Porn: the Facts for Adults

What do we need to know?

WHAT IS PORNOGRAPHY?

Pornography (porn) is sexually explicit media which is primarily intended to sexually arouse the audience. It includes images or video of one or more people in the nude engaging in sexual activity.

WHY DO WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PORN?

The dramatic growth of internet technology has changed the way young people encounter and consume porn. Historic barriers to porn such as access, cost and privacy have gone, and the majority of young people are now exposed to or engaging with porn, often from a very young age(1).

Porn is now affordable, anonymous, accessible and mostly acceptable – and research shows that it has become a primary form of sex education for young people (7). Porn is a powerful teacher, so we thought it’s time to start talking about it with our young people and asking some questions. Questions like … what is porn teaching us about sex? Is porn a good sex educator? How could watching porn change how we think and behave?

WHAT IS ONLINE PORN LIKE?

Porn has changed a lot since the playboy era. A 2021 study that looked at over 150,000 scene titles across the four main porn sites found 1 in 8 of the scene titles contained acts depicting sexual violence such as coercion, non-consent and physical aggression. The study concluded that sexual violence in pornography is mainstream and sexual violence is portrayed as normal and permissible (48).

A recent NZ study of the top 200 videos kiwis watched on Pornhub also revealed that 35% of the videos contain non-consensual behaviour, 10% showed physical violence and 71% of the scenes had no affection (44).

Both these studies also showed a strong trend towards sexual fantasy/violence between family members, with the NZ study showing 46% of the videos had family/step fantasy and the British study showing the most frequent sexually violent titles were sexual activity between family members.

How often do YOUNG PEOPlE ACCESS PORN?

Heaps. Studies show that between 80-100% of kids will have viewed porn. A recent NZ study indicated 75% of boys and 58% of girls aged 14-17 yrs had viewed porn and 1 in 4 17-year old boys watched regularly (41). Many young people first discover porn by accident, often at a very young age. In the New Zealand study 1/4 of the young people had seen porn by aged 12 or under (41).

SO HOW MUCH PORN IS OUT THERE?

A lot. In 1972, at the very height of the Playboy magazine era, 7.2 million copies were distributed a month. By comparison, Pornhub, one of the most popular porn sites today, has 130 million people visiting it every day. In 2019 alone, it had 43 billion visits and over 6.8 million new porn videos were uploaded (32).

WHAT IS “THE NEW PORN LANDSCAPE”?

This term is used to describe the emergence of a new online porn landscape for young people, which is categorically different from that of pre-internet and pre-smartphone generations. It’s new in terms of: how much is out there; what type of porn is now mainstream; how easily it’s accessed and shared via personal devices; and how often young people use it.

HOW ARE YOUNG PEOPLE ACCESSING PORN?

Porn is super easy to access. Most kids watch it on their smart phones or on portable devices (41). A lot of young people first come across porn accidently – and often on non-porn sites. In the New Zealand study, 71% first came across porn by accident and  44% on non-porn sites (44). Most porn is free and any young person has easy, free and one-click access to most porn sites.

How is porn impacting our young people?

We still have a lot to learn about porn in New Zealand. We recently undertook a youth stakeholder survey called Porn and Young People – What do we Know? with 622 New Zealand youth health professionals, school staff, youth workers and whānau.

This indicated that 94% of them were concerned that porn is an issue for young people in New Zealand. We currently don’t have specific local data yet on the impact of porn on youth – however there is a growing body of international research on this, indicating some potential harms. These are dependent on frequency of usage and content type, but here’s what they say:

SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS

Young people are a vulnerable and susceptible audience to porn – and porn has now become a primary sex educator, shaping their sexual attitudes and beliefs and redefining sexual norms (7, 14, 41). Studies indicate that exposure to porn increases the likelihood that teenagers, regardless of their gender, view women as sexual objects and hold negative gender attitudes (5, 15). 89% of NZ youth believe porn influences their attitudes, 20% noting it gives false expectations of sex and what ‘normal’ is (41)

REAL LIFE SEX

Frequent porn usage has been shown to be associated with some poor sexual outcomes. Young people that watch a lot of porn are less likely to enjoy intimate behaviours such as cuddling and kissing and can find it more difficult to remain aroused during sex and to shift from porn to real life partners(2, 17, 10). Some may rely on porn to become and remain sexually excited and can develop a preference for porn over real life partners(15). Frequent porn users also have an increased likelihood of developing porn-induced sexual dysfunction (e.g. difficulty maintaining an erection), with one study reporting 14% of adolescent boys were experiencing sexual abnormalities with moderate (less than once a week) porn use, which rose to 25% with weekly (or more) usage(9). A 2018 study also indicated that young adults that regularly watch porn reported reduced sexual satisfaction – even just with monthly use(40).

MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES

Young people’s brains are still developing, and some studies show an association between high porn usage and poor mental health outcomes such as depressive symptoms, less social integration, decreased emotional connection with caregivers and higher levels of delinquent behaviour(3). Porn has also been associated with a negative body image for girls and feelings of physical inferiority for boys, fearing they can’t measure up in both virility and performance(15, 16). 56-68% of youth in one study believed that porn leads to pressure on girls and boys to look a certain way(16).

FEELING ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’, SHAME AND TRAUMA

Watching porn can feel great for some people, but for others, it can make them feel confused, upset or uncomfortable. A New Zealand study showed 72% of young people felt uncomfortable about something they’d seen in porn (41).

Some young people also experience ‘shame’ around their porn use. This can be worse if they come from a cultural or religious background where porn is taboo. These young people can struggle with asking for help or support because they are afraid of telling an adult about their porn use. Long term, shame can lead to increased anxiety and a cycle of using porn to manage these negative feelings.

Some young people who have experienced sexual assault can also find watching porn can be very triggering and they may need support.

SEXUAL BEHAVIOURS

A number of studies have shown that watching porn influences young people’s sexual behaviours. There are associations with high porn usage, early sexual experimentation and sexual intercourse, risky sexual behaviours, casual sex and an increased number of sexual partners (15, 28, 29). Young people, particularly regular viewers, are likely to try sexual acts they watch in porn. A NZ study showed that 1/3 of boys who watched porn wished to emulate what they saw in porn and 36% of 17 year-old girls had enacted something they had seen (41). Young people who watch a lot of porn are also less likely to use condoms, more likely to be sexually coercive and have an increased probability of sending sexual images/messages (11,24,26,28).

SEXUALLY AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOURS

There is an association between regular porn consumption and sexually aggressive behaviour including forced sex, inter-partner sexual violence, sexual harassment and the perpetration of sexual coercion and abuse (26). One review looked at 22 studies on the link between porn and aggression and found that people who regularly view porn are four times more likely to be sexually aggressive (11). Of note – Porn is only one risk factor for sexual violence perpetration and increases the risk for some young people more than others.

COMPULSIVE PORN USE

More research is needed on porn usage and ‘addiction’, but we do know that adolescents’ brains may be especially vulnerable to problematic porn use – and studies are indicating that young people are more likely to develop compulsive porn usage (3). Some young people describe an inability to stop watching porn, even when it’s impacting their schoolwork, friendships, social life or partner. In a New Zealand study, of the ‘frequent’ porn users 42% said they would like to spend less time looking but find it hard not to (41).

Some young people also find their preference for the type of porn changes with the more they watch – and they need increasingly violent and extreme porn in order to get aroused.

SO, HOW DO WE HELP YOUNG PEOPLE RESPOND TO THIS NEW PORN LANDSCAPE?

Three simple steps we can all take:

School-up on porn: Building our own knowledge on the new porn landscape and the online porn world young people are navigating is a great first step!

Start the conversation – In a recent survey, young people told us they want to talk to adults about porn but they are often too afraid of being judged or shamed. Here’s a link to some tips for how to have a safe and helpful porn conversation with a young person.

Help young people become ‘porn-literate” – Porn literacy is the term for young people’s ability to think critically about the messages in porn and how that relates to their own values and beliefs and real life sexuality. Through this, young people are equipped with knowledge and tools to make informed and healthy decisions about porn, minimizing the potential long-term harm.

If you’re worried about a young person check out NEED HELP or if you’d like to learn more, have a look through some of our recommended RESOURCES.

If you are struggling with porn related issues check out IN THE KNOW – Our latest youth website with tips, tools and help on all the tricky porn related issues.