The timing is perfect.

Earlier this week a study by the University of Montreal supposedly revealed that nearly all men look at pornography. Remarking on this sad phenomenon, researcher Simon Louis Lajeunesse assured us that viewing pornography did not alter the men’s perceptions of women “or their relationships, which they all want as harmonious and fulfilling as possible.”

Lajeunesse, it turns out, is wrong. On Wednesday, the Family Research Council (frc) released a major new study on how pornography threatens marriages, children, communities and individuals. Authored by Dr. Patrick F. Fagan, a PhD scientist and senior fellow at the frc, the report hasn’t received nearly the level of attention as the one by Lajeunesse.

Viewed in light of Lajeunesse’s finding, Dr. Fagan’s conclusions are ominous. “Pornography corrodes the conscience, promotes distrust between husbands and wives, and debases untold thousands of young women,” he stated in the press release. “It is not harmless escapism but relational and emotional poison.”

Fagan continued: “The fact that marriage rates are dropping steadily is well known. But the impact of pornography use and its correlation to fractured families has been little discussed. The data show that as pornography sales increase, the marriage rate drops.”

You can access the full report here. Consider these snippets from the executive summary (emphasis ours):

Pornography is a visual representation of sexuality which distorts an individual’s concept of the nature of conjugal relations. This, in turn, alters both sexual attitudes and behavior. It is a major threat to marriage, to family, to children and to individual happiness. In undermining marriage it is one of the factors in undermining social stability.

Fagan’s study found that porn affects both single and married men. Again, this is from the executive summary:

Married men who are involved in pornography feel less satisfied with their conjugal relations and less emotionally attached to their wives. Wives notice and are upset by the difference.Pornography use is a pathway to infidelity and divorce, and is frequently a major factor in these family disasters.Prolonged consumption of pornography by men produces stronger notions of women as commodities or as “sex objects.”

For information on how dangerous pornography is and how to be free from it, read “Porn Free” and “Keep the Ghetto Out of Your Bedroom.”