From The Men: It’s Not About Lust, It’s About Value
Editor’s Note: Matt Shedd blogs at The Unreformed and tweets at @sheddmatt. Today, he shares his story on masturbation, porn, lust, and value. He is a youth paster, a husband, and a good, good man. – Lauren
Dear women,
I spent eight years of my life living under the addiction of pornography and masturbation. The sin was mine; the guilt my own. There is not a single woman in the world who needs to apologize to me. It was never your fault.
It was mine.
Most of us guys start out finding porn not in any attempt to sin or lust, but out of sheer curiosity. We are young and just beginning to notice that the girls around us and especially the ones older than us are just different. The difference itself is almost intoxicating.
And so we look, lustfully yes, but lustful curious about why we are lusting!
None of this is new though, and the real issue isn’t what first brought me to pornography. The real issue is what kept me coming back. It is here, dear ladies, that I will ask a favor of you.
So often women get blamed for men’s lust and that is about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. It is not your dress that makes my mind impure. I have looked down more at the chest instead of the eyes more times than I can count, but trust me it is not your fault. As I guy I will find a way to lust when I want to lust. 
What really trapped me in pornography for years? I didn’t feel valued. I felt like a body with no worth. I had no purpose, and worse, no inherent value. It was in the moments of worthlessness that I chose the only option I thought available to me: I dehumanized others through pornography and lust. I searched out women to call slut and whore. I sought those I could control because it was only in those moments of power that I could forget about my worthlessness.
This hurt and devaluation came from many areas. My parents valued me, but at this time of adolescents parents were not the affirmation I needed. My friends probably did value me, but sarcasm killed any sense of value I could have known.
But it was the girls, the ladies, the young and powerful women who cut the deepest. The words of the women around me emasculated me the most. I desperately wanted to be accepted by these girls. Girls were new to me, and I wanted to know that I had value to them; that in some way they needed me as I needed them. I am not talking about any sexual way, just the way human beings need each other. I wanted them to need me.
They clearly did not. One girl regularly called me gross. My greasy junior high hair was not my fault, but they couldn’t have known that at the time. As the girls chose who to hang out with, I was never part of the “in” crowd. At church it was worse. These girls would flirt to get me to help them, or to take them somewhere only to ditch me later.
Ladies, that stuff hurts.
It was not until college that I found out two important truths:
- My value comes from Christ alone.
- People value who values them.
The first is the clear root of my sin—I was looking for my value in women, not in Christ. Once I felt the love and acceptance of Christ, I stopped trying to be what I thought women wanted; I started being what Christ wanted me from me.
I started loving his way. I started showing value to the women in the school. I started encouraging them to pursue dreams. I sought their opinions on deep matters of faith, and I shared my haunting past— because in Christ, women and men are all valued, loved, and empowered. As I did this, a wonderful thing happened: women started empowering me as well. They started encouraging me and pushing me and challenging me. The encouragement that they gave allowed me to pursue God more fully.
Ladies, if I could share one thing with you today it would be this: empower the men around you. It really isn’t about dress codes and lustful eyes; it’s about worth. One of the great warnings to young men in the Old Testament is to avoid women who continually bring you down. The reason is simple: you as a woman have the ability to empower or emasculate.
Now that I am married, I am telling you that I can face any discouragements at work, from friends or enemies I may face—as long as I know my wife believes in me. She has the power to build me up or tear me down with her words. She is a great encourager. She has given life to me.
The best way to empower the men around you is to encourage their walk of faith. Nothing will go farther in building healthy friendships with men than reminding them of their responsibilities as part of the community of faith. Push them to excel in those areas.
Also, please validate the good that comes from their mind. When they fall prey to lust, don’t tell them how disgusted you are (it destroys and dehumanizes), instead let them know that you know they are better men than what they just showed. Let them know that you have seen the good in them, and that you want them to pursue that good.
Lastly, please pray for the men in your life. We all really struggle with what it means to be a “man.” We all struggle with feelings of worthlessness. We need not only your encouragement but help from the Holy Spirit.
Pray with us and for us.
Sincerely,
Matt
Want to join us & pass this along to other women in your life?
Follow Good Women Project on Twitter: @goodwomenproj
Be a fan on Facebook: facebook.com/goodwomenproject
Subscribe to our email newsletter for insider updates here or subscribe to the blog here. Or both.
Everyone on our team is volunteer, and we are funded 100% by you. If you'd like to donate, you can here.
