Sexual Purity Support & Recovery Group
Starting this Thursday, 2/5, for security purposes the other non-Castimonia Sugar Creek group in the building would like to lock the outer doors at 7:15pm
Anyone arriving late would need to text either Aaron at 501-628-1825 or Simeon at 832-920-8596 for entry after 7:15pm.
Originally posted at: https://fightthenewdrug.org/behind-the-camera-study-reveals-the-hidden-abuse-of-porn-performers
Consumers see fantasy. Survivors live the nightmare. A Swedish study exposes the extreme abuse, trauma, and re-victimization performers endured while filming pornography.
Trigger warning: This post contains discussions surrounding child abuse, trauma, sexual assault, and suicide. Reader discretion is advised.
Porn consumers visit porn sites to experience a type of high grounded in fantasy. In porn, part of what makes the experience so attractive is the perceived health, beauty, and seductiveness of the performer. Consumers select porn based on their sexual interests and performer types. There are porn celebrities, actors, and actresses fawned over like famous motion picture celebrities; they even have their own awards.
But there’s an entire reality behind the lens—hidden, silenced, and seldom spoken of that many performers face.
A groundbreaking study from Sweden gives us an unfiltered look at the lives of 120 individuals who have been filmed in commercial pornography. The study doesn’t represent abstract statistics; this data was collected by real human beings grappling with profound trauma and continuous exploitation.
The study, which analyzed the experiences of 120 adults documented in pornography production, paints a devastating picture. For most, pornography wasn’t the beginning of their exploitation, but a continuation of it.
Nearly every participant reported severe abuse in childhood—88% sexual, 90% psychological, or 79% physical1. By the time they entered adulthood, many carried the scars of multiple forms of trauma.
Studies show that those who experience extreme childhood trauma or abuse of any kind experience a rewiring of the brain, making themselves more vulnerable to being reabused and victimized. Sexual abuse victims are 48% more likely to be revictimized. 2 Another study based in Wales showed that victims who experienced any form of abuse were twice as likely to experience physical assault, and three times as likely to experience intimate partner violence or sexual assault. The more types of abuse the individual experiences, the risks of being re-abused increase three to sevenfold. 3
For many of these victims, their abuse set the stage for their pornography career.
During filming of pornography 87% experienced verbal abuse and 56% physical assault. Over half of the individuals reported third-party control over their decisions and online harassment.
The most alarming statistic?
While filming pornography, 65% of performers were raped.
The viewer is there to be entertained. Yet, every click, every view, every share, and every comment further perpetuates the demand for further exploitation of real human beings who are behind the camera being mistreated, abused, and exploited.. That momentary high, is it worth it knowing what those behind the screen are really going through?
What happens when abuse is not only experienced but recorded, shared, and distributed to strangers worldwide?
A staggering majority (84%) of participants met the criteria for clinically significant PTSD, many reporting dissociation (60%), flashbacks, and emotional numbness. At least 80% reported having at least one mental health diagnosis.
Over 68% reported attempting suicide.
Pornography takes advantage of the most vulnerable and exploits them until they feel there is nothing left.
Beyond individual struggles, this study highlights how pornography and the recording of sexually explicit experiences create ongoing trauma.
Even after filming, 94% received unsolicited sexual content, and over half discovered their images were shared without their permission.
For many performers or victims, their images and videos are reminders of abuse and retraumatization. Unsolicited redistributions, harassment, and stalking repeatedly turn their past
There’s a glaring truth: We simply don’t know what happens behind the camera. The consumer sees the final cut, not the coercion, fear, or violation endured during filming.
This study demands we peel back that facade.
It’s not just about what we view—it’s about who we’re hurting. People are facing trauma that’s layered, complex, and often invisible to the audience. You may never know what someone endured before, during, or after that “scene.”
This research should shake us at our core, because it forces us to confront an uncomfortable fact: pornography does not exist in a vacuum. Every click and every share has consequences.
We must discard the narrative that porn is “harmless entertainment.”
Every click fuels a system that thrives on cycles of abuse and re-victimization.
Survivors of pornography filming are not just individuals with isolated experiences; they represent a larger population whose trauma is compounded by the permanence of the internet.
