Virtue is the right use of impressions and externals. Right means according to reason.

might be helpful if you haven't seen it! Prof Greg Sadler explains the virtues in a 5-part series, here's 1

https://www.youtube.com/live/MCZ6RrtSCuo?si=EtnWdhLljnU12V2o

Chapter 39

Everyone’s body is the measure for their possessions, as the foot is a measure for the shoe. If then you hold to this principle you will maintain the proper measure, but if you go beyond it, you will inevitably be carried over a cliff. Thus, in the case of the shoe, if you go beyond the foot, first you will get a gilded shoe, then a purple one, and then an embroidered one. For once you have gone beyond the measure, there is no limit.

https://f.openpdfs.org/kNpgpMAl2jr.pdf

more concretely, I think buying good-quality used stuff is the best route

you didn't put the full quote from Enchiridion 15, did you?

How do you know it is a bad habit?

"your mind telling you" makes it sound like those are two separate things (they're not).

The Stoics had A LOT to say about this topic specifically.

pages 131 to 134 here are not a bad place to start (and they contain a bunch of references for further study)

https://f.openpdfs.org/kNpgpMAl2jr.pdf

strategic apathy sounds like an ill-defined pop philosophy term

heyy, i am ashamed but i have *orn addiction, do you have any advice for me?

If you havent quit all forms of porn yet, do so. Being off it will give you the clearness of mind you need. Understand how exploitive and abusive the porn industry is and how corrupting it is to your thoughts and the damage you do to the woman involved by consuming it. 

Measure the pleasure against virtue. Does this activity increase practical wisdom, courage, moderation, or justice? Or is it just a dopamine hit that will fade quickly? Is this truly something worth enjoying or is just the hedonistic treadmill of modern society? Is this something valuable or just an appeal to novelty?

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These people never heard of Seneca...

Yes, you can have nice things. You can also have nothing. Just dont make things or the lack there of consume you

Being unable to react correctly in public settings because you can't get past being attracted to others is an issue. Doubly so if you can't just talk to others normally.

Its not a pathology. Its just what it is to go through male development, at least for some.

I disagree that it prevents us from thinking clearly.

This is the sentiment that makes me feel like you either forgot what it was like to become a man, or went through a different sort of development from myself. Puberty and post-puberty are some of the least-clear thinking times I can imagine. That is also coupled with the fact that it necessarily happens to people with very little life experience.

To think there is something wrong with OP, to judge them for a naturally occurring and hormone driven change in their body, isn't wisdom by my lights.

Okay, I can see how their comment could read that way. I can't speak for the commenter, but I interpreted it differently based on my experience. I understood it as a way to handle the thought in the moment.

But yeah I see your perspective. I actually agree with the steps you mentioned too.

Apathy allows you to outsource your conscience.

Truly a beautiful response. Thanks for your perspective.

I want to read a book that discovers-discusses these feelings. Any recommendations

OP is clearly distressed by these thoughts. This commenter is suggesting that they are normal and that OP should not do anything else but not “let it cloud their actions”. That is both detrimental to OP’s mental health and the health of his relationships with the women around him. It is not normal to objectify or sexualise another human being in such an obsessive way as how OP is describing. There are steps that can be taken to reframe how you see the opposite gender (both for men and for women) and to start humanising eachother e.g. engaging in literature and art created by the opposite sex, having open conversations with female friends, so on and so forth. This commenter is implying that there is nothing to do except not act on those impulses when there are a plethora of things OP can do to relieve his distress. That is not only dismissive to OP’s very clear concerns but also removes any agency that OP may have in helping himself.

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There has been a modern misinterpretation of Stoicism, which is widely repeated and believed, which pretty much matches that idea of "strategic apathy".

This isn't what Stoicism presents at all. It arose by a combination of a misleading translation of Epictetus and a writer who was not even remotely an expert on Hellenistic philosophy believing that he could write a book about Stoicism.

For a longer explanation I made a couple of posts on this:

https://www.reddit.com/user/E-L-Wisty/comments/1tisd8h/no_its_not_about_control_part_1/

https://www.reddit.com/user/E-L-Wisty/comments/1tisdon/no_its_not_about_control_part_2/

Quoting Marcus Aurelius actually proves my point. It says "benevolent action".

Virtue is an active practice, not the absence of involuntary thoughts. It simply demands that you don't approve of the thought, act on it, or let it dictate your behavior toward others.

Again, thoughts vs beliefs. This post has nothing to do with what we're talking about.

You missed out the key word "corrupted". OP said "corrupted by the modern view of women as sex objects".

Meaning they explicitly reject it. That's the opposite of a belief.

Asking for basic logic isn't sealioning

You can't what? Name who is actually being harmed? It's a straightforward question.