Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
Research suggests that pornography can make young people more sexually illiterate —in other words, it’s actively spreading harmful misinformation about sex.
The Internet Watch Foundation recently reported that during 2020, approximately 44% of all child sexual abuse material reported to the IWF involved self-generated material. That’s a 16% increase from 2019 when only a third of reports involved self-generated imagery.
Over 46% of young people reported that they saw online porn for the first time when it just “popped up”, and 22% reported that someone else showed it to them when they weren’t expecting it.
A 2021 study analyzed videos from popular porn sites and found that porn featuring Black people tends to perpetuate harmful racist stereotypes, disproportionately emphasize violence and aggression, and often depicts Black people as “worse than objects.”
People who use porn as a self-soothing technique tend to have some of the lowest reports of emotional and mental wellbeing according to a 2017 study.
1 in 3 underage teens report having seen nonconsensually shared nudes of other minors —which is legally considered “child pornography”.
Research has found that therapy is an effective way to treat problematic pornography consumption.
Findings of a qualitative study indicated that teens often reported trying to copy porn in their own sexual encounters, and that the pressure to imitate porn was often an aspect of unhealthy relationships.
According to a 2016 study, people who view porn regularly are less likely to get married than those who do not. Researchers suggest this may be because consumers see porn as a substitute for sexual gratification in a relationship.
Nearly half of porn scenes (48.7%) contained verbal aggression, according to a study of popular porn videos.
Approximately 91.5% of men and 60.2% of women report consuming porn in the past month, according to a 2020 study.
Child sexual abuse material (also known as child pornography) is a more rampant issue than ever before, and is growing at alarming rates
©Fight the New Drug, Inc. 2025, All rights Reserved. Fight the New Drug is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN: 26-3550143
Fight the New Drug, PO Box 522378, Salt Lake City, UT 84152 | Fight the New Drug is a part of the PHASE Alliance™.
