“But everyone does it!”: A Look into the Psychosexual Outcomes of Pornography Use in College-aged Men and Women

In the current digital age, pornography is rapidly increasing in popularity amongst emerging adults and college students. Research from a variety of fields have found that consumption of pornography poses neurological, physiological, and psychological threats to emerging adults (Wordecha et al., 2018; Wright et al., 2018). Notably, many consequences of pornography consumption differ across gender (Brown & L’engle, 2016; Fritz & Paul, 2017). College students are more likely than the general public to experience cybersex addiction, with male students significantly more likely to meet the criteria than their female counterparts (Giordano & Cashwell, 2017). A clear link between negative mental health outcomes and pornography consumption has been established among women (Willoughby et al., 2014). Alarmingly, best-selling and highly viewed pornography videos mainly consist of female objectification and degradation (Bridges et al., 2010, Fritz & Paul, 2017). Further, many scholars have found that mainstream pornography revolvesaround the exploitation of women (Sun et al., 2016). The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between pornography consumption, misogyny, and cognitive distractions during sex. Specific attention is paid to use and outcome differences across gender. Findings revealed that women experience higher amounts of cognitive distractions during sex than men, despite watching significantly less pornography. Further, results of a multiple linear regression indicated that gender is a significant moderator when using either internalized misogyny or cognitive distractions to predict pornography consumption

Assessing Gender Differences in USD Students in the Consumption of Pornography

While pornography consumption has been studied many times in the past decade, little has been done on assessing the gender differences behind it. This study sought out to find those differences. A total of 306 University of South Dakota students participated in an online pornography survey. There was 231 females and 75 males. When asked about intentionally consuming pornography, there was 241 responses, 180 females and 61 males. Of those responses, 57 males (93%) and 142 females (79%) said they intentionally consume pornography. As hypothesized, a higher percentage of men said they consumed porn regularly (34%) than did women (4%). Although hypothesized that men would have greater acceptance of pornography use, results showed there was no difference in teen and adult consumption (9% combined acceptance in teens and 40% in adults). It was hypothesized that men and women would have different motives for their pornography consumption. However, men and women had the same top three motives, sexual pleasure, masturbation material, and stress relief. Women, however, were more likely to choose stress relief as their top motive (73%) than men (39%). It was hypothesized that pornography consumption would increase during Covid for both men and women. While most men reported they consumed more (50%), most women reported it had no effect on their consumption (68%). Exploratory material looked at the favorite types of pornography that are being consumed. Men and women had the same top three types: Professionally Produced, College-Aged Actors, and Homemade. However, women were more likely to chose Bondage and S&M (19.5%) than men (5%)

Studi Komparasi Chi-Square Perilaku Konsumsi Pornografi Bagi Remaja Berdasarkan Perbedaan Jenis Kelamin

The Ministry of Communication and Information throughout 2019 showed that pornographic content were the most widely complained of a total of 1,002,754 complaints. Many studies report on the behavior of pornography consumption and the results show many differences regarding the type and frequency of consumption by men and women. Teenagers are the dominant age in internet consumption in Indonesia. Thus, the study was conducted at one of the state junior high schools in Bandung. The method used in this study is quantitative method using the chi-square comparison test. The sampling technique is multistage random sampling. The results showed 99 percent of adolescents had consumed pornographic content. Differences in consumption of pornography are found in the type of media and content consumed, the source of the platform used, the type of pornographic characteristics. Whereas the frequency, place of access, and colleagues who did not consume when found no difference.Kementrian Komunikasi dan Informasi sepanjang tahun 2019 menunjukkan bahwa konten pornografi merupakan konten yang paling banyak diadukan dengan total 1.002.754 aduan. Aduan tersebut adalah yang tertinggi dibanding jenis aduan konten internet lainya. Banyak studi melaporkan mengenai perilaku konsumsi pornografi dan hasilnya menunjukkan banyak perbedaan mengenai jenis serta frekuensi konsumsi yang dilakukan oleh laki-laki dan perempuan. Remaja merupakan usia yang dominan dalam konsumsi internet di Indonesia, sehingga penelitian dilakukan di salah satu sekolah menengah pertama negeri di kota Bandung. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode kuantitatif dengan menggunakan uji komparasi chi-square. Teknik pengambilan sampel adalah dengan multistage random sampling. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan 99 persen remaja pernah mengonsumsi konten pornografi. Perbedaan konsumsi pornorgafi ditemukan pada jenis media dan konten yang dikonsumsi, sumber platform yang digunakan, jenis karakter pornografi, sedangkan frekuensi, tempat mengkases dan rekan yang menemani saat mengonsumsi pornografi, tidak ditemukan perbedaan

