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A new BBC documentary has claimed that 25% of all young adults are addicted to pornography. The three-part series Porn Laid Bare explores abuse and drugging in the sex industry, and reveals the toxic effect that explicit material may be having on young people’s relationships and self-esteem.
According to studies conducted on the programme, 23% of the 18- to 25-year-olds who admit to watching porn said they might be addicted to it, while a third said they had been encouraged to have ‘riskier sex’ after watching extreme material online.
Over half (55%) of men said pornography was their main source of sex education, compared to a third of women (34%).
Earlier studies have shown that 90% of young boys and 60% of young girls have been exposed to pornography before they reach the age of 18, and according to the website expastors.com, the median age that children become introduced to such material is 11.
In 2014 the American Psychological Association published its study on pornography addiction, reporting that 20% of people who watched porn felt their use was excessive to a degree that made them uncomfortable, and in the same year The Kinsey Institute survey found 9% of porn viewers said they had tried unsuccessfully to stop.
“Porn is practically ubiquitous,” says Ana Bridges, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Arkansas. And the internet has made it easier than ever to get an erotic fix. The late sex researcher Alvin Cooper, PhD, called this the “triple-A engine” effect: The accessibility, affordability and anonymity provided by the web have put adult content right at our fingertips.
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