Let’s Talk About Porn: Use, Ethics, and Treatment
As a therapist, there is one topic that comes up in my office constantly, yet it remains one of the most difficult things for people to talk about: pornography.
The internet has completely transformed how we access and experience human sexuality. What used to require a trip to a magazine rack or video store is now available instantly, privately, and at no cost on any device. Pornography has become one of the most widely consumed forms of media globally, but the silence around it in clinical settings and in our own homes is deafening.
I want to break that silence. Whether you are struggling with your own use, navigating a relationship where pornography has caused a rift, or just trying to understand the landscape, we need a nuanced, evidence-based way to talk about this.
The Scale of the Industry
Let’s start with the reality of how common this is. Pornography consumption is a normative behavior in modern society. An estimated 141 million U.S. adults—roughly 61 percent of the adult population—report viewing pornography to some degree.
The scale of the industry is staggering. In a single month in 2023, one major platform alone reported over 2.14 billion visits, generating more monthly traffic than Netflix, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest combined. The global porn industry’s annual revenue is estimated to be approximately $100 billion, with the U.S. market alone accounting for $13 billion.
Despite this high prevalence, a smaller subset of the population experiences significant distress related to their use. In the United States, up to 11 percent of men and 3 percent of women report feeling addicted to pornography. But here is the catch: not all pornography use is problematic, and not all problematic pornography use looks the same.