How big is the problem with watching pornography, hotzaas zera li-vatala and other sexual deviancies from halacha in the frum community?
There is no way to be sure what the exact numbers are. But the problems are far more widespread than most people [would like to] think. We tend to think that if a person is religious then there is much less of a chance that he is engaging in religiously proscribed behaviors. Is that true? Well, based on google searches from the "Bible Belt" [as opposed to a gartel which is a "Chasidic Belt"] in the southern part of the USA it was found that religious Evangelical Christians are more likely than others to watch pornography.
One simple explanation is that non-religious people don't have to watch pritzus - they can act it out. Religious people are limited. They are usually married with families and try to control themselves when it comes to acting out with other people. So their outlet is watching it on the screen or הוצז"ל.
What about US? I am curious about google searches in frum areas but know of no information on the topic. However, two frum therapists conducted a [small] study of Jewish people. Here is the entire paper. One key line:
"Contrary to expectations, levels of religious practice, intrinsic religiosity, and positive religious coping were not associated with lower levels of problematic sexual behavior."
This is also evidenced by the fact that the website guardyoureyes, a site that caters to Torah observant Jews has over 30,000 members!!! Those are just the people who are fighting it. What about all the people who are not fighting it?
Pretty scary. So as we have written and spoken so many times: We are living in very challeneging times. Nobody is immune. It is very likely that someone who sits near you in shul [or the person reading this himself], shuckling ["chuckling"?] away during davening, is also מטמא his neshama in various ways. I am NOT judging. I leave that to Hashem. But to say that one is above this or not to watch one's children is both foolish and dangerous.
It is simply confounding to see how many shomer shabbos parents who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide their children with a Jewish education allow their children to freely use the internet. In my experience, it is not the exception in many communities but the rule.
Unbelievable.
