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Scroll below to find resources related to the public health implications of pornography. The most comprehensive repository for sourcing research from a public health perspective is the Culture Reframed Academic Library. Other noteworthy research-based sites include Your Brain on Porn and the Reward Foundation.

For targeted information to intervene with children and young people displaying compulsive sexual behaviours, we recommend accessing Intervention & Recovery, a free program provided by Culture Reframed. The topics included in this resource are: What are the Warning Signs for Kids?; What are the Warning Signs for Teens?; Developing a Strategy; and, Finding a Clinician.

CRITICAL PORN ANALYSIS

Critical Porn Analysis is an educational response to the researched harms of pornography as a public health crisis. Critical Porn Analysis moves beyond the micro focus of how the individual interacts with pornographic content, to consider a more holistic approach on how porn’s proliferation and ease of access impacts the health & wellbeing of individuals, relationships, families, communities and cultures. Further research underpinning the Critical Porn Analysis Framework is currently underway and will become available soon.

ORGANISATIONS RESPONDING TO PORNOGRAPHY AS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS

PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH

Health education's role in framing pornography as a public health issue: local and national strategies with international implications
ABSTRACT: Pornography is a public health issue. However, since the US Surgeon General's workshop on pornography and public health reached a consensus statement about the impacts of pornography in 1986, few policy actions have been taken to deal with this public health problem, and intense discussion surrounding the regulation of pornography has continued. This debate spans a continuum between individual rights on one extreme and complete restriction of such material for society's good on the other extreme. However, during this same period much research has been done on the impacts of pornography on children and adults. This paper focuses on reviewing the effects of pornography on society including women, children, and consumers, and includes discussion on the current and failed policies aimed at regulating pornography. The growing phenomenon of Internet pornography use is discussed in depth, and specific policy ideas pertaining to Internet pornography are presented from a public health perspective.

Current Research on Economics and Usage Patterns by College-aged Men and Women: Dr. Jennifer Johnson

INDUSTRY LINKS TO TRAUMA, TRAFFICKING AND PROSTITUTION

Harms of production: theorising pornography as a form of prostitution
ABSTRACT: The separation of prostitution and pornography found in many legal systems, and in pop culture representations, is flawed. Pornography can be better understood as a form of prostitution. Understanding pornography as a form of prostitution allows for a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of harm. HIGHLIGHTS: Citing one study (Farley, 2003), 68 percent of participants (prostituted women) met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a similar rate to that seen among combat veterans. The rates of PTSD were found to be similar across various types of prostitution, both legal and illegal (even when controlling for experiences of childhood sexual abuse). There were differences in the severity of PTSD symptoms among those participants who reported that they had been used in pornography (Farley, 2007). Those who had been involved in the production of pornography ‘had significantly more severe symptoms of PTSD than did women who did not have pornography made of them’.

MORE VIDEOS: The Truth About Porn

The Culture Reframed Academic Library contains peer-reviewed journal articles and selected reports from the last twenty years. Drawing from multiple disciplines, the articles in this library explore the ways in which pornography consumption has an impact at both the micro and macro levels.