This guest piece was written by Rus Funk, an anti-racism and gender justice advocate, and Walter DeKeseredy, Ph.D., an expert on the topic of violence against women.
Trigger warning: This article contains descriptions of abusive actions that may be triggering. Reader discretion is advised.
The Role of Adult Pornography in Intimate Partner Sexual Violence Perpetrators’ Offending
By Walter DeKeseredy, Ph.D., and Rus Ervin Funk, MSW, CSE
How is adult pornography worsening the existing issue of intimate partner violence?
This article is one of a rapidly growing number of scholarly articles, book chapters, and monographs that treat adult pornography and its negative effects as both major social problems and subjects worthy of in-depth scholarly inquiry.
The main objective of our contribution is twofold:
(1) to briefly review the research on the association between pornography and intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV)
(2) to recommend some strategies that educators and advocates can use to help reduce men’s consumption of porn and the myriad of harms caused by such media
The prevalence of violence in porn
To review porn’s effects on consumers and its role in fueling IPSV, let’s first talk about what porn actually shows to consumers.
Women and men are represented in many different ways in porn. Still, two things all pornographic images of and writings about them have in common is that females are characterized as subordinate to males, and their primary role is the provision of sex to men.
Mainstream, accessible porn has significantly changed over the past few decades due to the internet. Much, if not most, of it today is “gonzo—that genre which is all over the Internet and is today one of the biggest money-makers for the industry—which depicts hard-core, body-punishing sex in which women are demeaned and debased.”Dines, G. (2010). Pornland: How porn has hijacked our sexuality. Boston: Beacon Press., p. xiCopy
Even by the lowest estimate, that still means that more than 1 in every 3 porn videos depicts sexual violence or aggression.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. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy In fact, according to a study that analyzed porn titles alone, 1 out of every 8 titles suggested to first-time users on porn sites described acts of sexual violence.Vera-Gray, F., McGlynn, C., Kureshi, I., & Butterby, K. (2021). Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography. The British Journal of Criminology, azab035. doi:10.1093/bjc/azab035Copy
A common feature of contemporary porn videos is painful anal penetration as well as brutal gang rape and men slapping or choking women or pulling their hair. At the same time, they penetrate them orally, vaginally, and anally.DeKeseredy, W. S. (2015a). Patriarchy.com: Adult Internet pornography and the abuse of women. In C .M. Renzetti & R. Kennedy Bergen (Eds.), Understanding diversity: Celebrating difference, challenging inequality (pp. 186-199). Boston: Pearson.Copy
Such images are common in today’s adult internet porn, but violent sexual images are available elsewhere. For instance, one studyBridges, A. J., Wosnitzer, R., Scharrer, E., Sun, C., & Liberman, R. (2010). Aggression and sexual behavior in best-selling pornography videos: A content analysis. Violence Against Women, 16, 1065-1085.Copy examined 304 scenes in 50 of the then most popular pornographic DVDs and found that nearly 90% contained physical aggression (mainly spanking, gagging, and slapping). Roughly 50% included verbal aggression, primarily name-calling. Males constituted most of the perpetrators, and the targets of their physical and verbal aggression were “overwhelmingly female.”
Moreover, female targets often appeared to show pleasure or responded neutrally to male aggression. To make matters worse, as the porn industry grows and attracts an ever-growing consumer base, it is generating even more violent materials featuring demeaning and dehumanizing behaviors never before seen.DeKeseredy, W. S., & Corsianos, M. (2016). Violence against women in pornography. London: Routledge.Copy
But who is watching this violent porn?
While porn is often called “adult material,” many of its consumers are well under the legal age.Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2016). Adolescents and pornography: A review of 20 years of research.53(4-5), 509-531. doi:10.1080/00224499.2016.1143441Copy Studies show that most young people are exposed to porn by age 13,British Board of Film Classification. (2020). Young people, pornography & age-verification. BBFC. Retrieved from https://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-classification/researchCopy . According to a nationally representative survey of U.S. teens, 84.4% of 14 to 18-year-old males and 57% of 14 to 18-year-old females have viewed pornography.Wright, P. J., Paul, B., & Herbenick, D. (2021). Preliminary insights from a U.S. probability sample on adolescents’ pornography exposure, media psychology, and sexual aggression. J.Health Commun., 1-8. doi:10.1080/10810730.2021.1887980Copy
That means that most young people are getting at least some of their education about sex from porn, whether they mean to or not. In fact, one study shows that approximately 45% of teens who consumed porn did so in part to learn about sex.British Board of Film Classification. (2020). Young people, pornography & age-verification. BBFC. Retrieved from https://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-classification/researchCopy Similarly, survey results also show one in four 18 to 24-year-olds (24.5%) listed pornography as the most helpful source to learn how to have sex.Rothman, E. F., Beckmeyer, J. J., Herbenick, D., Fu, T. C., Dodge, B., & Fortenberry, J. D. (2021). The Prevalence of Using Pornography for Information About How to Have Sex: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey of U.S. Adolescents and Young Adults. Archives of sexual behavior, 50(2), 629–646. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01877-7Copy
