A new survey carried out to determine the effect pornography has on real-life relationships has churned up some terrifying results.
As expected, the study, which was undertaken by The Sunday Times, revealed that some 58% of those surveyed admitted to regular porn consumption. But upon the breakdown of user preferences, things became a lot more dark and disturbing.
The survey indicated that among those aged 22 and under, “rough sex,” the definition of which included hair-pulling, biting, slapping and choking, was the second most-watched porn category. Indeed, almost half (42%) of those aged 23 and under openly stated that this sort of abusive porn was something they really enjoyed watching.
As the age category increased, the penchant for this type of rape-porn decreased, as did the frequency of consumption. What this means is simple — many of the youngest adults amongst us have developed an obsession with violent porn and are acting out a warped view of sex and relationships.
Indeed, as the research showed, not only are they viewing such horrifying images, but they are also expecting to engage in this type of sexual behavior with their partners.
“Porn has left me never wanting conventional sex,” one respondent admitted. Another added, “It makes me try to push the boundaries of what my girlfriend wants.”
Unfortunately, these patterns of sexual behavior are perpetuated by modern media outlets like Teen Vogue, which offers regular advice columns on how to engage in unconventional sexual relations — normalizing much of the fantasy-scenarios which are acted out in pornographic films. The result is an increased expectation for these type of sexual relations in real life and an increasingly twisted view of what healthy sexuality entails.
“As the parent of a teenage girl, I have heard dozens of hideous stories about the sexual expectations of young people,” wrote columnist India Knight at The Sunday Times. “Some involve traumatised girls. Some involve boys who don’t understand what the problem is with basing their expectations on porn — foreplay, for instance, does not feature — or with asking for intimate pics. Some involve boys and girls who have debilitating feelings of physical inadequacy about their bodies as a consequence of viewing porn.”
Shockingly, nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents across all age groups insisted that porn had “negatively affected” their body image and made them acutely anxious out how their sexual partners would perceive them. Despite its prevalence and popularity in modern culture, it is proving to ruin relationships, decimate self-esteem and elevate deviant sexual behaviors.
For Knight, this shift in trends has completely altered her view of pornography as a harmless commodity.
“When I was younger, I’d always thought of myself as pro-porn, in a vague, liberal sort of way,” she concluded. “As a teenager, I thought feminists such as Andrea Dworkin were damaged and hysterical, always banging on about misogyny and how all porn was a celebration of rape and injury to women, like a dungareed Voice of Doom; looking back, she seems like a prophet.”
If you or someone you know is fighting an addiction to pornography, Faithwire has a video e-course — Set Free — devoted to helping people overcome sexual sin. To learn more about that series, click here.