Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back

An expert’s exposé on the harms of Big Porn

Extreme porn is ruining lives. What can we do about it?
'Fizzes with righteous rage' The Times

'Couldn’t be more important... Urgent, bold and unflinching.' Laura Bates, author of Everyday Sexism

Never more than a click away, porn is virtually inescapable. With minimal moderation, mainstream platforms don’t just host it, they push ever more extreme content into view, whether you want it or not.

The consequences are profound. Our most intimate relationships are being manipulated, our desires exploited. An entire generation is learning about sex not from experience or trust but from Pornhub, where fantasies are constructed by degrading, misogynistic and racist ideals that eroticise masculine dominance and normalise sexual violence. Meanwhile, non-consensual porn is destroying women’s lives, a threat now supercharged by deepfakes and AI.

We’re told we live in an age of sexual freedom, but this isn’t true. We are fighting not only for autonomy over our bodies and desires, but for gender equality itself. To move forward means confronting and dismantling both the patriarchy and the porn industry that sustains it.

'Read this book – then encourage your partner to read it too.' Glamour

Clare McGlynn is a Professor of Law at Durham University. A leading voice on women’s rights, sexual violence and the regulation of pornography and online abuse in the UK, she has appeared on BBC Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4 Today and ITV news and her work has been featured in The Sunday Times and New York Times. In 2020 she was appointed an honorary KC in recognition of her work championing equality for women in the legal profession.