Latest Pornography Study Facts - 08 April 2021

Pornography addiction has reached epidemic proportions and has become a major destructive force in marital relationships, childhood and teen mental health, increased occurrence of rape, incest and sexual abuse across the board. The Forge is a place where we address the causes of pornography/sexual addiction and establish a strategy to overcome it. The statistics are staggering:

1. TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS

Twice as many young adults ages 25-30 first viewed pornography before puberty than did the next generation—Gen X.

More than one quarter (27%) of young adults ages 25-30 first viewed pornography before puberty.

This is significantly higher than the GenX cohort, of which only 13% started viewing porn before puberty

Teens and young adults have a cavalier attitude toward porn

When they talk about pornography with friends, 90% of teens, and 96% of young adults say they do so in a neither neutral, accepting, or encouraging way.

Only 1 in 20 young adults and 1 in 10 teens say their friends think viewing pornography is a bad thing.

Teens and young adults consider “not recycling” more immoral than viewing pornography.

Less than one-third (32%) say viewing porn is “usually or always wrong” compared to the more than half (56%) who say not recycling is “usually or always wrong”

Young adults are watching more porn and seeking it out more than any other generation.

Among ages 13-17: 8% daily; 18% weekly; 17% once or twice a month

Among ages 18-24: 12% daily; 26% weekly; 19% once or twice a month

Among ages 25-30: 8% daily; 17% weekly; 20% once or twice a month

And their friends are too:

Half of young adults say “most” (32%) or “all” (17%) of their friends regularly look at porn. An additional 21% say about “half” their friends do.

Nearly half of young adults say they come across porn at least once a week—even when they aren’t seeking it out.

Whether they are seeking it out or not, 16% of young adults say they come across porn daily and 32% do so weekly; an additional 23% say they do once or twice a month.

8% of teens say they come across porn daily and 21% do so weekly; an additional 21% say they do so once or twice a month.

Teenage girls and young women are significantly more likely to actively seek out porn than women over age 25.

33% of women, ages 13-24 seek out porn at least once a month compared to 12% of women over age 25

Most teens are “sexting” – either on the receiving or sending end of sexually explicit images.

66% of teens and young adults [with cavalier attitude towards pornography] have received a sexually explicit image and 41% have sent one (usually from/to their boy/girlfriend or friend)

2. PASTORS / THE CHURCH

70% of Christian youth pastors have had at least one teen come to them for help in dealing with porn in the past 12 months

Most often, those kids were:

High school boys (92%)

Middle school boys (57%)

High school girls (23%)

Middle school girls (10%)

21% of youth pastors and 14% of pastors admit they currently struggle with using porn.

About 12% of Youth Pastors and 5% of Pastors say there are addicted to porn

87% of pastors who use porn feel a great sense of shame about it

55% of pastors who use porn say they live in constant fear of being discovered

3. GENERAL POPULATION / ALL ADULTS

Half of daily users watch porn for fun

54% of people who actively seek out porn on a daily basis, do so because “it’s just fun.”

Pornography has gone almost completely digital.

71% of adults, 85% of teens and young adults who have viewed pornography did so using online videos

Magazines, graphic novels, on-demand videos and cable or rented/purchased DVDs have almost completely lost the market share, with each scoring less than 10% (aside from a slightly higher percentage of 50+ adults using DVDs)

“I know it when I see it.” Porn is notoriously difficult to define. So, how do Americans define it? Turns out, it’s more a question of function than form. If it’s used for sexual arousal, it’s porn. Simple as that.

When asked the question, “What makes something porn?” The top two reasons given were:

70%: if it’s watched/listened to/or read specifically for the purpose of sexual arousal

60%: if you masturbated while watching/listening to/or reading it