Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Generation Porn’ on Max, A Look At The Way Free Internet Porn Has Shaped Youth Culture

Porn is more available than ever, and the Max docu-series Generation Porn is a fascinating look at the way young adults who have grown up with access to free online porn have come to view sex, and how it has shaped their lives. The show goes all over the world to show that porn is a global industry, and as it has evolved, so has the audience watching it – and love it or hate it, it’s just a new part of everyday life for many.

GENERATION PORN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A young man named Joe sits at a laptop, logs in to Twitter, and adjusts his privacy and safety settings by clicking a button that says “Display media that may allow sensitive content.”

“All you have to do is click that button and you can watch as much porn as you want on Twitter,” he says.

The Gist: Free porn is everywhere online. You probably already know that, but you know who really knows that? Teens. Most people over the age of, say, 25, can remember a time before social media and smartphones, they can remember when DVDs were still a thing, and when we didn’t exclusively stream movies and shows online. But for those who are younger than that, having access to all kinds of content on their smart devices has been all they’ve ever known, and that includes porn. Generation Porn is a three-part docu-series that first premiered in 2022 and offers a revealing look at the generation (I guess we’d label them Gen Z) that grew up with access to free porn, and how it has shaped them.

The people who produce and star in porn are also front and center in Generation Porn. From the actors and actresses, many of whom are teens themselves who grew up watching this kind of content, to a British father-and-son team named JT and Joe who are responsible for creating the free YouPorn website and producing some of the most popular porn franchises online, the show digs into porn as a growth industry as well. (If there’s one thing the show lacks, it’s a thorough conversation about porn’s seedier, more controversial history especially with regard to women. Though there’s a conversation about degradation porn in the second episode, the majority of the series opts to focus on the most willing participants who all enjoy the work they do.)

If you’re wondering if these sites have age restrictions, many do, but thanks to VPNs and the fact that so much porn is posted freely to social media, there are dozens of loopholes that allow kids to watch, something that Joe, the social media manager for his family business, is well aware of and uses to his advantage. That’s the age we live in, the show suggests: social media, internet culture, and porn all go hand in hand, a symbiotic relationship that fuels itself, ready for consumption by the savvy youth who know how to find it. (Please take me with a grain of salt throughout this review: I know full well that it is impossible to type the word “youth” in earnest without feeling old and crusty, but here I am, old and crusty and finally admitting it.)

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? What Netflix’s The Social Dilemma was to social media, Generation Porn is to porn culture. Both shows reveal the importance of these things to adolescents and young adults, while also scaring their adults into worrying about kids these days.

Our Take: There’s a moment in Generation Porn where a 17-year-old Brit named Travis watches as his horrified mother, Becki, performs a Google search for sex terms and is shocked at the rather mild results. “Because I’ve been exposed to it,” (“it” meaning lots of porn), “that’s what I would deem the normal. That’s not what I would deem extreme,” he tells his mother. “Really?” his startled 40-something mother replies.

The scene, and another featuring a 19-year-old porn actress named Gia, explains the generational divide between those for whom porn is an everyday thing, and those who grew up viewing it as a little more taboo and harder to come by, and that’s the point. “They’re the internet generation. The world of free porn is all they’ve ever known,” the narrator explains.

But the series is not solely about young adults with access to porn, it also dives into how and why many teens are drawn to it. Whether intentional or not, the show is an indictment of conservative and puritanical views of sex and abstinence-only education: The three young women who are now porn stars all state that they never received sex ed or had to sign purity pledges in school, which caused them to rebel.

And as for whether the filmmakers and producers feel any guilt for kids finding their content? It depends which of them you speak to, but the underlying sentiment is that if we weren’t making this porn, someone else will, so might as well cash in. The series does a good job looking at the good, bad, and the ugly sides of the industry in ways that feel empowering, shocking, and fueled by greed and self-interest all at the same time.

Sex and Skin: There are lots of images and videos that feature scenes from pornographic content, though hardcore content and close-ups are blurred.

Parting Shot: The narrator explains, “We don’t yet know what the effect of the free porn revolution will be. We’re on a journey that has really only just begun.”

Memorable Dialogue: The show does a good job explaining the rise in porn. First there was X-rated cinema, which limited the genre’s audience. VHS tapes and DVDs opened things up to home viewers. And then came the internet, which eventually offered a way to watch porn for free. “The world has an insatiable need for erotic content that they have no intention of paying for,” as porn director Mike Quasar puts it.

Our Call: STREAM IT! There are going to be people who watch Generation Porn and come away disheartened thinking that the next generation is filthy, willing to debase themselves for money, and that they have a disturbed view of sex. There will also be people who watch it and embrace the fact that sex is empowering and the porn industry is a healthy vice for many. This series is fascinating look at every angle of the porn industry and would be an amazing way for teens and parents to start a discussion about sex in order to find some healthy middle ground.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.