Research indicates that porn consumers can become desensitized to porn, often needing to consume more porn, more extreme forms of porn, or consume porn more often in order to get the same response they once did.
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Decades of studies from respected academic institutions have demonstrated significant impacts of porn consumption for individuals, relationships, and society. Each of the articles below summarizes relevant research on a specific topic surrounding porn’s harms to help you be more informed and more empowered with the facts.
ARTICLES ON INDIVIDUALS
Because of neuroplasticity, our brains constantly change in healthy ways that help us learn and complete tasks more efficiently. Yet, supernormal stimuli such as porn can trigger measurable changes that can influence our lives in unhealthy ways.
A deeper look into how the brain works reveals that addictions to harmful substances like tobacco have striking similarities to porn compulsion, including impaired decision-making.
When a person is suffering from an addiction or compulsion, their stress response and their addiction can become intertwined in unhealthy ways, thus creating an unhealthy coping cycle.
ARTICLES ON RELATIONSHIPS
For people whose partners consume porn, feelings of rejection, mistrust, anger, and shame are unfortunately common.
Ironically, despite porn’s promise of improving consumers’ sex lives, there is growing evidence that porn consumption is linked to sexual dysfunction and less sexual satisfaction.
Research indicates that consuming porn can normalize sexual objectification, which can have profound consequences in the ways porn consumers view and treat others.
Many porn consumers use porn as a self-soothing technique when they’re feeling lonely or depressed, but research suggests that porn may actually fuel mental health issues, rather than help them.
ARTICLES ON SOCIETY
In the porn industry, there is virtually no way to guarantee that any piece of pornographic content is truly consensual, ethical, or even legal.
As few as 1 in 3 and as many as 9 in 10 porn videos depict sexual violence or aggression. That’s especially concerning, considering that research indicates that these sexually violent narratives can bleed into consumers’ attitudes and behaviors.
Most young people are getting at least some of their education about sex from porn, whether they mean to or not. This is especially concerning, considering how wildly unrealistic and toxic porn can be.
Porn is incomparably more accessible and more extreme than anything available before the internet. A couple of ratty old centerfold magazines found in the park are nothing compared to the hardcore, high-definition videos that minors have access to today.