©️ By Sophie Lewis | The Grooming Files | @sophielewiseditorial
The Porn Crisis
What happens when watching isn’t enough anymore?
Most people think the line gets crossed in one moment. But for some, it’s been blurring for years.
That first video. The thrill. The shame. The return. The escalation.
Porn doesn’t just arouse. It conditions. And for some users, that conditioning spirals into something else entirely.
Escalation is real — and documented.
Studies show that frequent porn users often build tolerance. What once excited them now feels flat. So they chase something stronger:
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Rougher scenes
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More taboo categories
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Violent themes
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Non-consensual or pseudo-incest fantasies
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In some cases, even illegal material
Kühn & Gallinat (2014): Found structural brain changes in heavy porn users — including reduced grey matter in regions tied to reward and motivation. Love et al. (2015): Escalation to more extreme content is common among those with high-frequency porn use. Marshall et al. (2021): Found a link between multi-modality porn use and sexual coercion in male university students.
This isn’t just fantasy anymore. It’s rehearsal.
And for some… watching stops being enough.
We’ve spoken to men who:
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Watched porn daily, sometimes for hours
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Crossed a boundary “just to see what would happen”
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Blamed porn for normalising choking, coercion, or silence
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Said they didn’t even realise they’d crossed the line, until it was too late
And this isn’t just in private. Some seek out exposure, asking to be caught, punished, humiliated.
Not out of remorse. But because the fantasy loop became a spiral. And they lost control.
Offenders are telling us this — but the system isn’t listening.
“I didn’t plan to hurt anyone. I just couldn’t stop.” — Excerpt from offender interview, 2025 (The Grooming Files)
These are not excuses. They are warnings.
And if you’re listening closely, you’ll hear it: Porn was the blueprint. Offending was the escalation.
No, not everyone who watches porn offends.
But here’s what the evidence does say:
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Porn can normalise violent or exploitative behaviour
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Porn can escalate into compulsive use
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Porn can influence vulnerable, angry, or disconnected users in dangerous ways
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Porn can blur lines between fantasy and action
Seto (2013): Offenders of child sexual abuse often describe escalation from legal to illegal material. NCBI (2025): Found correlation between porn use, sexual permissiveness, and engagement in aggressive sexual behaviours among adult males.
So what do we call it?
Not addiction. Not fantasy. Not “just a phase.”
We call it conditioning. And when it goes unchecked, it becomes a threat.
Up Next:
Part 4 – Groomed by the Algorithm
What happens when the system doesn’t just host porn, it recommends it. Why search engines, autoplay, and infinite scroll may be the most dangerous groomers of all.
