Over half of boys believe that pornography presents a realistic depiction of sex, according to a study conducted by Middlesex University.

With sex still considered taboo in many circles, some young people turn to online pornographic material for answers. However, for teenagers beginning to navigate their first relationships, early exposure to pornography has been shown to shape expectations of sex, bodies, and relationships.

“We know that kids as young as eight are viewing mainstream pornography, which is free, violent, and easily accessible through any type of connected device,” said Mandy Sanchez, the program coordinator at Culture Reframed, a nonprofit that works to prevent the emotional, behavioral, and sexual harms of pornography on children and youth.

Erotic expression is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it’s been around for centuries: archeological findings from Ancient Pompeii, for example, include sexually explicit paintings and pottery depicting graphic scenes.

While sex has been erotically depicted throughout history across many art forms and cultures, portrayed as deeply human and sometimes divine or supernatural, the modern era has redefined it through industrialization.

“The change started in the 1950s when we started seeing pornography on the pages of Playboy and Hustler,” Sanchez said. “Hugh Hefner really made an industry and capitalized on it, made it for mass consumption. What has taken a complete turn is the proliferation of the normalization of modifying bodies, as we see in OnlyFans — just the normalization of sex and body selling,” Sanchez said.

According to Sanchez, young people across all socioeconomic and educational backgrounds are being targeted through social media platforms, which direct them to free porn sites. On these sites, they are frequently being exposed to increasingly violent sexual interactions that victimize primarily women and girls, and, increasingly, boys as well.

“It’s providing young people with a highly choreographed script that’s miles away from the realities of healthy relationships, and it causes so much harm to your sense of self-worth, agency to your physical body, mind, and brain,” Sanchez said. “Pornography sets up the expectation to have non-consensual, often degrading, and sexually abusive encounters that in no way represent the realities of the complex decision-making and communication that’s required for healthy, safe sexual relationships.”

The impact of this exposure surfaces in high school settings, where adolescents are developing mentally, physically, and emotionally. According to Calvin Scott*, a senior at Carlmont High School, there’s a widespread belief among male students that watching pornography is universally done, a dangerous assumption because of how unrealistic it is.

“I think the expectation you develop from porn is quite high. A lot of what you see on the internet, you don’t feel the connection. To be honest, nothing beats the actual feeling of doing it with someone you really love. Without that context or those feelings, it’s portrayed a lot on the internet as lacking intimacy,” Scott said.

Scott is not alone in his beliefs. Dongjun Kim, an 18-year-old, said that even before entering relationships, pornography distorted his understanding and expectations of sex.

“When I first encountered sex through pornography, it always felt provocative and dramatic, and I think I had that expectation in real life,” Kim said. “I only learned later that emotions, communication, and trust are more important in real relationships, but at first, the images I learned through pornography felt like the standard.”

A 2020 journal published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior found that nearly half of all scenes on popular sites like Pornhub include some form of physical aggression, with women depicted as the targets in 97% of cases. For adolescents forming their first understandings of intimacy through early relationships, some, like Sanchez, view the messages absorbed through such content as concerning.

“The majority of content has this more dominant role for men and a submissive role for women. I think that plays beyond typical gender stereotypes,” Scott said. “I think it can impact domestic abuse — the majority of domestic abuse cases are by men. Those are just statistics, and there definitely is a cause for that.”

Exposure to degrading pornography has been shown to influence perceptions of women’s roles, contributing to unhealthy dynamics in relationships. In fact, a 2018 study published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality found that this exposure caused the strongest hostile sexist beliefs and the greatest amount of objectification of the woman in the pornographic clip shown to subjects.

“I’d say the biggest way porn can objectify people is by showing them purely for their physical appearance, without considering who they are. That focus on sex appeal definitely objectifies people,” Scott said. “It also causes unrealistic body expectations, which can have negative effects on women and teenagers in relationships.”

