Facts about porn

Sometimes when you are on the internet, you might accidentally or intentionally end up on a website that features pornography.

Being curious about sex and looking at pictures and videos of naked bodies or people engaging in sexual behaviors is perfectly normal

But you have to remember porn contain a lot of misleading messages like bigger is better when it comes to breasts, penises or the duration of sex. 

Pornography is not real. It is just like other movies. It is completely made up. A fantasy that could never exist in real life and doesn’t show realistic heathy intimate or loving sexual relationship between two equal partners. 

Here’s what you need to know about pornography:

1. It can send messages about what sex ‘should’ be like
2. Violence, humiliation and disrespect are never ok
3. Sex is not just a physical act, it’s an emotional one too
4. Pornography can give you unhealthy notions of sex and relationships
5. Pornography is a performance by paid actors - it can misrepresent pleasure
6. Regularly watching porn can shape your sexual tastes and expectations
7. Pornography isn’t reality, so it can set you up for disappointment in your sex life
8. Some types of sex that happen regularly in porn, happen less often in real life
9. Porn commonly portrays and reinforces racial and gender stereotypes
10. The bodies you see in porn don’t reflect how most people’s bodies look
11. It doesn’t teach you about consent or safe sex and the possible consequences
12. The size and shape of body parts doesn’t limit or enhance your ability to enjoy sex
13. Porn can lead to mismatched expectations and conflict in your relationships
14. Comparing yourself to people in porn can sometimes make you worry about your body
15. You may find it hard to stop watching porn even when it’s causing problems in your life
16. Some types of porn are illegal (e.g. Anything involving someone under the age of 18 is considered 'image based abuse')

Why do people watch porn?

There are many reasons why people watch porn. It can vary from one person to another, but here are some of the more common reasons why:

• It’s free and easy to access

• Curiosity
• Boredom
• To learn about sex
• To learn about other people’s bodies
• Pressure from your mates or boy/girlfriend
• It seems that everybody else is doing it
• You can’t stop watching it – it’s addictive

Why is porn not good for you?

People might say it’s ok to watch porn but there are lots of reasons why it’s not good for you

1. Porn isn’t real and doesn’t show you what sex in real life is like
2. People in porn aren’t having sex for fun, they’re acting like they enjoy it even when it hurts or doesn’t feel good
3. Porn is a fantasy but you might be tricked into thinking that’s how regular people have sex
4. The bodies you see in porn aren’t what regular bodies look like
5. Porn shows people having sex without a condom but it’s really unsafe
6. In porn, the women are often there only to please the man but women are not sex objects - sex must be consensual and respectful
7. The type of sex they have in porn isn’t very common in real life
8. Sex in porn can last hours but in real life penetration only lasts about 5 minutes on average
9. Women in porn are often mistreated which is not ok in real life - women’s needs and wants matter just as much as a man’s
10. In porn, they’re always ready to have sex but in real life that’s not the case – many things affect if a person is ready for sex or not
11. In real life when somebody says "no" to sex you need to respect that – it’s not ok to pressure people into sex or try and convince them like they do in porn
12. In porn, they make sex into a performance for the cameras which isn’t how people have sex in real life