Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
In one survey of underage sex trafficking victims, 63% said they had been advertised or sold online.
Research shows that porn consumers are more likely to forward intimate images without consent. Researchers suggest this may be because regular porn consumers tend to develop sexually objectifying attitudes towards others.
Porn consumption is associated with lower self-esteem.
A UK survey found that 44% of males aged 11–16 who consumed pornography reported that online pornography gave them ideas about the type of sex they wanted to try.
Research indicates that porn can fuel sexist attitudes in porn consumers.
Research shows that even individuals who are accepting of pornography tend to experience psychological distress when their own partners consume pornography.
Pornography is the 2nd-most common form of sex trafficking, according to cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
According to a report of prosecuted sex trafficking cases in the U.S., the majority of coercive tactics used by traffickers (59%) were non-physical, compared to 41% of tactics involving physical coercion.
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 frequent porn consumers are more likely to victim-blame survivors of sexual violence.
Qualitative research with current and former porn performers suggests that sexual exploitation and trafficking are common experiences in the porn industry.
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."
Some frequent porn consumers can become so accustomed to the exaggerated forms of sex they see in porn, that they may have a difficult time becoming aroused in real-life sexual encounters unless porn is also present.
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.
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.
1 in 12 U.S. adults report that they have been victims of image-based abuse —sometimes called “revenge porn—and 1 in 20 report that they have been perpetrators of image-based abuse.
Even quitting porn for a short time can lessen its negative effects and have positive effects on consumers' lives and relationships.
Approximately 91.5% of men and 60.2% of women report consuming porn in the past month, according to a 2020 study.
Desensitization, or a numbed pleasure response, has been shown to happen in cases of pornography consumption.
Research indicates that only 18.3% of women in popular porn videos (compared to 78% of men) were depicted as reaching climax.
©Fight the New Drug, Inc. 2025, All rights Reserved. Fight the New Drug is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN: 26-3550143
Fight the New Drug, PO Box 522378, Salt Lake City, UT 84152 | Fight the New Drug is a part of the PHASE Alliance™.
