German poet Heinrich Heine said you cannot feed the hungry on statistics. Well-researched stats can only illuminate the problem, not solve it.
But for many, the problem of pornography in our modern culture still needs a spotlight. What do some of the latest stats tell us about this sexual-media giant?
Covenant Eyes has released a new conglomeration of pornography statistics based on some of the best research. Here are the highlights…
Porn is big business.
In the early 2000s, global porn revenues were estimated at $20 billion, with $10 billion coming from US consumers.
However, by 2011 both global and U.S. porn revenues had been reduced by 50%, due in large part to the amount of free pornography available online. It is estimated that 80-90% of Internet porn users only access free online material.
As far as online pornography is concerned, from 2001 to 2007, the Internet porn industry went from a $1-billion-a-year industry to $3-billion-a-year in the US alone.
Porn is a dangerous business.
On average, 17% of performers use condoms in heterosexual porn films. 66% of porn performers have herpes, and 7% of porn performers have HIV.
Ex-porn star Tanya Burleson says men and women in pornography do drugs because “they can’t deal with the way they’re being treated” in the industry. A 2012 survey of porn actresses demonstrated 79% of porn stars have used marijuana, 50% have used ecstasy, 44% have used cocaine, and 39% have used hallucinogens.
When hundreds of scenes were analyzed from the 50 top-selling adult films, 88% of scenes contained acts of physical aggression, and 49% of scenes contained verbal aggression.
All types of people look at Internet porn.
Paul Fishbein, founder of Adult Video News, is right when he says, “Porn doesn’t have a demographic—it goes across all demographics.” After an analysis of 400 million web searches, researchers concluded that 1 in 8 of all searches online is for erotic content.
Who is more likely to seek out pornography online? According to data taken from Internet users who took part in the General Social Survey:
- Men are 543% more likely to look at porn than females.
- Those who are politically more liberal are 19% more likely to look at porn.
- Those who have ever committed adultery are 218% more likely to look at porn.
- Those who have ever engaged in paid sex are 270% more likely to look at porn.
- Those who are happily married are 61% less likely to look at porn.
- Those with teen children at home are 45% less likely to look at porn.
- Regular church attenders are 26% less likely to look at porn than non-attenders, but those self-identified as “fundamentalists” are 91% more likely to look at porn.
Mobile porn is increasing in popularity.
After an analysis of more than one million hits to Google’s mobile search sites, more than 1 in 5 searches are for pornography on mobile devices.
By 2015, mobile adult content and services are expected to reach $2.8 billion, mobile adult subscriptions will reach nearly $1 billion, and mobile adult video on tablets will triple worldwide.
It is common for teens to see porn.
In a 2010 national survey, over a quarter of 16- to 17-year-olds said they were exposed to nudity online when they did not want to see it. In addition, 20% of 16-year-olds and 30% of 17-year-olds have received a “sext” (a sexually explicit text message).
More than 7 out of 10 teens hide their online behavior from their parents in some way.
35% of boys say they have viewed pornographic videos “too many times to count.”
More than half of boys and nearly a third of girls see their first pornographic images before they turn 13. In a survey of hundreds of college students, 93% of boys and 62% of girls said they were exposed to pornography before they turned 18. In the same survey, 83% of boys and 57% of girls said they had seen images of group sex online.
It is common for young adults to use porn.
About 64-68% of young adult men and about 18% of women use porn at least once every week. Another 17% of men and another 30% of women use porn 1-2 times per month.
Two-thirds of college-age men and half of college-age women say viewing porn is an acceptable way to express one’s sexuality.
Porn is destroying families.
The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reports that 56% of divorce cases involve one party having “an obsessive interest in pornographic websites.”
According to numerous studies, prolonged exposure to pornography leads to:
- diminished trust between intimate couples
- the belief that promiscuity is the natural state
- cynicism about love or the need for affection between sexual partners
- the belief that marriage is sexually confining
- a lack of attraction to family and child-raising
Continue to educate yourself about this topic. See our comprehensive list of statistics.
Luke when ever you get a request for help from a porn addiction you can direct them to my website insidehisgrace.org It may help Daniel Smith in the earlier blog.
Thanks!
Its in yahoo images that it is not all covered and I really would love to get
over this cause I travel a lot in my current Job and am away from my family but my desires are real and I can’t take no more so plz help if you can. Thanks Many Thanks….
There is a 12 step accountability program to help those addicted to porn. Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) has a website where you can get contact info to find out if there is a local group in your area. My husband was addicted to porn for 35 years, and with God’s help He has delivered him from it.
HOW DID HE DO IT?
I need help for my addiction and have Covenant Eyes installed but am not getting all covered. help b4 I fall to far.