When the bodies and lives of vulnerable individuals are packaged as commodities, it reflects and reinforces a culture that values profit and consumption over dignity and humanity. The normalization of such exploitation erodes our collective sense of empathy and connection.
For every video streamed, there may be a survivor reliving trauma every time their image resurfaces online.
If pornography is shaping our culture’s view of sex, power, and consent, then ignoring the lived experiences of those filmed in it means we are complicit in sustaining a cycle of abuse.
The Swedish study gives voice to those most often silenced—the people behind the images. Their pain tells us that pornography is not just pixels on a screen.
Let’s use these findings not just to inform, but to ignite change—for everyone who’s experienced abuse and exploitation, for every individual whose most intimate details are documented without consent. Let’s consider before consuming.
1Donevan, M., Jonsson, L. S., & Svedin, C. G. (2025). The experience of individuals filmed for pornography production: a history of continuous polyvictimization and ongoing mental health challenges. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 79(2), 156–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/08039488.2025.2464634
2Walker, Hannah E et al. “The Prevalence of Sexual Revictimization: A Meta-Analytic Review.” Trauma, violence & abuse vol. 20,1 (2019): 67-80. doi:10.1177/1524838017692364
3Butler, N., Quigg, Z. & Bellis, M.A. Cycles of violence in England and Wales: the contribution of childhood abuse to risk of violence revictimisation in adulthood. BMC Med 18, 325 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-01788-3
4Robb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.
5Martellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.
6Robb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.
7Fritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0
8Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.
9Fight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.
Our host church is holding an event tomorrow morning so we will not be able to meet in person and will be meeting via Zoom. Please email info@castimonia.org for the Zoom links.
Originally posted at: https://www.covenanteyes.com/blog/why-is-porn-addictive
By Keith Rose
Why do so many people have a difficult time quitting porn? At Covenant Eyes, we hear from thousands of people—men and women, married and single, young and old, who consider themselves addicted.
What causes this addiction? In brief, pornography activates pleasureful chemicals in the brain: dopamine, norepinephrine, oxytocin, vasopressin, serotonin, and endorphins. For some, repeated exposure can lead to addiction.
Here’s what you need to know about pornography addiction, why it’s considered controversial, and what causes it.
In 2004, psychologist Dr. Judith Reisman testified before the United States Senate that porn is an “erototoxin.”1 By this, she meant that porn is a sexually poisonous substance—addictive, toxic, and deadly. That’s strong testimony to the negative impact porn can have on people’s lives. Many other experts have taken up the warning about pornography addiction.
Not everyone agrees with Dr. Reisman’s assessment. In fact, the medical community does not currently recognize the diagnosis of pornography addiction. Despite this, most people now believe porn addiction is real. And even many skeptics acknowledge that pornography can have dangerous consequences.2 “Problematic porn consumption” is the study of out-of-control porn habits.
Pornography statistics indicate that watching pornography is a problem for significant numbers of people. Here are some examples of what this looks like, shared by our members and readers:
“I’ve dug a HUGE hole for myself with this masturbation problem and pornography addiction. It’s affecting my concentration and, most importantly, my spiritual life.”
“I need help to quit porn, I tried many times and all failed.”
“I am married and have struggled with lust for as long as I can remember and crave porn like a drug addict. I watch it while masturbating or shortly thereafter and feel filthy afterwards, but I keep going back and back…hardest thing in the world to quit.”
Barna has published some of the best data on pornography viewing in the United States. According to their latest research, over 61% of people consume pornography to some degree.2
And although the porn addiction diagnosis isn’t recognized by the medical community, most people believe it’s possible to become addicted.3 according to one 2019 study, up to 11% of men and 3% of women surveyed self-identified as porn addicts.4
What’s the main reason that people struggle to stop watching porn. It comes down to the brain’s response to sexual imagery combined with the unique opportunities of modern technology. Author Sam Black explains the “neuro-cocktail” of chemicals activated in the brain by pornography.5
This is how porn affects the brain. These chemicals all occur naturally with any kind of sexual arousal. But digital pornography offers something highly unnatural that our brains weren’t designed to handle: easy access and endless novelty. It’s what neuroscientist Dr. Donald Hilton calls a “supranormal stimulus.”6
Psychologist Dr. Alvin Cooper identified the “triple-A engine” of internet pornography that drives addiction. Online porn is accessible, affordable, and anonymous.7
These factors make it very easy for anyone to slip into a porn-watching habit. There’s a low barrier to entry—anyone can find it, anyone can afford it, and nobody has to know about it. The triple-A engine alone could be enough to trap someone in a vicious porn cycle.
