Portions of this post were reposted from Collective Shout. Edited for length and content. 4 minute read.
According to a 2012 study, psychologists from Middlesex University and the University of Surrey found that when presented with descriptions of women taken from porn magazines and comments about women made by convicted rapists, most people who took part in the study could not correctly guess who said what.Horvath, M. A. H., Hegarty, P., Tyler, S., & Mansfield, S. (2012). “Lights on at the end of the party”: Are lads’ mags mainstreaming dangerous sexism? British Journal of Psychology, 103(4), 454-471. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02086.xCopy
Even worse, when men involved with the study were asked which quotes they agreed with, they were more likely to agree with the rapist quotes.
The University of Surrey reported on the study (conducted jointly with researchers at Middlesex University), and it was published in the British Journal of Psychology. Researchers gave a group of men and women quotes from British porn magazines, as well as excerpts from interviews with actual convicted rapists initially published in the book The Rapist Files. (Click here if you want to read the quotes. Trigger warning: proceed at your discretion.)
Here’s the kicker: the participants couldn’t reliably identify which statements came from magazines and which from rapists—and what’s more, they rated the magazine quotes as slightly more derogatory than the statements made by men serving time for raping women.
The researchers also showed both sets of quotes to a separate group of men. In the study, the men were more likely to identify with the rapists’ statements than the pornographic magazine excerpts.
The only slightly bright spot in the study: when researchers randomly (and sometimes incorrectly) labeled the quotes as coming from either rapists or magazines, the men were more likely to identify with the ones allegedly drawn from mags. At least they didn’t want to agree with rapists.
“Asking for it” mentality
Still, the results as a whole are pretty disturbing.
Says lead study author Dr. Miranda Horvath, “We were surprised that participants identified more with the rapists’ quotes, and we are concerned that the legitimization strategies that rapists deploy when they talk about women are more familiar to these young men than we had anticipated.”
Her co-author, Dr. Peter Hegarty, adds:
“Many of the rapists quoted in the study talked about coercing women or having sex with them even though they were initially unwilling. However, so did the porn magazines.”
Horvath says, “Rapists try to justify their actions, suggesting that women lead men on, or want sex even when they say no, and there is something wrong when people feel the sort of language used in a lads’ mag could have come from a convicted rapist.”
Many of these stereotypes—such as women saying no when they mean yes or “asking for it” by wearing revealing clothing—have indeed become normalized. It’s sad but not surprising that they appear in a lot of these pornographic magazines.
Defenders of such statements frame them as innocent or even helpful observations. But perhaps the news that they sound just like rapists will make people and magazines rethink their words.
Violence in porn isn’t an exception
This study falls in line with what so many others are saying about porn. It promotes ideals that align with rapist ideals and sells anything but healthy consent practices.
If you’ve ever checked out a mainstream porn site, you know you don’t have to search very thoroughly. Violence and abuse often appear. Video after video shows people being treated roughly, physically assaulted, verbally demeaned, and even raped. This reveals the unsettling reality of porn-induced pleasure. Statistically, these people are often women.
A few years ago, researchers did a study of the most popular porn videos at the time. Their findings? Of the 304 scenes examined, 88% contained physical violence or aggression, and 49% contained verbal aggression. 95% of the victims appeared to respond either neutrally or with pleasure. The vast majority of the victims were women. The message that comes from porn is that women enjoy getting beat up and forced into sexual acts.Bridges, A. J., Wosnitzer, R., Scharrer, E., Sun, C., & Liberman, R. (2010). Aggression and sexual behavior in best-selling pornography videos: a content analysis update. Violence against women, 16(10), 1065–1085. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801210382866Copy
Consider one 2020 study that entailed a large-scale content analysis and coding of a sample of 7,430 pornographic videos taken from the two most popular free porn sites, Pornhub and Xvideos. The study found physical aggression against women present in 44.3% of Pornhub and 33.9% of Xvideos scenes. The study found that physical aggression was substantially more common in online pornographic videos than verbal aggression. Specifically, women were the target of nearly 97% of all physically aggressive acts in the samples from both sites.Fritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Violence in porn isn’t an exception. It’s the goal.
