Dictionary

erototoxin en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ɪˌɹɒtəʊˈtɒksɪn/

Etymology

From eroto- + toxin.

Meanings

1. An addictive chemical said to be released in the brain from looking at pornography.
   • And the winner is...Sam Brownback, who considered spending more tax money to explore the “addictive,” “mind-altering,” porn poisons that one witness called “erototoxins.” 2005 May/June, Jack Hitt, “The Diddly Award”, in Mother Jones, →ISSN:
   • Judith Reisman of the California Protective Parents Association suggested that more study of "erototoxins" could show how pornography is not speech-protected under the First Amendment. 2004 November 19, Ryan Singel, “Internet Porn: Worse Than Crack?”, in Wired, →ISSN:
   • Not Reisman: erototoxins aren’t about pleasure; they’re a “fear-sex-shame-and-anger stimulant.” 2007 October 1, Mark Pilkington, Far Out: 101 Strange Tales from Science's Outer Edge, New York: The Disinformation Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL:
   • As we saw in the previous chapter, pornographic erototoxins always bypass cognition and speech, reaching the right brain instantly to trigger excitatory transmitters and to overcome inhibitory transmitter functions. 2005, Ron Luce, Battle Cry for a Generation: The Fight To Save America's Youth, Colorado Springs: Cook Communications Ministries, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 99:
   • There is no such thing as an "erototoxin", of course, but there are pleasure chemicals that are released in the brain called endorphins and they are released in a wide range of activities, including physical exercise, laughter and — surprise, surprise — sex itself. 2005 July 25, Ed Brayton, “Robert O'Brien Trophy Awarded to Judith Reisman”, in Dispatches from the Creation Wars, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2012:
   • But there is no good evidence to support the claims of pseudo-experts like Dr Judith Reisman that pornography is what she calls [an] 'erototoxin', producing an addictive drug cocktail of testosterone, oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin, which cause the brain to be ‘structurally’ changed. 2010, Bettina Arndt, What Men Want in Bed, Melbourne University Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 53:

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