Dr. Donald Hilton gives a more technical look at how this causes porn addiction. He says:
“[P]ornography is a triple hook, consisting of cortical hypofrontality, dopaminergic downgrading, and oxytocin/vasopressin bonding. Each of these hooks is powerful, and they are synergistic.8
Put more simply, porn causes three problems: brain shrinkage, cravings, and chemical bonding. Working together, they create an addictive impulse to look at porn. Let’s briefly look at each.
What neuroscientists call “cortical hypofrontality” is a kind of brain shrinkage. Cambridge researcher Dr. Valerie Voon found that the brains of porn addicts look a lot like the brains of drug addicts, both displaying similar damage to the frontal lobe.9
What exactly is shrinking? Specifically, it’s the part of your brain that makes rational decisions. It’s the part of the brain that puts the brakes on things that feel good but are actually harmful.
That means the more porn you watch, the harder it is to make rational decisions regarding porn.
We already noted that dopamine is the chemical in our brains that makes us want things. It’s important because it fuels any kind of motivation—whether for food, sex, or success. When the dopamine production system is hijacked, it can result in cravings.
The unlimited variety of porn causes unnatural surges in dopamine that can overwhelm the brain. When this happens, the dopamine receptors are desensitized. The same things that used to bring pleasure are no longer satisfying—often leading to riskier and riskier behaviors.
When oxytocin and vasopressin are released in sex, they create a deep biological “bond” between the partners. When someone looks at porn, these chemicals form a bond with the pixels on the screen. The more porn is viewed, the stronger the bond.
Psychologist and addiction expert Dr. William Struthers writes in his book, Wired for Intimacy:
“Like a path is created in the woods with each successive hiker, so do the neural paths set the course for the next time an erotic image is viewed. Over time these neural paths become wider as they are repeatedly traveled with each exposure to pornography. They become the automatic pathway through which interactions with women are routed. The neural circuitry anchors this process solidly in the brain.“10
Together, this combination of chemicals in the brain makes porn an intoxicating experience and keeps you going back for more.
Addiction is never simple, and there are often many factors involved. But several factors make some people more susceptible than others to addiction.
Early exposure is one of the most significant determiners of porn addiction. Tragically, children are being exposed to porn at an early age, often before puberty, when their brains are in a highly impressionable stage of development. Author and speaker John Fort writes:
“The sad reality for nearly every adult who struggles with porn is that their compulsive porn use started in childhood. In the more than two decades I have been working with hundreds of men and women trying to overcome pornography addiction, I have met only one who did not first start using pornography as a child.”
Research shows 50% of men and 10% of women who are exposed to pornography as children will develop an addiction.11 One study found the average age of first exposure is eleven years old! This tells us an increasing number of people are being exposed at very young ages, setting the stage for a lifelong addiction.12
Licensed mental health counselor Jay Stringer says that people who have experienced trauma or abuse are more likely to be addicted to porn. Additionally, those who suffer from other trauma or who experience deep shame have a greater likelihood of addiction. And this often plays a role in the third factor below.
Neglect and loneliness can likewise leave people emotionally needy and vulnerable to the false intimacy promised by porn. Dr. Gregory Popkack is an expert in attachment theory and its implications for pornography addiction. He argues that the root cause of unwanted porn use and addiction can be found in attachment wounds:
“The degree to which a person has a hard time avoiding pornography, or the degree to which a person has that compulsive relationship with pornography… tends to be the degree to which they are experiencing deeper attachment wounds.”
Before we can understand “attachment wounds,” we need to know what healthy attachment looks like. Dr. Popcak explains:
“The degree to which a parent consistently, generous, and even cheerfully responds to their child’s needs teaches the child, ‘Oh, I can turn to this person to get my needs met.’”
