Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
Porn consumption is associated with lower self-esteem.
Because of desensitization, many porn consumers find themselves consuming more porn, consuming more often, or consuming more extreme forms of pornography.
Increased pornography consumption is linked to men’s enjoyment of degrading, uncommon, or aggressive sexual behaviors.
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.
Research has found that those who enjoy extreme porn tend to prefer porn to real-life sex as a way to achieve sexual arousal.
According to a survey of more than 16,000 adults across 10 countries, 1 in 7 reported having experienced sextortion.
Qualitative research with current and former porn performers suggests that sexual exploitation and trafficking are common experiences in the porn industry.
A 2026 study found that across 11 countries, 1.2 million children reported having had their images manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes through AI tools in the past year.
59% of online victim recruitment in active sex trafficking cases in the U.S. occurred on Facebook.
Research routinely shows that consuming porn is connected to poorer mental health.
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.”
1 out of every 8 porn titles shown to first-time users on porn home pages describe acts of sexual violence, according to a 2021 study.
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