A topic that is simultaneously discussed in friend groups and at the same time, in the Supreme Court. Causing much discourse and division in the 21st century, pornography has been popularized, demonized, and promoted more than ever before. Since the beginning of time, naked women and toned men were carved into stone, and canvases were painted with oil. Back then, a painting took time, commission, and was hard to hide from the wife and kids, whereas now, almost seven centuries after the late Middle Ages, incognito mode and a quick search open a world of pornography that anyone can access. Exit out, clear your history, and no one will ever know the dirty things you watch in private.

The first documented pornography was a prehistoric figurine found near a cave in Germany called Hohle Fels. It was found to be used in erotic rituals for pleasure. Dating back 35,000 years, it depicted a woman’s body with dramatically large breasts and a detailed, enlarged vulva, showing a direct contrast to the modern sex appeal seen in pornography of women, which tends to feature skinny, toned women. The first publicly purchasable pornography came shortly after the printing press was established in 1524. The book was titled Modi, an Italian work comprising a series of sexually explicit engravings and poems. When it was released, there was outrage at the vulgar nature of the works, and the Catholic church quickly seized the printings and destroyed them.

Pornography was popularized in the 1970s with the creation of Playboy Magazine. “When I was growing up, the only porn I knew about was somebody’s uncle who had a stack of Playboys in their closet or dirty old men in long raincoats who went to seedy theaters in Times Square and things of that nature,” said Jeffery Kass, an English and creative writing teacher at Pioneer. “There was no nudity on TV, and you couldn’t get into an R-rated movie unless you were 17, and as I got older, there were backrooms in video stores that were shady and we never went in there, but everyone knew the kind of things they were renting out,” Kass said.

The widespread accessibility of porn has been affecting the minds of young people since websites like PornHub were created. PornHub became the most viewed erotic website in the world, and the sixteenth most visited site, as reported by NYU University’s website after its release in 2007, reaching around 500 million viewers every day. 

“Access to porn is made incredibly easy by the internet,” said Don Packard, a world literature teacher at Pioneer. Although certain states, such as Florida, have banned pornographic websites without an active ID or proof of age, only 21 states have enacted age verification laws, as reported by CBS News. These laws require a photo ID to be uploaded to the website, which is then reviewed by a third-party verification service. “I’m not sure what controls we need to put up to keep kids safe, because the more we regulate our kids, the more they find ways to get around it,” Packard said.

Pornography is being introduced to kids at younger ages more frequently now than ever. “It’s definitely an addiction to some people, I think it’s way too easily accessible to those underage,” Sofia Ortega, a Pioneer Senior, said. In the 1900s, pornographic films were criminalized with legal repercussions upon proof of consumption, primarily being shown at male-only gatherings or in brothels, according to NBC News. The adolescent population wasn’t nearly as familiar with the content as teens are now, according to Psychology Today. Dr. Emily Sportsman, Pioneer High School’s school psychologist, said that the age at which people are viewing pornography is becoming younger and younger every year. “From what I can see, the age of first exposure, whether a person encounters it intentionally or not, has been getting much younger because of the internet,” said Sportsman. “The average first age of exposure has been determined to be 12 years old, but there are always kids who are discovering it at younger ages,” Sportsman said. 

A study released in the article “10 Negative Effects of Porn” from Fight The New Drug, a website dedicated to raising awareness about public problems, has shown that Pornography consumers are more likely to get addicted, have violent tendencies, and ruin relationships. “Our research indicates that porn consumers are more likely to sexually objectify and dehumanize others, more likely to express an intent to rape, less likely to intervene during a sexual assault, more likely to victim-blame survivors of sexual assault, more likely to support violence against women, more likely to forward sexts without consent, and more likely to commit actual acts of sexual violence,” said Fight The New Drug.

“I know of relationships that have been totally ruined because the girl feels like the guy is betraying her by watching this kind of stuff, and then the foundation of it crumbles because of her feeling like she has some sort of competition. It’s messed up.” Said Digeo Ruiz, Pioneer senior and Latino Student Union President. “I think it’s really affecting some guys my age. Some people see it as some scandalized thing that people should be ashamed of watching, but others just don’t care,” he said.

“Decades of research show that pornography has harmful effects on the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of adolescents,” said Cultural Report, a website made to report on culture as an academic field. “It stimulates the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that allows us to feel pleasure. When engaging with pornography, the brain is overwhelmed with unnaturally high dopamine levels. This can alter the brain’s reward circuitry and impact its natural ability to produce that feel-good neurotransmitter. This can negatively impact mood and personality, contributing to feelings of isolation, depression, and anxiety,” they said. 

“Pornography has often been centered around the ‘male gaze,’ a term popularized by social media,” said Sportsman. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term is described as the viewing of women and predominantly feminine things from the male perspective, while often objectifying and sexualizing them. “If the porn is the aggressive type, it can normalize extreme, dangerous, or even violent sex, as well as non-consensual acts, and from what I see, boys are especially susceptible to seeing those images, which can often lead to viewing women as objects, and I think that is dangerous for everyone,” Sportsman said.

Curiosity is normal for a teenager. The truth is, the majority of the world has watched porn, but the dangers can run deep in unfiltered and excessive use of the material. It’s not about shame or judgment—it’s about awareness, balance, and understanding how what one consumes can subtly shape the way they perceive themselves and others, the interactions people have with each other, and the disconnection that can occur when experiencing intimacy.