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.
The bottom line is that if a person has ANY level of habitually looking at porn, there are addicted to it AT SOME LEVEL. More importantly, that addiction is progressive; i.e. What starts as an occasional indulgence in porn will ALWAYS increase in frequency. That is the nature of addiction in general. What starts as an occasional indulgence will progress to monthly, weekly and then daily etc. The problem with porn is that it is so easily accessible – it’s always just one mouse click away. The addiction is chemical as well in that it affects your biochemistry. Sex involves the release of dopamine and adrenaline which is great in a normal healthy marriage but utterly destructive otherwise.
I have an article where I discuss the different Christian viewpoints of addiction. You might be interested in that discussion.
Currently, I am a 23 year old female who has dated all sorts of wonderful, Christian men. All of them have been addicted to porn, right up to the time of our relationship starting. My parents are currently getting divorced over pornography. It’s hard for me to learn boundaries/limits and to trust possible husbands when I see the habit is so fresh and common. I am curious if you have any advice for me. Is it possible to find a young Christian man who has not been addicted to porn at some point or had premarital sex? I am scared to marry any of them based on what I have seen in my parents. I know God can deliver and change a heart, but I also know He gives wisdom. Any thoughts?
Hey Heather. I think you’re bumping into the reality that young women today are all faced with, whether they know it or not. I wrote an article about this a while back, which is here. And then, because I get so many questions just like this from young women, I just wrote an ebook called Porn and Your Boyfriend, which is at Amazon right now.
I think the summary is this: young women today are faced with brand-new challenges when it comes to dating and porn. There’s never been this kind of prevalence before! And so I think young women need a whole new skill set in terms of courage and wisdom and really good discernment and boundaries. Those are the things I’m hoping the article and ebook can help address. Give a read, and let me know what you think! (and if the ebook helps, review it at Amazon so others will find it, too.) Kay
I am too watch porn.porn is like food for me..and i have no problem with porn..can u tell me porn is injured / harmful to me or not.
I think this article can help answer that question for you.
Hello Luke
I would like to start by thanking you for the resources that you and your organization have made available. I am a 41 year old Father of three (19, 17, and 6mo). I am married to my second wife. I found your work while doing research for a college paper on social dilemmas. I chose the topic of pornography because it had recently almost destroyed my marriage. It felt like a bit of therapy for my own struggles with the flesh to write a paper on the possible negative effects of pornography. I have downloaded the statistical data packet. Your work will no doubt be of great assistance.
I have read through the many responses to this post. I found such a varied assortment of personal stances to this issue that I feel compelled to contribute to the discussion. I would like to address the proponents of pornography. Laying aside my own very tangible struggle with sexual media, there are some alarming statistics that should be considered. 43% of all victims of human trafficking are forced into involvement in commercial sexual exploitation, 98% of them are women (UN.Gift). While the majority of these people are forced into prostitution, there is still a portion of them that are forced into pornography. Many of these women are coerced into leaving their homes and traveling to other countries with the promise of “modeling” jobs. They are promised transportation, housing, food, and lofty pay. When they are in the hands of their pursuers they are informed that they will need to repay the expense of their housing and transportation before they can earn a salary and that this can be expedited by participating in the production of pornographic material. Many of these victims leave the service of their “employers” broke, homeless, drug addicted, and emotionally fractured. While many of the actors seen in pornographic performances are there of their own free will, many are forced or fooled into making pornography. There is no way to be sure that the porn one views is not contributing to the illegal and inhuman act of human exploitation. If you can live with the idea that you may be putting an innocent human in danger, then by all means, continue watching pornography.
I would also like to commend the writer of this report on his tact when dealing with the shallow minded attacks on his character by some of the more witless responders. It is clear that the failed attempts to discredit you have elicited some juvenile responses from some of the readers of this report. It is my suspicion is that this is the senseless ramblings of an individual who is locked in the grips of their own addictive behavior and is unwilling to admit that they have a problem. It is always easier to lash out with personal attacks then to face our own inadequacies.
