In “Switch,” a pornographic scene from the series Rough Sex shot by feminist pornography director Tristan Taormino, actress Sasha Grey tells fellow actor Danny Wylde: “You can slap me if I can slap you” (Smart Ass Productions and Taormino 2009). It is the start of a dialogue about what they both like and do not like that leads to a scene where Grey is spit on, slapped, and choked. It is a scene that demonstrates sexual objectification of Grey, where her body is used as an object for male pleasure. It is also a scene where Grey touches herself for her own pleasure, directs Wylde, and appears to orgasm. The scene has elements of female sexual agency, displaying an empowered woman making her own sexual choices and creating her own pleasure. Thus the scene portrays both sexually objectifying and sexually agentic sexual scripts—the narratives that teach people sexual social norms.

Since the 1980s, pro-versus-anti-pornography debates have been positioned around the concepts of sexual objectification versus sexual agency by debating whether pornography results in the objectification or empowerment of women. Pro-pornography advocates, such as feminist pioneers Candida Royale, Annie Sprinkle, and Betty Dodson, argue that Feminist pornography (or content that is written or produced by women and includes displays of genuine female pleasure and empowerment) can depict and lead to female sexual empowerment (Dodson 2013; Taormino 2013). On the other side of the argument, anti-pornography advocates argue that pornography, especially Mainstream pornography, results in the objectification of women. Mainstream pornography is sexually explicit content created for mass consumption, is easily accessible free content, and is often deemed “for men” (Taormino 2013; Wright 2012).

To date however, no one has completed a comprehensive content analysis of Feminist and Mainstream content to explore and compare the sexual scripts of both sexual objectification and agency. Additionally, within Mainstream pornography, there is the For Women category, which is specifically directed at female consumers. No one has yet explored what the content of this category may look like and if it is indeed different from the general male-focused pornography. In general, more content analysis of pornography is needed; however and more importantly, more content analysis comparing different categories that may contain vastly different sexual scripts is necessary in order to understand what scripts pornography consumers may be learning. Although objectifying scripts of sexual behavior and attitudes may be part of the narrative of pornography, so might a narrative of sexual agency and empowerment. In the present study, we explore these possibilities.

Sexual Scripts in Pornography

Recently there has been growing interest in women watching pornography, along with the possible effect of female consumption (Vega and Pryzgoda 2012). Research has shown a substantial number of women, especially young women, consume pornography. The 2010 General Social Survey reported that 34% of women ages 18–30 watched a pornographic movie in the past year compared to the average of 17% of all women (Wright et al. 2013). Notably, heterosexual women more than men tend to watch pornography with regular sexual partners whereas men tend to watch alone, suggesting that women may find it more socially acceptable to watch pornography with a partner and not for personal sexual reasons (Hald 2006). It is logical then to want to know what possible sexual scripts, or the narratives of socially acceptable behaviors, these female consumers may be acquiring, particularly relating to concepts of sexual objectification and agency.

Bandura’s (1986, 2001) social cognitive theory explains how individuals can learn behaviors and scripts by watching others act and by observing the consequences and rewards of behavior. Bandura (2001) specifically points to the important role of media in this learning process. Recently, Wright (2011) explored sexual scripts within a media effects context, posing the acquisition, activation, and application model (3AM) of sexual socialization. His model explains how, through exposure to media sexual depictions, previously unknown sexual scripts may be acquired, dormant sexual scripts may be activated, and previously obtained sexual scripts may be normalized and applied in behaviors and attitudes. The model allows room for higher-order or abstract scripts that, while not modeling specific behaviors, teach sexual attitudes taken from the content’s underlying sexual beliefs. Wright has explored how these abstract scripts in pornography may impact everything from non-sexual attitudes toward women to attitudes on gay rights (Wright and Funk 2014; Wright and Randall 2014). Specifically related to objectification, Wright et al. (2015) found exposure to more explicit and objectifying pornography led to women accepting an objectifying gaze. Given the importance of learning sexual scripts and the negative implications of objectification, both social cognitive theory and the 3AM justify examining the sexually objectifying and agentic in different categories of pornography to see to what sexual scripts women (and men) may be exposed and if these scripts vary by.

Pornography as Content

Pornography is defined as material created to enhance sexual feelings that contains both explicit exposure of genitalia and explicit sexual acts (Hald 2006). Specifically, our study examines internet pornography, the most popular sources of pornography for young people (Hald et al. 2013a, b). Additionally, within the field of pornography research, the term Mainstream pornography has begun to be used as well to make a distinction between Mainstream and fringe pornography. Mainstream pornography is material that is not only created to arouse audiences but also to make a profit in the mass market and therefore is widely marketed and distributed (Corsianos 2007). Mainstream pornography, therefore, is different from pornography that is also created with artistic or political motivations.

Within Mainstream pornography there are many different categories available to consumers. On Pornhub, the second most popular pornography site according to Similarweb (2014), one of the smaller categories is called “For Women.” According to Pornhub analytics, this category is the fourth most popular category for women; female visitors are almost 200% more likely to view the For Women category than male visitors (Duberman 2014). It is important to note that the For Women category is not mutually exclusive from other categories. For example, a video may be posted in the For Women, Hand Job (a category that primarily includes videos of women manually stimulating men’s penises), and Asian (a category that primarily includes female actress of Asian descent). Additionally, the For Women category is simply a categorization for videos and does not necessarily reflect the intent of the creator of the content. The idea behind the category is that women may desire less aggressive depictions of sexual acts and more focus on female pleasure in pornography (Rumelt 2011). The For Women category is also considered a Mainstream category and therefore may be different, but again not necessarily mutually exclusive, from Feminist pornography.

