In an article in the October Atlantic, Ross Douthat raises the age-old question, Is Pornography Adultery? He cites sex columnist Dan Savage addressing women:

Tearful discussions about your insecurities or your feminist principles will not stop a man from looking at porn. That’s why the best advice for straight women is. … If you don’t want to be with someone who looks at porn. . . get a woman, get a dog, or get a blind guy. … telling women that the porn “problem” can be resolved through good communication, couples counseling, or a chat with your pastor is neither helpful nor realistic.

But Douthat writes:

This isn’t to say the distinction between hiring a prostitute and shelling out for online porn doesn’t matter. … But if you approach infidelity as a continuum of betrayal rather than an either/or proposition, then the Internet era has ratcheted the experience of pornography much closer to adultery than I suspect most porn users would like to admit. [Emphasis added.]

Read Douthat’s insightful article for why he believes that. Meanwhile, the argument can be dragged out ad infinitum. It’s possible to buy Savage’s viewpoint, but still be troubled by how much time and money are spent respectively with and for porn.

While one’s reflex is to claim that it’s up to the individual to decide, that’s kind of a cop-out. Our readers are asked to help decide with their comments whether a line should be drawn and at what point.

Specifically. . .

1. Do you agree with my distinction (that the more time and money porn incurs, the closer the viewer hews to infidelity)?

2. How much is too much: a. time spent b. money spent — viewing Internet porn?