These are not innocent users who accidentally come across sexually explicit images, voices, and texts. Nor are they constantly bombarded with such material. Rather, they make a conscious effort to consume and distribute porn, and many consumers use it to inform their sexual attitudes and behaviors, some of which involve sexually assaulting current or former female partners.DeKeseredy, W. S., & Schwartz, M. D. (2013). Male peer support and violence against women: The history and verification of a theory. Boston: Northeastern University Press.Copy
Research also consistently demonstrates that porn consumption is a significant predictor of sexual aggression.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 Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2016). Adolescents and pornography: A review of 20 years of research.53(4-5), 509-531. doi:10.1080/00224499.2016.1143441Copy Wright, P. J., Paul, B., & Herbenick, D. (2021). Preliminary Insights from a U.S. Probability Sample on Adolescents' Pornography Exposure, Media Psychology, and Sexual Aggression. Journal of health communication, 1–8. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2021.1887980Copy 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 Studies also suggest that increased pornography consumption is associated with the enjoyment of degrading, uncommon, or aggressive sexual behaviors.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
Another study indicated that teens often reported trying to copy porn in their own sexual encounters and that the pressure to imitate porn was often an aspect of unhealthy relationships.Rothman, E. F., Kaczmarsky, C., Burke, N., Jansen, E., & Baughman, A. (2015). 'Without Porn … I Wouldn't Know Half the Things I Know Now: A Qualitative Study of Pornography Use Among a Sample of Urban, Low-Income, Black and Hispanic Youth. Journal of sex research, 52(7), 736–746. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2014.960908Copy And according to a UK survey of over 22,000 adult women, 16% reported having been forced or coerced to perform sex acts the other person had seen in porn.Taylor, J., & Shrive, J. (2021). ‘I thought it was just a part of life’: Understanding the scale of violence committed against women in the UK since birth. VictimFocus. Retrieved from https://irp.cdn-website.com/f9ec73a4/files/uploaded/Key-Facts-Document-VAWG-VictimFocus-2021a.pdfCopy
By watching scene after scene of dehumanizing or violent content, it can start to seem normal for porn consumers of all ages.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
Men’s perpetration of intimate partner sexual violence most often occurs in the context of domestic violence more broadly. That context is one in which an abusive partner uses a variety of strategies (often but not always including physical violence) to assert power and control in the relationship. Sexual violence in this context takes a variety of forms: criticizing her physical appearance or sexual “performance,” demanding sex after a physical attack, openly bragging about other sexual encounters, demanding that they watch pornography and then do what is being depicted in the scenes, etc.
Men’s pornography viewing plays a role in all of this. Pornography often depicts scenes that reinforce these behaviors and depicts women who are being subjected to these behaviors as enjoying and “getting off” to what violence is being done to them 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. doi:10.1177/1077801210382866Copy and reinforces the attitudes and beliefs underlying these behaviors.
Further, pornography never depicts the kinds of behaviors that are associated with a respectful, equitable relationship: listening to one partner, actively practicing consent, communicating and negotiating sexual interactions that are for the purpose of both partner’s safe and healthy enjoyment/pleasure.
Real stories from domestic violence survivors
Here are a few real stories of how porn can be used in domestic violence situations and weaponized against partners.
Using face-to-face interviews with 55 rural southeast Ohio women who were sexually abused during the period while they wanted to or were trying to end a relationship with a husband or live-in partner or where such a relationship had already ended, researchers uncovered that 34 of their interviewees experienced porn-related sexual abuse.DeKeseredy, W. S., & Hall-Sanchez, A. (in press). Adult pornography and violence against women in the heartland: Results from a rural southeast Ohio study. Violence Against WomenCopy
They also identify five significant themes related to men’s porn consumption and their use of IPSV:
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learning about sex through pornography
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imitation and comparison
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introducing other sexual partners
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filming sexual acts without consent
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and the broader culture of pornography (e.g., sex work and fetishes)
A survivor named Candace highlights the first theme experienced by three women in the research study:
“I met a guy one time out West that I had a sexual experience with that was extremely rough, and afterward, he had told me that no one had ever talked to him about sex. He learned from pornography… Someone is learning from porno as an educational thing?”
Some studies, most of them conducted from the early 1980s to the late 1990s,DeKeseredy, W. S., & Corsianos, M. (2016). Violence against women in pornography. London: Routledge.Copy show that many women have been harmed or upset by their partners’ requests or demands to imitate pornographic scenarios, underscoring DeKeseredy and Hall-Sanchez’s second theme: comparison and imitation.
Consider Alison’s experience. Her ex-partner viewed violent porn, and she describes the familiar language and demeaning behaviors often feature in gonzo videos:
“I remember him making me give him oral sex and holding me by the hair, and I don’t remember if it was after a fight or what. He’s done that I don’t know how many times. He used to urinate on me and then want sex, I mean, after getting hit and stuff…. He would talk the whole time he was doing that and saying things like uh, ‘you’re my b—’ or ‘you like it b— don’t you.’ And stuff like that. Um, ‘This is my a—, you know I’ll kill for my a—.’ Stuff like that, and it would be just as violent as the beating, and basically, you just lay there and let it happen.”