With the turn of the century, pornography not only has expanded to the internet but also has diversified into a variety of categories as diverse as Alt (pornography that includes actors who are members of subcultures that typically have body modifications such as tattoos and piercings), Amateur (pornography that is depicted as being made by individuals or couples who are not professional porn actors), and Feminist pornography (Paasonen et al. 2007). Some Feminist pornography creators prefer to refer to their work as erotica in order to distinguish it from Mainstream male-focused pornography (see Steinem 1980). We chose to use the term Feminist pornography throughout for consistency in comparison with other types of pornography. In order to differentiate Feminist from Mainstream pornography, the Feminist Porn Awards committee defined Feminist pornography as content satisfying three criteria: (a) women and/or traditionally marginalized people were involved in the direction, production, and/or conception of the work; (b) the work depicts genuine pleasure, agency, and desire for all performers, especially women and traditionally marginalized people; and (c) the work expands the boundaries of sexual representation on film, challenges stereotypes, and presents a vision that sets the content apart from most mainstream pornography. The last of these criteria may include depicting a diversity of desires, types of people, bodies, and sexual practices and/or an anti-racist or anti-oppression framework throughout the production (Taormino et al. 2013).

From this definition it is evident that Feminist pornography is not just For Women pornography. Feminist pornography includes room for queer individuals, as well as women of varying races, body shapes, and sexual orientations. The key distinction in Feminist pornography is the intent of the creation. Mainstream pornography’s primary objective is to create arousal and to be consumed by mass audiences to make money. Although Feminist pornography is also created to elicit sexual arousal and is sold for a profit, the creators also attempt to craft content to show agency and genuine pleasure as well as to challenge traditional gender roles and heteronormative beauty standards. Feminist pornography director Tristan Taormino explains that the definition is intentionally left general enough “as not to be prescriptive, yet it places value on agency and authenticity” (Taormino et al. 2013, p. 12). That is, the definition gives direction for the creation of Feminist pornography but does not restrict action or the potential sexual scripts within the content.

Complicating this conceptualization, within the category of Feminist pornography there are also multiple groups. There are both popular primarily heterosexual Feminist pornography sites as well as popular queer sites. For example, Lust, is a primarily heterosexual Feminist site composed of videos from a variety of Feminist pornography creators. The Feminist video series CrashPad Series (2014) is made by one production company and features lesbian, queer, and gender-nonconforming individuals engaging in sexual behaviors for the camera. Both types of pornography make important contributions to the Feminist pornography movement but with potentially different content.

Conceptualizing Sexual Objectification and Sexual Agency

The concepts of sexual objectification and agency have not typically been utilized together to explore sexual scripts in pornography. Previous research has either explicitly examined the presence of objectification in pornography (Bridges et al. 2010; Sun et al. 2008; Tylka and Van Diest 2014) or attempted to conceptualize and measure objectification as a lack of a depiction of agency (Klaassen and Peter 2014; McKee 2005). It is possible however, and perhaps even likely, that pornography will employ the use of both sexual objectification and agency scripts within its content. Our study attempts to examine both sexual objectification and agency as separate sexual scripts within pornography.

The Body as a Thing: Objectification

As one of the key components of the anti-pornography critique, objectification must be a central component of studying pornographic material. Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) explored the implications of the concept within objectification theory, which associated the sexual objectification of women in society with increases in women’s anxiety, shame, disruptions to cognitive flow, and a decrease in awareness of internal feelings and emotions. Sexual objectification is defined as when “a woman's body, body parts, or sexual functions are separated out from her person, reduced to the status of mere instruments, or regarded as if they were capable of representing her” (Fredrickson & Roberts, p. 175). Sexual objectification can be conceptually broken down into several separate components including indirect and direct. Indirect objectification is conceptualized as the idea of gaze and the body as an object for, particularly, male pleasure (Fredrickson & Roberts). For example, pornography that focuses on the vulva instead of incorporating a woman’s face during sex is associating the vulva as representing the whole sexual self. Male gaze may be suggested when men are shown looking at a woman’s body during strip teases or posing in pornography. A woman’s body being a mere object can be portrayed in pornography by certain sexual acts and behaviors, such as when double penetration of a woman occurs, which suggests a woman’s body is just a series of holes to be entered or when a woman’s face or chest is ejaculated upon, suggesting a woman’s body is simply an object to display the result of male pleasure instead of an embodiment of her own pleasure.

The second component of objectification is direct objectification, including all kinds of sexual aggression. Sexual aggression (direct objectification) is an important component of pornography and one of the chief concerns of anti-pornography feminists (Dines 2010; Dworkin 1989; Jensen 2007; Jensen et al. 1998). Among media researchers there is considerable argument over whether or not aggression should be considered a subpart of objectification or if it is a separate category of its own (Bridges et al. 2010; McKee 2005). Given the framework of objectification theory though, it is logical to include sexual aggression as part of direct objectification. Combining the different components of indirect and direct objectification gives a broader view of sexual objectification in pornography.

