Porn Again

The New York Times has an article about fundie therapy aimed at treating womens' "addiction to pornography." The only problem with the program is that the problem is not pornography addiction, but the effects of sexual abuse:

Michele L. H., 27, who spoke on the condition that her last name not be used out of respect for her husband and son, said Ms. Renaud’s group had helped her stay in her marriage. When she was young, she said, relatives sexually abused her and made her look at pornography as instruction in how to behave. As an adult she needed pornography to be aroused with her husband, she said.

“I’m learning the correct way of intimacy and bonds,” she said of the group. “It’s learning what your spouse wants, his needs.” In her first weeks, she recalled, she struggled to avoid masturbation. “She’ll text me with loophole questions,” Ms. Renaud said. “I’ll say, ‘No, it doesn’t work that way.’ ”

“But I need to release myself,” Michele said.

“I’ll say, ‘O.K., pray about it,’ ” Ms. Renaud said. She added, “Distraction is a big part of recovery.”

Kelsie, the 17-year-old, also agreed to speak on the condition that her full name not be used. She said that she had been taught secular views about masturbation, but that Ms. Renaud's way made more sense.

She added: “You have to take into consideration what's best for the one you're going to be with. Say someday I'm married and my husband can't please me as much as I please myself. That'd be terrible.”

Telling victims of childhood rape that they need to stop thinking about their own needs doesn't seem to be particularly healthy solution. Nor does calling them addicts, for that matter. I'd suppose that if Michele wanted to stay in her marriage, she and her husband might get more benefit from joint counseling which addresses the assualts Michele suffered as a child, and how they currently affect her and their marriage. But then, I haven't watched part of "a DVD course in sexual addiction counseling from the American Association of Christian Counselors," so what the hell do I know?