How Porn is More Violently Dehumanizing and Sexually Objectifying to Women than Ever

Pornography has become more popular than ever before in our digital day and age.

We are the first generation to have constant access to a world of information on a device that fits into our pockets. With this technological power comes pros and cons. Because porn is now totally affordable, always accessible, and completely anonymous, it has become a mainstream pastime, viewed as a harmless—and even “healthy”—habit.

However, what many people don’t realize is that the link between pornography and violence, usually against women, is inseparable.

Violence and abuse are normalized

Anyone who has ever visited a popular porn site knows the majority of the scenarios involve women being used, dominated, and taken advantage of. A few years ago, a team of researchers looked at 50 of the most popular porn films—the ones purchased and rented most often. Of the 304 scenes the movies contained, 88% contained physical violence and 49% contained verbal aggression. On average, only one scene in 10 didn’t contain any aggression, and the typical scene averaged 12 physical or verbal attacks.

There are countless former porn performers who have spoken out against the industry and shared their unsettling stories of how they were exploited on film and off camera as well. It takes only a little research to find these stories of the industry’s violent nature.

We’ve shared many personal accounts of former porn performers, male and female, that details the abuse they endured during their time in the industry. One ex-porn actress known as Alex shared an especially gut-wrenching account of a particular adult film she starred in:

“[One particular film] was the most brutal, depressing, scary scene that I have ever done. I have tried to block it out from my memory due to the severe abuse that I received during the filming. The [male performer] has a natural hatred towards women, in the sense that he has always been known to be more brutal than ever needed. I agreed to do the scene, thinking it was less beating except for a punch in the head. If you noticed, [he] had worn his solid gold ring the entire time and continued to punch me with it. I actually stopped the scene while it was being filmed because I was in too much pain.”

Related: Jessica’s Story – My Life As A Porn Star

While the science and research on the harms of porn are powerful within its own right, these personal stories of real human beings who are treated like animals are especially powerful when exposing the harmful reality of porn.

Think about all of this in the context that kids are usually exposed to porn around the age of 9 years old, or sooner.

The question to ask at this point is, what is pornography teaching our society that is growing up on a steady diet of porn? With many boys becoming hooked to porn as young as age 12, are their developing brains being taught to make love to women, or to make hate?

Everything is not as it appears

Countless studies show that exposure to porn can begin to desensitize consumers to violence against women and influences them to believe it’s acceptable to repeat what they’ve seen on screen. But it may surprise you that violent porn isn’t the only issue. Researchers have found that even non-violent porn can influence the consumer to use forms of verbal manipulation and alcohol to push women into sex.

This is all easily overlooked considering the popular belief that women in porn do it for the enjoyment. But what if we told that, in too many cases, many women turn to porn as a last resort for money or as a result of drug abuse or as a response to being raped?

Watch Ran Gavrieli’s powerful TEDx talk where he perfectly explains the problem with porn today and what it has done to our society’s perceptions of sex.

In addition to violence, it’s no secret that pornography tends to ignore female pleasure and often focuses strictly on what pleases the man. Consider that a recent study of one popular porn site discovered that 78% of men were shown having an orgasm in the site’s top videos, compared to just 18.3% of women.

Consumers can easily overlook this fact because the women in these clips seem to be having an exaggerated, pleasurable time, even if they’re not shown having an orgasm. Or worse, a clip can focus in on and highlight a performer’s agony, if it’s intended to be violent or “punishment” sex. But either way, as long as someone in the scene looks like they enjoy what’s going on, it must be okay and worth repeating in your own relationship, right?

Not exactly.

Compare the reactions during a porn clip to the real stories of ex-porn stars who shared what was really happening in the exact same scene. Something clearly isn’t right. And the damage isn’t just being done to the minds of consumers, male and female. In many cases, porn sells the idea that, for women, their pleasure relies strictly on the man’s enjoyment and gives society an unrealistic view of what mutually satisfying sex entails.

Real love is sexy and consensual, for both people. Porn is the opposite of that.