The Internet and other technological advances have made pornography more accessible than ever before. This means that for many people, pornography is only seconds away anytime, anywhere. This, combined with Internet pornography’s affordability and anonymity has unleashed online sexual consumerism, supplied endless sexual novelty, and created an ethos of instant sexual gratification. As a result, pornography use, even among children, is more prevalent and normalized than at any time in human history.
Importantly, “Mainstream online pornography is a key social institution” for developing norms of sexual conduct. Recent research has shown that 1 in 8 (12%) of the video titles on largest mainstream pornography sites in the U.K. (Pornhub, XVideos, and Xhamster) described activities that constitute sexual violence. Much of the material described likely depicted evidence of real sexual assaults and non-consensual distribution of sexually explicit material. Thus, children who end up on these sites are being socialized to sexually violent pornography from the very outset of their exposure to pornography.