By: Norica Vernon
3 min. read
The Pressures of Military Life
The Armed Forces/military is a subculture within our culture. Many view the lives of our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, Coastguardsmen, and vets from all fives in a much different context than the average American. Our servicemembers are impacted by constant moves (temporary and permanent), deployments (peace and wartimes), living in barracks, on ships, and on bases often far away from family and the familiar. These variables and other ones such as loneliness and the added stress of military life significantly contribute to the military porn problem.
I’ve lived within this military subculture my entire adult life, from my days as a young Marine, my time as an active-duty Soldier, and currently as a Reserve chaplain. This PROVEN introductory blog on the sexual addictions within our ranks comes from an insider perspective.
Life is a battlefield already, but for servicemembers it’s very real, both internally and externally. Research shows that at least 20% of servicemembers struggle with porn addiction in comparison with about 10% of our civilian counterparts. A quick search on Military Times pulls up over 200 articles about cases of child porn convictions and revenge porn scandals. No branch, rank, or position is exempt from this. Let’s take a closer look.
Related: How Do I Deal with My Sexual Desires?
Pornography on the Front Lines
Playboy Magazine has been named “The Magazine of the Vietnam War.” This time period was the beginning of the sexual revolution amidst political unrest in our nation. Our soldiers were battling a losing war. Many people did not consider Playboy to be bad. It many cases it still isn’t. It was informative and helped boost the morale of our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen.
As long as care packages have been sent to troops overseas in combat zones, so has pornographic material in the form of magazines, photos, and DVDs. The increase of the internet use shifted, and ultimately increased, the distribution of pornographic material. But, so many servicemembers have become vets who struggle with many forms of addictions and trauma.
Patterns and Changes
During my research, I noticed that most articles on this subject were written in 2003, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2018.
- In 2003 and 2009, we were in the beginning and the climax of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- In 2013, investigations were done on the widespread use pornographic material on military bases and in their related schools. This revealed an increase in sexual addictions, harassment, and assaults cases. This then led to a removal of porn magazines from the shelves of all military exchange stores.
- 2013 was also the year that porn was banned from use on all government computers for all federal employees. This law is still in existence today.
- In 2017, the Marine Corps revenge porn scandal happened over Facebook.
There is not much written between the Vietnam War and 2003. Does this mean the military porn problem did not exist? Certainly not. However, the visibility and vocalization about this problem shifted, and the culture of our military changed. One of the key changes was that more and more women were enlisted and commissioned. It’s been interesting to see how changes in our military have impacted the porn problem within it.
PROVEN and the Military Porn Problem
In later articles, we at PROVEN will tackle some of the other issues directly and indirectly related to the military porn problem. For now, here is a brief look at them:
- The Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) Programs
- The impacts of porn on military families on and off bases
- Sexual disorders amongst active servicemembers and vets
- Porn and the deployed soldier from personal and professional perspectives
- Porn, PTSD, and other traumas
I joined the PROVEN Team for a few important reasons. I’m passionate about what the ministry does. I also speak the lingo and understand the culture of the military. The porn problem amongst our troops is a dangerous one that is oftentimes part of a vicious cycle that never seems to end.
But, here at PROVEN, we want to see the lives of our servicemembers and their families, who have sacrificed so much already, transformed and restored by the only One who has the power and grace to do this.
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passionate about Proven. Her relationship with Proven began over 3 years ago as a supporter who also struggled. She interned with the ministry during her last semester at Liberty University. She led two small groups of Proven Women and helped develop the Sexual Ethics Training for ministers, specifically chaplains.