dear heather,
I’m a 16-year-old female in the 11th grade and I have an addiction which is looking at porn. This is kinda embarrassing for me because I feel disgusting about myself and guilty afterwards. Can you please tell me what I can do to help myself stop?

It is perfectly normal to be curious about sex and have the urge to watch porn to find out about it. You should not feel guilty after watching it and you’d be surprised to find out how many girls actually watch porn. In a Glamour magazine study of women ages 25-39, 87 percent admitted to watching porn regularly. Even if you aren’t in that age range, you can appreciate the numbers. That’s a large majority of women!

The only thing you should remember while watching porn is that sex is not always like what you see on film. If you are watching to get answers about sex, you might be confused when it comes to your own sex life in the future. The way porn stars look and act is not so realistic and if you are basing everything you know about sex on porn, you might be disappointed or misguided when it comes to real life.

But overall, you should not feel ashamed for watching it, and while you may not know too many people who would admit to liking porn, that doesn’t mean they don’t. It can be your secret, but it’s nothing to feel guilty about.

take care,
heather