James Hetfield, the lead singer of the world’s greatest rock band, Metallica, is lending his beloved rotary hammer of a voice to an important issue: pornography addiction.
A new film, “Addicted to Porn: Chasing the Cardboard Butterfly,” deals with the psychological destruction wrought by the prevalence of pornography around the world. The subtitle is a reference to a scientific study in which male butterflies — which are driven by instinct to mate with colorful females — grew so enamoured of cardboard counterfeit butterflies all dolled up in garish colors that they ignored their actual female counterparts altogether. The fear, the documentary suggests, is that humans might do the same thing. In other words, guys will be so stimulated by the cosmetically enhanced and sexually uninhibited performers on RedTube that they’ll soon begin rejecting actual sex with real women.
It could totally happen. Here’s the trailer.
By the way, just because Hetfield narrates the documentary doesn’t necessarily mean he’s copping to a porn addiction. Although the heavy-metal icon has spoken publicly about his struggles with alcoholism and other issues, he doesn’t appear to have talked about pornography in the past.
Despite the film’s title, it’s worth noting that the very notion that pornography can actually be addictive remains controversial among researchers, since changes in brain activity typically associated with addiction have not yet been seen in degenerates who look at dirty skin flicks.
Of course, the proud men and women of the U.S. armed forces needn’t worry about such things. You’re much too honorable, principled, and wholesome to ever do something as cheap and sordid as view a smutty video clip. And trust us, you don’t want to. It’s super gross.
A calendar of upcoming screenings can be found on the film’s website.