Keywords

Pornography and Sexual Violence

Approximately 20 years ago if people desired to look at pornography, they would have limited options. One could purchase a magazine, video, or some other hard copy medium from a retailer (often brick and morter), find a hard copy form of pornography around the house, or borrow a copy from a friend or family member. For decades, magazines, videos, and other media were utilized for porn consumption. All of this changed a couple of decades ago with the mass production and ubiquitous availability of desktop, laptop, and handheld personal computers. Pornography was then available direct to the viewers without having to interact with another person (Braithwaite, Coulson, Keddington, & Fincham, 2015). Although pornography is not new, this mass exposure to pornography, particularly high-speed internet pornography, ushered in by technological advances over the past 20 years is a game changer. It is no longer necessary to go to a store to purchase and view pornography. Using the internet is now the primary means for viewing pornography (Wery & Billieux, 2016). In addition, the international nature of pornography websites makes shutting down sites illegal in the US difficult in cases where they are hosted overseas.

This explosion of the availability of pornography to the general public has led to many studies finding significant social ills directly related to pornographic use. Viewing pornography is not harmless as some would lead to believe, in fact, the violence and exploitation in pornography leads to numerous negative effects (Foubert, 2017). The next sections will explore these negative effects of pornography on society.

Pornography and Violence

Prior to high-speed internet pornography, there was a broader range of images available, many which were not overtly violent. Magazines like Playboy featured more playful images, while Hustler and Penthouse tested the bounds of obscenity (Dines, 2010). Over time, most pornography has included violence in some form, with 88% of images containing violent acts (Bridges, Wosnitzer, Scharrer, Sun, & Liberman, 2010) and its harmful effects are not surprising. The violence depicted in pornography leads to numerous negative effects on viewers. Pornography is largely degrading and depicts acts of sexual violence toward women (Sun, Bridges, Johnson, & Ezzell, 2016). Pornographic images and scenes in videos routinely depict the objectification of women and its logical result, violence. For consumers of pornography, these images can create abnormal sexual expectations and unwanted sexual advances that can lead to violent behavior (Sun, Ezzell, & Kendall, 2017).

When reviewing the best-selling pornographic videos, Bridges et al. (2010) found that 88% of the scenes depicted sex acts with physical aggression including slapping, choking, and bondage. Furthermore, 70% of these aggressive acts were perpetrated by men, and 87% of the physically violent acts were against women. These depictions create a sense of expected reality in viewers which can lead to violent, nonconsensual sexual encounters (Bridges et al., 2010).

Sun et al. (2016) use Cognitive Script Theory to help explain why viewers of pornography are more likely to perpetrate acts of violence in sexual encounters. The authors of Cognitive Script Theory propose that the more an individual consumes similar scripts, codes are created in the brain pertaining to the behaviors depicted, and sometimes experienced. The more codes that are created associated with particular behaviors, the more likely it is that the individual exhibits that behavior in real-life experiences. Pertaining to pornography, habitual viewers of pornography have sexually explicit codes or scripts created in cognition that are called upon when sexual encounters are presented. These scripts are rooted in violence, objectification, and skewed gender norms (Sun et al., 2016).

Relatedly, exposure to pornography leads to more rigid views of gender roles. In the large majority of pornography, restrictive gender stereotypes are perpetuated leading to the notion of violent, domineering men and women who are subservient to every violent act a man can come up with to demean her (Brown & L’Engle, 2009; Häggström-Nordin, Sandberg, Hanson, & Tyde’n, 2006; Malamuth & Impett, 2001). This notion is a contributor to higher incidents of sexual violence in those who view pornography regularly (Brown & L’Engle, 2009). Furthermore, research shows relationships between consistent viewers of pornography and perpetration of higher levels of sexual harassment in the workplace (Brown & L’Engle, 2009; Häggström-Nordin et al., 2006; Malamuth & Impett, 2001). The violence associated with sex in pornography is impacting viewers and is related to real-life sexual violence and harassment (Foubert, 2017). For the general public this is a problem, but another segment of the population is greatly impacted as well. Emerging adults or adolescents are also impacted by pornography.

Pornography and Adolescents

The age that a person first views pornography continues to be younger as compared to previous generations. Ninety-seven percent of males and 62% of females have viewed pornography by the age of 17 (Sabina, Wolak, & Finkelhor, 2008). Studies are finding when adolescents view pornography, numerous negative effects are presented. Viewing pornography at a young age causes adolescents to begin to believe that what they are watching depicts real life, and young men and women begin to expect similar sexual encounters (Peter & Valkenburg, 2008, 2010). This is problematic because this leads many adolescents to view relationships more instrumentally and less relationally (Valkenburg, 2010).

Research is also showing that adolescents who view pornography are more likely to begin sexual activity at earlier ages, when they may not be developmentally ready for such activity. This early onset of sexual activity is due to the adolescents’ more permissive attitudes or views toward casual sex that are directly linked to their pornography use (Van, Jochen, & Vandenbosch, 2017). Additionally, because of the violence and proclivity of drug and alcohol use in pornography, adolescents who view pornography show higher rates of risky behaviors including the use of drugs and alcohol and risky sex practices including unprotected sex and sex with multiple partners (Braun-Courville & Rojas, 2009; Brown & L’Engle, 2009; Peter & Valkenburg, 2006). Although one can’t claim that these relationships are causal given the near impossibility of an experimental study in this area, the strong relationships between pornography and adolescent behavior are striking.

Other Negative Relationships

Along with the perpetuation of sexual violence and harassment, and the negative effects pornography has on adolescents, users of pornography experience other negative thoughts and physiological experiences. Wery and Billieux (2016) found that people who watch pornography experience decreased levels of sexual satisfaction and experience erectile dysfunction at higher rates as compared to those who do not watch pornography regularly. Sun et al. (2016) contend that regular consumers of pornography report lower levels of satisfaction with sexual performance. This lack of sexual satisfaction leads to questions about virility, and lower levels of self-esteem and creates body image issues.

