The Rise and Fall of Pornography Use During COVID

While it is important to note that not all pornography is created equal and some porn can be harmful, due to unethical production practices—not all pornography is bad. Whether you’re consuming ethically made porn via a subscription or through a paywall, or simply free, mainstream porn, the act of watching is common and is a valid sexual outlet for many people. During COVID times, for those of us who were single or not living with our partner(s), pornography may have been our sole sexual outlet—deeming it very important for many. In findings likely to surprise no one, “…new research shows Americans’ pornography usage spiked dramatically in the early months of the pandemic, as stay-at-home orders limited other types of … outlets.” This makes sense, considering it was not safe to go out and meet new sexual partners, and most bars and clubs were closed due to the stay-at-home order. 

I was lucky enough to be living with my partner at the time, so I could engage in both partnered and solo sex. Though I still did incorporate pornography into both aspects of my sex life, my usage increased during the initial stay-at-home orders. I had so much time on my hands, and I figured I might as well explore some new sexual fantasies; I tend to look to pornography for inspiration. In all honesty, I found some erotic pornos during quarantine! I subscribed to Ersties, a feminist German pornography site centered around female pleasure, and enjoyed the intimacy in their films. During COVID, pornography was a much-needed distraction; it was an outlet for pent-up sexual tension and stress. My partner and I loved having the time to take some inspiration from porn and continue exploring our bodies in new ways. My uptick in pornography consumption didn’t last forever though; as the world started to open back up again things began to change. I think it’s important to see how pornography trends fall for the rest of Americans; I’m curious if their experiences are similar to mine. It’s possible that the stress of COVID and quarantine led to an uptick in pornographic consumption because it was a great distraction. For many people, it was their only sexual outlet. 

The COVID Porn Uptick 

I believe that Pornhub’s offer to make premium subscriptions free to individuals living in parts of the world where lockdowns were in place led to an uptick in pornography consumption. I know I took advantage of the free subscription and did try to filter out some of the more unethical content that is often featured on Pornhub. As a result of the free premium subscription, “...Pornhub reported increases (38-61%) in web traffic to their website from  regions affected by severely restrictive stay-at-home orders and lockdowns.” In this sense, it’s probable that people may have been watching more porn because they were at home but also because “…people were changing the outlets they were looking at because Pornhub was offering what was previously premium porn free for a few weeks.” Overall though, porn consumption was still on the rise; a survey found that in May 2020, more people reported using pornography in the past month than at any other time point. This increase left a lot of sexual health researchers wondering what the reason was behind the trend.

The most obvious reason that porn use increased during COVID is that people were looking to experience pleasure in a way that adhered to social distancing guidelines. It’s been determined that “…the most common reason people report for why they view pornography is sexual arousal. Research is abundantly clear that the majority of the time that pornography is used, it is used as a part of masturbation.” In the context of COVID, though, research also shows that viewers consume porn as a means of coping with stress, depression, and anxiety. For example, “greater levels of psychological distress often predict higher levels of pornography use. People feeling lonely or depressed often report greater desire to seek out pornography.” Perhaps another reason why pornography use was on the rise during COVID was that people were bored- quite literally out of their minds. Ultimately, “… more boredom predicts greater pornography use – extreme boredom predicts even higher levels of use. The more bored someone is, the more likely they are to report wanting to view pornography.” This study found “…ample evidence that pornography use  may be motivated  by factors,  such as  pleasure-seeking,  loneliness,  and boredom  reduction, that are particularly salient in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.” At the end of the day, porn is a form of entertainment and many heavily leaned on any type of distraction they could find during the beginning of the pandemic.

Due to the controversial nature of pornography consumption, some mental health professionals were worried that the increase in pornographic consumption as a result of the pandemic would be harmful to consumers’ mental health. Numerous anti-pornography activists expressed grave concerns about these increases in use and recommended faith counsel as a way to counteract the supposed harmful impact that porn would have. Some online ministries, such as the Live Free Community, took a special interest in the upward trend of pornography consumption. The ministry is said to help men who struggle with pornography or sex addiction. At SHA, I’ve written some pieces exploring the myth of sex addiction. Sex addiction is nothing more than a pop-psychology phenomenon, serving only to demonize sex, enforce moral views of sex and relationship and excuse irresponsible behaviors. Ministries such as the Live Free Community feel differently and as a result, they were very concerned that the increased accessibility toward porn would prove troublesome for its consumers. This study found no signs that the uptick in porn consumption negatively impacted psychological or mental health problems. Josh Grubbs,  sexual science researcher, and addiction specialist noted the following:

“There is no indication that people developed massive porn problems, or that porn addiction became a problem for more people…It just looks like people were bored at home, probably viewed porn initially, and then decided, ‘All right, well, I’ve done enough of that, so now it’s time to go bake some sourdough bread.”

Overall, the study proved that porn did not seem to cause widespread problems, and it was probably offering people a distraction from the boredom and stress of COVID times.

Porn Consumption Trending Downward

According to this study, “...about 14% [of people] were viewing more porn in May than at the start of the pandemic, but by August, it was falling off; and by October, it had returned to pre-pandemic levels and those similar to all other users.” The study referred to the initial COVID-19 era as a “porndemic”. In general, pornography use trended downward over the course of the pandemic, the porndemic was short-lived:

“In May of 2020 , which was our first pandemic measurement point, coinciding with the most restrictive first wave of lockdowns in most regions of the U.S. 62.1%   of participants reported not having viewed pornography at all within the past month, and 37.9% of participants reported using pornography at least once in the past month (58% of men and 19% of women). In August of 2020, only 23% reported using pornography at least once in the past month (38%  of men and  8%  of women). Finally, by October of 2020, only 21%  reported any pornography use in the month prior to the survey (37% of men and 7% of women).”

This initial uptick in porn consumption was most likely linked to the new feelings of boredom, stress, and loneliness that individuals felt at the start of the pandemic. These feelings coupled with incentives from sites like Pornhub for free premium subscriptions definitely led to an increase in pornographic consumption. The Kinsey Institute surveyed Americans for 8 months last year about what was happening in their sex lives and found significant differences, depending on their relationship status. Justin Lehmiller, a frequent SHA collaborator, social psychologist, and research fellow at The Kinsey Institute, helped conduct this research. His research was a bit different and focused more on sexual activity rather than pornographic use. He noted that for singles there was a decline in sexual activity that was steepest at the beginning of the pandemic. This was similar for couples as they were forced to spend a lot more time together and were more likely to get on each other’s nerves and have less of a desire for intimacy. These findings could account for why pornographic consumption initially increased, as people weren’t finding sexual satisfaction in their relationships. As the world opened back, it seems people started to “settle” into the quarantine lifestyle and their pornographic consumption started to trend downward until it eventually returned to pre-pandemic status. Singles were now able to meet those they met through online dating or could find other social sexual outlets that porn had been fulfilling.

Lehmiller has some insight on why it’s important to continue researching pornographic consumption trends, both during COVID times and in the sort of post-pandemic world that we know to exist. Lehmiller says the greatest value of the new research is that it provides a glimpse into the connections between sexuality and mental health during a period of great national stress: “It’s a bi-directional relationship — our sex lives affect our mental health, and our mental health affects our sex lives — and so we really do need to spend more time exploring the complex interplay there.” 

There is still much more research that needs to be done on how COVID impacted our sex lives and feelings of desire and overall sexual expression—pornography use is just one place to start. 

By Alyssa Morterud