According to a new survey from Common Sense Media, over half of all teenagers have watched pornography by age 13.
In the study, Teens and Pornography, roughly 54 percent of teenagers reported having seen internet pornography before turning 13. The average age of first exposure is 12.
Moreover, 15 percent of youth respondents said they saw porn-based content as young as 10 years old. Altogether, 73 percent of teens under the age of 17 reported that they had watched pornography.
“We can’t sweep this topic under the rug just because it’s uncomfortable to talk about,” Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, told The New York Times. “Pornography is a huge part of the lives of children who have digital access like never before, and we need to have a national conversation about it.”
As reported by Faithwire, Steyer will present the data from the study to the White House and other federal agencies this week.
The survey, which was conducted from September 12 to September 22, 2022, included a nationally representative sample of more than 3,000 teens ages 13 and 17. The results showed that 44 percent first watched pornography on purpose, while 58 percent saw it by accident.
“Worryingly, most teens responding to this survey who said they have only ever seen pornography accidentally also reported that they had been exposed to pornography accidentally in the previous seven days, suggesting that unintentional pornography exposure may be a frequent experience for teens who aren’t seeking it out,” the authors of the survey wrote.
The release of the study comes amid recent discussions about the dangers of pornography nationwide and the controversy surrounding Pornhub, the world’s largest pornography platform.
According to investigators, Pornhub reportedly hosted videos of possible sexual abuse involving women and children without consent. Last year, top Pornhub executives resigned after a shocking report found that graphic videos of women and girls had been kept up on the platform without their consent “for years.”
The survey also concluded that the consumption of pornography could distort one’s expectations of what healthy sex looks like. Additionally, less than half of the youth who watched pornography said that they view it as a learning tool about sex and slightly over a quarter of respondents said it accurately portrays the majority of sexual engagements between people.
Those who watched porn by accident said they stumbled upon aggressive and violent content, the study added.
The concern about pornography has prompted Louisiana lawmakers to pass legislation requiring residents to show proof of identification before being granted access to pornography websites.
The legislation warned that pornography is a public health crisis for younger residents, arguing that it “contributes to the hyper-sexualization of teens and prepubescent children and may lead to low self-esteem, body image disorders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages, and increased desire among adolescents to engage in risky sexual behavior.”
Related:
Pornography Dehumanizes Humans
Photo courtesy: Philipp Katzenberger/Unsplash
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
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