40 million American people regularly visit porn sites (Webroot).
35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography (Webroot).
25% of all search engine queries are related to pornography. That’s about 68 million search queries a day (Webroot).
Consistent with other research, one study showed that almost half (46.9%) of those surveyed said their porn tastes/preferences escalated to the point of them being interested in more extreme porn that had previously disinterested or even disgusted them (Wery & Billieux, 2015).
In a survey of 1,500 young adult men, 56% said their tastes in porn had become “increasingly extreme or deviant” (NoFap 2012).
For females, the average duration of a career in pornography is less than six months, and upwards of 30% of females leave the industry after shooting just one video. For males, the average duration of a career in pornography is around five years (Millward 2013).
It’s getting increasingly difficult to make money in porn without doing painful, extreme scenes because of the availability of free porn on tube sites (Insider 2012).
According to Lisa Ann, one of the most successful porn actresses in the world, the average life expectancy of a porn star is only 37 years.
Barely Legal
The teen category on Pornhub got 33.5 billion visits in 2018. It has consistently topped the charts for most searched term on the site for 6+ years according to Pornhub’s Most Popular Search Terms.
“Teen” is overwhelmingly the most frequently mentioned role in porn film titles—over 1,000 more than the second most frequently mentioned (Millward 2013).
One third of total daily searches on porn sites are for “teen porn” (Watson, Connie. “The Globalization of Sex.” CBC News. CBC/Radio Canada, 18 June 2009. Web. 06 Jan. 2015.).
“The amount of child sexual abuse material online has exploded in the past two decades. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children revealed that, in 1998, there were 3000 reports of child sexual abuse material (child porn). By 2014, that number was 1 million. In 2021 alone, that number was 29.3 million (Keller and Dance 2019 and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 2021).
Hardcore
A study of 4,009 heterosexual scenes from two major free pornographic tube sites (Pornhub and Xvideos) found that 45% of Pornhub scenes included at least one act of physical aggression, while 35% of scenes from Xvideos contained aggression (Fritz, Malic, Paull and Zhou 2020).
Men who view pornography are more likely to show an increased behavioral intent to rape and are more likely to believe rape myths (Foubert, Brosi and Bannon 2011).
A 2015 meta-analysis of 22 studies from seven countries found that internationally the consumption of pornography was significantly associated with increases in sexual aggression, both verbally and physically among males and females alike (Wright, Tokunaga, and Kraus 2016).
Males have a longer lifespan in the porn world because unlike women, they often don’t perform sex acts that can permanently injure them. Of performers who have starred in the greatest number of films, 96% are men (Millward 2013).
A scene featuring extreme and violent acts can earn a performer from $1,200 to $2,400, while a “standard” scene might get a performer $800 or less. It’s easy to see, then, how a performer could end up acting in more and more extreme scenes, even if they aren’t comfortable doing so, and even if a chunk of their paycheck goes into paying medical bills as a result.
The high demand for more extreme, violent sex acts and fewer performers who are willing to do them means relying on amateur performers or fresh, young recruits (Hot Girls Wanted).
In most gangbang porn, a group of men add insult to injury by ending an aggressive sex scene with “bukkake,” ejaculating on their victim’s face and body. According to a UCLA study, more than 42 percent of porn performers have engaged in this act (Javanbakht, Gorbach, Dillavou, Rigg Jr, Pacheco, and Kerndt 2014).
A study of 14- to 19-year-olds found that females who watched pornographic videos were at significantly greater likelihood of being victims of sexual harassment or sexual assault (Bonino, Ciairano, Rabaglietti, and Cattelino 2006).
According to a 2011 study, chlamydia incidence in adult film performers was 8.5 times higher than the rate in Los Angeles County residents aged 18-29 and 34 times higher than in the general population. Gonorrhea incidence was 18 times higher in porn performers than Los Angeles County residents aged 18-29 and 64 times higher than in the general population.
According to a UCLA 2014 study, out of 366 performers, 75 percent of whom are women, about 1 in 4 adult video performers had contracted gonorrhea or chlamydia.
According to this same study, more than 15 percent of the performers reported that they had to give sexual favors in order to get work.
A 2014 study found that two-thirds (69 percent) said they never used condoms on the job, despite city and county laws mandating them for porn in most of Los Angeles beginning in 2013. (LA Weekly)
A 2014 study of 100 videos on popular pornographic websites found that condoms were used in just 2% of videos (Vannier, Currie, & O’Sullivan, 2014).
Between late 2017 and early 2018, five porn actresses died by suicide in 12 weeks.
Childhood Exposure
A Swedish study found that 70% of high school boys who were frequent viewers of porn, including that which features violence and the sexual abuse of children and animals, reported that porn made them want to try out what they had seen.
10-15 year-olds consuming violent pornography are five times more likely to be sexually aggressive than non-viewers of violent porn, according to a 2011 longitudinal study.
80% of teens want to re-enact what they watch in porn according to a UK study. (Cowell & Smith, 2009)
The average age of first perpetration of sexual violence is 15-16 and is associated with exposure to pornography, according to a 2017 study from Bloomberg School of Public Health.