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Child access to pornography is a world-wide crisis
On the docket of the US Supreme Court is a case that is bound to have a huge impact upon parents battling to protect children from pornography.
Last week the justices heard oral arguments about a Texas law which requires “adult sites” to use age-verification technology to keep minors to accessing pornographic images and videos. A Federal appeals court has allowed the law, but the pornography industry contends that it violates a constitutional right to free speech.
The justices ruefully acknowledged that pornography is a big problem for American parents.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who has teenaged children, commented that technology makes parents’ job difficult. “I can say from personal experience,” she said, that content-filtering software “is difficult to keep up with.”
An important legal precedent for SCOTUS is a 1968 case, Ginsburg v. New York. A majority of the Court back then ruled that pornographic magazines were capable of harming children, over the objections of justices who insisted on absolute freedom of speech. Since then, pornography has become incredibly more intrusive. “You would admit that we’re in an entirely different world” nowadays, said Justice Clarence Thomas.
Even the lawyers for the pornographers are not arguing that their products are healthy and normal. Everyone seems to agree that the state has an interest in protecting children from pornography. But is it a compelling interest, one that should override the right to free expression because of the damage that it does to minors?
A just-published summary of research into internet pornography and children argues convincingly that the damage is compelling. In fact, it is catastrophic.
Scholars from the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University and the Institute for Family Studies recently examined research studies from the last 20 years to document trends in pornography use among children and teens and to identify how that use may be harmful to their development. Their findings are contained in a report entitled: “Unprotected from Porn: The Rise of Underage Pornography Use and the Ways it is Harming Our Children.”

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In an article in Deseret News, they challenged readers to think about the harm of pornography:
Imagine someone drove a white van into your neighborhood, opened up the panel door, and invited children and teens from the neighborhood, including yours, to watch sexually explicit videos of men and women doing the most degrading things possible. In most of our neighborhoods, such a man would be arrested in minutes, and we would make sure that no such vans came cruising for our children again.
Children and adolescents now have more access to pornography than any generation in history. Research has shown that most children and teens today have been exposed to pornography before the age of 18 and the rate of habitual use of pornography among teens is more than twice as high as it used to be.
Dozens of studies have also documented the potential harms of this pornography consumption on young people, including increased mental health problems, unhealthy sexual scripts and behaviours, increased sexual aggression, potential compulsive struggles, decreased future relationship stability, and other developmental challenges. The report states bluntly:
Despite pornography being designated as “adult content,” in this new form of childhood our judicial system has gone out of its way to protect the rights of porn providers to distribute this material to kids (and adults) without constraint. That the pornography industry is afforded this deference—despite the overwhelming social science research that shows that underage pornography use is now the norm, rather than the exception, and that its availability has radical implications for healthy adolescent development in our society—is one of the crises of our time.
“In today’s digital world, a growing concern for many parents is how to protect their children from sexual media and online pornography,” said Jason Carroll, a co-author. “Despite pornography’s designation as being for “mature audiences,” studies consistently find that large portions of underage minors access online pornographic content on a regular basis.” In fact, regular pornography is the norm, and not the exception for boys and for girls.
A Swedish study found that more than 80 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls view pornography at least once a month; nearly one in four teenage boys were looking at pornography every day. And it’s not just Sweden – “these trends are consistent across most parts of the world,” says the report.
The report documents how the rise in underage pornography use has been paralleled by more extreme and harmful types of pornography being available online.
The authors detail how a growing body of research has consistently shown that a large portion of the sexual media available online is not only sexually explicit, but also regularly depicts rape, violence against women, deviant sexual behaviours such as incest and sex with minors. They also review a growing number of studies that show that a significant portion of children and teens are directly seeking out and viewing these types of harmful online sexual materials.
“The alarming rise in pornography consumption by adolescents is a worrisome trend and a growing body of research is showing just how harmful it can be to their development and behaviour, both short and long term,” said Brian Willoughby, another co-author. “When all of the various ways that pornography can harm child development are considered, there is really no defensible argument for children and adolescents having unrestricted access to sexual media and pornographic materials of any form.”
The report argues that studies to date also confirm that while pornography poses a significant risk to all users, the likelihood of harm is increased among underage children and teens due to their sensitive developmental stage of life. Studies also show that many of these risks continue into adulthood and have deleterious effects on later relationship quality and adult wellbeing.
The authors note that such effects have been documented across dozens of studies, including large national surveys, recent meta-analyses (studies designed to systematically assess the results of previous research), and critical reviews of scientific literature, the highest standards for social science research.
The report outlines several strategies for protecting children from pornography.
The authors note that parents have the primary responsibility to safeguard their children from these harms and that research shows that one of the best predictors of child wellbeing is the quality of the parent-child relationship. They also note how important it is for parents to teach their children the risks of viewing pornography and setting boundaries with technology.
However, the report’s authors conclude that parents should not be left alone to safeguard their children from an unregulated industry of sexual media, pornography websites, and social media platforms.
“Without reservation, we support efforts to hold both the producers of pornography and social media platforms accountable for failing to ensure they are not contributing to and profiting from underage engagement with pornography,” said Michael Toscano, of the Institute for Family Studies. “We also support the new movement to implement device-based age-verification and require parental supervision for minor social media accounts, parental consent for app downloads, and accurate app ratings from the industry. These would all create a safer digital app environment for kids in which parents are effectively involved.”
Should states legislate for age-verification on adult websites?
