5 Top Questions About the Problems With Porn

1. What is pornography?

Pornography is media that clearly shows or describes nudity or sexual activities and is intended to create sexual feelings. (Dr. Jill C. Manning)

It can be online or in video games, mobile apps, movies, photos, music, magazines, advertising, social media, books, email, texts, and more.

Pornography is significantly more violent, degrading, and deviant than in the past. One study found that 88% of scenes showed physical aggression, and women were the target of violence 94% of the time.

2. How many people are viewing pornography?

Here are some statistics that give an idea of the enormous extent of pornography use today.

  • Together, porn sites get 450 million unique visitors per month – more than Netflix, Amazon, and Twitter combined. [1]
  • The largest porn site on the web gets 4.4 billion page views per month, which is three times the number for CNN or ESPN. [2]
  • The second largest porn site brings in 14.9 million unique visitors monthly, [3] hosts over 100TB of porn and serves over 100 million page views per day. At peak time, it serves 4000 pages per second. [4]
  • More than 1 in 5 searches on Google’s mobile search are for pornography; this is the most frequent category of searches. [5]
  • 29.5% of adults who use the Internet at work visited a pornography site while working. [6]
  • 24% of smartphone owners over age 18 admitted to having porn on their mobile phone. 84% of these who were involved in a romantic relationship said their partner did not know about the porn. [7]
  • 93% of boys and 62% of girls are exposed to pornography before 18. [8]
  • By the time children reach their teens, 32% intentionally search for pornography online; of these, 43% do so on a weekly basis. Only 12% of their parents realize their children are viewing pornography. [9]

These numbers are a cause for deep concern. They represent a large segment of society that is at risk of harmful effects of using pornography.

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/internet-porn-stats_n_3187682.html [2] http://www.extremetech.com/computing/123929-just-how-big-are-porn-sites [3] http://www.businessinsider.com/eat24-advertises-on-porn-sites-2013-9#ixzz3IUcx2IDy [4] http://www.extremetech.com/computing/123929-just-how-big-are-porn-sites/2 [5] Maryam Kamvar and Shumeet Baluja, “A large scale study of wireless search behavior: Google mobile search.” (2006) [6] 29% Accessed Porn on Work Computers Last Month, CBS News [7] “Quarter of smartphone owners have porn on their handset,” May 4, 2011, 10 Yetis [8] Chiara Sabina, Janis Wolak, and David Finkelhor, “The nature and dynamics of Internet pornography exposure for youth,” CyberPsychology and Behavior 11 (2008): 691-693. [9] McAfee (2012). The Digital Divide: How the Online Behavior of Teens is Getting Past Parents.

 

 

3. It’s natural to be interested in sex – why try to make people feel guilty for that?

We affirm the value of healthy sexual relationships in people’s lives. The irony is that people may be attracted to porn because of this natural, healthy interest in sexuality – but in time, using this false substitute will diminish the enjoyment of real sexual relationships.   Viewers are ambushed with degraded behavior, contrived situations, and unrealistic bodies – all far from natural. Over time, sexual desires and expectations can change and conform to the counterfeit sexuality displayed in pornography.

The impact of pornography comes from more than natural sexual feelings. It is also designed to create reactions such as shock, disgust, and violence. These negative, anti-social emotions linked with sex can train the brain to crave these damaging elements in a sexual relationship.

We believe that when people understand the harmful effects of pornography they will refuse to allow it into their lives in order to protect the wonderful experience of real, healthy sexuality.

4. Pornography doesn’t affect anyone but the viewer - shouldn’t we just let people do what they want?

Pornography has been marketed as a victimless crime, harmless entertainment, and sexual empowerment. Too often people do not understand how destructive pornography is. It harms the viewer, their family, and the people used to produce pornography. It changes the way people think about and treat others, and affects everyone in society. This incredibly damaging behavior causes social ties to disintegrate and isolates people with selfishness, secrecy, and shame. It creates loneliness, not love and friendship. Pornography turns bodies into commodities for sale and sex into a spectator event for entertainment. Too often the women and children used to produce pornography experience the worst abuse imaginable. Pornography leads some to mistreat real people in their world and is implicated in  prostitution, sex trafficking, child abuse, divorce, and sexual assault. “When private action has consequences for society beyond the individual, the public has an interest in understanding the problem and in finding ways to address it.”  – Social Costs of Pornography We believe the public has a right to be warned of the consequences of viewing pornography and allowing it to be freely distributed in our society. Many people have said they wish they had been aware of the problems that being involved with pornography would bring.

What question would you like to see here?

What do you think most people would like to know? Email us at info@utahcoalition.org and let us know what question you would like to see answered here!