Supreme Court Looks to Address Quiet Crisis Ravaging America’s Youth

While the crises of drug and alcohol abuse among minors have received plenty of coverage in recent years, less attention has been paid to an even more widespread issue that is tearing at the seams of American society – pornography addiction.

According to a new report from the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University (BYU) and the Institute for Family Studies, a shocking 97 percent of boys and 78 percent of girls between the ages of 12 and 18 have viewed pornography. Another study from the U.K. found that one in five teens admitted to viewing porn on multiple occasions, and one in ten of that number said they felt addicted.

There’s no denying that pornography has become more accessible than ever with the rise of the internet and smartphones. To prevent this content from being consumed by minors, some states are now implementing age verification laws – many of which are being challenged by the adult film industry in court.

By far the most high-profile case is Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, which is currently before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments in mid-January and are set to issue a ruling later this year.

The case centers on Texas H.B. 1811, a law that was slated to go into effect in 2023 before Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra blocked it, concluding that it is likely unconstitutional. The law requires websites on which more than one-third of the content is “sexual material harmful to minors” to use “reasonable age verification methods” to confirm visitors are at least 18 years old.

Opponents of the law argue that age verification for porn websites violates First Amendment free speech protections by posing an unconstitutional burden on the right of adults to view such content. But supporters of the law counter that the Free Speech argument is a disingenuous ploy to hide the fact that the porn industry wants minors to access their sites.

The outcome of the case could have dramatic implications for similar age verification laws in other states – and for the health of American society more broadly.

At least as far back as 1988, even before the internet, researchers have noted links between frequent viewing of pornography and a higher propensity to commit acts of sexual violence. As Sociology Professor Diana Russell put it, “The direct evidence of a causal relationship between the consumption of pornography and increases in social levels of violence, hostility, and discrimination is consistent across social studies, laboratory studies, and testimonies of professionals.”

Brain scans have also shown striking similarities between porn users and drug addicts. The explosion of online pornography has only amplified this problem – in 2019, the top pornography site uploaded 1.36 million hours of new content—equivalent to a full day of content every 10 minutes.

Even more concerning, most of these videos are not anything like the Playboy magazine content of yesteryear. Recent trends have shown a rise in popularity of content containing physical violence and verbal aggression – and that this type of porn is particularly common among young people.

Terry Schilling, the President of the American Principles Project, reported in a Newsweek column back in 2020 that a review of academic research “tended to show that adolescents’ pornography use was related to,” among other things, “a higher likelihood to engage in sexual aggression as well as to experience it, notably among female adolescents.” Another review Schilling cites found “consistent evidence” that porn exposure is directly associated with “higher levels of body dissatisfaction, greater self-objectification, greater support of sexist beliefs and of adversarial sexual beliefs, and greater tolerance of sexual violence toward women.”

Brian Willoughby, co-author of the aforementioned BYU study, echoed those concerns, stating that his findings “revealed harmful impacts” on “the short and long-term development” of minors who had a porn habit. Some of the harms the BYU researchers noted were increased mental health issues, unhealthy sexual behaviors, increased sexual aggression, potential compulsive struggles, decreased relationship stability, and other developmental issues.

Canadian psychologist Michael Chiking Seto, who treats victims of sexual abuse, told me in an interview that “in our age, young people have more access to pornography than any generation in history.” This is leading to disastrous outcomes for young people, affecting their ability to form relationships and build healthy families – two essential pillars of stability in our society.

Pope John Paul II warned about what happens to societies that do not, as he put it in his Charter of the Rights of the Family, “respect and foster the dignity, integrity, and stability of every family.” As he put it, “as the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the world in which we live.”

The state, in other words, has a responsibility to protect the public from things which can dissolve familial bonds – things like pornography. This idea was a central tenet of his mission to promote a culture that upholds the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.

Swiss psychologist Moritz Nestor, author of four books on the dignity of human life, also told me that it is incorrect to view the effects of porn as abstract – that the harm widespread porn use causes, particularly among minors, is indeed very concrete and measurable. “In the traditional view, pornography was framed as a concept rather than a deed, more a thought than an act,” he said. “This is a mistake.”

The weight of this evidence should be sufficient to justify strict laws preventing minors from accessing pornography. Opponents of such laws argue that even the strongest age verification requirements won’t prevent all children from viewing explicit content. But the obvious counter to this line of reasoning is that, even though ID laws don’t prevent every minor from purchasing tobacco or alcohol, the vast majority of Americans still agree that such laws are a crucial safeguard to protect most minors from these potentially dangerous products.

Now, however, the question rests with the Supreme Court.

Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.