Steven Bartlett and team tackle pornography in debut Diary of a CEO panel episode

Steven Bartlett is taking on the thorny subject of pornography in the first-ever panel episode of his global hit podcast Diary of a CEO.

Bartlett is joined on his debut panel by medical experts Dr Rena D Malik and Dr Alok Konjia K, alongside porn director Erika Lust, to discuss the perils and potential of pornography.

Kanojia is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and president and co-founder of healthy gamer. Malik is a urologist and sexual health expert. Erotic film impressario Lust is a screenwriter and producer as well as a director, and is the founder of Erika Lust Films, home to genre staples such as Jell-O Fantasies and, in keeping with the business theme of the podcast, The Intern: A Summer of Lust.

The quartet discuss touchy topics including porn addiction vs healthy use, the rise of extreme content in mainstream pornography, concerns about AI and virtual reality porn, and porn’s impact on young people and relationships.

Among key talking points from the show, Kanojia reveals that: “We’re seeing a rise in video game addiction, we’re seeing a rise in social media addiction, we’re seeing a rise in pornography addiction. Nearly one in three porn videos contains physical violence and almost 90% of the most famous porn scenes are violence scenes.”

Malik adds that: “Almost 50% of young people say girls expect sex to involve physical aggression such as airway restriction.”

Diary of a CEO is shot in several studios worldwide, including in Manchester, London, LA and New York.

The latest two-and-a-half-hour titillation talkathon is available to stream on YouTube now.