Isn't pornography simply harmless entertainment? Or even beneficial and educational?

Today, pornography is being marketed as a healthy pastime. Additionally, the idea is being perpetuated that only religious zealots with over-active guilt complexes disapprove of it.

While the media industry and some advocates would have us believe porn is harmless, acceptable, and natural, the reality is much different.

Though one could argue that nudity and sex are natural, men and women and children are inundated with unnatural and distorted sexual media virtually every day. As never before, extraordinary extremes of sexuality are available to children and families in public places, in schools and in homes.

In actuality, it is a very real problem that needs to be discussed and addressed openly.

What exactly is pornography?

Pornography is material that is sexually oriented and intended primarily to arouse the reader, the viewer, or the listener.  

It may depict nudity or sexual behavior, and includes written materials such as romance novels, photographs, videos, electronic images, video games, internet chat rooms, erotic telephone conversations and texts, music, or other media.

Worldwide pornography revenue in 2006 was $97.06 billion.
Internet Filter Review, 2006

Join the Fight

In a world where pornography is not only accepted but applauded, we as women need to take a stand and speak up for decency -- at home, at schools, and in our communities.

We need to become educated on this toxic topic, and then we need to teach our families and communities how to combat its intrusion into our lives.

Volunteers needed

No one is safe from the damaging effects of pornography.

There are very real and dangerous effects on individuals of all ages and genders, on families, and society as a whole.

It not only affects those who produce and consume pornography, but also those who live and work in the same households, businesses, and communities as pornography users.

No gender or age group remains unaffected.

Pornography is not a realistic or healthy source of information about real sexual relationships, and can have damaging effects on young people’s sexual development and emotional responses.

Research has found that some of the effects on children/adolescents include:

• Uncertainty about sexual values (Peter & Valkenburg, 2008)
• More likely to engage in sexual intercourse at an earlier age (Borwn & L'Engle, 2009)
• Aggressive sexual behavior toward other children, even siblings (Peters, 2009)
• Lasting negative or traumatic emotional responses
• Belief that rape victims deserve or want abuse (Weim, Lo, & Wu, 2010)
• Negative changes in brain structure (Robinson & Wilson, 2011)
• Addictions that persist into adulthood (Katehakis, 2011)

Evidence also suggests that pornography leads to:
Jill Manning Testimony: U.S Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 10 Nov. 2005

• The belief that superior sexual satisfaction is attainable without having affection for one’s partner, thereby reinforcing the objectification of humans.
   
• The belief that being married or having a family are unattractive prospects.
   
• Increased risk for developing sexual compulsions and addictive behavior.
   
• Increased risk of exposure to incorrect information about human sexuality long before a minor is able to contextualize this information in ways an adult brain could.
   
• Overestimating the prevalence of such sexual behaviors as group sex, beastiality, and sadomasochism.

The average age of a child first exposed to pornography is now nine years old.

Also, pornography is now much more than simple cleavage or sexy photos; pornography is now mostly graphic and degrading and often crude and cruel.

Psychologists tell us that images are permanently imprinted on the mind and that it can become addictive. We know that more and more men are substituting pornography for real relationships and that, increasingly, pornography is setting the pattern for what young men expect from their dates.

Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Concerned Women for America

The prevalence of pornography in the lives of many children and adolescents is far more significant than most adults realize.

Pornography is deforming the healthy sexual development of these young viewers, and it is used to exploit children and adolescents.

The Social Costs of Pornography

In a survey of teens and young adults done by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy (2008):

• 39% of teens are sending or posting sexually suggestive messages.
   
• 71% of teen girls and 67% of teen guys who have sent or posted sexually suggestive content say they have sent/posted this content to a boyfriend/girlfriend.
   
• 21% of teen girls and 39% of teen boys say they have sent such content to someone with whom they wanted to date or ‘hook up.’
   
• 15% of teens who have sent or posted nude/seminude images of themselves have done so to someone they only knew online.

Experts in the field of childhood sexual abuse report that any premature sexual activity in children always suggests two possible stimulants: experience and exposure. 

 Your child may be viewing pornography if you discover the following:

• An unusual curiosity about sexuality for his or her age
• Signs of premature sexual activity
• Unusual or unexplained credit card charges
• Increased pop-ups or inappropriate e-mails on your computer
• Computer screen changes quickly when you walk into a room
• Noticeable changes in behavior, including increased secretiveness or defensiveness

Most sexual and pornographic addictions begin in middle childhood or early adolescence, and most of the time without the parents' awareness or the children themselves having a sufficient understanding of the risks involved.

Dr. Victor B. Cline
Pornography's Effects on Adults & Children

Pornography use is almost always carefully hidden.

Research demonstrates that repeated exposure to pornography results in:

• Increased callousness toward women
   
• Increased infidelity, extramarital affairs
   
• Decreased ability to perform physically in intimate relationships
   
• Increased incidence of depression
   
• More likely to hire prostitutes
   
• Devaluation of monogamy, marriage and child rearing
   
• Poor job performance and risk of dismissal when used at work
   
• Increased compulsive or risky sexual behavior
   
• Trivialization of rape as a criminal offense
   
• Distorted perceptions about sexuality
   
• Increased appetite for more graphic types of pornography and sexual activity associated with abusive, illegal or unsafe practices
   
• Use of illegal pornography such as child pornography
   
• Increased compulsive and addictive sexual behavior

More statistics

Is pornography a problem for women?

Although pornography use is not as common among women, the number of women viewing pornography is increasing rapidly, and many new pornography websites are geared towards women.

Pornography addiction in women frequently takes different forms than for men. For example, men tend to respond to visual images, while women initially tend to be more drawn to verbal and written forms of pornography such as graphic romance novels, explicit chat rooms, or online romantic role playing.

Many women are drawn into social media relationships that can lead to the production of self-pornography for dissemination to individuals they meet online. Some women agree to watch pornography with their boyfriend or husband as a way to “spice up” the relationship or in an ineffective attempt to keep him from viewing it alone. Women can also become addicted to the pornographic material.

Even though pornography may be viewed in secret,
the inability to connect with a partner and loved ones is felt by all.

Pornography affects marriage and partnerships

Insensitivity to a partner’s personal needs and feelings are often a hallmark of relationships where pornography is involved.

A person with a pornography addiction cannot build a healthy relationship. Their ability to be unselfish, compassionate, and emotionally available is severely compromised by their addiction.

Other damaging effects include:

• Devaluation of monogamy, viewing non-monogamous relations as normal
   
• Decreased satisfaction with a partner’s sexual performance, affection
   
• Decreased satisfaction with a partner's physical appearance
   
• Decreased desire to have children
   
• Increased risk of separation or divorce
   
• Some statistics indicate infidelity increases by 300%

How does my viewing pornography affect my children?

Pornography causes a change in the way the user relates to others—especially to their children and spouse. The pornography user learns a simple, one-sided sexual response which eliminates intimacy. The user actually loses his ability to emotionally connect with others. Instead of warmth, empathy, and compassion, the user interacts with family members with detachment and criticism. He is emotionally unavailable. This can be very damaging to children.

When a child lives in a home where an adult is consuming pornography, he/she encounters several risks:

• Decreased attention as parents withdraw
   
• Increased risk of encountering pornographic material
   
• Increased risk of parental separation and divorce
   
• Increased risk of parental job loss and financial strain
   
• Higher risk of child abuse
  • A paper published in the Journal of Family Violence in 2009 revealed that 85 percent of men arrested for child pornography had also physically abused children.

There's absolutely nothing positive about using pornography.

Society has only begun to grapple with these new problems. To the extent that the consumption of internet pornography is one more factor subverting family life, it harms not only those affected immediately by the user but also the wider society as well.

Much of the social harm associated with pornography consumption seems to spring from its intense behavior-teaching and permission-giving experience resulting in:

• Objectification of women
   
• A factor in human trafficking for sexual exploitation
   
• Rise in criminal offenses
   
• Prostitution 
   
• Sexually transmitted disease

Pornography is being consumed in greater quantities than ever before in history, and its content has grown more graphic.

Pornographic content has degenerated dramatically and progressively from nudity to child molestation, to adult and child sex acts, to incestuous child abuse, to lust murders, to child sex rings, to serial rape, to autoerotic asphyxia... with no end in sight.

Widespread pornography consumption poses a serious challenge to public health as well as personal and family well-being.

Back to Top

More information:

PornHarms: Research

Vice Report

Porn in the USA

Morality in Media

Pornography Statistics

Statistics at Internet Safety 101

Dr. Victor B. Cline, psychotherapist specializing in family and marital counseling and sexual addictions

Senate Committee hearing on " Why the Government Should Care about Pornography: The State Interest in Protecting Children and Families"
November 10, 2005

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