10 Things You Don’t Know About Porn

10 Porn Facts: What You Need to Know Before Watching

Watching porn is just a pleasurable pastime that doesn’t do anyone any harm — right? Well, no. That’s not actually proven to be true. Pornography doesn’t add any positivity to relationships, the world, or life in general. Quite the contrary, research shows porn consumption can directly contribute to some very difficult situations, including low self-confidence, sexual abuse, child exploitation, and sex trafficking. This statement may seem dramatic, harsh, or false. Nevertheless, it’s accurate and based on research.

Consider These Things Before Consuming Porn

Below are 10 things most people don’t usually consider before consuming porn — and why they should.

1. Porn Isn’t Real Sex

Porn is a fantasized version of sex and gives unrealistic portrayals that are nearly impossible to simulate in real life. Real sex is natural and should be fulfilling on its own, without the need to “spice things up” with over-produced, misrepresented images and over-the-top outcomes. When someone becomes consumed by porn, they can miss out on fully experiencing the joy of sex and connection with a partner.

2. Porn Lowers Self-Confidence

It is not uncommon for body dissatisfaction to affect those who view pornography. The Journal of Health Psychology says, “Compelling evidence shows that frequency of pornography exposure is associated with negatively perceived body image and sexual body image; both heterosexual men and women appear to be affected.”

This tends to happen because “fantasized” performers often have “ideal” or enhanced bodies that inaccurately portray most real-life bodies, as well as sexual scenarios that often don’t reflect the real world.

3. Porn Changes the Way Consumers See Others

For both men and women, porn misrepresents the vast majority of people and reduces them down to only bodies to be used for sex and discarded. This objectification can be ingrained in the consumer’s brain and make it easier to see others only as sexual objects. It takes away from the fact that every person around a consumer is a whole person with complex personalities who have much more value to offer the world than just sexual pleasure.

It’s also common for porn to intentionally marginalize people because of their LGBTQ+ sexual identity. It exploits those in the LGBTQ+ community by focusing many of the videos on the punishment and/or humiliation of such individuals. This is done through the use of derogatory terms and forced painful sex acts. Additionally, “lesbian porn” exaggerates inaccurate caricatures of female same-sex relationships with the object of fantasizing or fetishizing them for a male audience.

4. Porn Escalates Desires and Behaviors

The content a porn consumer starts off viewing can seem innocent enough and give a dopamine kick to the viewer. However, it doesn’t take long before the brain can get bored of seeing the same kinds of things. To get another dose of dopamine, something new and even more exciting needs to be viewed. This escalation can continue until a consumer requires more hardcore, violent, or even illegal content in some extreme cases to get the same effect that less extreme versions of porn used to give.

5. Porn Consumption Can Turn into a Habit or Addiction

According to a 2019 study published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, “Online pornography use is on the rise, with a potential for addiction considering the ‘triple-A’ influence (accessibility, affordability, anonymity). This problematic use might have adverse effects in sexual development and sexual functioning, especially among the young population.”

Porn has this effect because it floods the brain with dopamine, which encourages repeated behavior as the brain will crave another surge of dopamine.

6. Porn Can Damage Your Relationship

Consuming porn can quickly and easily damage a consumer’s relationship. Porn has the potential to confuse consumers, cut off emotions, undermine trust in a partnership, and leave feelings of anger, humiliation, jealousy, shame, rejection, and betrayal in the partners of porn consumers. This can be the case whether only one partner is viewing porn or both partners are involved.

7. Porn Scenes Aren’t Always Consensual and Porn Professionals Endure Abuse

Many viewers believe that if a pornographic movie is mainstream, shows everyone having a good time, or if the performer films their expressed consent before and after the video, then everything is ethical and acceptable. Yet, that’s really not the case. Performers can often lie during these interviews and have admitted to doing so because of a fear of fallout or not being paid. Really, is there any way to know for sure that the performer is acting under their own volition? Considering the power their producers and managers can have over them, there isn’t.

While there are porn industry standards and regulations put in place to protect performers, abuse is still common, often with no recourse for victims. Many are coerced or forced into agreeing to perform certain things. If they don’t, then they are either forced to do it anyway or are blacklisted from getting future work.

8. Porn Is Linked to Child Exploitation and Abuse

A common way for abusers and traffickers to groom children and teens into performing sexual acts is through repeatedly exposing them to pornographic scenes. This can have the effects of diminishing inhibitions, giving instructions, grooming children to become comfortable with seeing sex acts and nudity, and getting the child aroused so they will be more willing to imitate sex acts while being filmed or comply with abuse.

It’s worth noting that child sexual abuse material (CSAM), commonly referred to as child pornography, is illegal. This includes “any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct (or “sufficiently sexually suggestive” conduct) involving a minor (someone under 18 years of age).” It also means that anyone under the age of 18 who is taking, receiving, or sending nude pictures, videos, or CGI material of others who are under 18 years old is considered to be distributing child sexual abuse material. If you have encountered CSAM, it should be reported to the proper authorities.

How to Report Child Sexual Abuse Material If You or Someone You Know Sees It Online

10. Porn Fuels Sex Trafficking

There are many forms of sex trafficking, and sometimes, porn videos are one and the same with trafficking. Sex trafficking is officially defined as a “modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years.”

The porn industry:

• Often exploits performers through fraud, coercion, or force.
• Informs sexual fantasies and expectations (often violent ones) that trafficking victims must imitate.
• Normalizes the trauma experienced by sex trafficking victims.

These truths can be challenging to hear, but now that you have, let them inform your opinion about whether or not consuming pornography does more harm than good.

*Please note: Fight the New Drug is a non-legislative, non-religious, and non-discriminatory organization. The views expressed above are not motivated by biased opinions but based on personal experiences and scientifically-backed research.