Porn is one vice students
rely on less as they mature
Some students reveal they
reduce porn viewing in favor
of emotional relationships
By Sean Hanson
Copy Editor
As freshman Peter Lytle got older,
he viewed Internet pornography
with declining frequency.
At his peak, he was watching porn
once every other day to once every
three days, but now Lytle only views
it approximately once a week.
Although he attributes this de
crease to emotional maturity, Lytle
said he was never addicted to porn.
The Web site http://www.no
pom.com, devoted to helping pom ad
dicts overcome their addictions, offers
a quiz for site visitors to determine
whether they too might be hooked.
Adapted from Hazelden Publish
ing's "Hope and Recovery: A Twelve
Step Guide for Healing from Com
pulsive Sexual Behavior," the quiz
asserts that addicts exhibit some of
the following symptoms: They let
their porn-viewing habits interfere
with work or school, they "feel emp
ty or shameful after viewing or mas
turbating using pornography," they
"use pornography to deal with,
deny, or avoid problems in (their
lives)," or they have "replaced a col
lection of pornographic material af
ter destroying one collection and
vowing never to purchase pornogra
phy again."
"I don't believe it was ever a prob
lem, and 1 don't believe it was ever a
vice," Lytle said. "Pornography is not
a vice when it's used for sort of a
quick sexual gratification, but it defi
nitely can become one when you
start to create personal gender
norms and sexual stereotypes based
on this false constructed reality that
centers on sexual gratification.
"Pornography definitely does not
represent reality," he added.
Lytle's viewing habits are incon
gruent with those who frequent
http://www.no-porn.corn's online
forums — pom addicts who consid
er it a point of pride when they can
"go for long periods of time —
hours or up to two days — without
wanting porn."
Another anti-porn Web site,
http://www.victimsofpornogra
phy.org, catalogs testimonials from
porn addicts, spouses of porn ad
dicts and sex industry workers who
said their lives have been ruined
by porn.
But the University Counseling and
Testing Center makes no mention of
porn addiction in its list of "impor
tant times for men to seek help."
Lytle said in his experience, once
men reach college, their porn view
ing should decrease naturally.
"Guys in college are around girls
more often, they're getting into rela
tionships and they really should be
beginning to mature," he said.
However, Lytle isn't ashamed that he
still looks at pom on a weekly basis.
"I'm not embarrassed about my use
of pornography because it's some
thing that happens that I do personal
ly. It's a personal habit; it's not some
thing I share with the world," Lytle
said. "It's a definite sexual release that
I think, without, most men would go
stark raving insane."
Despite his assertion, Lyfie said he
is uncomfortable with the negative
light cast on males because of their
porn habits.
"It's easy to perceive men in
general as 'sex fiends,' and definitely
our sexual beings are a huge part of
us, but there is a lot more to man
than just that," he said. "While it
seems like the Internet pornography
phenomenon is mostly relegated to
men, I would hate for the stereotype
to develop that that's all men can
think about.
"We have psychological complex
ities. We're more than just sex
machines."
But, Lytle said, he's also aware
porn can exert a negative influence
on some men's lives.
"It really depends on the person
because for some people, pornogra
phy can become a very harmful as
pect of their life, and for some peo
ple it's a normal, safe avenue for
sexual experience and release,"
he said.
One of those harmful aspects, Ly
tle said, is the effect it can have on a
relationship.
"Internet sates a sexual drive, but
when you have a partner, there's a
deeper emotional stake," he said. "If
you love them there really is no need
to look at pom, even if you're not in
volved sexually because you're ...
with someone on a deeper, almost
spiritual level, and it seems to super
sede the more juvenile need for sex
ual gratification — for instant, emo
tionless sexual gratification."
That's the reason Lytle, for one,
moved on from porn.
"I won't deny when I was younger
I looked at a lot of porn," he said.
"But — and I believe this is true for a
lot of guys — as I became older I be
gan to desire a constructive relation
ship more than a hand job ."
Contact the copy editor
at seanhanson@dailyemerald.com.
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Cigar flavors, sizes
help relax, give buzz
Products like the Medusa
and the Egg provide diversity
for cigar aficionados
By Lisa Catto
News Reporter
Some cigars satisfy almost any crav
ing, with flavors of vanilla, mm and
even strawberry. Some cigars have a
relaxing effect; some give an incredi
ble buzz.
"I have cigars that would make
you wonder why you ever smoked
pot," Fine Cigars Northwest owner
Steve Colbert said. "They will roll
your eyes back in your head and re
lax you completely."
Colbert has been a cigar smoker
since he was 17 years old, and he said
he started with the big green cigars
that were sold in restaurants. He said
his favorite part of cigar-smoking is
the flavor.
He added that he enjoys owning
the two-year-old cigar store because
he gets to try all the cigars.
"I smoke everything that goes in
(the store)," he said. "If I don't like it,
it doesn't get to go in."
He hopes to bring in some better
brands of cigars and plans on starting
a cigar club soon.
"We try to keep our prices down,"
he said. "One of the reasons we
opened the shop was because there's
some places in town that charge way
too much for cigars."
Out of all the brands he carries,
Drew Estate is one of the most popu
lar because it has reverted to more tra
ditional cigars.
One of the more interesting cigars
that Drew Estate makes is the Medusa.
According to a Drew Estate
brochure, the Medusa is spawned
from an old cigar-maker tradition. At
the end of each day, the cigar-makers
were given one cigar as a treat for their
day's work.
In order to maximize on their boss
es' generosity, the cigar-makers
learned to roll several cigars together
to create one massive cigar.
Drew Estate took this idea and
now rolls three cigars together to cre
ate the Medusa.
Another one of its interesting cigars
is the Egg. litis cigar boasts a full two
hours of smoking. It starts out small
like a normal cigar on each end, then
it climaxes in the middle in the shape
of an egg.
Colbert warned that even with the
best brands, most boxes will have a
bad cigar in them.
He said when cigars are being
rolled, a leaf sometimes gets turned
backward. When a leaf is turned the
correct way, the smoke runs against
the grain of the leaf and it prevents the
smoke from escaping. When the leaf
gets turned around, smoke can es
cape, causing a bad cigar.
University senior Derrick Lau, an
occasional cigar-smoker, smoked his
first cigar in high school and contin
ues to do so for certain celebrations
such as birthdays.
"There's kind of a novelty in it,"
Lau said.
His first smoke was a Cuban cigar
that his sister's boyfriend brought back
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Eliminating eating disorders by promoting positive body image and self esteem
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or contact the UO Health Center’s Health Ed program at 346-4456