Research in several countries has found that boys exposed to pornography find it harder to establish successful relationships when older, when they are more likely to have access to casual sexual intercourse.
Gone are the days when pornography would be hidden away from children at the topmost shelves. Nowadays, the extreme theatre of pornography is easily accessible, thanks to the internet.
It can be argued that pornography is the most prominent sex educator for young people currently. Research reveals that initial exposure to pornography can be as young as 11 years of age.
According to clinical psychologist Rhoda Kithure, early exposure to pornography can shape young people's sexual practices and expectations.
"Pornography normalises sexual acts that most women and men would not necessarily enjoy, and may experience as painful, degrading or violating," says Kithure.
"This seriously affects young people's ability to develop a sexuality that embraces mutual respect, pleasure, and negotiation of free and full consent," she says.
Kithure says pornography creates a tolerance, where repeated consumption desensitises the individual watching, which causes them to search for even more extreme content.
She has encountered reports of an increasing number of women and men with internal injuries caused by frequent anal sex requested by their partners after watching pornography.
A report released in Lamu early last year showed that women who had frequent anal sex experienced higher incidences of stillbirths and childbirth complications accounting for 23 per cent of all births in the county.
"During pregnancy and childbirth, we've observed that such women experience so many complications," one midwife said.
"Issues arising as a result include poor progress of labour, prolonged second stage of labour, birth asphyxia, post-traumatic stress and, worse, perinatal births."
According to the medics, anal sex slackens the membrane between the vagina and rectum, which diverts the pressure to the wrong opening for child expulsion.
"The anus lacks proper lubrication mechanism, which means it tears easily, it's thus easier to transfer diseases, a case in point, monkeypox spike among the gay community. The act can also transfer viruses such as hepatitis A and herpes," explains Dr Timona Obura.
"The first time someone is exposed to a sexual act, they are excited by its newness and their curiosity piques. After exposure to the act a few more times, the act may still be exciting, but also more normal," explains Kithure.
After consumption of porn, male users are more likely to support violence against women or trivialise sex.
Adelaide, a 27-year-old who didn't consent to the use of her full name, spoke of her experience with one of her ex-boyfriends, where things diverged into non-consensual.
She said, "He curled his fingers around my neck. It was light at first, so I didn't pay much mind to it. But then he started doing it so hard I began to panic. By the time he stopped, I was dizzy and would have fainted."
Further, a study shows that pornography-free relationships are, generally more communicative, last longer, and enjoy higher rates of sexual satisfaction.
According to Kithure, pornography also leads to sexual health risk-taking. Many acts, which were considered violent, perverted, disgusting, and taboo such as anal sex, oral stimulation of the anus, slapping, and choking are normalised now, and porn is to blame for the spike.
Initially seen as quite a taboo sexual practice, performing anal sexual acts became popularised through porn. Soon, rappers began referencing it in their music, notably Jhene Aiko's "Gotta eat the booty like groceries" and Megan Thee Stallion's "If he ate my ass he's a bottom feeder".
"Soon, they may begin to resent or cheat on their partners if they're unwilling to experiment on the perceived normal and exciting sexual acts," she says.
Dr Obura says oral sex can transmit dangerous bacteria such as E. coli, shigella, gonorrhoea, and other gastrointestinal issues and STIs to the mouth and throat where they're stubborn to treat.
Pornography consumption has also been linked with negatively impacting the sense of self and body image, leading to serious health and well-being issues, particularly among young women.
"Pornography displays perfect bodies, some edited and surgically enhanced, but consumers will aspire to look like those models. These expectations can lead to self resentment and body dysmorphic disorders," says Kithure.
Such were the findings, monumental enough to warrant a law by Britain in July 2019 requiring citizens to prove they are over 18 to access adult content.
The argument was that it was too easy for children to watch pornography online, which in turn was affecting their sexual and mental health. Its harmful effects more than outweigh the additional effort of age verification.
To curtail this, porn providers were forced to set up a "robust" age-verification system or have their sites blacked out in the UK.
"Once people realise that porn has the power to influence what they consider normal, then they can better and intentionally detangle themselves from these norms," says Kithure.
