Decades of studies from respected academic institutions, have demonstrated significant impacts of porn consumption for individuals, relationships, and society. "What’s the Research" aims to shed light on the expanding field of academic resources that showcase porn’s harms in a variety of ways. Below are selected excerpts from published studies on this issue.
Trigger warning: This post contains explicit descriptions of sex acts and abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
The full study can be accessed here.
I (Dis)Like it Like That: Gender, Pornography, and Liking Sex
Authors: Matthew B. Ezzell, Jennifer A. Johnson, Ana J. Bridges, Chyng F. Sun
Published: April 2020
Peer-Reviewed Journal: Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy
Abstract
Rates of pornography consumption in the U.S. are high and increasing. With exploratory aims, this study addresses the questions: What is the association between pornography consumption and liking of sexual behaviors commonly depicted in pornography, and is enjoyment moderated by gender?
Sexual scripts theory suggests that increased pornography consumption is associated with increased engagement in pornographic sex acts, but it does not speak to enjoyment of the acts when engaged. The current study seeks to fill that gap.
Based on data collected from a larger sample of 1,883 heterosexual men and women (predominantly, 86.6%, college or university students) in the U.S., and comparing correlations between pornography consumption (frequency of use) and reported enjoyment of a range of sexual behaviors by gender using Fisher’s z transformations (α value set at <.0025), analysis revealed that pornography consumption, overall, was not significantly correlated with increased enjoyment of the sexual acts that comprise the pornographic sexual script.
However, gender was a significant moderating factor in the enjoyment, specifically, of degrading and/or uncommon acts. Male respondents were significantly more likely to report enjoying these acts than their female counterparts. These findings have possible implications for consumers, educators, and mental health professionals.
Background
With exploratory aims, the current study examined the possible connections between gender, frequency of pornography consumption, and enjoyment of sexual acts frequently portrayed in popular pornography.
Specifically, we investigated whether the use of pornography correlated with people’s reported liking of engagement in various sexual acts (target, aggressor, and degrading and/or uncommon acts). We also examined whether gender moderated the relations between pornography use and reported liking of sexual behavior.
Methods
Based on commonly depicted behaviors found in analyses of popular pornography (see Bridges et al., 2010; Fritz & Paul, 2017; Klaassen & Peter, 2015; Shor, 2019), several questions assessed sexual behavior across aggressor, target, and degrading and/or uncommon classifications.
Prior to conducting analyses, we computed descriptive statistics for all demographic and study variables to ensure we were meeting assumptions of normality. We examined histograms and bivariate scatter plots to further explore normality and examine assumptions of linearity. We compared men’s and women’s self-reported liking of each sexual activity with chi-square analyses and applied a Bonferroni correction (20 comparisons, so a value set at .0025) to reduce Type I errors.
To examine our first study aim, we calculated correlations between pornography consumption and enjoying each behavior separately for men and women. To examine our second study aim, we compared these correlations using Fisher’s z transformations (a value set at < .0025 to control Type I errors).
Results
Descriptively, our findings show that gender was significantly associated with reported liking of specific sexual acts frequently depicted in pornography. Compared to women in our sample, men were significantly more likely to report liking a specific aggressor behavior (spanking a partner lightly) and significantly more likely to report liking four of the six degrading/uncommon behaviors when compared to women in our sample (effect sizes ranged from moderate to relatively strong).
Increased pornography consumption, however, was not associated with increased self-reported liking of pornographic sexual behaviors, overall. The two exceptions that were seen broadly mirror the gendered dynamics of mainstream pornography—greater consumption among men was associated with greater reported liking of a degrading/uncommon behavior (ejaculating on a woman’s face or mouth—a common practice in pornography and the “money shot” in many scenes; see Bridges et al., 2010; Sun, Ezzell, & Kendall, 2017), whereas greater consumption among women was associated with a greater reported liking of a target behavior (being spanked lightly—perhaps not coincidentally, the most common target behavior identified in content analysis of popular pornographic films; see Bridges et al., 2010)…
This raises an important question—if the majority of women do not report liking the degrading and uncommon sexual acts that are frequently depicted in pornography, why do the majority of men in our sample, presumably many of whom are the sexual partners of women who do not enjoy these acts, report enjoyment?…
In the absence of stated or performed dislike, the men may have assumed their female partners were happy, affirming the positive expectation that women enjoy pornographic sexual acts in keeping with the phallocratic narrative of mainstream pornography… In other words, although women’s expectations of pleasure may run up against a disconfirming experience of pain, discomfort, or degradation, men may well be learning to experience the engagement of degrading acts as pleasurable because they are degrading (to women).
The full study can be accessed here.