By watching scene after scene of dehumanizing or violent content, it can start to seem normal.Daneback, K., Ševčíková, A., & Ježek, S. (2018). Exposure to online sexual materials in adolescence and desensitization to sexual content. Sexologies, 27(3), e71-e76. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sexol.2018.04.001Copy Ezzell, M. B., Johnson, J. A., Bridges, A. J., & Sun, C. F. (2020). I (dis)like it like that: Gender, pornography, and liking sex. J.Sex Marital Ther., 46(5), 460-473. doi:10.1080/0092623X.2020.1758860Copy In fact, research indicates that porn consumers are more likely to objectify and dehumanize others sexually,Mikorski, R., & Szymanski, D. M. (2017). Masculine norms, peer group, pornography, facebook, and men’s sexual objectification of women. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 18(4), 257-267. doi:10.1037/men0000058Copy Skorska, M.N., Hodson, G., & Hoffarth, M.R. (2018). Experimental effects of degrading versus erotic pornography exposure in men on reactions toward women (objectification, sexism, discrimination). The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 27, 261 - 276.Copy Zhou, Y., Liu, T., Yan, Y., & Paul, B. (2021). Pornography use, two forms of dehumanization, and sexual aggression: Attitudes vs. behaviors. Null, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2021.1923598Copy more likely to express an intent to rape,Foubert, J. D., Brosi, M. W., & Bannon, R. S. (2011). Pornography viewing among fraternity men: Effects on bystander intervention, rape myth acceptance and behavioral intent to commit sexual assault.18(4), 212-231. doi:10.1080/10720162.2011.625552Copy less likely to intervene during a sexual assault,Foubert, J. D., Brosi, M. W., & Bannon, R. S. (2011). Pornography viewing among fraternity men: Effects on bystander intervention, rape myth acceptance and behavioral intent to commit sexual assault. 18(4), 212-231. doi:10.1080/10720162.2011.625552Copy Foubert, J. D., & Bridges, A. J. (2017). What Is the Attraction? Pornography Use Motives in Relation to Bystander Intervention. Journal of Adolescent Research, 32(20), 213–243. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558414547097Copy more likely to victim-blame survivors of sexual assault,Foubert, J. D., Brosi, M. W., & Bannon, R. S. (2011). Pornography viewing among fraternity men: Effects on bystander intervention, rape myth acceptance and behavioral intent to commit sexual assault.18(4), 212-231. doi:10.1080/10720162.2011.625552Copy Foubert, J. D., & Bridges, A. J. (2017). What Is the Attraction? Pornography Use Motives in Relation to Bystander Intervention. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 32(20), 3071–3089. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515596538Copy more likely to support violence against women,Wright, P. J., & Tokunaga, R. S. (2016). Men's Objectifying Media Consumption, Objectification of Women, and Attitudes Supportive of Violence Against Women. Archives of sexual behavior, 45(4), 955–964. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0644-8Copy Seabrook, R. C., Ward, L. M., & Giaccardi, S. (2019). Less than human? media use, objectification of women, and men’s acceptance of sexual aggression. Psychology of Violence, 9(5), 536-545. doi:10.1037/vio0000198Copy more likely to forward sexts without consent,van Oosten, J., & Vandenbosch, L. (2020). Predicting the Willingness to Engage in Non-Consensual Forwarding of Sexts: The Role of Pornography and Instrumental Notions of Sex. Archives of sexual behavior, 49(4), 1121–1132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01580-2Copy and more likely to commit actual acts of sexual violence.Wright, P. J., Tokunaga, R. S., & Kraus, A. (2016). A meta-analysis of pornography consumption and actual acts of sexual aggression in general population studies. Journal of Communication, 66(1), 183-205. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12201Copy Rostad, W. L., Gittins-Stone, D., Huntington, C., Rizzo, C. J., Pearlman, D., & Orchowski, L. (2019). The association between exposure to violent pornography and teen dating violence in grade 10 high school students. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48(7), 2137-2147. doi:10.1007/s10508-019-1435-4Copy Goodson, A., Franklin, C. A., & Bouffard, L. A. (2021). Male peer support and sexual assault: The relation between high-profile, high school sports participation and sexually predatory behaviour. 27(1), 64-80. doi:10.1080/13552600.2020.1733111Copy Mikorski, R., & Szymanski, D. M. (2017). Masculine norms, peer group, pornography, Facebook, and men’s sexual objectification of women. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 18(4), 257-267. doi:10.1037/men0000058Copy
Consider how porn producers don’t aim to show accurate displays of sexual encounters or only consensual ones. It’s created to entertain and manifest fantasies, no matter how violent or violating. For example, consider the top-most searched porn categories on Pornhub that not only heavily featured incest fantasies but also scenarios fantasizing minors in the “teen” category.
To combat gender inequality and sexual exploitation, we must address how porn promotes damaging narratives about women as objects.
It won’t be easy to change the culture that surrounds us, but it is important that we do.