Objectification in Content and Its Effect

One of the most researched and debated aspects of pornography has been aggression against women and its effect. In the 1990s, Monk-Turner and Purcell (1999) found that of 40 X and XXX-rated movies, 17% of scenes included sexual aggression, which was defined as hair-pulling, hitting, slapping or kicking. More recently though, Bridges et al. (2010) expanded aggression to include spanking and gagging and found, in an analysis of 50 pornographic DVDs, that aggression occurred in 90% of scenes, with the most common act of aggression being spanking followed by gagging and open-handed slapping. Women were the target of aggression in 94% of all acts. There is less evidence and research into indirect forms of objectification. Bridges et al. found that male actors ejaculated on their female partner’s face in 63% of scenes and 19% of scenes included double penetration. Most recently a study by Klaassen and Peter (2014) looked at objectification in 400 amateur and professional online pornographic videos and found that women were more often treated as objects through focus on sexual body parts, with close-ups of female sexual areas occurring in 61% of scenes and male sexual area focus 19% of the time. Additional research is needed to examine additional forms of sexual objectification in online pornography.

In addition to content analyses of direct and indirect objectification in pornography, many social scientists have looked at how this content may affect young men (Donnerstein 1980; Linz et al. 1984; Malamuth and Donnerstein 1984; Malamuth and Spinner 1980). Scholars have found that there is an association between pornographic video consumption and sexually aggressive attitudes and behaviors, especially for men who have a high risk for such behaviors (Allen et al. 1995; Malamuth et al. 2000; Malamuth et al. 2012). A number of researchers found that pornography exposure was associated with higher rates of hostile sexism, the belief that women are sex objects, and rape myth acceptance in men (Hald et al. 2013a, b; Milburn et al. 2000; Peter and Valkenburg 2007, 2011; Shim and Paul 2014; Wright and Funk 2014).

For women, fewer studies have investigated potential behavior and attitudinal effects; however, some research suggests consuming pornographic images is associated with higher levels of women accepting objectification and the male gaze and that, similarly to men, women who watch pornography also view women as sex objects (Peter and Valkenburg 2007; Wright et al. 2015). Media effects research on pornography thus far suggests that objectifying sexual scripts in pornography could affect sexual attitudes in both men and women. Given the conceptual definition of Feminist pornography to challenge traditional gender roles, it is expected that both queer and heterosexual Feminist content will be less sexually objectifying than Mainstream material will be. Additionally, because For Women content is selected based on being less aggressive, it is also expected to include less female sexual objectification than Mainstream content does. Therefore, we predict Mainstream pornography will include more indicators of female sexual objectification than both Feminist and For Women content will (Hypothesis 1).

Pleasure and Choice: Sexual Agency

Unlike sexual objectification, sexual agency has not been as thoroughly conceptualized or theorized. Recent work though has looked at how media exposure affects sexual self-concept and has focused on developing a model of sexual self-concept (Aubrey 2007; Curtin et al. 2011; Deutsch et al. 2014). This work breaks down sexual self-concept into multiple different components including sexual self-esteem, self efficacy/assertiveness, sexual interest/anxiety, sexual exploration, and sexual arousal. Sexual agency could be understood as a subcomponent of sexual-self concept, mainly pertaining to self-efficacy/assertiveness, or the ability to initiate sexual acts and refuse unwanted acts.

Sexual self-concept studies have also found there is a connection between sexual agency and embodiment. Curtin et al. (2011) conceptualized agency as efficacy and assertiveness, including the ability to ask a partner to use contraceptives and direct a partner to what is sexually pleasing. They found a correlation between sexual agency and sexual embodiment, or the ability for a person to be comfortable with the body during sex. Given Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) theorizing that objectification in society and media leads women to self-objectify, it is conceptually logical that agency would be the ability to stay in the body as a subject, which is referred to as sexual embodiment. An expanded definition of sexual agency building from previous work should incorporate sexual efficacy/assertiveness and sexual embodiment into the construct. Sexual agency is the ability to make individual sexual choices, to vocalize individual desires, and to direct, demonstrate, and experience personal pleasure.

Attempting to measure sexual agency can be challenging because unlike objectification, which has both been explicated and operationalized for decades, sexual agency is often discussed as a subjective individual experience. Some scholars though have used components of sexual agency when examining sexual objectification. For example, when McKee (2005) examined objectification in 100 videos in Australia, he utilized a number of measures that more accurately indicate sexual agency, such as who initiated sex, number of orgasms, who is a named and central character, time spent looking at the camera, and speaking to the camera and to other characters. Using these measures, he found that men had less agency in three measures (i.e., men talked and looked at the camera less and initiated sexual contact less); women less in one (women orgasmed less); and women and men were equal in three (number of named and central characters and time talking to each other). Importantly, although McKee labeled these measures as objectification, they are more accurately regarded as measures of sexual agency. A lack of agency is not the same conceptually as the presence of objectification. Although some scholars have used indicators of agency to demonstrate lack of objectification, conceptually it is more logical to operationalize and then measure the concepts separately. Because Feminist pornography is explicitly created to display agency and female pleasure, it is expected that both heterosexual and queer Feminist pornography will include more indicators of sexual agency than will both For Women and Mainstream content (Hypothesis 2).

Gender Roles in Pornography

Within the concepts of sexual objectification and agency, there are assumed gender differences in media portrayals. For example, objectification theory focuses on objectification of women, assuming women are more objectified than men are. This assumption is based on the theory that patriarchy in society, or men’s perceived superiority over women, will be echoed in pornography (MacKinnon 1989). Given objectification theory and the work of MacKinnon (1983, 1989), we expected that the current study will find differences between portrayals of male and female sexual objectification and agency and that these scripts will vary by category of pornography. Feminist pornography is created to challenge traditional gender roles; therefore we expect that there will be less gender inequality in both indicators of objectification and agency for content in the Feminist category. It is unknown, however, how individual indicators of objectification and agency will be represented in Mainstream and For Women pornography. Therefore we ask the following research questions: (a) How does Feminist content vary in terms of male and female objectification indicators when compared to For Women and Mainstream content? (Research Question 1) and (b) How does Feminist content vary in terms of male and female agency indicators when compared to For Women and Mainstream content? (Research Question 2).

