Much like listening to the Backstreet Boys or scrolling through the Daily Mail’s celebrity sidebar of shame, watching a little porn now and again is something that many women indulge in, but few are prepared to admit to. After all, porn is meant to promote unrealistic expectations, objectify women and all-in-all be pretty degrading, isn’t it? So surely women can’t possibly be enjoying it more than ever? Well, according to 2017's year-in-review figures from two porn sites, Pornhub and xHamster, yes they really can. Not only that, but they know exactly what they want too. According to both sites, women now make up 26 per cent of users globally, a number that has been rising consistently for the past few years. Pornhub received 28.5 billion visits to their site last year and the number of women logging on increased by 10 per cent in America and 15 per cent in the UK. But it's Indian women who are the fastest-growing group, with an astonishing 129 per cent increase in visits. Russian women, it seems, needed a little more convincing, as they were the only country in the top 20 to see a decrease. [caption id="attachment_12349265" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Credit: Pornhub[/caption] In line with this increase in female users, one of the categories to witness an upsurge in demand is female-friendly porn, with “Porn for Women” being the most frequently trending search of 2017, witnessing a year-on-year increase of 1,400 per cent. Typically characterised by less male dominance and more of a focus on female pleasure than traditional porn, it marks a shift away from the portrayal of women in porn as simply the ‘givers’ and tends to include more, shall we say, realistic body images. So long impossibly-fake tits and embarrassingly vocal moans. So what else are women looking at? Well, while not all users reveal their gender, for those that have definitely identified as women in their profiles, one of the quickest rising search terms was “cheerleaders”, with “lesbian” and “threesome” also ranking in the top five. For the first year, the term “anal” fell out of favour with women, being replaced instead by “lesbian squirt”. A perhaps surprising entry to the top 15 list was the term “gang bang”.   The changes in what women search for online have been put down to a shifting cultural landscape, with women more determined to make their voices heard: “2017 seems to have been the year where women have come forward to express their desires more openly,” commented Dr. Laurie Betito, sex therapist and director of the Pornhub Sexual Wellness Centre. And she believes the trend is only going to continue: “Women are feeling more empowered and they have found their voice. This is a sign of things to come.” [caption id="attachment_12349279" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Credit: Pexels[/caption] So what about wider searches overall? (Don’t fib, you were curious). Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, girl-on-girl porn is still the most frequently sought type of porn, with “lesbian” being the top category for the third year running. However, the use of this search term isn’t strictly limited to a male audience, despite Betito labelling this the number one fantasy for the site’s male users: “For women that have a soft fantasy or curiosity, lesbian porn allows them to explore that part of their sexuality without risk.” In a sign of the times, demand for raunchy robots has also risen, with the use of the term "Virtual Reality" moving up a massive 14 spots in 2017. Hentai, a subculture of Japanese manga, which contains animated and explicitly sexual characters or acts, has soared, taking the number two spot globally. In Canada, the US and the UK, “step mom” is also still a hugely popular search. And in a completely irrelevant (but really quite bemusing) insight, Fidget Spinner Porn and Rick and Morty parody porn also performed extremely well - to be honest, I have no idea what either of these entail, but something tells me I really shouldn't Google them at work. [caption id="attachment_12349268" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Credit: Pornhub[/caption] But back to the ladies. While the Pornhub stats can’t tell us exactly how women are consuming their porn, a 2015 survey by the magazine Marie Claire, which spoke to over 2,000 women, found that a third of women watched some porn every week. However, just three per cent of women said that they regularly tune in with their partner, with 66 per cent saying they "always" watch it alone. And as you may expect, this shift towards more female-friendly porn has given rise to a global increase in vibrator sales, with business market analysts Technavio predicting that if current trends continue, the industry will see a 15 per cent rise in vibrator sales by 2020. As these trends show, there is a rapidly increasing demand for porn that lines up with the way women approach sex and the things they actually want to see - a demand that is just starting to be fulfilled by the industry. But rather than associate this upsurge with women suddenly waking up to the idea of porn, we should probably see it more as a sign that women are more content than ever to take their sexuality into their own hands, so to speak. After all, female sexuality is nothing new, and it's about time that the porn industry finally caught up with the idea that *shock horror* women like to masturbate too.