I would also like to state that it is my firm belief that if we teach our children candidly about the true value of the gift of intimate relationships with our spiritual life partner and not the standard ceremonial approach of “because the Bible says so” propagated by western Christianity in the past 50 years then we can begin to develop an excited expectation among youth for the true promises of God. Pointless repression leads to secretive exploration.
Again, thank you Luke.
Thanks, Dale, for the comment and the stats (and for the compliment about my demeanor here).
http://youtu.be/CG7IP1tAcPo Link to a video exposing porn for what it really is.
Hello there, You have done an excellent job. I’ll
definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends.
I am confident they’ll be benefited from this site.
Greetings. We think it is very commendable of you for taking a stand against the “porn addiction” problem. Unfortunately, you’re dealing with the symptoms instead of the problem. Addiction to anything is merely a symptom of a person who hasn’t learned how to control their flesh. The primary reason for that is their heart hasn’t been changed. Change the heart, then have the heart empowered by the spirit of God, give that person the Word of God, and the problem in that person’s life will be solved. It’s not easy, but it CAN be done. Let me tell you about my experience. I was born again on Sept 30 1982, between 9:10 and 9:25 PM. Approximately 4 months later I was baptized with the Holy Spirit of God. Now I realize you may have some theological disagreements with that. Well, that’s on you. If you read the New Testament, especially the book of Acts, and be willing to admit that you might of missed something, there is no other conclusion that you can come to. In my case, the vast majority of the sexual acts I had already done before I gave my life to Jesus. Before I came to Jesus I had the opinion that anybody that watched porn was basically unable, for whatever reason, to participate in those acts. Their watching porn was merely their own frustration acting out by watching someone else do what they wanted to do. I found porn to be, quite honestly, BORING. According to 2 Corinthians 5:17 states this, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” In over 30 years we have found of being around “Christians”, we have found them to be, for the most part very religious but not new creations. Now, either God is a respecter of person or there is something deeply flawed in the experience of most American Christians. We are continually amazed at the lack of basic New Testament understanding among Christians. If American Christians are having a hard time now resisting porn, what are they going to do when within the next 10 years, no matter where you are, you are going to see naked bodies performing sex acts. America almost yearly is becoming more like Ancient Rome. And if people can’t learn how to be victorious over the urge to watch pictures on a screen, how in the world will they be able to do anything when it’s right in front of them? We know that these comments will probably anger some. And that’s OK. My question would be to them, when you gave your life to Jesus how come you didn’t become a new creation? I mean after all, I’m assuming that all who read these words are born again Christians. If that is true, then how come their nature hasn’t changed? Mine did. One more personal observance, we don’t blame the people in the pews. Nor do we even believe that the Lord Jesus Christ holds the people in the pews to blame. But rather, it is those who have set themselves up to be leaders in the church and do not have any more power than the leaders of any other religion. They’re to blame. They’re held to a higher standard by God than the sheep. I know you are probably going to have all kinds of problems with what we have just said. And that’s OK. But we know from our own personal experience that when one is born again, and baptized in the Holy Spirit, the New Testament doesn’t become that hard to understand. And the victory over whatever is wrong in our lives, in every area, is simply a matter of going to the New Testament, taking our religious glasses off and walking in victory over ALL temptations, whether of the flesh, of the eyes or the biggest one, over pride. Good luck to you and your endeavors. The reason we use the term luck, because it is fairly obvious you’re urging people to overcome something in their own strength and their own endeavors. As much as we hate to say this, there is a real good chance that after a period of time you will find your ministry going the same way as Exodus Ministries went. You will throw in the towel and apologize to everybody for making them feel guilty. And then you will close your doors. Because you are trying to do it the same way they tried to do it. And you are going to get the exact same results that they did, which is failure. And when you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ you will not be able to say that no one ever said anything to you. Good Luck.
Hi Austin,
I am happy to hear about the great change the Holy Spirit is bringing about in your heart and mind (and body!). Personally, I believe that believers can and do have greater in-fillings of the Holy Spirit, as the book of Acts and other places in the New Testament testify. I also believe, however, that believers will continue to live in a sinful world, surrounded by temptations, and battle against those temptations in the power of the Spirit—and they can find great victory!