Method

Sampling of Feminist, For Women, and Mainstream Content

Given the lack of availability of free online Feminist pornography, we examined the Feminist Porn Awards list of nominated websites to look for possible online Feminist pornography sources (Good for Her 2014). The site Lust Cinema (2014) was selected because of its popularity and diversity of content from different Feminist pornography directors and because it offered the ability to download 20–30 min chapters from longer videos. A second queer site, CrashPad Series, was selected to diversify the selection. CrashPad features almost 200 episodes of 20–30-min queer pornographic scenes all filmed by director Shine Louise Houston of Pink and White Productions. Given that the chapters from Lust primarily center on heterosexual partners whereas CrashPad features queer partners (including lesbian, gender non-conforming, and trans sexual partners), the two sources were also compared separately in our analysis. Chapters from both sites were downloaded during November 2014.

To create the For Women sample, videos were randomly selected from the For Women category on Pornhub.com (Pornhub 2014) during the November 2014. As one of the most popular free pornography sites according to SimilarWeb, Pornhub is also used because it is the only known popular site to include a visible For Women category (whereas popular sites such as Xnxx.com and Redtube.com do not include this category). Finally, to create the Mainstream sample, videos were randomly selected from the five largest categories in Pornhub (Teen, Big Tits, Brunette, Amateur, and Blonde) during the spring of 2013.

The sampling unit for our study is a video. Videos sometimes contained multiple scenes within the video. A scene was defined as people undertaking a sexual experience in the same place. Coders were instructed not to count introductions or product advertisements as a separate scene. Coders analyzed up to five scenes per video clip. In order to not over-represent specific genres, if more than one scene was coded in a video, one scene was randomly selected for analysis. Therefore, whereas the sampling unit is a video, the unit of analysis and coding unit is a scene.

If more than one scene was coded per video, a scene was randomly selected from the video for analysis. This includes 100 scenes from each genres of content examined: 50 scenes from Lust Cinema and 50 from CrashPad Series to make 100 scenes for the Feminist category, 100 scenes from the For Women category of Pornhub, and 100 scenes from the five previously noted categories of the Mainstream section of Pornhub. In the results, when comparing male and female sexual objectification and agency indicators, only scenes that included a male-bodied and male-gendered participant were included in the analysis. This means for the analysis of Research Questions 1 and 2, which require sexual male participants, the sample numbers by pornography category were 40 scenes in Feminist, 70 scenes in For Women, and 88 scenes in Mainstream. The number dramatically decreases for the Feminist category because none of the scenes from CrashPad included male bodied and male-gendered (cis-male) participants, although these scenes did include both transmen and transwomen. To reiterate, for the research questions, the scenes from the queer Feminist site CrashPad are not included in the analysis, meaning that the comparison of gender differences between categories only included the scenes from Lust.

Sexual Objectification Index

Each scene was coded and then scored using seven measures of sexual objectification. Indicators of objectification include the depictions of the following: extended camera focus on genitals, double penetration, gaping of the anus or vagina, external ejaculation on the body (chest and above), stripping or posing for the camera, and verbal and physical aggression. Aggression was any action appearing to cause physical or psychological harm to another person. Importantly harmful intent of the perpetrator is not a requirement of aggression so that consented acts of aggression (including those in BDSM (bondage, domination, sadism, and masochism category) scenes) were coded as a depiction of an act of aggression. A complete list of all the conceptualizations of the indicators of sexual objectification is included in Table 1. The occurrence of an indicator in a scene was counted as one point. Scores were calculated by adding all possible indicators so that a scene could have a score of 0–7 wherein higher scores indicated greater sexual objectification.

Table 1 Codes for objectification and agency indicators
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Sexual Agency Index

Sexual agency includes the ability to assert sexual choices and enjoy embodied sexual pleasure. Ability to assert sexual choices was coded as initiation, direction of sex, and touching one’s genitals. Initiation of sex included making the first physical touch; direction of sexual action was when one partner instructed another partner on physical acts during a sexual encounter. Touching one’s own genitals was coded as occurring when a person touched their own sexual areas, thereby taking control of their own pleasure. Another important component of sexual agency is embodiment, or the ability to experience sexual pleasure and stay in one’s body during sex. Orgasm was used as an indicator of embodiment and experiencing sexual pleasure, which included both physical and verbal depictions of reaching climax. Orgasms are important indicators of embodiment, which in turn is an important component of sexual agency in addition to assertiveness. Detailed descriptions of all indicators of sexual agency are available in Table 1. Like for sexual objectification, the number of points for each scene was tabulated for the agency score, where a scene could receive 0–4 points and higher scores indicated stronger sexual agency.

