The Problem with Porn

1.Nearly two-thirds of Christian men view porn on a monthly basis (source)

2. One in ten Christian women view porn on a monthly basis. Broken down by age group, women between the ages of 31 and 49 were revealed to be the most active pornography viewers with 42 percent, or four out of 10, watching at least monthly (source)

3. 90% of 8-16 year olds have watched porn online.  The average age for first viewing is 11 (source: Gail Dines-  see end of post).

4.The victims aren’t just the women being exploited. Pornography affects the sexuality of developing boys and girls. It normalises activities they are neither physically nor emotionally able to handle.Young people are working out who they are: and our world defines us through our sexuality. Here’s some of the lessons porn teaches –

women are always ready for sex, no-matter how degrading or painful.

It’s unmanly to want love or relationship

men are biologically driven, amoral, soulless and disinterested in relationships

sexuality is violent (of the 50 most rented porn videos, 88% involved physical or verbal aggression)

5. Most porn is not a soft-focus playboy centre-fold.  It’s hard-core, brutal and widely available. Over 13,000 porn films are released each year, there are 420 million internet porn sites and 68 million search engine requests for porn, every day.

6. Even if you don’t seek it out, soft-porn is an unavoidable feature of modern life: from women’s magazines, to perfume and TV advertising. From genital waxing to bedroom expectations; it’s shaping how we see our relationships and ourselves.

7. Pornography is not an expression of sexual freedom. It’s about economics and profits, (a global industry worth $96 billion in 2006).

8. Pornography has to spiral into more hard-core forms. This is not simply a truth about porn consumption. Producers must always look for new angles to make their products stand out.  These products are people and the new angles are new depths of sexual depravity and exploitation.

9. If you’re anti-porn, the world thinks you’re anti-sex.  I’d suggest the very opposite: and as Christians, our responsibility is not just to oppose what we see as negative, but teach a biblical and positive view of sex.

10. This is about more than just downloading an accountability filter. Simply using an internet block will not change the internal struggles or issues that pornography raises.

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If you’re struggling, support is available. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Resources:

• http://xxx.church.com
• http://dirtygirlsministries.com (for women struggling with porn/sexual addiction)
• http://ccef.org/breaking-pornography-addiction-part-1
• http://quitpornaddiction.com

 Huffington Post: one woman reflects on her experience of watching porn. See also: Gail Dines: Pornland: How Porn has hijacked our sexuality, (Beacon Press).