Religiosity, Moral Disapproval, Shame and Pornography Use: Assessing the Relationship Between Shame and Sexual Behaviors

Many compulsive and hypersexualized behaviors, including pornography use, have been associated with negative emotional, neurological, and psychosocial problems in a subset of users. Research showed that the constructs of shame, shame-proneness, and attachment may be related to the use of pornography as well as the theory of addiction. Shame-proneness is a construct that is consistently and positively associated with a variety of internalizing symptoms including depression, social, and generalized anxiety as well as a linked to an assortment of externalizing and risky behaviors such as anger, substance use, and criminal offending. Research suggested that higher levels of religiosity have a strong relationship to the moral disapproval of the use of pornography based on individual religious beliefs. This study examined the correlation between religiosity and sexual shame based on earlier research, which hypothesized that moral disapproval would mediate the relationship between religiosity and sexual shame. This research also hypothesized that shame-proneness would moderate the relationships between religiosity and moral disapproval, moral disapproval, and sexual shame, and finally the relationship between religiosity and sexual shame. The results showed that consistent with earlier research; moral disapproval mediated the relationship between religiosity and sexual shame. The study found that shame-proneness was a direct predictor of sexual shame however it did not moderate direct or indirect effects on the proposed theoretical relationships

Pornstars, content creators, and sex educators: A discourse analysis of gender, sexuality & resistance in the West-Coast pornography industry

Given the ease of Internet accessibility, the porn industry increasingly provides a common socialization medium for conceptions of gender, sex, and sexuality. For my master\u27s thesis, I interviewed 10 industry film and video actors to better understand the processes through which their experiences are created. Interviews provided the data for a discourse analysis that considers systems of power that shaped actor interactions and core definitions of sex, gender, and sexuality. Hegemonic constructions of gender, femininity, and sexuality are pervasive in the industry; however, the industry also provides an arena for transformative discourse and disruption of hegemonic ideals. This research is important as it centers actor voices in providing insights into an industry that shapes actor lives and the everyday experiences of millions of viewers around the world. In particular, my work explores the extent to which actor experiences subvert, challenge or resist hegemonic definitions of gender, race, sex, and sexuality, as well as those that evidence reinscription of current ideologies. Actor experiences of gender, race, and sexualities were often congruent with hegemonic definitions. However, many participants expressed that pornography has the potential to create new forms of knowledge and meaning related to gender, sex, sexuality, identity and more

Valores, atitudes e significados da pornografia: um estudo com uma amostra portuguesa

O consumo de pornografia é cada vez mais comum. Contudo, esta é, ainda, uma áreapouco estudada no contexto português. Neste sentido, torna-se pertinente a sua consideração.A presente investigação objetivou: 1) Averiguar o consumo e as atitudes frente àpornografia; 2) Conhecer os significados da pornografia; e 3) Compreender a relação entreos Valores Humanos Básicos e as atitudes frente ao uso de materiais pornográficos. Para talconduzimos um estudo exploratório online com 665 adultos portugueses, que responderamao Questionário dos Valores Básicos e à escala de atitudes frente ao uso de materiaispornográficos, bem como, a um conjunto de questões sobre o consumo de pornografia e aum questionário sociodemográfico.Os resultados indicaram que a maioria dos portugueses já consumiu pornografia.Apresentando o género masculino maior percentagem de consumo, uma frequência maiselevada, assim como, uma idade de consumo de pornografia pela primeira vez mais precoce.A análise dos significados atribuídos à pornografia revelou que os portuguesespensam em pornografia segundo três classes: 1) meios de consumo e potenciais aspetosnegativos; 2) práticas e preferências sexuais presentes nos sites pornográficos; e 3)finalidades do uso e potenciais aspetos positivos. Os resultados mostraram diferençasconsoante o género, estando o género feminino mais associado com os meios de consumo easpetos negativos e o masculino ou outro com os conteúdos presentes nos sitespornográficos.Verificou-se que os valores das subfunções Experimentação, Realização e Normativaestavam relacionados com as atitudes frente à pornografia. Os valores das subfunçõesExperimentação, Realização, Suprapessoal e Normativa estavam associados com os efeitospositivos e os valores das subfunções Experimentação, Realização e Interativa associadoscom os efeitos negativos da pornografia. Ou seja, a priorização de valores pessoais, comosatisfação de necessidades sexuais e realização própria, prediz uma atitude favorável frenteà pornografia. Já a priorização de valores sociais, com ênfase no coletivo e preservação daordem social, prediz uma atitude desfavorável frente à pornografia.Concluímos que a priorização de diferentes valores, pessoais ou sociais, explica asdiferentes atitudes em relação à pornografia. E, consequentemente, a ação frente ao consumode pornografia. Assim, este estudo poderá ser uma mais-valia, pela consideração dos aspetospsicossociais, valores e atitudes, relacionados com o consumo de pornografia