Coding and Reliability

Coding was conducted by six trained undergraduate and graduate students. There were five female coders, including the first author, and one male undergraduate coder. Students met for 3 h a week for 5 weeks to learn the coding scheme and practice coding. Coders then applied the tool to 20 non-randomly selected videos during the 2 final weeks of training. Inter-rater reliability was achieved by computing the average percentage agreement on individual variables and on the constructs among the coders. We used simple inter-rater agreement over statistical approaches for accessing reliability because Potter and Levine-Donnerstein (1999) found that, with a high number of coders, agreement by chance was low and that reliability tests like Kalpha penalize one coder’s disagreement when coding bivariate indicators. Other studies using a large number of coders have utilized a similar approach (e.g., Malik and Wojdynski 2014; Zhou and Paul 2016). Average agreement for the sexual objectification construct was 91.53%; 96.79%, for sexual agency. For all agreement levels for each indicator, see Table 1. After training, coders received ten videos a week for individual coding. Each week the team would meet and discuss any questions or concerns about coding. If there was a question, group consensus was reached.

Results

In order to compare differing levels of female sexual objectification and agency between categories, index scores for women from each category were compared using ANOVA. In order to examine statistically significant differences in the presence of the observed individual variables, Pearson’s Chi-squared tests were used to examine descriptive data between categories when a single indicator was examined. The adjusted residuals were examined to see which categories had significantly more or fewer depictions than expected. If a cell had an adjusted residual greater than two, that category had significantly more observations than expected; if the adjusted residual was less than negative two, the category had significantly less observations than expected. When more than 20% of the expected counts in individual cells in a given Chi-squared test were less than 5, Fisher’s exact test was used and reported. In order to examine different representation of men and women among individual indicators of objectification and agency, McNemar tests, which are comparable to Chi-squared tests but are performed on paired data within a scene, were performed to examine paired indicators within categories (Cross Validated 2017).

Sexual Objectification and Pornographic Categories

Our first hypothesis predicted that Mainstream pornography will include more indicators of female sexual objectification than will both Feminist and For Women content. A four-level oneway ANOVA comparing female sexual objectification scores for the four categories of pornography—Feminist (heterosexual and queer), For Women, and Mainstream—showed that the main effect was significant, F(3296) = 6.75, p < .001, ηp2 = .07. A post hoc Tukey test revealed that Mainstream (M = 2.15, SD = 1.32) pornography had significantly higher mean objectification scores than did both Feminist sites involving queer (CrashPad: M = 1.42, SD = 1.30, d = .56) and heterosexual (Lust: M = 1.40, SD = 1.14, d = .61) sexuality. Surprisingly, For Women (M = 2.01, SD = 1.16) pornography also had significantly higher mean objectification scores than did Crashpad (d = .48) and Lust (d = .53) The levels of sexual objectification portrayed in Mainstream and For Women sites did not differ nor did they for the two Feminist sites. This pattern partially supported Hypothesis 1 because, as predicted Feminist, but (surprisingly) not For Women pornography, contained fewer female sexual objectification indicators than Mainstream pornography did.

Looking at Chi-square comparisons among the pornography categories, there were several significant differences among specific sexual objectification indicators (see Table 2a). Driving the difference between the Mainstream category and the other categories was the difference in the occurrence of cumshots in scenes, χ2(3300) = 37.71, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .36. Examining the adjusted residuals, Mainstream had significantly more depictions of cumshots than the other categories did. Additionally, stripping varied significantly between categories, χ2 (3300) = 18.13, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .25, with Mainstream containing significantly more depictions of stripping according to the residuals.

Table 2 Objectification and agency measures in pornography categories
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There are additional statistical differences that lie between For Women and other categories. Gaping depictions are significantly different, χ2(3300) = 17.97, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .25. Additionally the occurrence of genital focus varied significantly by category, χ2(3300) = 33.85, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .34. In both cases, For Women contained significantly more depictions of gaping and genital focus according to the residuals.

Finally looking at aggression, there is a statistical difference between whether or not physical aggression was present in a scene, χ2(3300) = 15.00, p < .01, Cramer’s V = .22, and whether or not verbal aggression is present, p < .01, Fisher’s Exact Test (FET). Examining the residuals, only CrashPad had significantly more depictions of physical aggression. For Women had significantly fewer depictions of physical aggression. There was no statistical difference between occurrences of double penetration (p = .25, FET).

Sexual Agency and Pornographic Categories

Our second hypothesis predicted that Feminist pornography will include more indicators of sexual agency than will For Women and Mainstream pornography. A four-level oneway ANOVA comparing sexual agency scores for the four categories of pornography showed that the main effect was significant, F(3296) = 3.72, p <. 01, ηp2 = .04. A post hoc Tukey test revealed that the queer Feminist pornography (CrashPad: M = 1.82, SD = 1.15) had a significantly higher mean agency score than did each of the other three categories, including the heterosexual Feminist pornography (Lust: M = 1.20, SD = 1.01, d = .57), the For Women pornography (M = 1.27, SD = 1.06, d = .50), and Mainstream (M = 1.31, SD = 1.08, d = .46). The heterosexual Feminist pornography category had statistically similar means to both the For Women and Mainstream pornography. This pattern partially supports Hypothesis 2, which predicted that Feminist pornography would have higher levels of female sexual agency, in that only queer Feminist pornography, but not heterosexual, had higher levels of agency.

Looking at Pearson’s Chi-square comparisons of the specific indicators of sexual agency, one of the differences between the queer Feminist pornography category and the other pornography categories is a significantly higher level of depicting orgasm, χ2(3300) = 39.83, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .36 (see Table 2b). Examining the adjusted residuals, the queer site had significantly more depictions of female orgasm whereas the Mainstream site had significantly fewer depictions. Additionally, another difference was the depiction of women directing partners which varied across categories, χ2(3300) = 20.14, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .26, with more depictions of direction in queer Feminist pornography than in the other three categories. Notably, initiating sex, χ2(3300) = 2.63, p = .45, and female self-touch, χ2(3300) = 5.71, p = .13, did not vary by category.

