Impact of pornography consumption on children and adolescents: a trauma-informed approach

Mar Alvarez-Segura^1,2,3*Ines Fernández²Yousra El Kasmy⁴Esther Francisco^1,3Sonsoles Gallo Martínez⁵Eva Maria Ortiz Jiménez^1,3Anna Butjosa^1,3,6

• ¹Pediatric Research Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
• ²Abat Oliba CEU University, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
• ³Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute (IRSJD), Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain
• ⁴Bellvitge University Hospital, Barcelona, Balearic Islands, Spain
• ⁵Fundación Universitaria San Pablo CEU, Madrid, Catalonia, Spain
• ⁶Center for Biomedical Research in Mental Health Network (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Parallels may exist between consequences of underage pornography use and the post-traumatic symptoms of child sexual abuse. Could pornography alter child and adolescent development and become a trauma in itself? Child victims of these images could face a conflict similar to witnesses of domestic violence, but instead of impacting mainly on the bonding system, it would affect the sexual system. Victims faced with the erotisation of violence are subjected to contradictory, incomprehensible, and sometimes inexplicable forces, which can lead to a traumatised sexuality with negative consequences in interpersonal relationships. The inability to explain something, or to make sense of it, activates the three classic pathways of trauma. One response to trauma is flight, which can lead to distancing from oneself and from others. This isolation, moreover, reinforces the consumption of pornography. Another response is the struggle to overcome the impact through self-control and aggression. Sexual coercion may appear as an attempt to modulate one’s own contradictory emotions, as a form of self-protection and avoidance of the dreaded humiliation. Finally, there may be a dissociation response in the re-victimisation that appears in affected children. Unable to find a way to integrate the scenes, these minors may end up learning to adopt a posture of absolute surrender. The reconceptualisation of pornography in underage consumers as something potentially traumatic would help to better our understanding of its effects and the differing susceptibility of the victims, so that we may develop real and effective legislation and more appropriate therapeutic interventions.