Let's be honest: Everyone looks at online porn. (Just hopefully not at work or on your phone while you're driving.) We all have needs, and sometimes your imagination just won't cut it. In the past, people had to buy dirty magazines, but now, thanks to the Internet, there's an infinite supply of free pornography just a few clicks away. (Just remember to clear your search history.)

It seems like today we're living in a smut utopia. ("Smut Utopia," by the way, is the title of my favorite porn.) However, scientists have discovered an unfortunate side effect (and no, it's not a sore wrist.) According to new research, excessive pornography viewing hurts men's libidos, and puts them at risk of suffering sexual dysfunction. ("Suffering Sexual Dysfunction," by the way, is the title of my least favorite porn.)

Researchers discussed this topic during a panel at the 112th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association. (And I think reading that boring name just decreased my libido.) They highlighted results from a survey, in which they studied 312 male participants between ages 20 and 40, and found men’s obsession with porn can be damaging to their psychosexual health.

Obviously, the scenarios in pornography videos don't reflect real life, and can set up unrealistic expectations. (Especially if you order a pizza). One of the researchers, Dr Matthew Christman, a urologist reported that the more time men spend on free porn sites, the less likely they are able to connect with a real-life partner in the bedroom. Intimacy becomes more challenging - I mean, have you ever heard "I love you" in a porno? As a result, the romantic relationship can be severely damaged.

 

So, that's pretty ironic news, isn't it? You'd think that watching porn would count as 'practice' to improve your skills, but actually it could totally ruin your relationship. But if your romantic partner does leave you, have no fear. You can always get a love doll - or sex doll - as a replacement.

In Jon Ronson's podcast, The Butterly Effect, he interviewed Brent, the president of the sex doll company 1amUSA. Brent said, "Part of the success for our company has been the overuse of pornography." If you venture over to their website, you'll see that the doll's blank faces look kind of creepy, but other than that, their full-size bodies look pretty realistic. And reportedly, they feel just like the real thing. As men fail to find pleasure in pornography, they're turning to sex dolls. (And as an added benefit, you can put one in your car so you can use the carpool lane.)

Well, I hope these results didn't ruin pornography for you forever. I think the key word is "excessive." Like most vices, you should be fine if you do it in moderation. ("Do It In Moderation," by the way, is the title of a porn I have mixed feelings about.)

In related news, psychologists have created a 5 minute test to see if you're addicted to porn...

If you've ever wondered what the most searched for things on adult websites are - wonder no more.

Since the dawn of the internet, adult content has been readily available to users through a series of free websites as well as subscription platforms which have sprung up over time, including OnlyFans.

While most people have browsed adult content at one time or another, it's not something that's often discussed, so you may be left wondering what genres others are looking at online.

Ahead of PornHub's annual release of its list of most-viewed categories, ethical and female-led porn company Ersties has shared an insight into what people have been perusing.

In its Ethical Porn Trends Report, Ersties revealed the three most-searched for themes, as wel as noticing "a growing global desire for intimacy-first content, creative game-show scenarios, and performer-driven fantasies, all rooted in transparency and ethical production".

Adult content sites have shared insights into user behavior. Credit: pagadesign/Getty

The German company, which places consent and ethics at the center of its production model, added that the desire for intimacy doesn't mean that the things people are viewing are "softcore", revealing that the number one search term people were looking for on its site in 2025 was "anal".

Ersties explained that its users were "overwhelmingly funnelled into shoots where performers explicitly discussed boundaries, preparation, and pleasure cues, highlighting a growing appetite for consensual, realistic depictions of anal play rather than intense or performative styles typical on other platforms."

In the second and third spots were the search terms "squirt" followed by "threesome", proving that ethical adult content doesn't mean it has to be tame.

The site added that it has seen a "noticeable rise in searches for more niche, playful, and highly specific interests" including themes such as feet or pegging.

Other special interests that they saw a surge in searches for included golden showers, armpit licking as well as sweaty armpits in general, and tights or stockings.