Let me know how we can help. What are the sources of your temptation right now? Where do you get access to porn?
I’ve been thinking about writing a very comparable post over the last couple of weeks, I’ll probably keep it short and sweet and link to this instead if that’s cool. Thanks..
hi luke, my names daniel and i am addicted to pornography, i was 9 years old when i was on a computer game and an ad for cybersex came up. Im 15 now and I am looking for help, this addiction is tearing my life apart, and i cant stand by and watch as it does. When i read these statistics,i was in shock. I never knew that so many people could be porn addicts. I just want to thank you for doing this, i can use this as a motivator to resist my urges, and i can finally find peace in my life when its over.
Hi Daniel, I hope you are encouraged. Thanks for the comment. Look around more. I hope you’ll find some other things to help you here.
Hi, porn like anything else that is harmful to one is like a cancer it starts small but quickly can take over. I suggest finding support from someone at your church, that will hold you accountable when you use and will pray for you and with you. In addition since our body(flesh) is the thing that craves it and your spirit(conscience) feels convicted you have to bring you body in line with your spirit. The only way how is to pray, fast (look it up for details) read and recite God’s word pertaining to the problem you have and want to change. You can do it, may not be easy but you have already learn to do more difficult things (walk, talk,learn new things) whats the difference with this? If you need some other advice, prayer, ect email me ATHTVSubmissions@yahoo.com
Go to a web site called Painful Porn on face book .Has a lot of resources and solutions to coming off porn
Talk to your psychologist !
Hey Luke, I’m glad you recanted in our personal email exchange and agreed that the statistic you published that states “50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to porn” is totally baseless and without merit. As a subject matter expert who is often quoted in the media myself, I am very careful about the statistics and studies I cite related to porn use.
Since my credibility as an expert is on the line each time I speak out on the issue, I’ve personally gone back and researched the source of many of these stats, especially ones that sound hyped and are often tossed around in church talk on the subject.
The one you cite above is one of the most oft used, misquoted statistic that has absolutely no basis in fact and is completely unscientific. So when Christians and Christian organizations cite such hyperbole, it hurts our credibility outside the church and is misleading to those inside the church.
Let’s not be like the self-promoting porn industry and insiders like Paul Fishbein (also someone who you quote in your statistics package who is well known as a promoter of the porn industry and who’s been known to exaggerate industry consumption stats to make their/his industry look bigger than it really is).
The bottom line on this statistic: SCIENTIFIC studies that are often quoted by addiction and medical experts estimate that 3-6% of the adult population is sexually addicted. My personal belief based solely on empirical evidence (and thus not fact) is that this rate in the Christian community alone COULD be double that, or 6-12%, which would still be a big number. But 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women – no way!
Right. The survey never concluded that that many Christians were actually addicted to porn but that for those who responded to the survey, 50% of men and 20% of women said they were. Big difference. It is doubtful (1) that many of those people would actually fit the criteria for a true addiction, and (2) that the survey was done in a manner that accurately reflects the state of the church nationwide.
The fact that many Christian men or women in any church would claim that they “feel addicted” to pornography is indicative more of the way they use the term “addiction.”
All good comments…but isn’t there is a difference between sex addiction and porn addiction? Based on my empirical evidence (audiences I’ve talked to, teens and men I coach,…) that stat. is believable if it talking about porn addiction. The other statistic that is problematic is the age of first exposure….officially it has been stuck at 11 years old since the 80’s…even though all of us in this arena know from personal experience in the field that it is closer to 8. My own son was exposed to porn on a school bus when he was 9. It was one of the reasons why I started Explicit Content. Thanks you all you do Luke.
There is a difference between porn addiction and sex addiction, yes—especially today. Modern Internet porn addiction is often as much an addiction to the Internet as it is to porn. The two are co-mingled. It isn’t uncommon for porn addicts to be virgins—thus, they are not sex addicts. The two experiences can be very different. That said, many sex addicts are also porn addicts. Addictions can co-exist.
I started masturbating And watching porn When i was 15yr …am 20yr And am still in this disgraceful mess…help me doctor
Hi Richard, please read this blog post: https://www.covenanteyes.com/2010/05/13/3-biblical-strategies-for-fighting-lust/ You might have to take a few steps and that blog might help.
Chris
My son, at the age of eight, was exposed to pornography at our local library. It happened while I was with my children in the children’s library. Two young boys were looking at it on the computer. When my husband called the library and talked to the director the director just laughed about the incident. My son came and told me that the boys were looking at something bad. I wish I could take the experience away from him.
Terrible, I know. We have has similar experiences happen at our local library.