Last week I shared with you some concerning social media chatter relating to the Pornposium event that I spoke at. In that post, I mentioned that I would share with you this week some of data that I presented at the symposium. Thank you again to those of you who completed my survey. Without further ado, here is some of the data I collected:
I received over 122 submissions. 79% of respondents were male and the average age was 36.4 years old. When asked at what age did you first start watching pornography, the most common answers were age 12 and 13. The majority of respondents also indicated that they watched porn weekly. And while the majority also said that they did masturbate without porn, this was generally less often compared to with pornography.
73% of respondents indicated that they felt guilt or shame associated with their pornography usage or masturbation during adolescence.
Here is a collection of responses when they were asked to elaborate on these feelings:
Additionally, pornography has impacted many respondents sexual expectations and experiences. 69% of respondents indicated that this was the case.
This isn’t ground-breaking information. There are plenty of articles and books about how pornography impacts sexuality. The vast majority of these emphasise the negative impacts. However, when asked how pornography impacted your sexual expectations and experiences, there were some positive responses:
Thank you again to everyone who submitted their responses and contributed to this data. I can tell you that my presentation about a sex- and pleasure-positive approach to porn and young people was well received on the night. If you’d like to watch a recording of the live stream of the symposium, you can do so with this link or use the button below.