Ersties added: "As more people feel comfortable looking up exactly what they like, Ersties continues to be a space where those curiosities can be explored without judgement and with plenty of transparency."

People are most likely to view adult content on Sundays and Mondays. Credit: Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty

It also revealed that the most common time for people to be indulging in a bit of visually-aided self-love was on Sundays and Mondays, which are traditionally some of the most-dreaded days of the week, so it's no wonder people need a bit of light relief.

And as for what time of the day people are consuming the content, most users have been hopping on between 9PM and midnight which comes as no surprise (no pun intended).

Ersties added that this user behavior indicates many people are incorporating adult content into their "post-work relaxation and late-evening wind-down routines".

Thankfully, unlike Spotify Wrapped for music, these adult content run-downs are only set up to give an overview of all of the viewers and you're not going to get a personalized breakdown of just how many minutes you spent watching across the year...

Featured image credit: pagadesign/Getty

"The internet is for porn." It's an expression that we've all heard, and it's probably the very same reason that you're so defensive about your browsing habits. Any discussion about the merits of life online is bound to include veiled innuendos or references to jerking off. In fact, the perception that the web is completely inundated with boobs, bums and boners is so prevalent that we routinely overestimate how widespread it really is. At one time, it was estimated that approximately 50 per cent of all online content was pornographic, but now a report by Forbes Magazine has determined that the figure is closer to a mere four percent. That's still a lot, but hardly the epidemic of smut that fear-mongers claim has brainwashed our youth and corrupted our children. Still, it's hard to deny that porn has become far more widespread since the advent of the digital age. As a result, we've all become a lot more desensitised to the commodification of sex. What would have once shocked and appalled now elicits nothing more than a shrug. More people than ever are watching porn these days. According to stats released by Pornhub, the site received approximately 23 billion visits in 2016, and users watched an estimated 4,599,000,000 hours of porn that year. In addition, a recent survey conducted by Cosmopolitan found that 56.5 per cent of men and 25 per cent of women admitted to watching porn regularly. All this would be fine, were it not for the fact that new research seems to suggest that porn isn't just making us desensitised to all things erotic: it's actually making men more miserable, and could be a cause of depression among them. Strangely enough, women who enjoy pornography seem to be less susceptible to this severe gloom. So what's going on? Is porn really harmless, or is it actually profoundly damaging to the male psyche and libido? A recent study entitled "Pornography, provocative sexual media, and their differing associations with multiple aspects of sexual satisfaction", which was published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, has taken a candid look at the correlation between sexual satisfaction and the types of smut viewed by men and women. Researchers Nathan D. Leonhardt and Brian J. Willoughby surveyed 858 people in committed romantic relationships, and asked them about their use of mainstream heterosexual pornography. Willoughby and Leonhardt learned that the men who routinely watched porn were often more dissatisfied with their sex lives. The researchers believe that pornography has given these men unrealistic expectations about sexual intercourse, which in turn has had a negative effect on their mental health. “For both men and women, use of provocative sexual media was negatively connected to satisfaction with love and affection in the sexual relationship; we suspect this is due to the objectifying nature of the content," Leonhardt explained in the paper's abstract. "It could be difficult to establish a sexual relationship built on love and affection if individuals accept a message of sexuality without identity ... Provocative sexual media was particularly problematic for women, as it was also connected to lower satisfaction with sexual variety, overall sexual satisfaction, and satisfaction with time spent on intercourse. We suspect that women’s provocative sexual media use could be leading to a greater likelihood of self-objectification, which could negatively influence sexuality in a variety of ways." So, why is it that men are so badly affected by this? Leonhardt speculates: "Perhaps men who view pornography are disappointed in their partners’ lack of ability or desire to perform the sexual acts portrayed in pornography... This is just supposition, but perhaps the negative connection was not there for women because their male partners are more willing to engage in the sexual acts depicted in pornography." Leonhardt and Willoughby's findings seem to indicate that an overactive consumption of porn is stymying our relationships, encouraging us to objectify instead of empathise, and seek stimulation and deviancy instead of a more loving and emotional form of eroticism. Porn is essentially making it routine for us to cut the intimacy out of sex and that isn't having a good effect on men's mental well-being. Establishing an equal and satisfying sexual relationship, where trust, curiosity, care and affection improves our sexual experiences, is going to be a lot tougher if porn is programming us to think that our sexuality should have no sense of identity. It could also be that excessive viewing of porn encourages feelings of shame and self-loathing, if the pornographic content is something that the individual finds deeply embarrassing or humiliating. Porn can also become addictive and can be used as a self-medicating stimulant along the same lines as drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, with the addict gradually coming to depend and rely upon pornography and masturbation in order to cope with stress. This, in turn, will contribute to the vicious cycle of shame and so on. Some research seems to suggest that the negative effects of pornography could actually be manifesting themselves in physical ways and even leading to cases of impotency and erectile dysfunction among men during sexual encounters. Due to a porn overload, some men are no longer aroused in the presence of an actual flesh and blood partner. Instead, they can only get off by viewing sex on screen. It's already been proven that watching pornography leads to an elevation of the neurotransmitter known as dopamine, also known as the "pleasure hormone." The problem is that male arousal is dependent on the activation of this hormone. Thus, like Pavlov's dogs salivating at the sound of a bell, men who view too much porn can become conditioned to a specific type of sexual arousal; one that doesn't carry over into real life. More worryingly, it seems that the younger the age of the man who watches porn, the greater the chances are that they will come to prefer it over sex. This can ultimately lead to embarrassment or anxiety once performance issues arise. I personally think that pornography is no more a cause of depression than any other activity taken to excessive levels. Moderation is key in all things. Porn could well make people depressed, but it could also be that depressed people, who often feel listless, apathetic, tired and antisocial, are more inclined to use porn. However, the disparity between male and female reactions to smut seems to suggest that women are consuming porn in a more healthy way and that maybe men could take a few cues from women. Ultimately, it's important to remember that pornography is manufactured and presents an extremely unrealistic image of sexual relations and interaction - and it's sure as hell no substitute for the real thing.

