We recently received a message asking whether pornography use can escalate to consuming illegal forms of porn, especially CSAM (child sexual abuse material, i.e child pornography).
It’s an important question — and not an easy one. Conversations around pornography often get flattened into extremes: porn is harmless, or porn inevitably always leads to crime. The reality, supported by research and lived experience, is far more nuanced.
“Online porn wasn’t enough. . . I crossed a line.”
I first encountered online pornography in college and continued using it for decades. Over time, my consumption increased — not just in frequency, but in intensity. What began as occasional viewing eventually turned into 4+ hours each night, with the content becoming progressively more extreme.
Eventually, pornography alone no longer felt sufficient. I began using adult chat sites, and while on one of those platforms, I crossed a line. I engaged in a sexual conversation with a teenage girl.
Then my life unraveled.
When I was arrested for what happened online, I took full ownership. I do not minimize the harm I caused or the seriousness of my behavior. What I did was illegal, unethical, and abusive, and real people were harmed. What I did violated even my own standards and morals.
I was a pediatrician and a married father of two teenage girls. So how did I get here?
After years of reflection on my behavior through therapy and sexaholics anonymous, it’s clear that everything started with pornography addiction. There are several key elements of watching porn that led me down the path I took.
First, the depersonalization that occurs with watching pornography and treating people as sex objects.
Second, the abundance of pornographic content pairing older men with barely legal-aged girls, often dressed to look younger than their actual age, normalizes these sexual interactions.
Third, extending this to online chat rooms, the persistence of depersonalizing people on the other side of the text box, and if the other side of the conversation was looking for the same thing I wanted, getting to a place in my mind where the person’s age no longer mattered.
Thankfully, I’ve been in recovery for almost 3 years from my porn addiction
-Anonymous
So What Does the Research Actually Say?
First, it’s important to be clear: most people who consume pornography do not go on to view illegal material or commit sexual crimes. Research does not support a simple cause-and-effect claim that pornography use alone leads to criminal behavior.
At the same time, research does show patterns that help explain how escalation can happen for some individuals.
In the report What’s Porn Got to Do With It? The Link Between Viewing Adult Pornography and Harmful Sexual Behaviour, by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, examined how exposure to adult pornography fits into broader pathways toward sexual harm. The authors note that today’s online porn environment is marked by constant availability, extreme novelty, and increasingly explicit content, which can shape sexual attitudes and expectations for some users.
In earlier work, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation also reported that among individuals seeking help for problematic pornography use, many described escalating patterns over time — including increased frequency, longer viewing sessions, and a shift toward more extreme material. In a smaller but deeply concerning number of cases, individuals reported exposure to or pursuit of illegal content, including child sexual abuse material.
These findings do not demonstrate that everyone who consumes pornography engages in illegal behavior. Rather, they suggest that repeated exposure can contribute to desensitization. As tolerance builds, content that once felt shocking may begin to feel normalized, and personal boundaries can weaken.
This framework is supported by broader academic research. In a review titled Neurobiology of Compulsive Sexual Behavior: Emerging Science, Kraus, Voon, and Potenza describe how compulsive sexual behaviors can involve tolerance, novelty-seeking, and diminished responsiveness to previously stimulating material — patterns also observed in other behavioral addictionsKraus SW, Voon V, Potenza MN. Neurobiology of Compulsive Sexual Behavior: Emerging Science. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2016 Jan;41(1):385-6. doi: 10.1038/npp.2015.300. PMID: 26657963; PMCID: PMC4677151.Copy .
In other research, researchers found that problematic pornography use is often linked with escalation, loss of control, and distress, rather than simple frequency of use aloneBőthe B, Tóth-Király I, Griffiths MD, Potenza MN, Orosz G, Demetrovics Z. Are sexual functioning problems associated with frequent pornography use and/or problematic pornography use? Results from a large community survey including males and females. Addict Behav. 2021 Jan;112:106603. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106603. Epub 2020 Aug 8. PMID: 32810799.Copy .
