Basic Facts on Porn
Consumption
Every day, on one website alone, 115 million people watch porn. [1]
That is the populations of Canada, Australia, Poland and the Netherlands combined! To give this perspective, 70 million people visit Amazon each day. [2]
4 out of 5 young men and 1 out of 5 young women watch porn weekly or daily. [3]
Globally porn is an estimated $100 billion dollar industry. [4]
Children
Every child with an internet-enabled device can access the world’s largest porn collection with only a few clicks. If you were a curious kid, or looking to explore emerging sexual desires, would you have a look? All too often, kids are exposed to pornography. [1, 2, 3]
Many children are absorbing thousands of graphic sexual scenes before they reach adulthood. Porn use in children is associated with harm to kids health, education, relationships and wellbeing. [4] Let’s stop the toxic training and let kids be kids.
Relationships
We live in a world where most people desire lasting, healthy relationships. The bad news is that porn hurts relationships. Porn depicts people into objects and portrays sex as purely recreational. Porn, the research suggests, changes what we see as attractive and in doing so, alters how we see the ones we love. [1, 2]
Porn is also decreasing peoples ability to actually have sex. Erectile dysfunction is now a major problem for young men, for the first time in history. [3] With sexual dysfunction spiking, as a direct result of porn use, it is clear we are not coping with the super stimuli that is porn. [4]
This is not about condemning the porn user. The human brain is ill-equipped for the onslaught of temptation and stimulation that the internet brings. It’s time to acknowledge that we have a problem. Maybe it is you individually but most definitely it is us collectively.
More porn has been accessed over the last decade than the rest of human history combined. (Thanks to smartphones & high speed internet).
The internet contains massive amounts of porn. (The proportion of traffic and websites attributed to porn ranges from 4%-35%). [5] No wonder it’s hard to avoid!
Last year, over 6.83 million new videos were uploaded to the world’s most popular porn website. The total duration of all that video content is over 160 years. [6]
Addiction
The human brain is a marvellous, malleable thing. Through the release of neurochemicals and repetition, we shape our neurological pathways every day. The problem is that the release of dopamine in the pleasure centre of the brain, that accompanies regular porn use, can yield some wacky results.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that regular porn use can change your brain in a negative way. [1] Porn use is becoming the dominant behavioural addiction, ruining lives and relationships. It’s time to listen to the experts. [2]
Violence
Porn use and violence have been linked time and time again in numerous studies. This isn’t surprising, since many of the most popular porn videos feature acts of degradation and violence. [1, 2, 3, 4]
As humans we engage in a process called observational learning. We learn to do something by watching it being done. This doesn’t mean we will do everything we see but watching porn, the research suggests, puts a person at risk of having violent attitudes and behaviours.
*see below and the Resources page for more detailed links, reference lists and research papers
References
Consumption
115 million people visited Pornhub per day in 2019. Less than 70 million visited Amazon per day in 2019. https://www.pornhub.com/insights/2019-year-in-review
In one study, 1000 people (ages 15-19) were sampled. 100% of the men and 82% of the females had viewed porn. 84% of the men watched porn weekly or daily. 19% of the females watched porn weekly or daily. People working with youth and young adults support this research as being an accurate representation of their experience.
Young Australians’ use of pornography and associations with sexual risk behaviours. Lim et al. J Public Health. 2017; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318080338_Young_Australians%27_use_of_pornography_and_associations_with_sexual_risk_behaviours
The size of the industry is difficult to know exactly, but it is huge. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/things-are-looking-americas-porn-industry-n289431
Estimates vary regarding the amount of the internet and internet traffic that consists of porn. With the broadening of what the web is used for, the proportion may be getting smaller but many suggest 10% of the internet being porn is not far from the truth.
https://www.statista.com/chart/16959/share-of-the-internet-that-is-porn/
https://www.xbiz.com/news/146703/report-the-internet-really-is-for-porn
https://www.covenanteyes.com/pornstats/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/internet-porn-stats_n_3187682
Children
Many children see porn accidently. In a recent UK research, amongst 11-13 year olds, 50% reported having seen pornography. Of those that said they had seen pornography, 62% of the children (11 – 13) said that their viewing of this content was mostly or all unintentional.
There was a disconnect between parents’ perceptions and the reality: 75% of parents felt their child would not have viewed porn, but of those children, only 47% said they had not seen pornography. Of the children who admitted to intentionally searching for pornography nearly two-thirds of them (63%) said they had done so specifically for one or more of these reasons: (1) Learning about sex generally (2) Ideas for new things to try sexually (3) Learning how to get better at sex (4) Learning what people expect sexually.
By late teen/young adulthood 100% of males and 82% of females have viewed pornography.
Young Australians’ use of pornography and associations with sexual risk behaviours. Lim et al. J Public Health. 2017; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318080338_Young_Australians%27_use_of_pornography_and_associations_with_sexual_risk_behaviours
A variety of research and numerous experts suggest 11 is approximately the average age of first exposure. It is likely that with exposure rates increasing in step with the greater internet use the average age of first exposure may indeed be younger. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21259151/
There is growing concern and overwhelming evidence that porn use by minors is dangerous across a wide spectrum of wellbwing markers.
Education: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0272431614548069
Willingness to engage in casual sex. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/hcre.12098
At risk behaviours. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/4/8/e004996
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27509401/
Mental health. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26208829/
Sexist attitudes. Objectification of women. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27105446/
Sexual violence. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-019-1435-4
Relationships
Studies have shown a correlation of frequency of porn use with less sexual and relationship satisfaction. Other studies have found that porn users are more likely to both flirt with other people and cheat on their partners. The good news however, is that in one study of those who quit porn, it showed increased commitment to ones partner at the end of just three weeks abstinence from porn.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21259151/
A cross-sectional study of 405 sexually active men and women who had viewed pornography. Frequency of pornography consumption was directly related to a relative preference for pornographic rather than sex. This preference, as well as devaluing sexual communication, was associated with less sexual satisfaction for both men and women.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14681994.2017.1323076
Different studies have found large numbers of young men now suffering from erectile dysfunction. As you can imagine, online forums and communities of men have sprung up as a result. The good news being that ceasing porn use usually allows for full recovery if a person’s erectile dysfunction (ED) (or Premature ejaculation) is porn induced.
One study found 30% of males 18-24 suffered from erectile dysfunction (ED).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22727073/
Another found 27% of 16-21 year olds have ED.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24418498/
Back in 1992 (pre global internet access) only 5% of 18-59 year olds had ED.
Porn is a supernormal stimuli to the human brain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus
Here is a medical rundown that you may find helpful https://healthmatch.io/erectile-dysfunction/what-is-porn-induced-erectile-dysfunction
Addiction
Numerous independent studies have shown neurological changes to be linked with viewing sexually explicit materials and/or have demonstrated brain functioning that is abnormal for people with compulsive sexual behaviour. You can’t beat “your brain on porn” as a website resource for more details. https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/relevant-research-and-articles-about-the-studies/brain-studies-on-porn-users-sex-addicts/
Valerie Voon “Brain Activity in Sex Addicton Mirrors That of Drug Addiction” University of Cambridge (2014)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0102419
Violence
This is an area where the research on pornography is significant. A meta-analysis of 46 studies on porn’s impact on people found that porn use increases a person’s likelihood of committing sexual offenses and accepting notions of rape. There are now over 100 independent studies that have similar findings. Porn use is a significant predictor of men accepting and performing violence against women.
PLEASE NOTE: This doesn’t mean that all porn users will be affected in this way and it doesn’t mean that men who watch porn will necessarily be violent against women. Each person is impacted by porn in different ways. But it does mean that overall, porn use is having a really negative impact on how people are being treated.
Catherine Itzin’s edited compilation Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties reviews 300 pieces of research for porn-related harm.
A 2015 meta-analysis of 22 studies from seven countries found that internationally the consumption of pornography was significantly associated with increases in verbal and physical aggression, among males and females alike. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288905229_A_Meta-Analysis_of_Pornography_Consumption_and_Actual_Acts_of_Sexual_Aggression_in_General_Population_Studies
Some research found that in the most popular porn videos physical aggression was in over 88% of porn scenes. This aggression was almost always against women. So porn is full of people, particularly women, being disrespected, coerced, and physically and verbally abused.
Ana Bridges, Robert Wosnitzer, Chyng Sun, and Rachael Liberman, “Aggression and sexual behavior in best-selling pornography videos: A content analysis update,” Violence Against Women 16 (Oct. 2010): 1065-1085. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20980228/
Perhaps researcher Michael Flood puts it best when he says, “there is consistent and reliable evidence that exposure to pornography is related to male sexual aggression against women.” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/car.1092