A lot of people really do not like porn. While it used to be seen as a harmless, if not slightly gross, it is now viewed as a dangerous tool in society, with many people claiming to pornography promotes misogyny, sexual violence and leads to people partaking in riskier sex. Not only this, but as the campaign against pornography continues to gain traction, it has also been blamed for the current epidemic of erectile dysfunction and destroyed relationships. Such is the hostility towards porn, the state of Utah recently declared porn as a "public health crisis." While the arguments against porn are fairly strong, the scientific facts behind the effects that porn can have on your love life are actually quite different. Here's five of the most interesting.

Porn is not addictive.

The 15-year-old me would argue with you about this. When you're a teenager, porn is undoubtedly "addictive". As soon as you would hear your parents slam that door, you would bolt it to your desktop and load up one of the thousands of free porn websites out there. However, Neuroscience research has revealed that what goes on inside the brains of porn "addicts" is not what you would expect from someone who genuinely has an addiction.

Porn doesn't result in misogyny

Despite the often "questionable" gender roles that we regularly see in pornographic videos, a recent Canadian study found that those who watched adult films were stronger supporters of gender equality than those who don't. In addition, research has found that, rather than being linked to increased rate of sexual assault, porn use is actually related to less sexual violence.

Porn doesn't mean riskier sex

Yep, despite what you have heard, research in Germany shows that porn users are no more likely to bin condoms than those who watch porn infrequently. However, porn users are more likely to try new things in the sheets, which is never a bad thing.

It also doesn't mean penis problems

While we are told that regular porn watchers are likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction as they get older, two recent studies have challenged this. The research found that men who watch more porn don't seem to be any more likely to have erectile difficulties compared to men who watch less porn.

Porn is GOOD for relationships

A recent study has found that couples who watch porn together tend to be more sexually satisfied than those who don't. Although there's not confirmed the reason why, it's more than likely because porn is an easy way to inject some novelty into your sex life.

While these bits of research suggest that porn isn't as harmful as some people fear, there can be no doubt that it can have its negative effects on certain people. So while we're not saying that you should stop watching porn, maybe take it easy, yeah?