5 porn stats most parents don't know...but should

We know it’s out there. We know it’s harmful. We just may not realize how prevalent it is. Here are a few numbers every parent needs to know:

90% of internet porn is FREE. A study in 2010 led by Gilbert Wondracek, a computer security expert from the International Secure System Lab, examined a total of 35,000 pornographic domains and found that 90% were free. As reported on DailyTech, these free sites are given content from paid porn sites in order to drum up business. Kids can easily find free porn and plenty of it.

30% of all internet bandwidth is used for pornography. It might actually be worse than that. A software security service company called Optenet did a study looking at 4 million URL’s and approximately 37% contained pornographic content.

11 is the average age children are exposed to pornography, according to the PornHarms website. As more and more kids get smartphones at earlier ages, that age will get younger.

90% of porn depicts violence against women. A study which looked at 50 popular pornographic websites and DVD’s found that 90% of all content included verbal or physical abuse against women.

The violence of internet pornography is documented in a recent article in the Guardian:

Rape Crisis South London carried out simple research that involved typing "rape porn" into Google and then quantified the results: 86% of sites that came up advertised videos depicting the rape of under-18s, 75% involved guns or knives, 43% showed the woman drugged, and 46% purported to be incest rape.

Nearly 80% of unwanted exposure to pornography takes place in the home. This is a frightening statistic. But it's also empowering because you have a lot of control over what happens with your kids in your own home. Start with an internet filter, and then establish family media standards with your kids. Get them on board at a young age and they'll be much better protected as teens.

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Any child is just 3 clicks or swipes away from violent, degrading sexual content. Carole Cadwalladr, a British journalist put it this way, after describing her experience of Googling "rape porn" and viewing both simulated and actual rape scenes online:

"Rape porn", and then two clicks of the mouse, and that's what's there. It's not skulking in some dark recess of the internet, it's a dropdown box on one the most popular porn sites in the world, but my experience – of not knowing, and not really wanting to know – is not unusual. There's a collective, willed ignorance of porn.

The nature of it, the accessibility of it, the preponderance of it has changed so fast that a lot of people simply haven't kept up. Huge numbers of us, including most of the mainstream press, have drawn a polite veil over the subject, except at a largely theoretical level.

For our kids' sakes, let's get ourselves educated about what's out there...because our kids will find out one way or another. Have you talked to your kids about pornography? If not, what's holding you back?