The Gender Gap in Sexual Objectification

Our first research question explored the varying indicators of sexual objectification between men and women in different categories of pornography (see Table 3a). Only scenes containing male-bodied and gendered participants were included in the following results so the sample size is 40 (Feminist—Lust only), 70 (For Women), and 87 scenes (Mainstream). Examining the individual indicators of objectification, a few differences can be noted. Women always stripped more than did men in all categories: Feminist, McNemar χ2(1,40) = 8.00, p < .01; For Women, McNemar χ2(1,70) = 22.00, p < .001; and Mainstream, McNemar χ2(1,89) = 34.13, p < .001. Women were the target of physical aggression more than were men in Mainstream pornography, McNemar χ2(1, 87) = 33.11, p < .001. However, the rates of physical aggression against men and women were not significantly different in Feminist, McNemar χ2(1, 40) = 2.57, p = .18, or in For Women, McNemar χ2(1, 70) = 5.56, p = .03, scenes. Additionally, there was more focus on women’s genitals in Mainstream, McNemar χ2(1, 87) = 10.29, p < .01, scenes. There is no statistical difference in genital focus in Feminist content, McNemar χ2(1, 40) = 1.80, p = .38, or in For Women content, McNemar χ2(1, 70) = .033, p = .99. There is no difference between occurrences of verbal aggression against men or women: Feminist, McNemar χ2(1,40) = 1.00, p = .99; For Women, McNemar χ2(1,70) = 1.00, p = .99; and Mainstream, McNemar χ2(1,89) = 4.00, p = .13.

Table 3 Objectification and agency indicators for men and women in pornography categories
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The Gender Gap in Agency

Our second research question asked how indicators of sexual agency vary between men and women in different categories (see Table 3b). In all categories, men were depicted as orgasming more often than women were: Feminist, McNemar χ2(1, 40) = 8.05, p < .01; For Women, McNemar χ2(1, 70) = 33.39, p < .001; and Mainstream, McNemar χ2(1, 87) = 32.00, p < .001. The only other indicator of sexual agency that varied significantly was initiation in the Feminist category, where women initiated more than did men, McNemar χ2(1, 40) = 7.14, p < .01. There were no gender differences in portrayals of self touch: Feminist, McNemar χ2(1,40) = .11, p = .99; For Women, McNemar χ2(1,70) = .15, p = .85; and Mainstream, McNemar χ2(1,89) = .13, p = .86. There were also no gender differences in direction of sexual actions: Feminist, McNemar χ2(1,40) = 1.29, p = .45; For Women, McNemar χ2(1,70) = 2.78, p = .18; and Mainstream, McNemar χ2(1,89) = 4.84, p = .04 .

Discussion

As hypothesized, our results suggest there are different sexual scripts of sexual objectification and agency present in pornography aimed at women (including Feminist and For Women content) and Mainstream content. Mainstream and For Women content contain the highest levels of female sexual objectification, and queer Feminist pornography provides the highest levels of female agency. Despite these differences, a gender gap was present and persistent throughout categories, with men being depicted as objectified less than women were across categories. However, in Feminist pornography the sexual agency gap may be smaller, with women initiating sex more than men did. This suggests that Feminist pornography may be giving women different and perhaps better sexual scripts than Mainstream pornography does, with less evidence of sexual objectification and slightly more equal gender roles. However, there are still important gaps in sexual depictions that need to be addressed.

Sexual Objectification in Pornography

Two of the most common acts of sexual objectification that occurred frequently in Mainstream pornography was stripping and external cumshots. The high rate of occurrence of stripping in Mainstream scenes (43%) suggests the striptease, both for the camera and for male partners, is a popular and normalized activity in Mainstream pornography in a way it is not in Feminist pornography. Indeed, cultural critics have suggested stripping has become common place outside pornography and is a noticeable part of the pornification of our society.

Additionally, the external cumshot has become standard in many Mainstream online pornographic videos occurring in 44% of all Mainstream scenes, suggesting this behavior is solidly embedded into the sexual script of Mainstream scenes. Notably, when a scene does include a male orgasm in Mainstream, 83% those scenes include the external cumshot on a woman compared to 49% of scenes in For Women and 36% of Feminist scenes that contain male orgasm. In addition to an objectifying act, these external ejaculations often end the scene suggesting not only that cumshots are expected but that sex ends in male orgasm. This same sexual narrative of cumshots, while present, is not as prevalent in Feminist pornography, possibly giving an alternative sexual script to women who consume pornography.

Contrary to predictions, For Women pornography also had significantly more indicators of objectification than Feminist pornography did, with more depictions of genital focus and gaping. Notably though, in CrashPad, which had the lowest rate of genital focus, almost half of all scenes still included focus on the vulva, which may indicate that having the camera focus on a woman’s genitals is a standard part of the pornographic script across categories. Although not as common as other forms of objectification, gaping occurred more in For Women pornography. Gaping is unique in that it not only objectifies a woman’s body part by zooming in on the stretched out genitals or anus but it also may suggest proof of damage or destruction to a woman’s body in a sexualized way. While many titles that include gaping have words like pound or punishing to suggest that gaping might be the result of aggression against women, in the For Women category the gaping may also have co-occurred with “cream pie” labels in which a man ejaculates inside a woman and the woman spreads her labia to allow the camera to see both the gaping of her vagina cavity as well as the semen. This is a less aggressive form of gaping and is similar to the cumshot in that it suggests sex is over with the evidence of semen and that the semen needs to be displayed on a woman’s body. These indications of sexual objectification in For Women pornography suggest that the category might not actually provide sexual scripts that are significantly different from the scripts in the general Mainstream category. For Women pornography may just be Mainstream pornography.

