Disturbing findings from an online porn study

online porn study

Disturbing findings from an online porn study

Some disturbing findings from an online porn study have recently been published, and it is claimed that 1 in 8 videos shown to first-time users involved some form of violence.

The WHO definition of sexual violence “Sexual violence encompasses acts that range from verbal harassment to forced penetration, and an array of types of coercion, from social pressure and intimidation to physical force.”

The study published in The British Journal of criminology took place over six months between 2017 and 2018; they monitored the three most popular online porn sites PornHub, XHamster, and XVideos. The study involved taking screenshots of the homepage every hour; in the 131 738 videos surveyed, the researchers looked at the video descriptions and titles. They searched for keywords that corresponded with the WHO’s definition of sexual violence.

The online porn study found that 12 percent of the videos surveyed depicted sexual violence, with “teen” being the most focused word used when analyzing the sexual violence video descriptions and titles. The word teen featured in 7.7 percent of the entire 131 738 videos surveyed and featured in 8.5 percent of sexual violence videos; a total of 10 149 videos featured the keyword “teen.”

The study also found that 5 785 sexually violent videos involved family members, with “stepmother” being the most commonly used keyword.

Online porn study

Image-based sexual abuse, which are forms of non-consensual images and distribution such as revenge porn and upskirting, including spycams or hidden cameras, had focus keywords of “leak,” “hidden,” or “spy,” featured a total of 2 966 videos with one of those descriptions.

Coercion and exploitation videos included keywords such as “young,” “schoolgirl,” or “teen.” A total of 2698 videos depicted non-consensual sex.  Often when young teens are tricked or coerced into sex or sexual acts. Although it is thought that many of the actresses are of legal age playing underage “victims,” some people have voiced concern that some of the actresses might actually be underage.

The lack of regulation in the porn industry might put viewers in a position where they could possibly be prosecuted for viewing child pornography or being in possession of child sex abuse material. Most online porn sites have little to no proper age verification processes, therefore enabling underage individuals to watch the content.

PornHub released a transparency report, stating that they have removed 653 465 videos from their site that might have potentially infringing material. They will also be using secure biometric verification technology to verify users in the future. This is a step in the right direction, but unfortunately, it is slow in being implemented.

The lines between sex and sexual violence are already blurred. With sexual exploitation taking place worldwide, more needs to be done to prevent sex traffickers from uploading sexual videos of victims being sexually abused or coerced into sexual activities.

I enjoy watching porn, but after seeing the disturbing findings from the online porn study, I now realize the porn industry needs to be better regulated to prevent predators and traffickers from publishing non-consensual videos of victims.

WiseHarsh

The online porn study found that 12 percent of the videos surveyed depicted sexual violence, with “teen” being the most focused word used when analyzing the sexual violence video descriptions and titles. The word teen featured in 7.7 percent of the entire 131 738 videos surveyed and featured in 8.5 percent of sexual violence videos; a total of 10 149 videos featured the keyword “teen.”

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