Updated:
February 17, 2026
Pornography
Pornography harms individuals, families, and society. We support efforts to restrict access for children, educate youth, and promote healing.
Pornography is an affront to the design, purpose, and dignity of human sexuality. Attempts to achieve disembodied pleasure through projection are a disordered use of the good design of sex as a shared activity in the marital relationship of a man and a woman. Pornography degrades the people using and the persons who are featured, and it commodifies and debases human sexuality, harming families and marriage relationships in the process.
In recent decades, pornography consumption has become normalized with free access through digital media. Although Minnesota Family Council does not support pornography consumption for any person, perhaps one of the worst impacts of freely accessible digital pornography is that until recently, there have not been any protections in law for children from this content in the United States. A 2022 demographically representative survey conducted by Common Sense Media found that 58% of teens in the United States have accidentally seen porn. The age-gating protection of checking ID unfortunately did not carry over into the digital world where most pornography is consumed today.
Covenant Eyes reports that 61% of the general population reports consuming pornography. Heterosexual pornography often depicts violence against women, as reported in this study which found that nearly 90% of videos contained physical aggression. In addition, consumers can access content based on their preferences, with categories such as nonconsensual sex or incest.
Minnesota Family Council supports legislation to require digital pornography companies to age verify users, creating a safeguard against minors accessing dedicated pornography websites.