Physical Aggression

There was some form of physical aggression ranging from spanking to gagging to hitting in 31% of Mainstream scenes. Although the rates of physical aggression against women were not as high as previous research has found, it is still an alarming rate of occurrence. Although all physically aggressive acts may not cause extreme pain or degradation, the fact that aggressive behaviors like spanking and gagging have become routine only as acts against women and not men, suggest that these acts are not “just part of sex” but part of a normalization of the sexual script of dominance and objectification of women. Notably the queer Feminist category also had significantly more acts of aggression against women (54% of scenes). This may be because of the higher rate of BDSM relationships depicted in queer Feminist porn. Fully 18% of queer Feminist porn scenes depicted clear BDSM relationships. In Mainstream pornography only 3% of scenes depicted BDSM relationships. It is important to note that many of the acts of physical aggression in Mainstream pornography often occur outside of a consensual BDSM relationships and that in most scenes, physical aggression is not requested. Physical aggression was lowest in the For Women category, occurring in 24% of scenes, indicating that curators for this category may believe women do not want to see aggression and might be actively trying to find less aggressive pornography for women, although overall the content may not be less objectifying nor less aggressive towards women. Overall it should be noted that physical aggression toward women occurs with relative frequency in all types of pornography.

Gender Gaps in Objectification

As expected, there was a significant difference between indicators of sexual objectification depicted in pornography, with women being depicted as significantly more sexually objectified than men were. Across all categories, women stripped more than men did. Women stripping for a partner, especially as foreplay, is seen only as an activity that women do for the benefit of men with little reciprocation. The focus is often on her body for male pleasure and specifically for male arousal, which is the central focus of pornography, not female arousal or pleasure. Additionally, looking at physical aggression results suggest that women are the normalized target of aggression, although the difference is only significant within the Mainstream category, possibly because the Feminist and For Women sample are underpowered. The most common type of aggression is spanking followed by gagging. This resonates with the ideas that it is normal and sexy to spank a woman, but not a man, and that it is a normal for a woman, but not a man, to have a penis forced down her throat during fellatio resulting in gagging. It should be noted that these results do not suggest anything about the pleasure of being spanked or gagged, or the female empowerment to ask for these acts; these results simply demonstrate the sexual script provided by pornography consistently defines the woman as target of often male aggression in a systematic way that may influence sexual learning and behavior.

Beyond the comparison of men and women, there were still more ways that women could be objectified in pornography that men cannot or are not. Acts like double penetration, gaping, and external cumshots are ways in which pornography visually represents the objectification of women and to which there are no male equivalents. Simply put, in pornography there are more ways to make women sex objects than there are for men. This finding is in line with objectification theory’s assumption that women are the gender more likely to be objectified in society and media. Even in pornography aimed at women, there are still persistent and problematic gender divides and displays of women’s bodies as objects. Mainstream pornography, however, does systematically objectify women more than men, as well as more than other categories of pornography.

Sexual Agency

When measured as a separate concept, sexual agency varies between the categories differently than sexual objectification for women, suggesting that it is indeed a separate and important construct to examine in the sexual scripts of pornography. Against predictions, only queer Feminist pornography depicted a total higher level of female sexual agency when accounting for all four indicators, whereas heterosexual Feminist porn did not. Queer Feminist pornography has more depictions of women directing action and more pleasure as indicated with female orgasm than other categories. Although orgasm is not definitive or all-encompassing evidence of pleasure, it can be an important component of sexual pleasure. It may also be that within heterosexual Feminist pornography, there are still strong gendered sexual scripts about whose pleasure is prioritized whereas queer pornography may be able to break free from these normalized gender roles, allowing for more female pleasure and perhaps sexual agency.

Gender Gap in Agency

The agency gender gap between men and women also appears to be primarily driven by orgasm. Men displayed orgasm more than did women in every category. Although orgasm is by no means the absolute or definitive definition of agency or even pleasure, it can be an empowering and pleasurable experience. If women see that orgasm is possible during sexual activity and that it is something desired and normal, they may begin to incorporate that specific sexual script into their lives. Currently, however, most content does not give women depictions of female orgasm.

With regard to level of initiation, only Feminist pornography showed women initiating more than men did. This may be because many Feminist scenes were more complete than were scenes from Pornhub.com and included an introduction, dialogue, sexual behavior, and conclusion. Scenes from Pornhub.com are often edited so that sexual behavior has already started when the scene starts so that it is not clear who initiated the sex. Also one way of depicting female agency as expressed in the conceptualization of Feminist pornography may to have women “take charge” and initiate the sexual experience. This may give viewers of Feminist pornography a different, and possibly more agentic, sexual script than Mainstream viewers get.

Limitations and Future Research Direction

Although our study is thorough and novel, there are a few challenges. The first concern lies with the sample size. Although the sample size of 300 videos is in line with previous research, it may not be a large enough sample to capture the breadth of Feminist pornography, especially considering that all the videos were taken from two websites. Also when examining gender differences, the sample size dropped considerably in all categories potentially under-powering our study. Future studies could use larger and more diverse samples. Also, the assumption was made that if a website was nominated for a Feminist Porn Award it must have met the Feminist pornography criteria. Not every video sampled was screened to make sure it fit with the three-pronged definitions of Feminist pornography however. Additionally, results suggest that within Feminist content there may be many different subcategories beyond queer and heterosexual such as BDSM. Future research could examine some of the nuances between different subcategories of Feminist pornography.