The Moderation of an Intimate Relationship on Pornography Use Among Religious Singles

Previous research has explored the relationship between religious involvement, loneliness, and pornography use. For some, pornography use can be used as a coping mechanism to overcome feelings of loneliness. This pornography use is especially problematic for those who are religious, as this use contradicts their convictions and beliefs and has been shown to have many negative outcomes. To date, little research has focused on the specific growing population of singles who can be more prone to loneliness due to the lack of a romantic relationship. To rectify this gap, this study seeks to explore the ability an emotionally intimate relationship has to reduce loneliness and pornography use for the religious single. An online survey was used to recruit participants (N = 95) who were single (not in a romantic relationship), religious (believed in God), and had used pornography in the last six months. The desired outcome is to understand what condition or in what way an intimate relationship moderates both the direct relationship between religious involvement and pornography use and the indirect mediated relationship through loneliness. While results showed no significance in either the mediating or moderating conditional relationships, there were significant direct relationships between intimacy, loneliness, and pornography use. Implications suggest that an intimate relationship for religious singles may be able to reduce feelings of loneliness and pornography use

Social Anxiety, Pornography Use, and Loneliness: A Mediation Analysis

Research has indicated a positive correlation between pornography use and loneliness; however, with only six published studies to date, more research is required. This study used the extant literature on the relationship between internet use and loneliness to inform the current study since internet use and pornography use are similar constructs, especially in individuals’ use of both to avoid negative emotions and social interactions. Further, social anxiety has been shown in the internet use literature to be a confounder in the relationship between internet use and loneliness, making social anxiety a major variable to consider in the relationship between pornography use and loneliness. This study sought to support the current literature by exploring the relationship between social anxiety and internet use and the relationship between pornography use and loneliness and extend the literature by investigating whether internet use mediates the relationship between social anxiety and loneliness. Additionally, as the relationship between social anxiety and pornography use has not be researched to date, the current study explored this relationship including whether pornography use mediated the relationship between social anxiety and loneliness. Lastly, this study measured whether avoidance moderated the relationship between social anxiety and pornography use. The results indicated that, as hypothesized, social anxiety and internet use were positively correlated, but that internet use did not mediate the relationship between social anxiety and loneliness. The results also showed, as hypothesized, that social anxiety and pornography use were positively correlated and pornography use and loneliness were positive correlated. Finally, the results indicated that pornography use weakly mediated the relationship between social anxiety and loneliness. The moderated mediation analysis was not significant for avoidance

Self-Compassion in Pornography Users: A Moderation Analysis

Pornography use appears to be associated with many psychosocial problems for a subset of pornography users. Previous research indicates constructs such as experiential avoidance and shame-proneness may be related to pornography use. Research also suggests that self-compassion may be helpful in decreasing experiential avoidance, shame, and other predictors of problematic pornography use. To date, no research has been done examining self-compassion in pornography users. This may be an important construct to study in this population because the way people treat themselves during difficult times may be associated with the development of problematic pornography viewing patterns and negative outcomes related to their pornography use (e.g., problems in relationships with family and friends, occupational problems, legal problems). This study examined the correlation between the frequency of pornography use and self-compassion. The results suggested there was a significant but weak negative correlation between weekly frequency of pornography use and total self-compassion. Regarding the subscales, there were statistically significant weak negative correlations between frequency of pornography use and all three of the positive subscales: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. There were also weak but statistically significant positive correlations between frequency of pornography use and two of the negative self-compassion subscales: self-judgment and over-identification. It was hypothesized that self-compassion would moderate the relationship between frequency of pornography use and negative consequences of sexual behavior that pornography users experience; however, the results indicated there is no interaction between frequency of use and self-compassion. This research also hypothesized that the function of pornography use would also moderate this relationship. The results indicated that there was no interaction between frequency of use and self-compassion or between frequency of use and sexual curiosity or emotional avoidance. There was a statistically significant interaction between frequency of use and excitement seeking as well as between frequency of use and sexual pleasure