You seem to think that is it “fairly obvious” we’re urging people to overcome pornography and lust in their own strength, not in the strength of God’s powerful Spirit. You also seem to think that we are making people feel guilty. I’m not sure what you are talking about, to be honest with you. We constantly write about overcoming sin in the power of the Spirit, relying on God to sanctify the human heart and mind, and taking full advantage of God’s great means of grace to bring about radical change. Our first (and most popular) e-book, Your Brain on Porn, is full of this kind of advice. I’m not sure, exactly, where you are getting your poor information from. Can you elaborate?
I’m a 21 year old male with a wife and two infant daughters. I was a porn addict from the age of 18 to 20, and three months after I overcame my addiction did I meet my wife to be, and we had twins to start with. I say this for a good reason. All the time I hear people say “what’s the harm in porn?” Or even “porn is good for blowing off steam, and even good for my relationships.” I want to testify boldly that i have seen both sides, as an addict, and then as a recovered addict who has been completely faithful to his spouse. You people who preach that there is no sin are dangerously destroying yourselves, because you deny the harmful effects of pornography that you inflict on yourselves. The commentor who said they are addicted and would that he die already because he feels enslaved, is far better off than those who say “there is no addiction, and there is no harm.” As a person who was once addicted, I know the emptiness and tragic depression that is caused by porn. I know that even when you are in relationships, porn causes you to feel extremely alone. I know that porn is never satisfying, and always feeds the appetite, and never the soul, always leaving you wanting more, and always destroying you little by little. I plead with you… Stop fooling yourselves! There is a better way! You think you were born to suffer, and that this fake pleasure is the closest a person can come to achieving a feeling of success, but it’s further from the truth than you can possibly imagine while you are addicted! There is a flip side to all of this. I know from personal experience, that there is no pornographic lust or rush that can compare with two completely faithful married individuals, who have vowed their lives to each other. Intimacy between two faithfully married people is at least 10 times more powerful than the cheap knock off that is pornography. I cry when I think that if I had never overcome my addiction, I would never come to know of the unworldly, fulfilling, powerfully potent joy intimacy with fidelity brings. I almost bit the bitter hook of pornography, and forever denied myself the limitless treasure trove of monogamous, faithful, mind-blowing, more-powerful-than-even-could-have-lusted-for-with-the-assistance-of-porn kind of sex, that only comes from knowing that my spouse will only ever share her body with me, and give it to me completely. The people who say “trying porn with your spouse is a good way to liven things up” -to them I say that they are already being unfaithful, and misery is just a little less miserable in sharing company. To those who believe my words and testimony, and have a strong desire in their hearts to one day know if what I testify of is true… To you I say Have hope, because it is true, and if you would retain that hope, and seek out by every means possible to rid yourself of your addiction, and acknowledge unceasingly that you would rather have no sexual desire at all, than to desire something as fake, empty and destructively unsatisfying as pornography, then God will not forsake you, but will guide you to a way to escape the chains of your addiction for good, so that one day you can be deserving and even experience the unworldly joy of which I’ve spoken. And when that day should come, you too will cry in joy because of the overwhelming mercy of a God who loves you, and look back to revere pornography as the never ending pit of darkness disguised as beautiful bodies, that almost swallowed your soul for all eternity.
