Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
Approximately 91.5% of men and 60.2% of women report consuming porn in the past month, according to a 2020 study.
Porn consumption is associated with lower self-esteem.
Research suggests that pornography can make young people more sexually illiterate —in other words, it’s actively spreading harmful misinformation about sex.
A UK survey found that 44% of males aged 11–16 who consumed pornography reported that online pornography gave them ideas about the type of sex they wanted to try.
Women whose partners consume porn tend to experience more psychological distress, feel more objectified, have poorer body image, and are even more likely to develop eating disorder symptoms.
Qualitative research reveals that young women often feel pressured to play out the “scripts” their male partners had learned from porn —they feel badgered into having sex in uncomfortable positions, faking sexual responses, and consenting to unpleasant or painful acts.
Studies show that frequent porn consumers are more likely to carry out sexual violence in real life.
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.
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.
83% of active 2020 sex trafficking cases involved online solicitation, which is overwhelmingly the most common tactic traffickers use to solicit sex buyers.
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.
Teenagers viewed education as the best tool to equip them with the skills they needed to navigate unintentional encounters with online pornography safely.
Fight the New Drug, PO Box 57126, Salt Lake City, UT 84157 | Fight the New Drug is a part of the PHASE Alliance™.
© 2026 All rights Reserved. Fight the New Drug is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN: 26-3550143
