If you are viewing legal adult pornography then this is your choice and we are not here to shame you for using it or to tell you to stop.
But this self-help section will encourage you to think about whether viewing legal adult pornography is helpful or harmful for you.
Some people we work with connect viewing legal adult pornography to their illegal online sexual behaviour. Some of the reasons for this may become evident as you work through this module, particularly when you look at the section on drivers.
What is pornography?
Pornography is sexual content designed to sexually excite people. It can be pictures, videos, written stories, or other forms. It often shows sexual body parts, people having sex, foreplay, or masturbation.
Legal pornography can show one or more adults (aged 18 or older) having sex or engaging in other sexual behaviours. The adults must consent to these sexual behaviours, to being filmed or photographed, and to the videos or pictures being distributed.
Bondage and fetishes can be shown as long as they are consensual and do not lead to abusive behaviours, for example, a person being physically harmed, their life threatened, or rape scenarios.
Is it OK to view adult pornography?
In the UK, if you are aged 18 or over you can legally view adult pornographic material.
If you are an adult viewing adult pornography then this is your choice and we are not here to shame you for using it or to tell you to stop.
But this self-help section will encourage you to think about whether using adult pornography is helpful or harmful for you.
Before the internet, people might have gone to a shop or a cinema to pay for adult pornography. But now it is easily and freely available online. This reduces any social embarrassment, inhibition, or shame that may have been felt when buying adult pornography face-to-face.
As a result, the amount of people viewing adult pornography and the amount of pornography they view has grown. Some people view hours of adult pornography before they notice how much time has passed.
Is adult pornography good or bad?
Lots of men who we work with talk about pornography being good or bad and think that viewing mainstream pornography is OK because it is legal. But they also talk about feelings of shame after viewing it.
Adult pornography can be harmful to some of the people shown in it. Some adult pornography actors (porn stars) will have thought about their decision to be involved and given consent, performing in an environment they feel safe and looked after.
But others might have thought there was no other option, been unwilling, forced, threatened, or even been through sex trafficking. With amateur footage, you might be viewing people who give consent to show themselves sexually online, but you could also be watching something that wasn’t supposed to be shared, such as revenge porn. It is impossible to guarantee the people you are watching have given consent.
