Shocking Pornography Facts

1- According to PornHub (one of the Web’s largest porn sites), American’s porn-watching sessions are, on average, the longest in the world. Americans spend an average of 10 minutes and 39 seconds on the website every time they visited. The U.K was second, with Germany taking third.

2- According to PornHub, in 2013 the states that spent the longest average time on their site were Mississippi (11:47), Hawaii (11:36), and Arkansas (11:32). In contrast, people in Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Hampshire had the shortest porn-watching sessions (at 10:00, 10:01, and 10:02, respectively).

3- Jeanette Ellis, a woman from Gaffney, S.C., was arrested after police caught her going door-to-door selling porn on VHS. She claimed that she found them in a box down the street. She was charged with not having a permit.

4- The 1988, People vs. Freeman court cases stated that adult film production, as long as it does not “hurt” others, was protected as free speech under the First Amendment. In other words, if porn involves consenting adults, it is protected.

5- Pornography addiction as a behavioral addiction that causes serious negative consequences of physical, mental, social, and/or financial well-being is hugely debated. Currently, there is no diagnosis of pornography addiction in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).[2]

6- In Normandy, France, a preschool teacher thought she was clicking on a cartoon when she inadvertently clicked on a hardcore porn file. Not realizing her mistake, she left the room before the clip began, and the film played for several minutes.

7- There have been 22 reported HIV cases in the porn industry in the United States. Half the cases were among men who worked in gay films. The rest were both men and women in heterosexual productions.

8- While viewing porn, men tend to focus on a woman’s eyes and lips over breasts or genitals. Researchers speculate that men look at women’s faces to determine how “turned on” the woman is.

9- After President Bush won the election in 2004, Republican states saw a jump in porn-related Internet searches. After President Obama won, blue states saw a jump in Internet searches. Researchers suggest that being on a winning team creates a surge of testosterone, which increases sex drive.

10- In August 2012, the porn industry was shut down when a performer was diagnosed with the STD syphilis. That performer was sentenced to jail for knowingly exposing costars to the disease.

11- While men tend to become aroused by a specific stimuli (straight men: women; homosexual men: men), women experience arousal after viewing pretty much any kind of sexual stimuli, including guy-on-guy porn, girl-on-girl, or even bonobo monkeys.

12- Pornography is different from erotica. Erotica portrays sexuality in high-art, which focuses on feelings and emotions. Pornography focuses on sex in a sensational manner and emphasizes the physical act to arouse a quick reaction. Because the definition of “pornography” is subjective, the distinction between porn and erotica is always shifting and contextual.

13- The history of pornography is nearly impossible to write because the very definition of pornography is subjective, shifting, and contextual. While one image may be considered erotic or religious in one culture could be condemned as pornographic in another.

14- Porn is often divided into two categories: soft core and hard core. A work is hard core if it includes graphic sexual activity, visible penetration, and unsimulated sex scenes. Soft-core porn typically contains nudity or partial nudity in sexually suggestive scenes, but does not include explicit sexual activity, penetration, or extreme fetishism.

15- A study from the Kinsey Institute showed that women on hormonal birth control (such as the pill) would zero in on people’s genitals while watching porn. However, women not on birth control were more interested in contextual elements, such as the background or dialogue. Researchers speculate that the pill decreases the sex drive.

16- The word “pornography” is from the Greek words porne (prostitute) and graphos (to write or to record). So, in other words, pornography means “writing about prostitutes.”

17- The modern concept of pornography did not exist until the Victorian Era, although images of a sexual nature have existed long before, such as the Venus figurines and rock art.

18- A recent study found that watching porn did increase hostile sexist attitudes, but only in people who already had those tendencies. These tendencies include higher antagonism, unfriendliness, suspiciousness, disagreeability, etc.

19- The English Obscene Publications Act 1857 was the world’s first law criminalizing pornography. The American equivalent was the Comstock Act of 1873. However, the term “obscene” was left undefined, which left the laws ambiguous.

20- Victorians believed that pornography was only for a select few. While wealthy white men could look at porn safely, other groups of people—including women, minorities, and the working class—were seen as being highly vulnerable to corruption. In fact, when erotic images from Pompeii were discovered, they were shipped in secret to a museum in Naples.