Fast Facts Archive - Page 3 of 10

(Park, Wilson, Berger, Christman, Reina, Bishop, Klam, & Doan, 2016; Banca, Morris, Mitchell, Harrison, Potenza, & Voon, 2016)

Because of desensitization, many porn consumers find themselves consuming more porn, consuming more often, or consuming more extreme forms of pornography.

Citations

Park, B. Y., Wilson, G., Berger, J., Christman, M., Reina, B., Bishop, F., Klam, W. P., & Doan, A. P. (2016). Is Internet Pornography Causing Sexual Dysfunctions? A Review with Clinical Reports. Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 6(3), 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs6030017
Banca, P., Morris, L. S., Mitchell, S., Harrison, N. A., Potenza, M. N., & Voon, V. (2016). Novelty, conditioning and attentional bias to sexual rewards. Journal of psychiatric research, 72, 91–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.10.017

How Porn Can Become An Escalating Behavior

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(Wright, Tokunaga, & Kraus, 2016)

A 2016 meta-analysis of 22 studies from seven countries found that internationally, the consumption of pornography was significantly associated with increases in sexual aggression, both verbally and physically among males and females alike.

Citations

Wright, P. J., Tokunaga, R. S., & Kraus, A. (2016). A meta-analysis of pornography consumption and actual acts of sexual aggression in general population studies. Journal of Communication, 66(1), 183-205. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12201

How Porn Can Promote Sexual Violence

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(Sun, Miezan, Lee, & Shim, 2015)

Research has found that those who enjoy extreme porn tend to prefer porn to real-life sex as a way to achieve sexual arousal.

Citations

Sun, C., Miezan, E., Lee, N., & Shim, J. W. (2015). Korean Men’s pornography use, their interest in extreme pornography, and dyadic sexual relationships. International Journal of Sexual Health. 27(1), 16-35. doi:10.1080/19317611.2014.927048

How Porn Can Harm Consumers’ Sex Lives

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(International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, 2017; Lanning, 2010)

Reports show that those who sexually abuse children often show their victims porn to groom them or normalize sexual abuse.

Citations

International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. (2017). Online grooming of children for sexual purposes: Model legislation & global review. ( No. 1). Retrieved from https://www.icmec.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Online-Grooming-of-Children_FINAL_9-18-17.pdf
Lanning, K. V. (2010). Child molesters: A behavioral analysis for professionals investigating the sexual exploitation of children. (No. 5). National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Retrieved from https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/missingkids/pdfs/publications/nc70.pdf

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(Fedina, Williamson, & Perdue, 2019)

44.6% of underage sex trafficking victims experienced childhood sexual abuse before entry into the commercial sex industry.

Citations

Fedina, L., Williamson, C., & Perdue, T. (2019). Risk Factors for Domestic Child Sex Trafficking in the United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34(13), 2653–2673. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516662306

How Porn Can Fuel Sex Trafficking

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(BBFC, 2025)

According to a recent survey, 1 in 3 adult pornography users reported being exposed to violent or abusive content online in the last three months.

Citations

British Board of Film Classification. (2025, June 24). 1 in 3 adult pornography users exposed to violent or abusive content online with majority backing new legislation to prevent publication of harmful content. https://www.bbfc.co.uk/press-releases/1-in-3-adult-pornography-users-exposed-to-violent-or-abusive-content-online-with-majority-backing-new-legislation-to-prevent-publication-of-harmful-content

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(Brown, Durtschi, Carroll, & Willoughby, 2017)

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.

Citations

Brown, C. C., Durtschi, J. A., Carroll, J. S., & Willoughby, B. J. (2017). Understanding and predicting classes of college students who use pornography. Computers in Human Behavior, 66, 114-121. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.008

How Porn Can Impact Mental Health and Fuel Loneliness

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(Xian, Chock, & Dwiggins, 2017)

LGBTQ+ youth who are rejected because of their sexual orientation or gender identity are particularly vulnerable to potential psychological/emotional manipulation by traffickers or predators who may take advantage of them.

Citations

Xian, K., Chock, S., & Dwiggins, D. (2017). LGBTQ youth and vulnerability to sex trafficking. In M. Chisolm-Straker, & H. Stoklosa (Eds.), Human trafficking is a public health issue: A paradigm expansion in the United States (pp. 141). Switzerland: Springer Nature. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-47824-1 Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-47824-1.pdf

How Porn Can Fuel Sex Trafficking

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(Tollini & Diamond-Welch, 2021)

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.

Citations

Tollini, C., & Diamond-Welch, B. (2021). American adult pornography consumers’ beliefs and behaviors related to pornography studios mistreating their performers. Sexuality & Culture, doi:10.1007/s12119-021-09872-3

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(Park, Wilson, Berger, Christman, Reina, Bishop, Klam, & Doan, 2016; Sun, Bridges, Johnson, & Ezzell, 2016)

Some frequent porn consumers can become so accustomed to the exaggerated forms of sex they see in porn, that they may have a difficult time becoming aroused in real-life sexual encounters unless porn is also present.

Citations

Park, B. Y., Wilson, G., Berger, J., Christman, M., Reina, B., Bishop, F., Klam, W. P., & Doan, A. P. (2016). Is Internet Pornography Causing Sexual Dysfunctions? A Review with Clinical Reports. Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 6(3), 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs6030017
Sun, C., Bridges, A., Johnson, J. A., & Ezzell, M. B. (2016). Pornography and the male sexual script: An analysis of consumption and sexual relations. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(4), 983-994. doi:10.1007/s10508-014-0391-2

How Porn Can Harm Consumers’ Sex Lives

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(Séguin, Rodrigue, & Lavigne, 2018)

Research indicates that only 18.3% of women in popular porn videos (compared to 78% of men) were depicted as reaching climax.

Citations

Séguin, L. J., Rodrigue, C., & Lavigne, J. (2018). Consuming Ecstasy: Representations of Male and Female Orgasm in Mainstream Pornography. Journal of sex research, 55(3), 348–356. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1332152

How Porn Can Promote Sexual Violence

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(Feehs & Wheeler, 2021)

83% of active 2020 sex trafficking cases involved online solicitation, which is overwhelmingly the most common tactic traffickers use to solicit sex buyers.

Citations

Feehs, K., & Wheeler, A. C. (2021). 2020 Federal Human Trafficking Report. Human Trafficking Institute. Retrieved from https://www.traffickinginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2020-Federal-Human-Trafficking-Report-Low-Res.pdf

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