmitter side?