Does Porn Damage Society?
The advent of Internet porn provides surprising perspectives on this controversy.
Many people feel offended by pornography. Those who find it loathsome have every right to their opinion. But some porn-haters declare that XXX-rated material does more than just disgust them. They contend it contributes to significant social harm.
The late feminist activist, Andrea Dworkin, argued that by depicting women as men’s willing sexual playthings, porn contributes to sexism and rape. Her disciple, Robert Jensen, writes: “pornography alone doesn’t make men rape…[but] it may activate coercive tendencies.” Porn critic Diana Russell argues that porn undermines men’s inhibitions against rape and spurs some to commit it. And in The Porn Trap, psychotherapists Wendy and Larry Maltz assert that porn is a significant factor in sexual irresponsibility (unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections) and divorce.
Strong accusations. But are they true? The advent of Internet porn provides surprising perspectives on this controversy.
Since The Arrival Of Internet Porn…
Before the Internet, porn was available only in a few places: adult stores, through X-rated video rentals, and on some newsstands. But with the arrival of the Internet in the late 1990s, availability exploded. Suddenly, for everyone with a computer or smartphone, porn became easily obtainable for FREE, just a click away 24-7-365.. In 1997, 16 percent of American adults used the Internet regularly. By 2005, the figure had quadrupled to 65 percent. And since then, virtually everyone has embraced the Internet. The Internet has also made porn much more available to impressionable kids. How many kids, ages 10 to 17, have viewed Internet porn? According to a report in the journal Pediatrics, 42 percent and increasing.
If porn is a significant contributor to social harm, we would expect to see substantial increases in sexual irresponsibility, divorce, and rape since the late 1990s when the Internet suddenly made X-rated material much more available.
Guess what. Since the arrival of Internet porn:
• Sexual irresponsibility has declined. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), since 1990, the nation’s syphilis rate has plummeted 74 percent. And the gonorrhea rate has plunged 57 percent.
• Teen sex has decreased. The CDC says that since 1991, the proportion of teens who have had intercourse has decreased 7 percent. Teen condom use has increased 16 percent. And the teen birth rate has fallen 33 percent.
• Divorce has declined. Since 1990, the divorce rate has decreased 23 percent.
• Rape has decreased. According to the Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey, since 1995, the sexual assault rate has plunged 44 percent.
Now, these statistics are simply associations. They don’t prove (and I don’t claim) that the explosion in access to porn since the mid-1990s CAUSED the decline in these social ills.
But the porn-haters contend that porn causes social ills. That’s clearly not the case. We have more porn than ever—and less of the social harm often blamed on it.
What Porn Has Done
Porn causes just one thing—masturbation among its overwhelmingly solo male audience. Perhaps Internet porn keeps men at home one-handing it, and as a result, they’re not out in the world acting irresponsibly or criminally.
I’m not arguing that porn is utterly harmless. Some men consume it so compulsively that it interferes with their lives. They need therapy. Some women become distraught when they discover that the men in their lives enjoy porn. Thy might benefit from couple therapy. And to the extent that porn is a sex educator, it teaches lovemaking all wrong. Porn is overwhelmingly genital, while sex therapists emphasize the importance of leisurely, playful, whole-body sensuality.
But the evidence clearly shows that from a social welfare perspective, porn causes no measurable harm. In fact, as porn viewing has soared, rates of syphilis, gonorrhea, teen sex, teen births, divorce, and rape have all substantially declined. If Internet porn has any effect on social ills, evidently it contributes to their prevention. Perhaps mental health professionals should encourage men to view it.
A few years ago, I created this deck for a presentation for the annual meeting of The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality:
[scroll down for related Questions & Answers]
References:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db89.pdf
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/30/5-facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvsv9410.pdf
Dworkin, A. Woman Hating. Plume 1991.
Garos, S. et al. “Sexism and Pornography Use: Toward Explaining Past (Null) Results,” Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality (2004) 16:69.
Jensen, R. Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. South End Press, 2007.
Kohut, T. et al. “Is Pornography Really About ‘Making Hate to Women?’ Pornography Users Hold More Gender-Egalitarian Attitudes Than Nonusers in a Representative American Sample,” Journal of Sex Research (2016) 53:1.
Kutchinsky, B. Pornography and Rape: Theory and Practice? Evidence from crime Data in Four Countries, Where Pornography is Easily Available,” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry (1991) 14:47.
Martz, W. and L. The Porn Trap: The Essential Guide to Overcoming Problems Caused by Pornography. William Morrow, 2010.
Russell, D. Dangerous Relationships: Pornography, Misogyny, and Rape. Sage Press, 1998.
Questions & Answers
I’ve answered more than 12,000 sex questions from people around the world, of all ages. Here are a few that relate to the topic of this post. If you’d like to ask me a question of your own, please go to GreatSexGuidance.com.
Why is there so much porn on the web? I watch it and love it. However, I wonder what motivates so many people to post their amateur videos. I thought people were far more inhibited than this. Read my response…
Porn is ruining my relationship. My future husband who is 46 suffers from delayed ejaculation. He can only ejaculate using his hand. This has been going on for over a year. We sought help and he was advised to cease masturbation for 90 days and stop all porn use to see if it helped. I believed he had done so but nothing got better. Read more and my response…
I’ve masturbated frequently for the last 6 years. I realize that I suffer from premature ejaculation while doing so. I come in 30 seconds. So I tried to masturbate without porn and I realize I could last for like 17 minutes and still go on. What should I do now? Read my response…
I have been having issues with my husband and porn. Your article has helped me understand some of his points of view. He actually became addicted to porn over the years and hid it from me even though I didn’t have a HUGE problem with it. (I wasn’t happy about it, but it wasn’t an end-all situation.) However, he became emotionally and sexually attracted to my sister and began fantasizing about her using her pictures for self-pleasure and then imagined I was her when we were intimate. Read more and my response…