We're also doing fun stuff on Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Thank you for being so open and honest about your experience. I now know how to better love and support my brothers in Christ.
March 15, 2012 at 6:36 am
Those differences are *most definitely* intoxicating (as God intended them to be!) but as men, our *response* to them is where the danger lies. Grasping hold of the right perspective–awe, admiration, genuine respect, and integrity vs. lust and objectification are key; that "taking every thought captive".
With the growing contrast between the truth of God's Word and the broken lies the world keeps trying to sell, the truth is getting easier to see all the time.
March 15, 2012 at 9:12 am
THANK YOU for this post. kudos for recognizing and calling out the root of this issue within your own heart — and thank you for being brave to share it with us. what an incredible reminder of the ability we as women have to break down or to build up. i am convicted all the time that i often use my words as a weapon, especially when i am feeling vulnerable and weightless against the power of a man's lust, addiction to porn, etc.
March 15, 2012 at 9:30 am
I am so sorry that men have harmed you, abused you, caused you pain. I will pray right now for good men to be present in your life, and for you to be able to respond to them with love and value. And if you have the strength, forgive those who have harmed you. There is power in forgiveness.
March 15, 2012 at 11:32 am
Thank you Matt for sharing your story. It brought tears to my eyes as it reminded me of one of my closest guy friends. This is was such an important reminder for all of us ladies. God bless you!
March 15, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Men need to feel appreciated. I would argue we need this more than sex. Too often women underestimate this or simply just don't get it. We men don't help the situation because we are afraid to be perceived as "needy" or simply because we aren't as comfortable expressing ourselves emotionally. The fantasy world of pornography provides a counterfeit form of appreciation, albeit temporary and profoundly empty. Of course participating in that fantasy world results in mounting shame and guilt and thus we feel even more worthless. It is a black hole that will eventually consume everything good about your life.
March 15, 2012 at 2:39 pm
What a powerful way to look at this. Thank you for sharing your past and for encouraging me to empower the men in my life. It's so important for us to know that we can play an important role in spurring men on towards purity and righteousness, not just in how we dress, but by how we speak to and treat others.
March 15, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Lovely post – thank for sharing with such honesty and transparency… and for shining a spotlight on a very important topic. Finding value for yourself without validation from others is a journey everyone is on as they deepen their relationship with themselves and with God.
Women need to be understood… and men need to be APPRECIATED. I'm so sorry you had to go through such a difficult time with women… you are not alone in feeling emasculated… I see it every day, and it needs to stop. We have so much work to do around gender communication. Thank goodness for the work of Alison Armstrong and PAX/Understanding Men… she is really helping women love how their men are wired and to appreciate them for all they do to protect, provide, and be the hero in our lives.
Wishing you love, joy and laughter,
Ande Lyons
March 15, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Matt, thank you for sharing your story. One of my biggest problems with culture is the demeaning of men. The emasculating of them. To see them portrayed as stupid or just plain ignorant. I'm surrounded by some great guys who are smart and strong and get it. What a tragedy our words often cause.
Thanks for this encouragement to build up my husband and the other guys in my life.
March 15, 2012 at 4:18 pm
I have a nearly identical story. As a boy/young man, I quickly learned the only place to consistently find exposure to this creature, most beautiful, intriguing, and wondrous was in porn. Unfortunately, I also learned to equate nudity with sexuality, sexuality with objectification, objectification with normalcy, and normalcy with shame and self-disgust. The learned emotional response of shame and disgust was 'helpful' when used as a coping mechanism for situations for which actually processing would have been more prudent.
However, it has only been through marriage, fatherhood, and study to unlearn some of these deep-seated lies.
I especially love the concept of [My value comes from Christ alone.]. As someone who was convinced I was a disgusting pervert (like all men) and therefore of lesser value and spirituality than women, it's something I have to remind myself
dailyhourlyevery second. Yet, I know everyone else (men, women, girls and boys) have the same struggle.March 15, 2012 at 5:49 pm
As the girlfriend of a man who has overcome an addiction to porn, I was so thankful for this article. Through that situation, I challenged him to be a better man. I told him that I knew he could do better as a spiritual leader in our relationship, that I knew he could protect my heart and be worthy of my trust. So good to hear from a man that this is just the response of empowerment that is necessary. Anyway, thanks.
March 16, 2012 at 12:13 am
This is so on target, and I'll second Matt's plea!
