You've probably seen it before in the captions of countless mouth-watering food photos. "#foodporn" shows up in hashtags on every form of social media, weekly blog features, and even ad campaigns. There are over 92 million pictures with the hashtag on Instagram alone (including my own photo of chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick, circa 2013).

And generally (like 2013 me), we think nothing of it. At least I didn't, until I read an article on why this seemingly harmless hashtag is so problematic.

Fight the New Drug is a group that helps people "make an informed decision regarding pornography by raising awareness on its harmful effects using only science, facts, and personal accounts." (If you've seen any "porn kills love" merch, that's them.) The article I read on their blog was eye-opening and made me want to research this topic further.

#Foodporn promotes the idea that porn is the most attractive and desirable version of something, when in reality it's an unhealthy and false representation. As Fight the New Drug and countless others sources report, pornography creates unreasonable expectations and an unrealistic view of what "attractive" is for both men and women. It's damaging to relationships and creates feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and isolation.

Beyond that, watching porn sets off chemical reactions in the brain that actually re-wires our associations of sex, intimacy, and empathy. Studies show that after watching porn, people are more likely to report decreased empathy for rape victims, have increasingly aggressive behavioral tendencies, and report decreased sexual interest in their partners.

And even if porn looks glamorous and sexy, behind the camera is a totally different reality. The porn industry is built on abuse, addiction, and degradation. In her letter to porn viewers, a former porn star describes her experience and many others', saying that it left her "emotionally, spiritually, and financially bankrupt."

When we use #foodporn, we normalize porn culture by adopting it into our vocabulary, and we glorify it by suggesting that that object (and therefore, porn) is the most desirable or attractive version of something.

Even the stats surrounding the hashtag are eerily similar—studies show that looking at photos of #foodporn, or "eating with our eyes," has become "not only a growing concern but quite possibly a major cause of weight gain and obesity."

Researchers even noted that these photos negatively impacted how much people enjoyed the food in front of them. They wrote that “the pleasure of seeing virtual food (the hunger for images, or ‘digital grazing’) while eating has in some sense superseded the pleasure of seeing the real thing." Our hyped-up expectations leave us unsatisfied with reality.

Sound familiar?

This isn't to say we should stop posting pictures of our fancy salads, but we should consider how terms like #foodporn idealize something that has such a damaging effect on both performers and audience.

In their article, Fight the New Drug adds, "So maybe next time you want to post a picture of a sandwich, only use the hashtag #foodporn if it’s cheap, fake, and damaging to your health. Because that’s what porn is."

Hashtag wisely.