When looking at the indicators of sexual objectification and agency, a more nuanced or qualitative measure might be useful. For example, there is no difference in men and women directing sexual behavior within categories, suggesting neither men nor women are completely orchestrating the sexual experience. However, because of lack of depth on what kind of directions were given, these data are unable to provide us with a greater picture of what type of direction is or is not happening. For example, we do not know if the direction was all confirmatory (e.g., “keep doing that”) or possibly re-directing (e.g., “touch me here”). Future research should further attempt to conceptualize sexual agency both within the context of the scene and individuals.

There is also a limitation with how much a content analysis can examine the complex concepts of sexual objectification and sexual agency. Certainly our study only examines the text and what the content appears to display, but not the actual experiences of the actors and actresses. Our study does not attempt to make any assumptions or make any claims about the reality of the experience of pornographic performers. Future work could investigate the production experience and the objectifying or agentic experience of the actors. Future work could focus on how women respond to physical aggression and how they incorporate these sexual scripts into their own sexual behaviors.

Finally, there is the issue of taking the text out of context and out of the lived experience. Content analyses by nature isolate text in order to analyze it based on strict and rigid codes. The actual experience of women watching Feminist, For Women or Mainstream pornography may not fit into these rigid codes. For example, a woman may find that she needs to perform an orgasm for her male partner, thus not making her orgasm an indicator of agency but of objectification as a sexual performer. Or a woman may find stripping to be incredibly arousing for herself and thus sexually agentic. Future work should investigate how female viewers of pornography are interpreting and experiencing the sexual scripts in pornography.

Practice Implications

The present findings suggest that the category of pornography a woman chooses to watch may influence what sexual scripts she acquires about her own sexual objectification and agency. For example, a woman mainly watching Mainstream and For Women pornography may be introduced to more displays of female sexual objectification, such as stripping and cumshots, while seeing less examples of female orgasm. In another scenario, a woman introduced to queer Feminist pornography may see more examples of female pleasure or a woman watching heterosexual Feminist pornography may see less instances of the normalization of physical aggression in pornography. As more and more women are exposed to pornography, these findings suggest whether or not a woman watches porn may be less important than what type of pornography she experiences. This awareness means that it might be beneficial to make more gender-balanced Feminist pornography more widely available and known to women. Currently much of Feminist pornography is still on the fringe, with Feminist producers and actors not widely known. In order to expose women to agentic and balanced sexual scripts, Feminist pornography may need to be introduced to women more broadly.

Sexual scripts in pornography matter because they are part of the complex sexual socialization process for women. As social cognitive theory (Bandura 1986, 2001) suggests, people learn through media especially when other scripts are not available. Without balanced sexual education either from school, family or community, many young people may rely on pornography for their sexual scripts, meaning these findings may be central to the sexual socialization of young people. Schools and communities need to start not only having more well-rounded conversations about sexuality with adolescents and young adults, but also acknowledging the role of pornography in people’s lives. For many young people, pornography has been their main source of sexual education. This point suggests that now communities and educators need not only to educate young people about healthy sexual behaviors but also to re-educate young people by highlighting the illusions of pornography and giving students other, and possibly, healthier and more agentic sexual scripts.

Social cognitive theory also points to the importance of reward in the acquisition of scripts so that those scripts that are rewarded are more likely to be learned. Although not specifically examined in our study, pornography often represents behavioral reward through sexual pleasure depicted in the content and in real life when pornography is used as a masturbatory aid, thus reinforcing the sexual scripts in pornography. Furthermore, pornography rarely depicts any “punishing” or negative aspects such as STI contraction, pregnancy, or even a partner saying no or stop. The constant reward and lack of negative repercussions suggests pornography viewers may be acquiring unrealistic sexual scripts and may have high motivation to acquire these scripts through sexual pleasure. Thus it is also a challenge for sexuality educators to help pornography viewers balance their sexual scripts not just by informing people of the negative implications of pornography but also by educating viewers about sexual agency, communication, and respect.

Conclusion

When porn actor Danny Wylde interviewed feminist porn director Tristan Taormino, they discussed the rough sex scene Wylde performed with Sasha Grey, the one which opened our paper. It was a scene that included plenty of slapping and spitting, along with a fair amount of direction and pleasure. Taormino explained that the scene was one of her favorites because of the clear chemistry between the two actors and because they both wanted to be there (Wylde 2011). Although it may be difficult to quantify a person’s feelings of agency during a pornographic scene, there is some manifest evidence of it in the content; there is something different and tangible about how Sasha Grey performs in “Switched” than in many other Mainstream scenes. Categories and content matter.

Within typical Mainstream pornography, women may learn the sexual script of self-objectification, which may lead to anxiety, body dissatisfaction, and a lack of sexual enjoyment. Additionally, heterosexual pornography is not providing women with scripts of sexual agency and empowerment. Of course though, men may also be learning to be dominant and disregard the agency of their sexual partners. Overall, this dynamic creates a less enjoyable sexual experience for both parties. Therefore, it is important that sexuality educators, therapists, parents, peers, and other mentors help both men and women learn the importance of sexual communication and agency to create healthy sexual scripts that are not currently a part of Mainstream pornography.