It's hard to call forth the value you see in others because it means making yourself vulnerable to rejection, but the more we courageously affirm and challenge one another, the better off we all will be!
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."
-1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
March 16, 2012 at 2:53 am
wow matt, this sheds whole new light on this subject for me. thank you for helping me to see. to understand. and thank you for being courageous enough to write this post. bless you brother.
March 16, 2012 at 10:26 pm
This is something that I definitely struggle with sometimes. Like an earlier commenter, I choose sarcasm as a weapon. To protect myself when I'm vulnerable, I make the decision to cut you before you can cut me. I've been convicted of this in the past and it's been a constant challenge to choose to empower, not just men, but everyone, instead of demeaning them.
But I've encountered another problem as I continue to strive to be a woman who empowers. More often than not, I find that when I encourage men, they take it the wrong way. And despite letting them know that I'm not interested in any sort of romantic relationship, they still continue their pursuit, which eventually makes me very uncomfortable. In the end, I find I have no choice but to ignore them or behave in a non-friendly way (never mean), which I'm sure does not empower them in any way. Does anybody have any advice on how to essentially reject a man (and have them FULLY understand that no, you're not just playing hard to get) without emasculating them?
March 17, 2012 at 10:54 pm
If you have to ask to be empowered, you continue to be emasculated. What a bunch of bull!
March 20, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Pingback: The Female Gaze: After the Final Rose | Christ and Pop Culture
Interesting article. Scientifically, men have monstrous amounts of testosterone and its natural to be horny and have fantasies, right? What teenage boy or girl for that matter DOESN'T look at porn? Its sex. It's animalistic. It's our calling. My partner is a Christian and he constantly feels guilty about his desires- I embrace them! He is a human male! Am I too diplomatic?
March 22, 2012 at 12:12 am
Pingback: Wednesday Wisdom: On Value « Leeleegirl's Life
Pingback: The Female Gaze: Great Expectations | Christ and Pop Culture
Pingback: Wednesday Wisdom: On Value | Leelee Writes
http://info.technologyjzs.com/
February 22, 2017 at 10:10 pm
Various factors backlinks and quality of domains linking aimed at your website, keywords, effective and fresh content, building backlinks, etc. facilitate your website in obtaining a good search engine results positioning. Using white hat SEO techniques (ethical viewpoint and SEO techniques which can be relative to internet search engine guidelines) and avoiding spammy SEO techniques (unethical measures to make certain short term high search engine results) helps in making your web site noticeable.
February 23, 2017 at 10:43 pm
From the supplement industry, the issue for that FDA, OCI, DEA, law enforcement, and also the legal system capacity to identify and prosecute those intentionally tainting products is multifaceted and complex. Given the sized a alone makes complete coverage impossible allowing those that have criminal minds flourish unfettered by anxiety about prosecution. Inspite of the commitment of such federal and state agencies, the criminal mind intentionally tainting supplements continues to reap the rewards with their actions. The unfortunate reality is the spoiling from the entire supplement industry because of these charlatans.
June 20, 2017 at 9:58 pm
These tainted products have resulted in tragic medical consequences including liver and kidney damage, stroke, pulmonary failure and death. Tainted items are problematic, but people and organizations that intentionally taint their supplements and items are far worse compared to the neighborhood drug dealer. The area drug dealer thriving in every town in the united states illegally sells and distributes his/her drugs into a consumer base aware of what they’re purchasing and also the potential dangers from ingesting those chemicals. Supplement manufacturers and distributors conscious of selling tainted supplements are far worse since their consumers are ignorant for the dangerous chemicals being added. http://www.getraws.com
July 19, 2017 at 3:42 am
Especially women, but men too, start to lose a little bone mass each year after the age of forty. The pace at which bone breaks down increases with age. Strength training can slow the process down. And using creatine as well can help even more, sports scientists at the University of rawsteroidpowders.cabanova.com Saskatchewan in Canada discovered.The researchers did an experiment with two groups of eighteen post-menopausal women. Their average age was 57.
December 1, 2017 at 2:01 am
Another is that the training leads to increased activity of hormones such as adrenalin and noradrenalin. These stimulate the https://rawsteroidpowder.podbean.com/e/trenbolone-powder-experiment-with-23-elderly-subjects/ fat cells to release their content into the circulatory system and raise the energy burning in the tissues. That’s a second theory.
December 1, 2017 at 2:04 am
Let's start a new day with a smile, at least it's drift boss
a good start.
May 3, 2022 at 11:56 pm