Large-scale reviews of sexual offending research provide additional context. In a recent meta-analytic review, researchers concluded that pornography consumption by itself does not reliably predict sexual offending across the general population. However, they noted that pornography may interact with existing risk factors — such as emotional dysregulation, antisocial traits, or deviant sexual interests — in ways that increase risk for some individuals.
Some of these traits might sound rare, but users who consume porn especially to cope often are dealing with emotional regulation issues and loneliness, which would put them at greater risk of ending up on some porn they previously would have never considered watching.
In a 2016 study, researchers found that 46.9% of respondents reported that, over time, they began watching pornography that had previously disinterested or even disgusted them Wéry, A., & Billieux, J. (2016). Online sexual activities: An exploratory study of problematic and non-problematic usage patterns in a sample of men. Computers in Human Behavior, 56, 257-266. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.11.046Copy .
The Role of Objectification and Depersonalization
One theme that appears repeatedly — in both research and personal accounts — is depersonalization or dehumanization.
Pornography frequently portrays people as objects for sexual gratification rather than whole human beings with autonomy and boundaries. Research has linked repeated pornography exposure with increased sexual objectification and shifts in how viewers perceive othersWright, Tokunaga, & Kraus, 2016, A Meta-Analysis of Pornography Consumption and Attitudes Supporting Violence Against WomenCopy .
Another study also found that repeated exposure can shape sexual expectations and scripts, particularly when extreme or age-ambiguous content is normalized Sun C, Bridges A, Johnson JA, Ezzell MB. Pornography and the Male Sexual Script: An Analysis of Consumption and Sexual Relations. Arch Sex Behav. 2016 May;45(4):983-94. doi: 10.1007/s10508-014-0391-2. Epub 2014 Dec 3. Erratum in: Arch Sex Behav. 2016 May;45(4):995. doi: 10.1007/s10508-016-0744-0. PMID: 25466233.Copy , and that’s problematic, seeing that so much of porn today is extreme and promotes the idea of young girls with older men.
The man who shared his story with us described reaching a point where the person on the other side of the screen felt abstract — a means to an end rather than a real human being. That loss of perspective did not happen overnight. It developed gradually alongside escalating pornography use.
Researchers studying sexual behavior have long noted that objectification can weaken empathic responding and moral restraint, which may affect decision-making in high-risk situations Marshall, Marshall, Serran, & Fernandez, 2011, Treating Sexual Offenders: An Integrated ApproachCopy .
Even though he had his own teenage daughters, the people he was interacting with online didn’t seem real.
Why This Conversation Matters
To the Fighter who asks whether heavy porn use can escalate to illegal content, the answer is yes, it can, but that doesn’t mean it always will.
The research does not suggest escalation is inevitable. But it does suggest it is possible — particularly when pornography use becomes compulsive, increasingly extreme, or intertwined with other vulnerabilities.
Understanding how escalation can occur allows individuals, families, and communities to intervene earlier. It encourages honest self-reflection, informed education, and compassionate support for people who feel their pornography use is becoming unmanageable before harm occurs.
Regardless, even if porn doesn’t lead you down a road of crime, the above research still applies. Users across the board report feeling desensitized, objectifying those around them, and seeking more and more porn over time.
And those harms only scratch the surface. We know through decades of research how pornography negatively impacts mental health, relationships, sexual satisfaction, and society.
So if you’re worried about porn leading you somewhere illegal, we ask you to consider, regardless, how else could it be harming you?
For those already struggling, accountability and recovery are possible. The Fighter who shared his story does not excuse his actions — but he does demonstrate that acknowledgment, responsibility, and long-term change can happen.
A More Honest Take
Pornography use exists on a spectrum. For many people, it may not escalate that far. For others, especially when use becomes compulsive or increasingly extreme, risks increase.
Research doesn’t offer simple answers — but it does offer an important insight: pornography can shape sexual attitudes, and unchecked patterns may have real-world consequences.
That’s why conversations like this matter. Not to condemn, but to inform. Not to assume the worst, but to prevent it.
Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
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