Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
Problematic porn consumers who are treated using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy show a 92% reduction in porn consumption, and an 86% reduction three months later.
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."
Research shows that even individuals who are accepting of pornography tend to experience psychological distress when their own partners consume pornography.
Porn consumers tend to be more accepting of cheating.
A recent survey found that over 60% of adult porn consumers agree that depictions of physical violence are normalized in online pornography and contribute to the normalization of violent sexual behavior in the real world.
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.
Qualitative research with current and former porn performers suggests that sexual exploitation and trafficking are common experiences in the porn industry.
83% of active 2020 sex trafficking cases involved online solicitation, which is overwhelmingly the most common tactic traffickers use to solicit sex buyers.
Despite porn’s promise of improving consumers’ sex lives, research shows that consuming porn is associated with decreased sexual satisfaction.
Research suggests that frequent porn consumers are more likely to express an intent to rape.
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.
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.
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