Additionally, researchers are finding that habitual users of pornography experience lower levels of general motivation and problems with working memory. Laier, Schulte, and Brand (2012) found that pornographic users reported losing sleep and missing important appointments after viewing pornography. The study found that viewers of pornography who experienced sexual arousal reported problems with memory. The researchers contend that sexual arousal from pornography use directly interfered with working memory.

Pornography is typically a violent form of media with a variety of negative effects. These effects are witnessed by viewers from adolescence through adulthood. This chapter examines the violent content of pornography and target audiences, how men’s perpetration of sexual violence is directly related to pornography and increases in men who exhibit higher risk factors for sexual violence, how the effects of pornography are both direct and indirect and have strong associations with sexually violent behaviors, pornography and the effects on women, how pornography and sexual violence impact the development of the adolescent brain, and child pornography and the exploitation of children and the relation to child abuse and sexual violence.

Pornography as Violence

Pornography is produced and consumed across multiple genres and subgenres, cultures, and demographics (Fritz & Paul, 2017). Moreover, pornography is often catered to different audiences (men, women, gay men, lesbians) and governed by a complex mix of intents (mostly capitalist and political). Industry data suggest that worldwide the profits of the porn industry are at 100 billion dollars (Ropelato, 2010). Regardless of source, purpose, or label, pornography is consistently linked to violence through themes of objectification, degradation, exploitation, power inequality, verbal abuse, and outright physical aggression (Bridges et al., 2010; Gorman, Monk-Turner, & Fish, 2010; Whisnant, 2016).

On-Camera “Consent” Normalizes Violence

Authors disagree on how to define violence in pornography. One significant point of contention is whether consent absolves a behavior from being classified as “violent.” Bridges et al. (2010) found that the three most common physically aggressive behaviors in pornography—spanking, gagging, and open-hand slapping—were greeted, on camera, with pleasure or neutrality 95.9% of the time by women and 84% of the time by men. This indifference to aggressive behaviors in porn is cited in other studies (Klaassen & Peter, 2015; Whisnant, 2016) and effectively renders “violence” as invisible in these contexts. Moreover, acts of verbal abuse, psychological abuse, and emotional abuse have gone under-acknowledged in many studies of porn and its violent tendencies (Bridges et al., 2010). As a case in point on how these research practices influence violent findings in porn, Bridges et al. (2010), in analyzing 304 scenes of top-selling mainstream pornography, found that 88.2% of scenes contained physical aggression including slapping, hitting, gagging, and bondage, and 48.7% of scenes contained verbal aggression including calling a woman a bitch or a slut who likes a particular demeaning activity. When controlling for “consent,” however, all instances of aggression dropped to just 12.2%. Yet violent behavior with alleged consent is still violent behavior.

Whisnant (2016) illuminates the “consent” issue by arguing that men and women in the porn industry are paid actors in a profit-driven industry and, therefore, are often coerced into responding positively or neutrally to acts that they might not otherwise enjoy or even welcome. Whisnant cites the work of self-proclaimed feminist pornographer, Tristan Taormino. Taormino, who touts her work as “guilt-free” and empowering pornography, self-describes her work as profit-driven. Moreover, Whisnant notes that Taormino’s work often celebrates themes of pain, dominance, and power as allegedly authentic desires of her actors. Taormino’s philosophy is difficult to justify in a capitalist industry; however, if her actors were not willing to engage in these experiences, they would quickly be out of work. In fact, many porn agencies will only represent actors who have purged their “no list,” meaning they will engage in any act on set, regardless of their comfort level or preferences (Whisnant, 2016). Saying “no” in porn narratives is also trivialized. Vannier, Currie, and O’Sullivan (2014) found that in a sample of 100 top free online videos, in every instance in which a character resisted a sexual act, violent or otherwise, that character ultimately relented to the forced experience. Many authors argue that patterns like this in pornography normalize a sexual script of violence and “token resistance.”

Violence Across Cultures

Some authors argue that porn is not inherently violent, but rather that violence in porn flows out of larger contexts of culture, audience, and purpose. Arakawa, Flanders, and Hatfield (2012), for example, studied pornography across egalitarian and non-egalitarian societies. They studied popular softcore still images from the United States, Japan, and Norway. Their hypothesis was that in countries scoring high on the United Nations’ gender empowerment measure (GEM) women would be less disempowered and more empowered in mainstream pornography. However, despite their hypothesis, they found that in all three countries women were often bound, placed in submissive poses, or dehumanized through emphasis on their genitalia to the marginalization of their faces. Norway did showcase a greater variety in body types, meaning the female form was less extremely idealized, but the researchers noted that, regardless of a country’s GEM score, most images failed to show a healthy respect for women.

One cultural sub-genre, the Asian women category, has showcased fewer instances of outright physical aggression and nonnormative behavior than other categories (Zhou & Paul, 2016). Studies have shown that this category averages.33 aggressive acts per scene as opposed to.83 aggressive acts per scene in other genres. Researchers suggest that this reduction in outright physical violence is due to the docile and obedient “Lotus Blossom” narrative archetype. Unfortunately, this archetype fundamentally showcases power imbalance, as well. Aggressive acts in this category are perpetrated 68.3% of the time by men and target women 88% of the time. Zhou and Paul (2016) postulate that careful domination is a prevailing theme in this context. Whereas some strands of pornography treat women—particularly women of color—like animals, Asian pornography treats women like human dolls.

Gender Inequality

Gender inequality is common in pornography, and some have argued that this inequality feeds violence on screen (Arakawa et al., 2012). For example, Klaassen and Peter (2015) studied 400 videos from top sites (Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn, and xHamster) and found that women were far more likely than men to be used as instruments of sexual gratification. Men were depicted as achieving orgasm in 75.5% of scenes, while women were only depicted as achieving orgasm in 16.8%. Men received oral sex in 80.5% of scenes, while women received oral sex in 47.5%. Women were featured in sexualized close-ups in 60.8% of scenes, while men were featured in 18.8%. Moreover, while scripts put men and women in equally powerful roles (teacher, boss, etc.), men were more likely to assume control and appear dominant during sexual activity (38.5% male dominance; 13.2% female dominance) and women were more likely to behave submissive (42.5% female submission; 10.2% male submission). In acts of outright physical violence, 37.2% of scenes portrayed violence, such as hitting or slapping, toward women, while only 2.8% showed violence toward men.

Klaassen and Peter’s (2015) findings track with other recent studies in internet pornography. Gorman et al. (2010) studied a sample of free, highly accessible videos using the most popular search terms on the web. They found similar disparities in how men and women were portrayed, particularly with regard to men being more likely to receive oral sex. However, they also found that in these videos 13% depicted explicit force, 55% had themes of domination or exploitation, 47% showed submission and always by a female, 55% showed women naked more often than men, 49% depicted women as eager to do anything asked, 45% showed men “marking territory” by ejaculating on a woman’s face, and, in all cases, women responded neutrally or favorably to violent or coercive acts. Vannier et al. (2014) echoed these results in studying two popular subgenres, teen and MILF videos, with one interesting exception: men were portrayed nude more often than women (74% to 47%). Their research clarifies, though, that this distinction is largely due to women wearing costumes to denote their age and status as moms, schoolgirls, secretaries, and other roles. Moreover, they report that men are more often in control of the pace and direction of sexual activity and that male actors are consistently the same age and build regardless of the female’s age or role. This phenomenon is painfully explicit in the “casting couch” subgenre, in which young women are manipulated into sex with fake casting agents under the illusion that they are trying out for paying roles.

“Feminist,” Queer, and Porn “For Women”

If violence enjoys a symbiotic relationship with gender inequality, then it could be hypothesized that less male-centric pornography should also be less violent. However, while studies have shown that feminist, queer, and For Women pornography do showcase higher instances of reciprocity in power and sexual pleasure (Shim, Kwon, & Cheng, 2015), violence persists. Coding instances of agency, authenticity, objectification, and aggression, Fritz and Paul (2017) compared these women-centric genres against mainstream pornography and found that a gender gap appeared across all categories. Women were less overtly objectified in feminist pornography than in other kinds of pornography but equally objectified in For Women porn. In fact, “gaping,” or an emphasis on the spread open genitals, was most common in the For Women genre. Women were depicted as having less agency than men in all genres except the queer feminist category, and even in this category, 54% of scenes with aggressive behavior had violence directed toward women. Physical aggression, particularly toward women, occurred with relative frequency across all women-centric genres. Shim et al. (2015) offer one of the only rebuttals to this finding. Comparing 200 images across men’s and women’s pornography sites, their research team found that sexually unequal themes were much higher on men’s sites (25%) than women’s sites (4%). Interestingly, though, their team also found that instances of objectification were more frequent on women’s sites than men’s. They posit that this finding could reveal how the concept of the female body as a sexual object is becoming normalized across gender cultures.

One of the most indicting studies on this phenomenon—women (not) abdicating violence toward women—again comes from Whisnant’s (2016) review of feminist Tristan Taormino. In reviewing a small cross-section of Taormino’s work, Whisnant reveals common tropes of racially explicit and demeaning language, domination, “gang bang” anal sex, ejaculation on women, strangulation, gagging, spanking, and slapping. Taormino argues that these tropes are exciting to many women and that her work is empowering women to combat puritanical attitudes toward sex. However, as Whisnant illustrates, Taormino’s work also communicates that power hierarchies are a given, that violent actions that injure and kill women daily can and should be treated as gameplay, and that resisting painful and previously nonnormative activities, such as anal sex, makes one a prude. In fact, Taormino appears to adopt an alarming “anything goes” mentality in her approach to sex. She describes an instance in which a woman was bound, hit with tomatoes, and urinated on by a group prior to sex. Taormino classifies this episode as appropriate and nonviolent because it was consensual. This faulty logic is extended further when she even suggests that her initial alarm at this humiliating scene showcased her own narrow-mindedness and baggage more than anything inherently damaging in the activity.

This closing example offers a vivid illustration of how the notion of “violence” can be twisted. If the parties involved appear neutral toward an act or if an act is normative for even the smallest subset of the population, Taormino suggests that act is nonviolent. This stance precludes the idea that some activities, no matter how normalized, are intrinsically damaging. Pornography—across cultures, genres, and audiences—dehumanizes, objectifies, exploits, degrades, and abuses. Pornography is inescapably violent and, worse still, it perpetuates a cultural narrative that says sexual violence is okay.

Pornography and Men’s Perpetration of Sexual Violence: The Importance of Individual Differences

Men are much more likely than women to consume pornography, with most studies showing men consuming at a rate at least twice that of women (Carroll, Busby, Willoughby, & Brown, 2017; Lo & Wei, 2005) Men’s consumption of pornography impacts their views of women in measurable ways—including, but not limited to, objectification and acceptance of sexual mistreatment of women (Malamuth, Hald, & Koss, 2012; Mikorski & Szymanski, 2017; Wright & Bae, 2015). However, does pornography’s impact on men extend beyond attitudes to acts of sexual violence? In this section, we assert that pornography is a significant predictor of men’s sexual violence toward women, particularly when men possess preexisting risk factors for sexual violence.

Pornography as Predictor of Sexual Violence

Societal pressure exerted against committing and/or reporting acts of sexual violence makes examining a direct link between pornography and sexual violence challenging. Furthermore, little work has been done to scrutinize how perpetrators’ consumption of pornography informs or incites their actions. Yet, a growing multiplicity of studies have demonstrated clear connections between pornography and perpetration from a variety of approaches. Frequent viewing of pornography is associated with escalating dissatisfaction with sexual relationships and increasing attitudes of sexual aggression (Simons, Simons, Lei, & Sutton, 2012; Vega & Malamuth, 2007). The confluence of these two results alone—sexual dissatisfaction and sexual aggression—points to the potential for acts of sexual violence. However, more explicit links are available. According to Rudman and Mescher (2012), men who view objectifying images of women are not just more likely to accept acts of sexual violence against women; they are more likely to endorse these acts. Finally, Alexy, Burgess, and Prentky (2009) found that some men viewing pornography are more likely to step beyond sexually aggressive attitudes and to engage in coerced and forced sexual acts; this is shown by higher rates of pornography use among sex offenders than a nonoffending population.

Although the evidence points to pornography as a predictor of sexual violence—even when controlling for other variables (Malamuth & Huppin, 2005), it is important to note inconsistencies in the data, including a strong degree of heterogeneity among studies (Malamuth et al., 2012). Clearly and reasonably, not every male that views pornography will commit a real act of sexual violence. How, then, can the inherent evidence of both correlation and discrepancies be accurately described? The most reasonable explanation is that pornography does, in fact, function as a predictor for sexual violence but that three important types of risk factors are likely to mediate and/or to moderate the connection: (1) other direct and indirect behavioral choices such as use of especially violent pornography, (2) sociocultural/environmental factors such as peer support for sexual violence and (3) individual/personality differences such as hypermasculinity and an emphasis on impersonal sex (Hald & Malamuth, 2015). In other words, pornography is a significant predictor of sexual violence when additional factors are also true of a consumer of pornography.

Behavioral Factors

Behavioral decisions accompanying pornography—both those directly related to the pornography itself, as well as those seemingly unrelated to pornography—can impact pornography’s connection to sexual violence. First and most clearly among these behavioral factors is the frequency with which pornography is consumed. Higher than average consumption of pornography adds a statistically significant amount to pornography’s prediction of sexual aggression, while infrequent pornography consumption demonstrates a less significant relationship (Vega & Malamuth, 2007). Another important influencer is the type of pornography being viewed. Pornography depicting violent or other extreme actions is more likely to produce an increased level of sexual aggression in the viewer than pornography without violent content (Malamuth et al., 2012; Vega & Malamuth, 2007). However, those exposed to softer forms of pornography still manifested significantly greater rape myth acceptance than those unexposed and greater rape propensity in hypothetical scenarios (Romero-Sanchez, Toro-Garcia, Horvath, & Megias, 2017). Alcohol consumption, as a seemingly unrelated behavioral choice, still influences sexual behaviors when combined with intake of pornography. Acts of sexual coercion and dominance are statistically more common in men who recurrently consume both pornography and alcohol before or during sexual encounters (Wright, Sun, Steffen, and Tokunaga, 2015). Finally, even usage of Facebook, when combined with other behaviors such as association with abusive male peers, has been associated as with pornography as a predictor of unwanted sexual overtures (Mikorski & Szymanski, 2017).

Sociocultural/Environmental Factors

Factors surrounding the men who view pornography still bear connection to pornography’s potential impact. For example, increasing access to pornography, as a broader cultural dynamic, intensifies both the frequency and severity of pornography available to would-be consumers. In fact, Wright (2011) reports that pornographic media makes sexual and violent content ubiquitously accessible to both youth and adults. More particular to individual users, though, are a series of more intimate, even familial, environmental factors. Because there is often a discrepancy in partners’ use of pornography (with male partners consuming significantly more pornography than females), the partner with greater use of pornography is associated with increased levels of sexual aggression (Carroll et al., 2017; Willoughby, Carroll, Busby, and Brown, 2016). Men who received frequent corporeal punishment in their homes of origin, in combination with subsequent or concurrent use of pornography, were more likely to engage in sexual victimization of women (Simons et al., 2012). Adolescents who experience a generally troubled home life are more prone to view pornography frequently, and frequent use of pornography is, in turn, a predictor of sexual aggression (Peter & Valkenburg, 2016; Vega & Malamuth, 2007).

Individual Differences

Each individual is unique; therefore, it is only reasonable to suggest each male’s processing of pornographic material is, in some ways, unique (Malamuth & Huppin, 2005; Wright & Bae, 2015). Underlying this premise are data that contend for the importance of individual differences when applying connections between pornography and sexual violence. In a study on “agreeableness” as an inherent personality factor, Hald and Malamuth (2015) found that experimental exposure to pornography only increased acceptance of sexual violence when men were also low in agreeableness. Conversely, lower levels of agreeableness combined with greater past usage of pornography provided significant prediction of attitudes supporting violence against women. In addition to inherent personality traits, a man’s preexisting sexual preference for certain types of pornography appears to be a powerful factor in predicting aggression outcomes. In both adolescents and adults, men who reported or manifested sexual arousal from violent or extreme pornography were more commonly associated with expressions of sexual aggression (Hald & Malamuth, 2015; Malamuth & Huppin, 2005). Furthermore, what seems to be true of personal differences in agreeableness and natural sexual arousal is also true of preexisting tendencies of aggression. When a man is already predisposed to aggression in other realms, violent pornography is particularly influential in producing increased sexual aggression (Baer, Kohut, & Fisher, 2015; Kingston, Malamuth, Fedoroff, & Marshall, 2009).

When various behavioral choices, environmental factors, and personal differences are overlapped to produce a clear understanding of the relationship between pornography and sexual violence, it becomes obvious that the relationship must be defined by an accounting for individual differences. However, the unifying presence of pornography at the nexus of these factors seems to communicate a clear message: the surrounding environmental and personality variables react with the presence of frequent and/or violent pornography to direct the disparate factors toward the perpetration of sexual violence.

Relationship of Porn to Predictors of Sexual Violence

In 2010 there were roughly four million pornography sites on the internet. By 2015 it was estimated that 10,000 porn sites were added to the internet every week (DeKeseredy & Olsson, 2011). Additionally DeKeseredy and Olsson (2011) present that the internet has virtually eliminated former media of pornography consumption. Today, it is difficult to even examine the online growth of pornography because profits are not monitored as strictly as other businesses, and the online mediums are more numerous than ever (DeKeseredy, 2015).

The proliferation of pornography over the internet not only changed the amount of pornography available, studies show that the levels of violence and racism also have increased (DeKeseredy, 2015). Scholars along with workers in the porn industry report that over the past decade the levels of violent porn, gore porn, child porn, and racist acts depicted in porn have increased exponentially (DeKeseredy, 2015). Furthermore, scholars warn that the increase in violent and racist pornography may just be the beginning, and these increases are likely to continue with the continued growth of the porn industry (Bridges & Anton, 2013).

Studies are beginning to reveal this increased violence is affecting consumers in negative ways. Some examples of these are negative gender stereotypes including entitlement, objectification, and viewing men as dominant and women as subservient in sexual encounters. Unnatural sexual expectations are also a byproduct of pornography consumption. Viewers of porn create mental images and expectation of what sex should be and attempt to play those out in real-life (Dines, 2010). Many times behavior mirrors the violence of the pornography leading to sexually violent acts (Foubert, 2017). Also, higher levels of pornography consumption creates a desensitization relating to sexual violence which leads to less willingness to stop sexually violent or explicit acts (Foubert, Brosi, & Bannon, 2011). This section will address each of these and provide evidence to the harmful ways they are impacting society.

Negative Gender Stereotypes and Entitlement

Regular consumers of pornography report flawed views of gender roles and stereotypes (Hald, Malamuth, & Lange, 2013). Men who watch pornography at higher rates present lower levels of egalitarian thoughts toward women (Hald et al., 2013). Men who watch pornography also typically view the man as domineering and the woman as subservient in sexual encounters (Hald et al., 2013). Additionally, higher consumers of pornography report higher instances of sexism leading to aggressive sexual encounters (Hald et al., 2013).

Studies have shown that males consuming heavy amounts of pornography exhibit higher levels of sexual entitlement. Bouffard (2010) describes sexual entitlement as attitudes fostering male dominance and hostility toward women in sexual encounters. Sexually entitled men use more pornography, buy into rape myths, and are more sexually aggressive. Sexually entitled men objectify women and largely expect submission in sexual encounters (Bouffard, 2010).

Along with negative gender stereotypes, entitlement issues, and objectification, watching pornography also leads to confusion between fantasies and real life for heavy pornographic consumers. The disconnect between what is viewed virtually between what relationships look like in real life leads some heavy porn users to higher levels of sexual violence against women and even children (DeKeseredy, 2016). The following section discusses the disconnect between fantasy expectations and reality.

Fictional Expectation vs. Reality Leads to Sexual Violence

Consumption of sexually explicit materials directly affects sexual behaviors (Hald, Kuyper, Adam, & Wit, 2013). Watching pornography often leads to acts of sexual violence or risky sexual behaviors such as multiple partners and unprotected sex (Van et al., 2017). As was explained previously, the violence in pornography continues to increase, oftentimes leading pornography consumers down a violent sexual path. DeKeseredy (2015) found that pornography consumption was a key risk factor for women who experienced sexual violence and pornography played a role in the violence men exhibited toward women in sexual acts.

Pornography use is a predictor of unwanted sexual advances (Mikorski & Szymanski, 2017). These unwanted sexual advances oftentimes stem from a desire to recreate what was seen on a video or other pornographic medium (Mikorski & Szymanski, 2017). Researchers reported that men pressured sexual partners into imitating what was viewed on pornographic videos. When this took place, the sexual encounters were routinely violent or at least outside of a consensual sexual relationship (DeKeseredy, 2015). The victims of these sexually violent encounters were in casual sexual relationships, dating relationships, marriage relationships and even recently divorced (DeKeseredy & Olsson, 2011).

Furthermore, researchers are finding that higher levels of consumption of pornography create a sort of callousness to sexual violence and nonconsensual sexual practices. This callousness often times leads individuals into not recognizing sexually violent behavior and an unwillingness to intervene when experiencing or witnessing nonconsensual or violent sexual behaviors (Foubert & Bridges, 2017). The following section reviews this desensitized state.

Flipping the Script: An Unwillingness to Recognize and Stop Sexual Violence

Researchers are finding that higher levels of porn consumption over time desensitize individuals to a point where the likelihood of men intervening in sexually violent situations is diminished. This diminished sense of bystander intervention was similar between men and women (Foubert & Bridges, 2017). In addition to being less likely to intervene in nonconsensual situations, men who watch higher amounts of porn are more likely to believe rape myths and have increased levels of behavioral intent to rape and are more likely to believe rape myths (Foubert et al., 2011).

Studies show that regular viewing of pornography changes the sexual script for individuals. A sexual script is a belief system developed from social norms and experiences that help dictate what roles people play in sexual encounters (Gagnon & Simon, 2005). Higher consumption of pornography alters the sexual script oftentimes in detrimental ways. Braithwaite et al. (2015) contend that pornography changes the sexual script leading to riskier sex practices, higher levels of nonconsensual sex acts and lower levels of sexual intimacy.

A major limitation to pornography research is that scholars are hesitant or not able to keep pace with the rapid growth of pornography on the internet. Academic scholars and university leaders have long deemed pornography research as not fitting in the academic setting (Ullen, 2014). However, this hesitancy is beginning to be met with more studies analyzing the effects pornography has on consumers. This is much needed research and as this section highlights, failure to address the issues pornography creates, may have severe and in some cases, life altering consequences.

Pornography and Women

Despite the existence of self-described “feminist” pornographers (Whisnant, 2016), scholarship has yet to bear out that pornography can be more empowering than disempowering to women (Arakawa et al., 2012). In fact, a number of feminist scholars actually argue that pornography is implicitly discriminatory and violent toward women (Romito & Beltramini, 2011). The previously cited study conducted by Bridges et al. (2010) of mainstream pornography in 2005 is informative here. Analyzing 304 scenes, the researchers found that 88.2% of scenes were violent. Within those scenes, 94.4% of aggressive acts were directed toward women, 70.3% of those acts were perpetrated by men, and 95.9% of the time women expressed pleasure or neutrality toward this aggression. Violence toward men was minimal and when it occurred, men were four-times more likely than their female counterparts to show displeasure on screen.

Unfortunately, the common scripts of both mainstream and niche pornography not only portray physical aggression toward women, but they also perpetuate notions of objectification and degradation (Gorman et al., 2010). The larger societal impact of these scripts, as they normalize violent sexual and relational behavior, is still under study, but cases from around the world are beginning to reveal the damaging effects of pornography for women.

Abuse in Intimate Relationships

One of the most significant risks to women in a “pornified” relationship is abuse from a partner (DeKeseredy, 2014). In a qualitative study of 55 women from rural Ohio, DeKeseredy and Hall-Sanchez (2017) uncovered a cohort of women trapped by small-town cultures, economics, and social pressures in dangerous, porn-informed relationships. Many of these women were pressured to watch—or, at the very least, allow their partners to watch—what is colloquially known as “gonzo,” a form of ultra-aggressive pornography. While the study could not verify a causal relationship between this porn use and abuse, all of the women studied shared stories of nonnormative sexual behavior and 80% were victims of at least two types of nonsexual abuse, as well. They reported being stalked, blackmailed, psychologically degraded and manipulated, and having their possessions taken, damaged, or destroyed.

DeKeseredy and Hall-Sanchez (2017) uncovered five themes in their interviews, which they linked with abusive tendencies. Primarily men were (1) learning about sex and sexual “norms” through pornography, (2) seeking to imitate pornography and to compare their partners in terms of body type and sexual proclivity to characters in pornography, (3) introducing other sexual partners in their relationships, (4) filming sexual acts without consent, and (5) adopting the broader culture of pornography in everyday life. These trends, coupled with a strong male peer support system that favored pornography use and sexual subjugation and objectification of women, fed a perilous environment for women in these rural communities.

Emotional and Psychological Damage

Pornography use puts women at risk of psychological and emotional trauma, as well. Wright and Tokunaga (2017) studied a cohort of women who perceived their partners to be pornography users and found that the presence of pornography in a relationship, whether implicit or explicit, impacts a woman’s feelings of self. Prior to their study, Wright and Tokunaga unpacked common arguments for and against pornography use in intimate relationships. They expected that women might be satisfied by their partners’ pornography use based on three factors: (1) pornography could provide “educational” value, leading to more fulfilling sex; (2) pornography could provide a sexual catharsis for men, reducing their inclination toward physical infidelity; and (3) pornography could empower women in their sexual expression.

Existing literature and anecdotal evidence suggested to the researchers, however, that there could be more reasons for women to be dissatisfied than satisfied. Pornography use could be suggestive of virtual infidelity, it could display a lack of relational commitment, damage the sense of a partner’s character, create dissonance between private and public life, cause a partner to feel “like leftovers,” force a partner to vie for sexual attention, create high-pressure contexts to imitate painful sexual acts, damage body image, and erode self-esteem. Consistent with their hypotheses, through an extensive meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative literature, Wright and Tokunaga (2017) found a strong correlation between pornography use and dissatisfaction. Women who perceived their partners to be pornography users were less relationally satisfied, less sexually satisfied, and less satisfied with their bodies. Impact on self-satisfaction was not found to be statistically significant, but it is important to note that no correlation surfaced on any front between pornography use and satisfaction for women. In all cases, just the perception of pornography use led to emotional and psychological damage for women.

A Vicious Cycle of Harm

Studies show that as women are exposed to and victimized by pornography, they are increasingly likely to enter into a cycle of high-risk sexual behavior, nonnormative sexual attitudes, and abuse (Davis, Norris, George, Martell, & Heiman, 2006; Kernsmith & Kernsmither, 2009). Romito and Beltramini (2011), in a study of Italian youth, found that young girls were three times more likely than boys to be pressured into watching pornography by their romantic partners. Once exposed, Kernsmith and Kernsmither (2009) found that pornography use among women is a significant predictor of all forms of sexual aggression except for physical violence and intimidation. Female pornography users were more likely to leverage extortion, bargaining, sweet talk, deceit, obligation, and emotional manipulation for sex. Researchers theorize that in these instances women could be imitating what they see in pornography, which does not often depict women as physically aggressive but does typically depict them as sexually willing and often insatiable.

Unfortunately, the damage of porn consumption goes further than sexual aggressiveness for women. Davis et al. (2006) found that women who consume aggressive pornography, particularly when this behavior is positively reinforced and consumed alongside alcohol, develop calloused attitudes toward female-directed violence and victimization. In their study, a group of sober and intoxicated women were exposed to an eroticized rape depiction in which the victim’s response was left ambiguous. This depiction was intentionally counter to what is often shown in rape myth supportive pornography, in which female victims ultimately “enjoy” being raped. Instead, study participants were asked to assert their own value judgment on the episode. What the researchers discovered was disturbing in considering cycles of abuse fostered by pornography. Intoxicated women were more likely to describe the rape episode as socially acceptable and were more likely to envision themselves as “enjoying” being the victim. Intoxicated women reported more arousal at the depiction and were less likely than their sober counterparts to label the event as “rape.”

Making these outcomes of sexual aggressiveness and acceptance of violent “norms” worse is the fact that these patterns seem to be self-perpetuating. Romito and Beltramini (2011) found that young girls who experienced family psychological violence were 5.8 times more likely to watch pornography. Girls who experienced sexual violence were 4.24 times more likely to watch pornography. A third of these girls reported watching pornography that depicted strong violence toward women and the majority of these girls reported that, in part, they were watching pornography to “learn about sex.” Interestingly, girls with a history of psychological violence were almost twice as likely to watch violent pornography than their peers. Romito and Beltramini (2011) offer two theories as to why this might be. It could be that some women have heightened interest or preoccupation with sex following abuse. This could be particularly salient among young women who were coerced into watching pornography as a “learning” exercise by their abusers. Second, women could be watching violent pornography as a coping strategy. Seeing violent sexual behavior frequently and broadly across pornography could normalize their abusive experiences, numbing the emotional and psychological pain of those episodes.

A movement exists that claims that some pornography can be sexually exciting and liberating for women (Whisnant, 2016), and it is true that not all pornography is as extreme or explicit in its violence as “gonzo” (DeKeseredy & Hall-Sanchez, 2017). However, as Bridges et al. (2010) have illustrated, even mainstream, soft core pornography is overwhelmingly gender-biased and steeped in narratives that normalize aggression toward women. These on-screen narratives can lead to a host of off-screen abuses. From physical and psychological damage in intimate relationships, to predicaments of life satisfaction and identity, to dangerous cycles of sexual aggression and the acceptance of violent sexual myths, women in pornified contexts live in the crosshairs of what many authors have called a public crisis (Romito & Beltramini, 2011).

Adolescents, Pornography, and Sexual Violence

Pornography has shown a substantial impact on the minds and behaviors of adolescents. Due to the developing nature of the adolescent brain, we hold that adolescents are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of pornography consumption. These negative effects are manifested in both sexual and societal attitudes and behaviors. It is especially concerning that adolescent use of pornography is a significant predictor of sexual violence (Ybarra & Thompson, 2018).

Adolescent Access to Pornography

Suggesting that the advent of recent technology has increased young people’s access to sexual content is a significant understatement. Pornography, once requiring physical transmission through production and purchase, can now be accessed limitlessly and freely through a few keystrokes in a Google search bar (Walker, Makin, & Morczek, 2016). Even society’s recent ties to desktop computers have been replaced by mobile phones. Most teenagers can access pornography at will—anytime, anywhere (Owens, Behun, Manning, & Reid, 2012; Stanley et al., 2018). Of course, adolescents do not have to seek sexually charged content; they often encounter it involuntarily through participation in other forms of entertainment. Paul Wright (2011) assembled data from multiple studies to demonstrate that mass media’s sexual content so invades young people’s lives that its effects cannot be easily avoided. Malamuth and Huppin (2005) concur that television is a significant source of adolescents’ exposure to sex-saturated material. Although not all sexual content can be strictly labeled as pornographic, social media, YouTube, and other supposedly filtered environments still enable adolescents to be exposed to far more sexual content than even centerfold magazines of the past could have offered. Furthermore, the pornography industry is a multibillion dollar enterprise that is actively utilizing a variety of new means (such as interactive gaming systems and personal digital assistants) to make pornography accessible to a new, emerging generation of consumers—even if this generation is still underage (Alexy et al., 2009).

Adolescent Usage of Pornography

The wide and increasing availability of pornography ensures that adolescent rates of consuming it will also be high and increasing. According to one study, as many as 91% of adolescents acknowledge having purposefully read, watched, or listened to some form of sexual media; in another study, as many as 70% of teenagers report unintentional exposure to pornography (Malamuth & Huppin, 2005). It is almost certain these percentages are supported strongly by adolescent males, who are known to consume pornography in numbers disproportionate to females (Landripet, 2016). In fact, adolescent consumers of pornography are more likely to be male, older (within the stages of puberty), sensation seekers, and have disturbed family relationships (Peter & Valkenburg, 2016). However, when all types of pornography and forms of contact are combined, half or more of all adolescents can be categorized as having viewed pornography.

Pornography’s Impact on Adolescents

What impact does adolescents’ exposure to pornography have upon them? Do the unique qualities of adolescence produce a unique impact? Adolescence, as a stage of development, involves transitional changes in body, mind, emotions, social interactions, sexuality, and more. That these changes are occurring while exposure to pornography is taking place suggests something different might be happening in the adolescent than what would be happening in those whose maturation is relatively stable (Owens et al., 2012). When considering pornography’s impact on a variety of developing attitudes and behaviors, adolescents’ susceptibility becomes apparent.

Sexual Attitudes

Even though most adults who are exposed to pornography experience some changes in attitudes regarding matters of sexuality, pornography’s impact upon adolescents’ sexual attitudes appears to be even stronger. In adolescents, pornography use is directly associated with permissive sexual attitudes and stronger gender-stereotypical beliefs (Peter & Valkenburg, 2016). Adolescent males who regularly view pornography are more likely to hold negative gender attitudes (Stanley et al., 2018). Youth who consume pornography develop unrealistic ideals about sexuality, including sexual preoccupation, with females experiencing feelings of inferiority and males fearing inability to perform sexually (Owens et al., 2012). Frequent viewing of pornography is associated with adolescents’ plans to have more sexual partners in the future (Alexy et al., 2009).

Sexual Behaviors

Mass media’s sexual content almost certainly impacts adolescents’ sexual behavior (Wright, 2011). Exposure to pornographic content, therefore, would be expected to demonstrate significant impact, which it does. Greater frequency in viewing pornography is associated with higher incidences of “hooking up” with a higher number of “hookup partners”; it is also associated with having had more sexual partners and more single occasion sexual partners (Alexy et al., 2009). Boys who view pornography are more likely to be involved in sexting—sending sexually explicit messages and images (Stanley et al., 2018). Adolescent consumption of violent pornography is linked to increased aggression in sexual relationships (Owens et al., 2012; Landripet, 2016).

Sexual Violence

Adolescents’ use of pornography is directly connected to sexual behaviors extending beyond mutual consent. Boys’ regular viewing of pornography is associated with increased sexual coercion and abuse (Stanley et al., 2018). In young people, ages 10–21, continuing exposure to violent pornography is a strong predictor of five types of sexual violence: sexual harassment, sexual assault, coercive sex, attempted rape, and rape (Ybarra & Thompson, 2018). Alexy et al. (2009) found that sexually reactive adolescents using pornography are more likely to engage in coerced sexual acts, forced sexual acts, sex with animals, and exposing themselves to strangers.

Societal Attitudes and Behaviors

In addition to pornography’s connection to negative outcomes in matters of developing sexuality, pornography has also been linked to negative societal impacts, as well. Owens et al. (2012) found that young people who view pornographic material report that doing so decreases their self-confidence; they manifest higher incidences of depressive symptoms; they also are more inclined to delinquent behaviors. Among children and adolescents who are considered sexually reactive, exposure to pornography makes them more inclined to lying, stealing, truancy, manipulation, and arson (Alexy et al., 2009). Ultimately, adolescents using pornography report diminished life satisfaction (Willoughby, Young-Petersen, & Leonhardt, 2018).

These overwhelming signs of adolescent maladjustment associated with exposure to pornography point to just how damaging pornography can be to the developing mind. Adolescents’ strong and increasing consumption of pornography continues to be a matter of public importance and should remain a matter of public concern.

Children

In this section, we discuss the intersections between children (those under 18), pornography and violence. Obviously, because of their age, children cannot consent to being in pornography. Thus, we classify child pornography as an act of sexual violence. Indeed, the content of child pornography is often overtly violent (McKibbin, Humphreys, & Hamilton, 2017).

Children Viewing Pornography

Many individuals age 10–17 view pornography, including about half in this age range, with more of this population using as they get older. The pornography they see includes behaviors that most parents would not want their kids acting out, for example, unprotected sex, nonrelational and recreational sex exchanges, group sex, and sex with strangers. Other depictions include women as sexual objects subordinate to men as well as male to female aggression. Moreover, nearly 90% of scenes in pornographic movies include aggressive behavior such as choking, gagging, or spanking—almost always toward a woman (Wright, 2014).

What is the impact of watching this pornography? Children exposed to it are less likely to use contraceptives, have more nonrelational and recreational sexual attitudes and behaviors, and have a higher likelihood of engaging in group sex. Exposure to porn also correlates with the perception that women are sex objects and with perpetration of sexually aggressive behavior (Brown & L’Engle, 2009; Wright, 2014).

Children in Pornography

During the last decade, interest in pornography featuring teens (above and below the age of consent) has significantly increased (Walker et al., 2016). Internationally, there is a 70% increase in pictures of girls under 10 and a 25% increase in those over 10 appearing in online pornography (Smith, Thompson, & Davidson, 2014). If one accepts the definition of child sexual abuse proffered by the World Health Organization, defining it essentially as involving children in sexual activity they cannot fully understand, consent to, for which they are not developmentally prepared, or otherwise violates the laws or taboos of society, then the making of child pornography constitutes child sexual abuse (World Health Organization, 2006). About half of the child sexual abuse that is perpetrated today is carried out by children or other people under the age of 21 (McKibbin et al., 2017). When people under 21 who have committed child sexual abuse have been studied, researchers find that this population has difficulty controlling their pornography use and often cite such use as a factor leading to their abuse of other children (McKibbin et al., 2017).

A common producer of child pornography is young people themselves. Among those people under 21 who upload nude or nearly nude sexual images to the internet, one in six images depicts a child 15 or under. Nearly all images are created using webcams and nearly all images feature girls. A majority of the behavior commonly depicted in images made by girls 15 years old and younger included pictures of naked genitalia; nearly half included nonpenetrative sexual activity. Nearly all such images are located on websites that primarily host sexual pictures of young girls. It is noteworthy that most of the images of girls under 15 were taken with a webcam rather than a phone. This suggests that taking the photos may have been coerced by a third party who is either present with them or chatting online (Internet Watch Foundation, Microsoft, 2015).

Adults Who View Child Pornography

When discussing child pornography offenders, there is such diversity in their personality characteristics that an exact profile is difficult to pinpoint. Though some assume that offenders begin with viewing online child porn and escalate to contact offending, researchers have found that some offenders are contact offenders first and then later start downloading child pornography. Thus, a single offender type is difficult to put forth (Henshaw, Ogloff, and Clough, 2017). However, commonalities in several studies do point to limited characteristics where offender types can be roughly distinguished.

Aside from other children, child pornography viewers are almost all men, Caucasian, in their late 30s to mid-40s, employed, and well educated (Henshaw et al. 2017; McKibbin et al., 2017; Wolak, Finkelhor, & Mitchell, 2011). When people in the general, non-incarcerated population, have been questioned about their child pornography usage, they have been found to be more antisocial and sexually deviant than the general population. Some characteristics that are associated with a higher likelihood of viewing child pornography include ever having sex with a male, holding the perception of children as seductive, having friends who have watched child pornography, frequent pornography use, greater than average aggressive tendencies, ever viewing violent pornography, and engaging in sexually coercive behavior (Seto et al., 2014).

Toward an Offender Typology

Three groups of people who exploit children are identifiable by their behavior. They include (a) people who view child pornography, (b) people who both look at child pornography and carry out hands on offenses, and (c) those do not look at child pornography but do commit hands-on offenses. Given the high volume of notifications police departments get of people looking at child pornography, police desire a method to identify men at high risk of a contact offense so that they can prioritize saving children from hands-on offenses. Among men arrested for possession of child pornography, variables that predicted their committing a contact offense include prior police contacts, charges, or convictions concerning noncontact sexual offending, the confiscation of more than two computers during a house search, having victims under 5 years old, and having intrusive or violent content in the material confiscated (Smid, Schepers, Kamphuis, van Linden, & Bartling, 2015). Researchers determined that past victimization of a child is the strongest predictor of future victimization of a child. In addition, people who have sexual contact with children have more cognitive distortions and more emotional identification with children (Babchishin, Hanson, & VanZuylen, 2014).

Although it appears heterogeneity exists among child porn only offenders, there do appear to be key differences between child porn offenders and contact sexual offenders. A distinguishing characteristic between child pornography offenders and hands-on offenders is that child pornography offenders tend to be otherwise high functioning members of society who are prosocial individuals and who can exercise self-control (Clevenger, Navarro, and Jasinski, 2016; Henshaw et al., 2017). Contact sex offenders, when compared to child porn only offenders, have lower socioeconomic status, are older, have less education, have lower occupational standing and are more likely to be mentally ill. A higher portion of child porn only offenders are single than their married contact offender counterparts. Child porn only offenders also have a lower interest in romantic relationships and may also be less skilled than contact offenders in initiating and maintaining intimate relationships (Henshaw et al., 2017).

Interestingly, child pornography only offenders score higher on victim empathy than contact offenders, suggesting that empathy may play a protective role in preventing hands-on offenses. Offenders who use both child pornography and who have contact offenses score higher than any group on pedophilia (Babchishin et al., 2014). Online child pornography offenders are more likely to have deviant sexual interests, yet, the online only offender had lower victim access, and lower antisociality (Babchishin et al., 2014).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that the connection between sexual violence and pornography is strong. While not a one-to-one causal connection, the use of pornography, especially frequent use of violent pornography, is a major risk factor for committing sexual violence. As this chapter comes to a close, it seems fitting to report on a few studies that show signs that the impact of pornography can be inhibited. For example, some level of education about pornography, even briefing or debriefing a study, can lessen some of the harms (Allen, D’Alessio, Emmers, & Gebhardt, 1996; Isaacs & Fisher, 2008; Vandenbosch & Van Oosten, 2018). Furthermore, it seems that intrinsic religiosity—a type of religious commitment where one reads religious texts and frequently attends religious services—also mitigates some of the impact of pornography (Foubert & Rizzo, 2013). Studying these personality and environmental variables are ripe areas for future studies.