Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
Research shows that while feeling guilt can motivate healthy change, feeling shame actually fuels problematic porn habits.
Some experts have determined four major brain changes common to addicted brains—sensitization, desensitization, hypofrontality, and a malfunctioning stress system— all of which can be found in cases of pornography consumption.
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.
Research assessing the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in treating porn addiction found that “over 95% of clients were able to manage symptoms at the end of the twelve weeks and 78% sustained recovery six months following treatment.”
Because of desensitization, many porn consumers find themselves consuming more porn, consuming more often, or consuming more extreme forms of pornography.
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.
The majority of young people are exposed to porn by the time they’re 13, according to research involving young people in the UK.
Even quitting porn for a short time can lessen its negative effects and have positive effects on consumers' lives and relationships.
A 2017 poll found that the more porn a man consumes, the more likely he is to be dissatisfied with his penis size. And the same goes for women with male partners— the more porn they consume, the less satisfied they are with their partner’s penis size.
Porn is considered a supernormal stimulus.
Desensitization, or a numbed pleasure response, has been shown to happen in cases of pornography consumption.
According to a nationally representative survey of U.S. teens, 84.4% of 14 to 18-year-old males and 57% of 14 to 18-year-old females have viewed pornography.
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