In line with Scott’s concerns, pornography not only impacts external expectations through sexual objectification but can internally affect those who consume it, and even their partners, by influencing how individuals perceive themselves and their bodies.

“The stereotypes about porn can cause individuals to believe that the way someone is depicted is normal,” said senior Ria Smilovitz. “Large breasts, large butts — the more sexualized parts of a woman’s body — can, in turn, be seen as the norm. People who promote their OnlyFans have enhanced body parts with surgery done, which is okay, but that exposure creates the sense that this is the norm and could lead to body dysmorphia.”

According to Sanchez, research shows that porn is linked to an increased likelihood of engaging in risky and violent sexual behaviors for boys and a higher likelihood of being sexually victimized for girls.

“Science shows that early access to porn shapes how we come to understand our body — how it works, what it should look like, and what it shouldn’t look like. Porn consumption has been scientifically linked to negative self-image, low self-esteem, disordered eating, depression, anxiety, decreased capacity for intimacy and connection, and self-harm among girls,” Sanchez said.

Some youth also have personal or moral objections to pornography. Molly Waters*, a senior at Carlmont High School, described her discomfort with her former partner’s use of pornography as a form of “micro-cheating.”

“I thought it was a little bit disrespectful but also a bit degrading,” Waters said. “You’re being so vulnerable with someone, and then knowing they have access to other people just feels a little bit insensitive.”

According to Waters, she had complicated feelings when addressing the issue with her partner. She felt both scared and “too controlling” for even bringing up her boundaries, since pornography is often considered as something natural for boys and not something to question.

“It could be considered an overly sensitive topic, and it really depends from relationship to relationship about the boundaries you set,” Waters said. “At least for me, I didn’t like it.”

At the same time, access to pornography has only become easier. The ever-growing popularity of social media and subscription platforms such as OnlyFans has supported its normalization and increasing presence in young people’s online activity.

“The normalization and popularization of OnlyFans and other sites have absolutely increased one’s awareness. Fitness influencers who previously might only use Instagram then venture into OnlyFans,” Scott said. “OnlyFans also allows for the average individual to monetize their own personal sexual content, making it extremely easy and closer to consumers than giant production companies.”

Whether pornography can be a healthy resource for young people exploring their sexuality is still a controversial topic. Due to its high accessibility, many students view it as a viable option, especially when comprehensive sex education is lacking in schools or when open conversations with trusted adults are not possible.

“You could make an argument that there are some positive aspects to porn because it is very educational,” Scott said. “At least in my relationship, we both learned a decent amount from it to the point, so it wasn’t too difficult to navigate. There is a negative side, of course, with the expectations, body image issues, or the feelings of just being truly objectified.”

However, according to Sanchez, it’s impossible for porn to be an educational resource for young people. Sanchez believes that even forms of pornography marketed as ethical or feminist, which means sexually explicit material created under more fair working conditions and focused on women’s sexual agency, are still built on an inherently exploitative system.

“It’s so critical that we view porn for what it is: inherently built on the exploitation of humans, primarily women. The minute you make money off of an industry that sells sex for other people’s viewing, the minute that it is scripted, it becomes not authentically yours. It’s built on the backs of someone else,” Sanchez said. “It’s built by a capitalist, racist, sexist industry, so inherently it can’t be good for you.”

With the nature of industrialized online pornography, Sanchez emphasizes the importance of providing robust, comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education so that young people — who are exposed to pornography at a young age — are not taking and internalizing the potentially inaccurate and harmful portrayals they watch.

“We have to know that young people have the right to factual, accurate, objective information about the industry to make informed decisions and keep themselves and others safe. We have to have robust digital media literacy and a real academic discussion about the harms of pornography to young people,” Sanchez said. “Young people have to know and understand the story that this pornified culture is telling and selling — about what it means to be exploited by an industry that thrives off of your degradation and exploitation.”

*In accordance with Carlmont Media’s anonymous sourcing policy, the name of this source have been changed to protect them from social consequences.