What Do We Know About the Effects of Pornography After Fifty Years of Academic Research? (Focus on Global Gender and Sexuality)

However, it is not clear that behaviours that are currently described as sex addiction (or pornography addiction) are actual health issues. Humanities researchers insist that these are moral issues; and some data from the social sciences support this contention.

‘Pornographic messages were described as … depicting a distorted reality’

Authenticity is a key aspect of DIY/amateur porn being read as intimate and representing ordinary people. On this basis, it can be argued that ‘perceived realism’ – to re-signify this term – is necessary to incite particular kinds of affect and erotic pleasure for young people.

We do not have data about whether people who consume pornography have better levels of porn literacy.

The literature does not provide data about whether people who use pornography are likely to have more information about how to have (good) sex than people not using pornography. We know that people say they use pornography to learn about sex, but we do not know how formal sex education, parents, friends and sexualised entertainment compare as sourc

Sexual performance included learning about position and sexual roles in certain positions; how adolescents should act during sexual activity with sexual partners; and how sex should feel.

media literacy fundamentally means understanding that ‘media are constructed, and construct reality’

From this perspective, porn literacy includes working out how to learn from pornography in a positive rather than negative way. Under this approach, a porn literacy framework should not simply focus on what is read (that is, media content) but how it is read (that is, media use), acknowledging that pornography can be read well to gain useful inform

We do not have data about whether people who consume pornography have more or less pleasurable sex lives.