That’s the best personal experience I’ve ever read. Brilliantly reasoned and beautifully written. Thank you for taking the time to write and post it. Wishing you all the best
while the poster above me came at it like an attacking Neanderthal, I do agree with some of his points. Life is nothing more than a balance, and some people tend to equate porn to be the root of the problem when in reality it is something deeper within them that is USING porn as a conduit. I’m very good at analyzing people and solving the problems of our psychology so naturally thats what i grew up to be. Take my case as a child for instance, I was looking at internet porn all the time from the time i was 8 years old because it was shown to me. I was molested and i came from a very broken home thanks to my mother. So naturally sex and porn became a dependence and a friend. It was hard to separate myself from that escape because of the underlying cause of the reason i continued to use it and the reason was i was miserable wreck on the inside. I had not forgave anyone from my past, i held on to every painful memory and never let it go. After i came to peace with everything inside me, porn use seemed to subside and my need for it decreased. We attack the escape when in reality we should be looking for the underlying cause they are needing that escape so often. Are they just not feeling like they are accomplishing much in life? Are they feeling valued and needed? Are they looking for a way to ignore inner pain? These are all reasons ive dug up in my sessions when others would have pointed to pornography as the problem, i found the reason behind the porn and solved it which, in turn, solved the porn “problem”. Do i think that all porn use is bad? absolutely not. It turns into a problem when it becomes an unhealthy escape or when that person clings to it to ignore inner pain. We have to separate ourselves from this old style of thinking that the porn itself is the problem when I’ve seen patient after patient who had their porn problems “solved” and they simply clung to something else, usually MORE harmful or destructive simply because they only solved the visible weed on the surface instead of finding the root behind the weed. There is such a thing as normal porn use because we are all humans and to deny our sexual nature is folly. The poster was right that trying to suppress it actually makes it that much harder and unhealthy for the average person. Now you have demonized the very need ingrained inside all of humans which makes it “bad and sinful” which gives it allure to the mind and they will get stuck in a cycle because of the allure of how “wrong” it is which releases more feel good juice from the brain because it mimics an adrenaline rush. To have a healthy sexual drive, from what i have seen, is to embrace your sexuality but keep it in check. Not too much, Not too little, the balance of all life. Porn use is no exception, not too much, not too little. If you have a problem with porn, please dont attack just the porn itself. You have to analyze the why behind it to truly understand it. The porn itself is like alcohol, a little bit wont hurt you or sometimes might even be good for you in small doses (I.E relieves stress, promotes sleep and rest) but when someone is addicted we seem to attack the substance instead of the reason they are addicted to it. The substance itself is not bad in small doses its only bad when people abuse it. If we solve the reason they abuse it in the first place then the abuse will stop. I never try to get my clients to stop watching porn and when i first tell them this they usually are shocked to hear me say that. Im not trying to get them to stop watching porn im trying to help solve the reason it over whelms them and help them find the balance that they need in their life. Sex is not bad/sinful, we as humanity need to start embracing that we are sexual creatures and stop the demonization of sex. Ive seen more problems come from sexually repressive homes (scientifically observant minded, no judgement or bias) then i ever have from a home who openly embraced sexuality and even taught their children that they should pay respect to it but didnt shield them from it because its a natural progression of human life. Those families never end up coming to me. The families or persons that end up coming to me are men and women (usually christian) who are trying to suppress sex entirely because they are single and dating or persons who feel that if they get too wild with their wife then they are sinning somehow or their wives arent meeting their need (or husbands yes men it happens to us too, sometimes we arent meeting their need) and they use porn because they just arent getting what they need. Completely and total sexual repression is a VERY dangerous mix. Ive learned that more child molesters came from sexually repressive CHRISTIAN homes then ive ever seen from an open and educating family. Thats just personal experience, doesnt mean its the truth. But dont just look at the alcohol as the problem, just like dont look at porn as just the problem! There are plenty of people who use it that are 100 percent healthy. You have to look at the reason BEHIND the problem you may have and solve THAT. Only until that happens are you going to find peace.
Indeed. Well typed/said. Thank you, Adam.
I have a problem with the people who incorrectly analyze the statistic…
You are fighting a worthless cause amigo.
Interesting take on our stats. Care to elaborate?
That seems kind of ridiculous to me. I’m a high school student who constantly sees the effects of pornography on my friends, team mates, and acquaintances. All they/we ever think about is sex, porn, drugs and girls. If it hadn’t been for porn maybe we would be able to focus more on our studies and less on things not meant for children. I know this comment is late but i feel this needs to be said
It’s not the cause that’s worthless it’s the fight. Haahaaaa!