Today, I want to share an excerpt that is actually quite heartbreaking. This week, Billie Eilish did an interview with Howard Stern in which she sounded off on a number of topics, including her two-months long ordeal with COVID, attending this year’s Met Gala, and collaborating with her brother Finneas. Billie also shared her devastating experience with pornography. Billie said she was exposed to porn at age 11. Porn helped her connect with some of her peers, but in hindsight, she believes porn “destroyed her brain” and is a “disgrace.” Billie talked about the role porn played in her night terrors and insomnia, as well as in damaging her sex life and well-being by distorting her sense of boundaries. Billie said she is “angry that porn is so loved, and I’m so angry at myself for thinking that it was okay.”
Unfortunately, Billie’s story is not entirely unique. I know many people whose lives have been seriously damaged by porn. Unless we grow in consciousness as a society, a lot more people are going to get hurt. Pornography is one of the few vices—and in many cases, addictions—that the mainstream not only does not discourage or disincentivize, but often actively promotes. My perception is that this is slowly changing. However, in the meantime, we must be willing to move against the current of the culture.
Pornography is also a silent vice. Unlike smoking, drinking, gambling, or doing drugs, it often involves no paper trail, brokerage, supply chain, or social relationships. This makes it particularly insidious.
Below you can find the complete recap of the segment of the interview that covered pornography published by The Howard Stern Production Company (Howard Stern). They haven’t published the complete interview as far as I can tell, but I’m sure it will become public at some point.
I applaud Billie for having the courage to talk about this issue publicly. A voice and platform as big as hers has the power to influence millions of minds.
Billie Eilish Talking To Howard Stern About Her Experience With Pornography
In her new single “Male Fantasy,” Billie sings of distracting herself with pornography. In real life, she’s not exactly a fan.
“As a woman, I think porn is a disgrace. I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest. I started watching porn when I was like 11,” she said, telling Howard it helped her feel like “one of the guys.” “I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.”
She frequently watched violent pornography, which she believes contributed to her suffering from sleep paralysis and night terrors. The “abusive” porn also led to problems in the bedroom once she was older and had become sexually active herself. “The first few times I, you know, had sex, I was not saying no to things that were not good. It was because I thought that’s what I was supposed to be attracted to,” Billie said.
“I’m so angry that porn is so loved, and I’m so angry at myself for thinking that it was okay,” she continued. “The way that vaginas look in porn is f***ing crazy. No vaginas look like that. Women’s bodies don’t look like that. We don’t come like that.”
Source: The Howard Stern Production Company
For testimonies of people who broke their porn habit, see testimonies. You can also visit the complete archive of articles on integrity.
