Joseph Deschambault鈥檚 fits of rage began when he was just nine years old.
鈥淗e went from the sweetest little boy, very thoughtful, tender-hearted,鈥� his mother, Tasha, recalls from their home in Crystal City, Manitoba. 鈥淲ithin months he was rude and mean and callous and belligerent and vulgar.鈥�
Joseph, now 12, admits he had a problem. 鈥淥ut of nowhere I would just pop into a rage fit on my mom and start spouting and yelling and just being completely angry.鈥�
Looking for answers, Joseph鈥檚 parents found a clue when they checked the family computer and found a trail of online searches for porn websites. Joseph had lost his innocence when he found hard core Internet pornography. He didn鈥檛 have to try very hard. In fact, the porn found him.
鈥淚鈥檇 be playing a video game on the internet and all of a sudden a pop up comes on the side and you go 鈥榃here did that come from?鈥� and the more and more it comes you say I wonder if you could find that here.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 like finding a Playboy stashed in a closet. This wasn鈥檛 erotica. This was women being violated, penetrated multiple times by multiple men, gagged, choked, slapped, pounded, spit and ejaculated upon. Free, anonymous, available 24/7 and always just one click away.
Joseph became consumed and obsessed by the images he saw. He couldn鈥檛 stop his secret searches.
Joseph鈥檚 parents were horrified when they saw the images their son had found. Reluctantly, they broached the subject with him. He broke down instantly. He felt embarrassed, guilty and like his 鈥渟tomach was rotting from the inside out.鈥� But that didn鈥檛 stop him.
Joseph is not alone.
鈥淭he average kid first looks at porn around eleven,鈥� explains Gail Dines, a professor of sociology and women鈥檚 studies at Wheelock College in Boston and an anti-porn activist. 鈥淭he average kid at eleven has not had sex that means pornography carries that much more weight. So it looks real. It normalizes violent, abusive sex.鈥� Dines told W5.
Joseph believes his porn-watching was an addiction.
In San Antonio Texas, Neurosurgeon Don Hilton believes that pornography addiction is just as real as drug addiction.
鈥淚f you consider pornography and the fact that it鈥檚 a super normal stimulus biologically speaking, it presents endless novelty which our brain likes, and then you have the makings of a very powerful stimulus reward particularly when you combine that with a masturbatory reward,鈥� Hilton told W5.
It鈥檚 all about the chemical in our brains called dopamine. Hilton says recent studies show the brain of a porn addict reacts the same way as the brain of a drug addict.
Joseph had to quit pornography. But he was fortunate enough to have the support of his family who took drastic measures. They cut him off: no mobile devices and only on the computer with his parents or older sisters. His parents started talking to him about the girls and women in the images he couldn鈥檛 stop thinking about.
Joseph鈥檚 father, Al, asked him 鈥淗ow much older than your sister are they? Do you think they鈥檙e having fun?鈥�
鈥淎ll of a sudden putting a human face on the pain made my son change. He realized there are actual people that this is affecting.鈥�
W5鈥檚 Victor Malarek asked Joseph about the advice he鈥檇 give boys his own age that find themselves trapped in the self-destructive cycle of hard core porn addiction.
鈥淭ell your parents and say 鈥楶lease help me鈥�,鈥� Joseph advised. He may only be twelve, but his analysis of the trauma he endured and inflicted is quite adult. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a world of secrecy and a lot of times I would feel like 鈥榯his is just me, I鈥檓 alone, I鈥檓 the only one who has this problem,鈥� when really it was the complete opposite.鈥�
鈥淒eal with it as soon as you can, because it will eat you like an acid.鈥�
