Gary Bruce Wilson (May 12, 1956 – May 20, 2021)[1] was an American writer and anti-
pornography campaigner.
Biography
Wilson was a writer who lived in
Ashland, Oregon.[2][3] He was formerly an
adjunct professor of biology at
Southern Oregon University and also taught at vocational schools.[4][5] Together with his wife, Marnia Robinson, he was an instructor of
karezza, and the couple shared an antipathy towards
orgasms.[6][7][8][9] He became widely known from his 2012
TEDx talk entitled "The Great Porn Experiment" in which he argued exposure to pornography changes brain chemistry.[10] The talk has been viewed over 16 million times.[11]
Wilson started the website YourBrainOnPorn.com with his wife which argues that
pornography is an addiction the same as
overeating or
compulsive gambling.[12] Four years after the site's launch, he published the book Your Brain On Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction, on the same topic and had it translated into Arabic, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Japanese, and Russian.[3]
Wilson argued, counter to relevant experts in the subject, that porn addiction is a
public health issue,[11] and said it led to negative effects such as
depression and
erectile dysfunction.[13] According to Jason Winters, a lecturer on human sexuality in the department of psychology at the University of British Columbia "There is no research showing that Internet pornography causes mental disorders — none".[14] Wilson's material prominently undergirds the
internet fads "
NoFap" and "
No Nut November",[15] with his
TED-X talk often linked in relevant fora in spite of the note posted by TED at the top of the recording: “This talk contains several assertions that are not supported by academically respected studies in
medicine and
psychology. While some viewers might find advice provided in this talk to be helpful, please do not look to this talk for medical advice.”[10] According to historian Brian M. Watson, Wilson "with no scientific training or background ...has made a career peddling
pseudoscience."[16]
This gist of his argument is the
Coolidge effect (desensitization due to seeing many new naked bodies), but scholars have expressed doubts that it applies to humans.[17]
Wilson died on May 20, 2021, after years of illness.[18]
Publications
Wilson, Gary (2015). Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction. Commonwealth Publishing.
ISBN978-0993161605.