There, attachment has to do with where you turn to meet your needs. A secure attachment to a primary caregiver shapes the way the child sees the world and relationships. It makes them trusting and teaches them to see human connection as a good thing.
So what are attachment wounds?
First, if your parents make you work to have your needs recognized, if you feel from a young age that you have to prove the legitimacy of your needs, then you develop attachment wounds, also known as “insecure attachments.” Dr. Popcak says:
“[Insecure attachments] set you up in adult relationships to find people who can’t really love you the way you want to be loved… ‘If I can just push the right button and pull the right lever, I can get that person to be loving in the way I want them to be.’”
These insecure attachment styles develop when parents neglect emotional needs. Although physical needs may be met, emotional needs are suppressed. The focus is on outward achievement. Dr. Popcak continues:
“People with insecure attachments don’t have the neural framework for intimate relationships.”
They find themselves unable to enjoy deep and meaningful relationship intimacy. This makes them extremely vulnerable to pornography addiction. (Learn more in our podcast with Dr. Popcak).
These traits do not describe every porn addict. But someone who has one or more of these characteristics is much more vulnerable to porn addiction. Not only does this help us understand the causes of porn addiction, but understanding what makes people vulnerable can be a helpful tool in the recovery process.
In their book The Porn Trap, sex therapists Wendy and Larry Maltz point to three key indicators of porn addiction:
If you can relate to these feelings about porn, you may be dealing with an addiction. For a more in-depth assessment, check out our article, “Am I Addicted to Porn?” Once you recognize the problem, you can move on to the next question.
The good news is that porn addiction can be beaten. At Covenant Eyes, we hear stories every day of those who overcome porn. I recommend starting here: How to Stop Watching Porn. You may also find it helpful to seek out a counselor for porn addiction.
References
1 Judith Reisman, “The Science Behind Pornography Addiction,” U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, November 18, 2004.
2 Pure Desire Ministries, Beyond The Porn Phenomenon: Ventura CA: Barna Broup, 2024, 21.
3 Beyond the Porn Phenomenon, 36.
4 Joshua B. Grubbs, Shane W. Kraus, & Samuel L. Perry, “Self-reported addiction to pornography in a nationally representative sample: The roles of use habits, religiousness, and moral incongruence,” Journal of behavioral addictions, 8 (2019): 88–93. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.7.2018.134
5 Sam Black, The Porn Circuit (Owosso: Covenant Eyes, 2013). https://learn.covenanteyes.com/porn-circuit/
6 Donald Hilton Jr., “Pornography addiction – a supranormal stimulus considered in the context of neuroplasticity,” Socioaffective neuroscience & psychology 3 (2013). https://doi.org/10.3402/snp.v3i0.20767
7 Al Cooper, “Cybersex and sexual compulsivity: The dark side of the force,” Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 7:1-2 (2000): 1-3. DOI: 10.1080/10720160008400204
8 Donald Hilton Jr., “How Pornography & Drugs Changes Your Brain,” Salvo (2010), accessed August 23, 2021. https://salvomag.com/article/salvo13/slave-master
9 Valerie Voon, Thomas B Mole, Paula Banca, Laura Porter, Laurel Morris, Simon Mitchell, Tatyana R Lapa, Judy Karr, Neil A Harrison, Marc N Potenza, & Michael Irvine, “Neural correlates of sexual cue reactivity in individuals with and without compulsive sexual behaviours,” PloS one 9 (2014): doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102419.
10 William Struthers, Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2009), 85.
11 Wendy and Larry Maltz, The Porn Trap: The Essential Guide to Overcoming Problems Caused by Pornography, 44.
12 Robert Weiss, “The Prevalence of Porn,” PsychCentral, accessed August 23, 2021. https://psychcentral.com/blog/sex/2013/05/the-prevalence-of-porn#1
13 The Porn Trap, 92.
This site is intended for individuals who struggle with maintaining sexual purity. This information is posted for individuals at various stages in their recovery, year 1 to year 30+; what applies to some, may not apply others. Spouses are encouraged to read this blog with the caveat that they may not agree with, understand, or know the reason for some items posted. As always, take what you like and leave the rest.
