It's also not necessarily such a bad thing -- i.e. using porn (or alcohol, pot, or anti-depressants; or over-eating, or compulsive shopping) to get through the

It's also not necessarily such a bad thing -- i.e. using porn (or alcohol, pot, or anti-depressants; or over-eating, or compulsive shopping) to get through the rough spots in one's dating cycle. Mind you, I'm not saying it's a good thing, or that it's without its downsides. I just mean we should look at these things in perspective: if our dating culture (with all the head games) is so broken that some people have to go through years and years of phases where they just can't find a relationship that's both gratifying and sustainable over any length of time -- and btw this includes many people I know, even some very attractive people with plenty of sexual options on the table -- then maybe we should start talking about that, and how people can learn to do better for themselves (and their potential mates). And not so much about the rather crude (if temporarily effective) medicines some people feel forced to use to get them through the darker stretches of depression and anxiety that they can't seem to help falling into, again and again. As a reward, it would would seem, of just wanting to find someone they can love, and be loved by in return. PS, re: anti-depressants -- having worked in the pharma industry for a while, I'd recommend healthy, sex-positive, consensual amateur porn over these insidious, soul-numbing and possibly long-term toxic concoctions they market as "cures" to well, more or less the basic human condition, any day.