FEAR PORN

What Does FEAR PORN Mean?

The Quick Answer

FEAR PORN means "Media Content That Deliberately Plays on People's Fears."

More Detail...

Fear porn is media content that deliberately emphasizes the shocking and worrying aspects of a story in order to play on people's fears. According to critics, media outlets generate fear porn to keep readers, listeners, or viewers "hooked," to the point that they are emotionally dependent on the news cycle and are incapable of intelligent thought. The term fear porn is used by extremists at both ends of the political spectrum to criticize media articles they don't agree with. It is particularly common in alt-right circles when commenting on anything related to climate change, Covid-19, and vaccinations. For example:

Toni: I'm going to get my Covid booster shot tomorrow.
Jo: Fool! Covid is mainstream media fear porn. It's no worse than the flu.
Toni: That's what Lee's mom said. She died of Covid last month. Well, Covid and alt-right fear porn, obviously.

Ali: I'm really worried about the rise in measles cases. Why don't people just let their kids get the jab?
Sam: That's just fear porn! I'll never let them put that poison into my kids.
Ali: Do you really believe UNICEF are making it up? There is a victim of fear porn in this conversation and it isn't the one whose kids are vaccinated.

For the facts about Covid-19, check out www.who.int/myth-busters. For the facts about measles, check out www.who.int.

Image for FEAR PORN

When I write FEAR PORN, I mean this:

Fear porn can become terrifyingly addictive.

Summary of Key Points

We have summarized the key points in the table below:

FEAR PORN
Definition:	Media Content That Deliberately Plays on People's Fears
Type:	Word
Guessability:	3: Guessable
Typical Users:	Adults and Teenagers

An Academic Look at FEAR PORN

The term fear porn is a neologism (i.e., a newly coined word or term which has emerged into everyday usage). Some neologisms are formally accepted into mainstream language (at which point, they cease to be neologisms), and some wither until they can longer be considered everyday terms. A neologism can be: