Billie Eilish revealed in an interview this week that she started watching pornography at a young age, something she feels “incredibly devastated” about.
“As a woman, I think porn is a disgrace. I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest. I started watching porn when I was like 11,” Eilish told Howard Stern on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show. “I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.”
The 19-year-old said she first began watching porn because it made her feel like “one of the guys.” Now she believes watching violent pornography caused her to suffer from sleep paralysis and night terrors.
She also said it distorted her view of sex and relationships.
“The first few times I, you know, had sex, I was not saying no to things that were not good. It was because I thought that’s what I was supposed to be attracted to,” Eilish said.
“Women’s bodies don’t look like that. We don’t come like that,” she added. “I’m so angry that porn is so loved, and I’m so angry at myself for thinking that it was OK.”
Billie Eilish Is the Statistic, Not the Exception.
Statistics suggest that the average age of exposure to pornography in the U.S. is 11 years old.
In a survey of hundreds of college students, 93 percent of boys and 62 percent of girls said they were exposed to pornography before they turned 18.
According to Covenant Eyes, 1 in 5 mobile searches are for pornography.
A 2014 survey by the National Union of Students found that 60 percent of students surveyed said they watch porn in order to learn more about sex and learn about gaps in their sexual education, even though 75 percent admitted porn creates unrealistic expectations.
And a 2021 Journal of Health Communication says that sexual aggression is now widely recognized as a public health crisis.
As parents, we don’t need statistics to prove that porn is wherever our children are. It’s a multi-billion dollar a year industry that seeks to capture young eyes.
