Pornography: The Silent Epidemic

Duration: 22m55s 
‘Pornography: The Silent Epidemic’ is an audio documentary that explores the growing social impacts of pornography, particularly on young men, and its wider impacts on relationships, self-esteem, and gender roles in the digital age. 

Unlike other addictions like drug addiction or alcoholism – there is often no visual telltale that someone is suffering with an addiction to pornography.   
Online pornography is more accessible than ever before today. With children are being given with smartphones without many parents considering the potential consequences that it can have by exposing them to mature content at an early age. This documentary explores how access is affecting people psychologically, emotionally, and socially - raising questions regarding consent and addiction. 

This documentary focuses on the voices of individuals, featuring an interview with David Kavanagh, a registered systemic psychotherapist, who treats clients addicted to pornography. He explains the impacts that porn has on his clients such as low self-esteem and an inability to create meaningful relationships with people of the opposite sex that go beyond just sexual motives. 

The documentary also includes an interview from Ruth Breslin, Director of the SERP (Sexual Exploitation and Research Policy) Institute. She explains the wider societal and cultural impact of viewing porn, particularly how both men and women are looking to porn as an architype for what is expected from them in a sexual encounter.  

This piece also features the anonymised interview of a 23-year-old man in recovery from pornography addiction, whose name has been changed and voice altered for to protect his anonymity, he speaks openly about how early exposure led to regular consumption, affecting his mental health, relationships, and self-esteem – forcing him to have to defer from his studies for 2 years. His anecdote gives a raw, honest overview that no number of statistics or data could represent.   

By combining learned opinion, private experience, and inquiring journalism, this documentary contributes to much-needed discussion about how pornography affects young people's perception of sex, intimacy, and each other. This documentary starts an open and non-judgemental conversation around porn addiction – one which for too long, has been seen as too ‘taboo’ to discuss.  
This documentary was awarded ‘Radio Documentary of the Year’, ‘Radio Production of the Year – Arts and Features’, and ‘Radio Production of the Year – News and Current Affairs’ at the 2025 National Student Media Awards (SMEDIA) and is available to listen on Spotify, Soundcloud and Apple Podcasts.