Out of all countries, the United States is the top producer of both pornographic websites and pornographic videos.  In fact, the United States has produced 89% (244,661,900) of the pornographic web pages in the entire world.  The average age of first exposure to Internet pornography is 11.  (http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html)

350 members of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the nation’s top 1,600 divorce attorneys, met in 2002 for an annual conference. Almost two thirds of these lawyers said that the Internet had played a significant role in divorces they had handled during the last year. The problems most cited by the attorneys were: 
1) Met new love interest over the Internet - 68 percent
2) Obsessive interest in pornographic sites - 56 percent
3) Excessive time on computer - 47 percent
4) Excessive time communicating in chat rooms - 33 percent
(accessed on 9/21/10 from the original press release from American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers)

The pornography industry generates $97 billion in annual revenue worldwide, and $13 billion of annual revenue in the United States. (www.toptenreviews.com)

In 2008, a Catholic high school in the Midwest (not in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas) surveyed the pornography use of 175 of their 350 senior boys, who were taking a class on relationships. The results of the survey indicated that 48% were viewing pornography one or more times each week. Out of the boys who had viewed pornography, 36% had feelings of addiction to pornography, and 68% said that their parents were unaware of their pornography use. The high school also surveyed their entire freshman class, and 29% of the freshman boys were viewing pornography one or more times each week. Out of the freshman boys who had viewed pornography, 12% had feelings of addiction, and 74% said that their parents were unaware of their pornography use. Almost 90% of these students were from Catholic families, and the school has conducted other surveys on pornography over the last three years, and found results that were quite similar. Of the boys that were viewing pornography, between 80-85% indicated that they were accessing pornography through the Internet. (Used with permission from the school, as long as we referred to them as a Catholic high school in the Midwest.)

Sam and Beth Meier’s comments: We are very concerned not only with the high percentage of Catholic teens who were struggling with pornography in this survey, but with the amount of internet pornography that they were viewing. Internet pornography tends to be very “hard-core” and extremely explicit. During these challenging times, we believe that one of the most important tasks of every parent is helping their teens learn and experience the new vision of love from Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Our teens are starving for truth and love, and they are not immune to the “pornified” culture that we live in. The amazing vision of love and intimacy that Pope John Paul II presented in Theology of the Body is one of the biggest antidotes to the multi-billion dollar pornography industry. The resource section on this site includes websites, CDs, and other resources on Theology of the Body.

In addition to a new vision of love, we need practical ways to live out the message of Theology of the Body in our culture. There are many practical tools in this site’s resource section including software for Internet safety, cell phone accountability, and Christian movie reviews to help protect families from pornography. We are always open to feedback and ideas on helpful ways to protect families, and God bless!

In 2008, 813 college students from six college campuses participated in a survey on pornography use and acceptance. Out of the young men, 86% had viewed pornography in the last year, 48.4% were viewing pornography weekly, and 19.3% were viewing pornography almost every day. Out of the young women, 31% had viewed pornography in the last year and 3.2% were viewing pornography weekly. 35.1% of the students identified themselves as Roman Catholic. (Jason S. Carroll, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, Larry J. Nelson, Chad D. Olson, Carolyn McNamara Barry, and Stephanie D. Madsen, “Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use among Emerging Adults.” Journal of Adolescent Research vol. 23 no. 1: 6-30.)

Promise Keepers, one of the largest Christian men’s conferences in the United States, asked men at their 2008 conferences whether or not they had viewed pornography in the last week. Men were invited to respond anonymously with their cell phones, and 53% of the nearly 10,000 who responded admitted that they had viewed pornography within the last week. This was not a scientific study, but was a survey from a large number of the men who were attending these conferences. (Used with permission from Promise Keepers.)

According to 2004 IFR research, U.S. pornography revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC ($6.2 billion). Pornography revenue in the U.S. is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises. (Internet Pornography and Loneliness: An Association? Vincent Cyrus Yoder, Thomas B. Virden III , and Kiran Amin. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, Volume 12.1, 2005.)

47% of Christian families say pornography is a problem in their home (Focus on the Family Poll, October 1, 2003)

In 2006, Kansas City, KS was on the top ten list for the most Internet search requests for pornography in the United States. Kansas City, KS ranked #7 in the country for Internet searches for the word "porn", #5 for the term "xxx," and #3 for the word "sex." (www.toptenreviews.com)