How Adult Content Can Lower Self Esteem and Set Unrealistic Expectations For Sex

Singer Billie Eilish recently revealed in an interview with Howard Stern that she used to watch a lot of pornography when she was a teen stating, "I started watching porn when I was, like, 11…I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn."
She later commented on how it affected her, saying, "The first few times I, you know, had sex, I was not saying no to things that were not good. It was because I thought that's what I was supposed to be attracted to."

Eilish describes a larger part of how pornography can negatively affect people's views on sex and self-image, not only for impressionable young people but also for adults. A lot of people turn to pornography as their exposure to sex. While adult content is often used for pleasure, it can set unrealistic expectations for sex, your partner, and you.

Depending on the type of adult content someone may view, porn can damage your self-image by comparing your body to the performers in the videos, making you feel inadequate. This, in turn, can lower your self-image by giving yourself unrealistic body standards.  

It can also give people unrealistic expectations on how sex is supposed to be by creating performance anxiety and whether you're living up to the high energy produced in the videos.

By comparing sex with how it's presented in porn, you can also become self-conscious and insecure about your sexual performance and whether you or your partner are measuring up. In addition, it can generate judgment for not just yourself but how you view your partner's body and performance. 
Like Eilish mentioned, depending on what type of porn you are viewing, it can send bad messages and make you believe that your partner may want to do certain things they are uncomfortable with.

One thing that's important to know is that pornography is fantasy. It still uses the same tricks that all productions use. The magic of editing can make two people appear to be going at it for hours. The people in the videos are actors who exaggerate their pleasure to create the illusion of mind-blowing sex.

Some people watch pornography, and some people don't. But it's important to know that it's still a performance to heighten the viewer's pleasure. Pornography is easy to access with the internet, and unfortunately, as Eilish later mentions in her interview, "I feel angry now at how much I saw, how easy it was to watch it".

She does make a good point; it's very easy for young people to access pornography online, and just like Billie Eilish, it can warp your view of what sex really represents. Sex and pornography are taboo subjects, but sex education in school and talking about it are meaningful ways to teach young people that pornography - like film and television - is a production and does not reflect reality or the consensual relationship to bond people.