Your brother, your father, your boyfriend; let’s face it, there’s a big chance they’re addicted to porn, just like every other man in this generation. Porn addiction is a disease, affecting and altering the minds of the men around us. It changes the way that men think about women, sex, themselves and more.  

Porn paints a narrative of sex being something it is not. Sex can be beautiful, genuine, and sweet but the sex shown in porn is more often than not aggressive, hard, and the girl finishes in 3 seconds. It is not an accurate narrative in the slightest. It is especially harmful to the young boys who stumble across this, and subsequently have it influence their ideas around sex and women.  

Porn paints women to be overly eager, disposable sex dolls. Let’s be real no women is going to squirt in your face after 10 seconds of rubbing her left thigh. Porn adds to the lack of or misinformation surrounding women’s sexuality and autonomy. Women in porn are shown screaming in pleasure from a bit of nipple stimulation. This is not accurate in the slightest and watching these influences men to believe they can do anything to a woman, and she’ll love it. Consent isn’t awkward, it’s essential.  

BDSM and kinks are a normal part of consenting adults’ sex lives, but for teenage boys it’s the blueprint. Rough sex, and bondage are common fantasies, and it’s okay to explore these, but this exploration should be after consent and a conversation about it, rather than an expectation. Often, men will watch shitloads of porn before they have any real sexual experience, and when they do get the chance, they’ll expect the girl to be the next Mia Khalifa. A lot of women don’t find this sexy, or fun; they find it dehumanising.  

Men create a parasocial relationships with pornstars- especially with the rise of OnlyFans. This kind of relationship will never be healthy or have a positive outcome. The normalisation and social acceptance of pornographic culture is concerning, and there should be more information surrounding this topic.