Fast Facts - Fight the New Drug

(Banca, Morris, Mitchell, Harrison, Potenza, & Voon, 2016; Kühn & Gallinat, 2014)

Desensitization, or a numbed pleasure response, has been shown to happen in cases of pornography consumption.

Citations

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
Kühn, S., & Gallinat, J. (2014). Brain structure and functional connectivity associated with pornography consumption: The brain on porn. JAMA Psychiatry, 71(7), 827-834. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.93

How Porn Can Become An Escalating Behavior

Fast Fact #7

(TVPA, 2000)

Sex trafficking is a commercial sex act that is brought about by force, fraud, or coercion, or where someone under 18 is involved.

Citations

Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106–386, Section 102(a), 114 Stat. 1464. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-106hr3244enr/pdf/BILLS-106hr3244enr.pdf

How Porn Can Fuel Sex Trafficking

Fast Fact #94

(Vera-Gray, McGlynn, Kureshi, & Butterby, 2021)

According to an analysis of over 130,000 porn titles, “teen” is the most common word used in porn titles.

Citations

Vera-Gray, F., McGlynn, C., Kureshi, I., & Butterby, K. (2021). Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography. The British Journal of Criminology, doi:10.1093/bjc/azab035

Fast Fact #100

(Szymanski & Stewart-Richardson, 2014)

Despite porn’s promise of improving consumers’ sex lives, research shows that consuming porn is associated with decreased sexual satisfaction.

Citations

Szymanski, D. M., & Stewart-Richardson, D. N. (2014). Psychological, Relational, and Sexual Correlates of Pornography Use on Young Adult Heterosexual Men in Romantic Relationships. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 22(1), 64–82. https://doi.org/10.3149/jms.2201.64

How Porn Can Harm Consumers’ Sex Lives

Fast Fact #49

(Rothman, Kaczmarsky, Burke, Jansen, & Baughman, 2015)

Qualitative research reveals that young women often feel pressured to play out the “scripts” their male partners had learned from porn —they feel badgered into having sex in uncomfortable positions, faking sexual responses, and consenting to unpleasant or painful acts.

Citations

Rothman, E. F., Kaczmarsky, C., Burke, N., Jansen, E., & Baughman, A. (2015). 'Without Porn … I Wouldn't Know Half the Things I Know Now': A Qualitative Study of Pornography Use Among a Sample of Urban, Low-Income, Black and Hispanic Youth. Journal of sex research, 52(7), 736–746. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2014.960908

Fast Fact #88

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

Porn consumption is associated with lower self-esteem.

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

Fast Fact #18

(Taylor & Shrive, 2021)

According to a UK survey of over 22,000 adult women, 16% reported having been forced or coerced to perform sex acts the other person had seen in porn.

Citations

Taylor, J., & Shrive, J. (2021). ‘I thought it was just a part of life’: Understanding the scale of violence committed against women in the UK since birth. VictimFocus. Retrieved from https://irp.cdn-website.com/f9ec73a4/files/uploaded/Key-Facts-Document-VAWG-VictimFocus-2021a.pdf

How Porn Can Promote Sexual Violence

Fast Fact #67

(Wright, Tokunaga, & Kraus, 2016)

While not all porn features physical violence, even non-violent porn has been shown to be associated with negative effects like increased sexual aggression

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

Fast Fact #83

(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

Fast Fact #93

(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

Fast Fact #17

(Sun, Wright, & Steffen, 2017)

Research suggests that porn can influence women to be more submissive in sexual encounters.

Citations

Sun, C. F., Wright, P., & Steffen, N. (2017). German Heterosexual Women’s Pornography Consumption and Sexual Behavior. Sexualization, Media, & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/2374623817698113

Fast Fact #45

(TVPA, 2000)

If a porn performer is tricked, manipulated, or coerced during the production of porn, that is legally defined as sex trafficking.

Citations

Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106–386, Section 102(a), 114 Stat. 1464. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-106hr3244enr/pdf/BILLS-106hr3244enr.pdf

How Porn Can Fuel Sex Trafficking

Fast Fact #95

(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

Fast Fact #86

(Butler, Pereyra, Draper, Leonhardt, & Skinner, 2018)

Porn consumption is linked to increased loneliness.

Citations

Butler, M. H., Pereyra, S. A., Draper, T. W., Leonhardt, N. D., & Skinner, K. B. (2018). Pornography Use and Loneliness: A Bidirectional Recursive Model and Pilot Investigation. Journal of sex & marital therapy, 44(2), 127–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2017.1321601

How Porn Can Impact Mental Health and Fuel Loneliness

Fast Fact #33

(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

Fast Fact #27

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