Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
Sex trafficking is a commercial sex act that is brought about by force, fraud, or coercion, or where someone under 18 is involved.
Over half of 11 to 16-year-old boys (53%) and over a third of 11 to 16-year-old girls (39%) reported believing that pornography was a realistic depiction of sex, according to a 2016 report.
One review of 20 studies on the topic found that pornography consumption negatively impacts adolescents’ self-esteem and mental health.
Of the adolescents who had been exposed to porn, 28% were first exposed by accident, 19% were unexpectedly shown pornography by someone else, and only 19% searched for it intentionally, according to research by the NSPCC.
If a porn performer is tricked, manipulated, or coerced during the production of porn, that is legally defined as sex trafficking.
Research shows that people who consume porn frequently are more likely to objectify and dehumanize others.
Approximately 91.5% of men and 60.2% of women report consuming porn in the past month, according to a 2020 study.
Research suggests that frequent porn consumers are less likely to intervene during a sexual assault.
Research has demonstrated that overcoming a pornography habit is absolutely possible, and that over time, pornography’s negative effects can be managed and largely reversed.
While not all porn features physical violence, even non-violent porn has been shown to be associated with negative effects like increased sexual aggression
Research suggests that pornography can make young people more sexually illiterate —in other words, it’s actively spreading harmful misinformation about sex.
According to a 2021 study, only 5.94% of porn-consuming respondents said that they watched porn because of a "lack of sexual satisfaction." In other words, the vast majority of porn consumers are watching porn for reasons other than their partner not being "enough."
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