Michael Cook is editor of Mercator.
Image credit: Bigstock
Have your say!
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Emberson Fedders commented 2025-01-30 15:40:11 +1100I utterly agree, Mr Cook, that pornography is harmful to teenagers. But I would also suggest that an internet (or social media sites like Facebook and X) that is unregulated is also harmful to people as well. Think how many young men have been led down the rabbit-hole into desperate unhappiness and loneliness because they consume so much misinformation and right-wing propaganda online. The young women whose self-esteem has been battered by relentless consumption of unrealistic beauty standards on Instagram.
But any attempt to regulate that (such as fact-checkers and content moderators) is constantly decried by this site as a stifling of free speech.
I suppose my issue is with the inconsistency of the position around here. -
Paul Bunyan commented 2025-01-30 14:35:41 +1100What’s more harmful to children: viewing hardcore pornography or unplanned pregnancies?
Obviously the latter.
Conservative social policies have the opposite effect of what is beneficial and moral. Their moral foundations are built on quicksand.
They are very eager to see the birth rate increase, but are very unwilling to do anything to improve social support for the poor, and for people who want to raise families.
They would do anything rather than tax those who are already obscenely wealthy.
They will punish and harm teenagers who are unfortunate enough to get pregnant, though.
https://ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics/mifepristone-lawsuit-republican-ags-more-pregnant-teens/ -
Janet Grevillea commented 2025-01-30 08:56:19 +1100Thank you Maria Elena, voice of sanity.
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Maria Elena commented 2025-01-30 07:33:14 +1100Mr. Cook,
I would not waste my time responding to people who use names to keep them anonemaouse in a Bunyan forest… It is very kind of you to keep their comments up. -
Michael Cook commented 2025-01-29 15:29:37 +1100Hi Mr Fedders,
It’s inspiring to see you persevere in your mission of ruffling our readers’ complacency with your provocative questions. It’s great to have you aboard. Thank you.
Of course age-verification controls do raise First Amendment concerns. The issue is striking a balance. Are controls more harmful for Americans than exposing their children to toxic pornography?
I would say NO. Allowing them to access online porn, which is becoming ever-more repugnant and harmful to young minds, is like exposing an epileptic to flashing or flickering lights on a kiddie TV program. I think that you would agree that such a program should either be cancelled or at least display trigger warnings.
By the way, if you are seriously interested in this topic, please read the report. Its theme is that the harms of pornography for minors have withstood academic criticism. Data about the deleterious effects of pornography is pouring in. Don’t be afraid to be jolted out of your own complacency! -
Paul Bunyan commented 2025-01-29 15:01:28 +1100I think they want to outlaw sex education, Emberson. They’ll try to get it classified as “pornography” even though it simply provides factual information.
I shudder to think what they would do to birth control if they had unfettered power. -
Emberson Fedders commented 2025-01-29 14:57:15 +1100Mercator bangs on a LOT about free speech and celebrates the fact that X and Facebook do not have content moderators.
And yet, now, it is suddenly a problem? -
Paul Bunyan commented 2025-01-29 12:49:00 +1100Access to porn is likely to reduce unwanted pregnancies, sexual assault and other social ills. In fact, it has already been proven to do so.
If teenagers seek it on their own and are not groomed into it, there are no downsides. Only benefits.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/all-about-sex/201601/evidence-mounts-more-porn-less-sexual-assault
https://www.utsa.edu/today/2020/08/story/pornography-sex-crimes-study.html
““During the past few years many states have declared that pornography is a public health crisis,” said Ferguson. “Dr. Hartley and I were curious to see if evidence could support such claims—at least in regard to sexual aggression—or whether politicians were mistaking moral stances for science. Our evidence suggests that policymakers should examine other causes of sexual aggression and that beliefs about pornography may be driven more by methodological mistakes than sound science.”
Ferguson and Hartley noted that previous research found that hostility, callousness and delinquent behavior were determinants of sexual aggression and that the effects of those personality traits are much stronger than those of pornography consumption.
Correlational studies provided an analysis of the participants’ absorption of sexually explicit materials at various levels and their sexual attitudes and behavior.
Experimental research randomly assigned and exposed men to violent pornography, nonviolent pornography and nonpornographic media, and measured their attitudes toward women or about sexually aggressive behavior by having them complete a questionnaire afterward. Men also participated in laboratory studies that tested their aggressive behavior towards women.
Neither correlational nor experimental studies provided evidence that supported concerns about pornography.
At the population level, studies explored the relationship between pornography consumers and sexual violence, and found that an increase in available pornography reduced sexual aggression." -
Anon Emouse commented 2025-01-29 00:19:40 +1100And please, let’s not label anything “LGBTQ” related as “sexual content”. We were able to learn about Martha Washington in school (the wife of George Washington, whose sexuality is implicit in that we’re learning about a man and wife). It’s only “sexual content” when it’s anything other than heteronormative
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Anon Emouse commented 2025-01-29 00:18:12 +1100I don’t know, I feel like children’s TV that regularly shows prescription drug commercials might be a better target for our moral panic.
Maybe even how easy it is for youths to access guns (At least in American culture; Australia took school shootings seriously after the 1990s).
This “porn ID” thing is ripe for abuse (hacking of websites, leaking of information, to name a few). And what about states that determine any LGBTQ content is “adult” even if it’s not pornography? Are you going to deny minors access to resources simply because you think LGBTQ people are immortal? -