Coronavirus porn is the latest violent and disturbing internet trend

Though pornography is not the source of all of society's ills, it's likely a contributing factor in more than a few and too often the enterprise gets a pass from the kind of scrutiny and public oversight directed at other billion-dollar industries. It shouldn’t.

Pornography, after all, has an enormous digital footprint. Three of the 10 most visited websites in the world are adult sites—Xvideos, Pornhub, and XNXX—and the top two, Google and YouTube, often profit from porn-related web traffic too. We need to better understand the influence pornography may be having on society today, and this is especially true as the industry develops a world of ever more disturbing content.

Gone are the days of pin-ups and centrefolds. The porn of yesteryear is banal compared to the extreme themes prevalent in much of today’s content. Here's a sample of some of the videos and story categories available on the four most popular adult websites in 2020: mind control, slavery, violence; bestiality, nonconsensual sex, body modification, cruelty, drug, rape, reluctance, snuff, torture, young, blackmail, humiliation, incest, murder.

And now pornographers are seeking to profit from the coronavirus.

As countries began issuing stay-at-home orders a few weeks ago, People magazine noted that Pornhub saw an increase in viewers seeking videos relating to the coronavirus. Pornographers answered the demand swiftly by supplying more than 40,000 videos linked to “Covid-19,“ ”quarantine,“ and “coronavirus” searches on the world’s four largest adult websites. Meaning that while the rest of the world has been busy mourning the steady march of coronavirus and providing face masks and ventilators for hospitals, porn producers have been working out camera angles, writing ridiculous new storylines, and repurposing old material to meet disturbing new demands.

To be sure, many people view violent and grotesque pornographic material without demonstrating violent behaviour or developing major psychological symptoms. But for some—especially the young, who may stumble upon it unwittingly—such images can have a lasting impact in shaping sexual norms and influencing behaviour and attitudes.

Katherine Ramsland, a professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University, writes: “Proponents of both sides of the debate about the relationship of sexual imagery to violence tend to over-simplify. Images might not make someone a serial killer, but for some young males they can be potent triggers.” Other studies show that pornography may actually fuel an individual’s already aggressive tendencies. Perhaps nothing better exposes the recklessness of porn producers than their response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At some point, society must stop treating pornography as merely another innocent pastime. Just because it can be difficult to isolate and quantify the direct harm of pornography doesn’t mean it should be exempt from public scrutiny.

An important start is to ensure children are protected from exposure to pornography, particularly violent and aggressive content. There’s clearly a problem when governments are met with resistance even when trying to end the use of forced rape scenes as a form of online pornographic entertainment.

One would hope that the #MeToo movement has brought at least a modicum of awareness to the way porn can potentially normalize the very behaviour that typify the most serious #MeToo offenders. One study analysed more than 300 porn scenes and found that 88 per cent contained physical aggression.

Research from the University of California found that increased porn consumption was associated with negative attitudes towards women, including stereotypes and hostility. In 2018, another study reported that within a 12-month period, one in four young adults were exposed to repeated depictions of ”nonconsensual sexual aggression“ within their regular porn consumption. And another study shows that pornography is linked to increased acceptance of violence against women and higher levels of sexually aggressive behaviour, particularly among men already demonstrating aggressive tendencies and among the most frequent pornography consumers.

The way pornographers are capitalising on our current health care crisis is particularly egregious and should mark a turning point. While local and national governments are working overtime trying to save lives and teach proper social-distancing measures, porn producers are trivialising—and bizarrely sexualising—a serious matter of life and death.

It’s another sign that the industry is willing to place profit ahead of the health and wellbeing of its viewers. It's the height of indecency even for an industry that’s notoriously indecent. Justice demands more oversight, regulation, and a bit more public shame, even for the avowedly shameless.

Daryl Austin is an editor and writer who has contributed to Business Insider, NBC News, the Wall Street Journal and the Guardian. Hal Boyd is an associate professor of family law and policy at Brigham Young University and a fellow of the Wheatley Institution. Jason S Carroll, Ph.D. contributed. He is a professor of marriage and family studies at Brigham Young University and associate director of the Wheatley Institution.