Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
One study that kept track of couples over time found that consuming porn was the second strongest predictor that a relationship would suffer.
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.
Despite porn’s promise of improving consumers’ sex lives, research shows that consuming porn is associated with decreased sexual satisfaction.
A study of women in relationships with men who consume porn found that the frequency of the man’s porn consumption was negatively correlated with the woman’s sense of self-esteem, level of relationship quality, and sexual satisfaction.
Studies consistently show that porn is linked to lower relationship satisfaction and lower relationship quality.
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.
Research assessing the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in treating porn addiction found that “over 95% of clients were able to manage symptoms at the end of the twelve weeks and 78% sustained recovery six months following treatment.”
While most porn consumers are generally unconcerned about the potential mistreatment of porn performers, about 70% of porn consumers who do learn about mistreatment in the porn industry take some form of action to combat it, including changing their porn habits.
Studies show that frequent porn consumers are more likely to carry out sexual violence in real life.
Nearly half of porn scenes (48.7%) contained verbal aggression, according to a study of popular porn videos.
Of domestic minor trafficking victims who had been forced into porn production, the average age they began being filmed was 12.8 years old.
Research shows remarkable neurological similarities between substance addiction and compulsive pornography consumption.
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