But there are other ways that porn can be used to perpetuate IPSV.
Cara is another survivor and one of 4 women in the research sample who was unknowingly videotaped during consensual and nonconsensual sex. Her ex-partner used alcohol to try to “loosen” her up and to make her try new sexual positions. This incident prompted her to leave him:
“When I woke up, there was like a light on me. He works at the TV station here… Anyways, um, he was videotaping it…and that was it; I said, this has got to end. And he still carries the videotape around to this day. I have yet to view it.”
Denise’s ex-husband uses a videotape of a sexual assault to maintain control over her, even after their separation:
“He ended up tying me up and blindfolding me and then, without my knowledge, videotaped it. And then, after we had split up for good, he left the tape on [my partner]’s car at my house and a letter saying that it was spread all over town. I contacted the police department, and they wanted to watch the tape, but I wouldn’t give it to them. Then, the officer who responded to it called his wife and told her that because this town is a small community, everybody knows everybody, and I used to work there. He called and told her, and she went and told my best friend because they are neighbors.”
Turning to the last theme, the overall culture of pornography, DeKeseredy and Hall Sanchez uncovered various nuanced reports from five interviewees about how the broader pornographic culture affects women’s lives.
Billie’s ex-partner, for example, “wasn’t really into porn” that she knew of. Still, throughout the course of her interview, she strived to make sense of his fetishes that ultimately played a major role in her sexually abusive experiences:
“He had a few particular fetishes. And uh, you know, at first I thought it was okay, but then it became really uncomfortable, but he wasn’t, you know, wasn’t willing to change that. And I guess maybe a part of me still loved him and maybe wanted to, you know, please him, but it was just, you know, perverse to me. It was like it went against the grain of everything I ever held. However, I looked at sex and how it was supposed to be in a relationship. Um, so, but like I said, I was a completely different person. He totally changed me. It was all an emotional, physical…thing. It was all twisted up, so it is really hard to explain… And, also, like, and he was kind of like a masochist type… He became the sadist.”
How can we address and prevent domestic violence fueled by porn?
Given the extent to which porn is used by male IPSV offenders, it seems a minimal recommendation that all IPSV practitioners screen perpetrators for pornography consumption.
However, doing what is minimalist is not enough, and a much more thorough approach is necessary.
An integral part of this should first include the complete prohibition of pornography consumption for perpetrators while in intervention. The Association of Treatment for Sex Abusers (ATSA) establishes this as a standard for treatment programs with adolescent and adult sex abusers.
It is an appropriate baseline because IPSV perpetrators receive treatment or intervention in varied contests. Practitioners working with female survivors of other types of intimate violence should, as part of their screening process, also universally explore patterns of pornography use.
Perpetrators in treatment must explore the link between their porn use, sexist attitudes, and sexually abusive behaviors for effective intervention. The continuum of harm exercise is one effective way of achieving this goal.Funk, R. E. (2014). What's wrong with this picture?: Examining the harms of viewing pornography and the links to men's perpetration of gender based violence. Louisville, KY: MensWork. Copy
It’s vital to work broadly because male porn use is normalized in our society. We must address this reality.
Consider that the average age at which males start consuming Internet porn is 11.DeKeseredy, W. S., & Corsianos, M. (2016). Violence against women in pornography. London: Routledge.Copy Dines, G. (2010). Pornland: How porn has hijacked our sexuality. Boston: Beacon Press., p. xiCopy As such, that men who perpetrate IPSV and also use porn should not be seen solely as a property of the individual. Rather, porn consumption should be viewed as a social problem requiring social strategies to curb it.
Educating men about porn harms and fostering social change are crucial. Done together, they enhance individual-level intervention for male IPSV offenders.
Where do we go from here?
Pornography poisons our society on many levels, including contributing to IPSV.
This multi-faceted issue requires a multidimensional approach. No single method suffices. Confronting pornography is ongoing. The industry and collaborators resist attempts to eliminate degrading, violent, and racist content.
As Jensen puts it, those who want to end the pornification of our society “have a lot of work to do.”Jensen, R. (2007). Getting off: Pornography and the end of masculinity, p. 184. Cambridge, MA: South End Press. Copy
What we and many others believe are effective means of doing so are suggested in this chapter, but there are, of course, many more initiatives that others could propose and have been.DeKeseredy, W. S., & Corsianos, M. (2016). Violence against women in pornography. London: Routledge.Copy
The ultimate goal is for everyone to engage in community efforts to combat both pornography and IPSV.
About the Authors
Rus Ervin Funk, MSW, CSE, is a consultant and activist based in Louisville, Ky. He is a co-founder of the North American MenEngage Network, secretary of the National Center, and co-founder and current coordinator on Domestic and Sexual Violence of the Kentucky Unitarian Universalist Justice Action Network. Rus has created a program called What’s Wrong with this Picture? that helps men identify some of the values and norms inherent in pornography that are toxic and harmful to their relationships and perceptions of women. To order a copy of the curriculum, go to rusfunk.me/shop. A version of the workbook is being developed to use with adolescent men. For more information, go to rusfunk.me/WWWTP.
Listen to our podcast episode with Rus here:
Dr. Walter S. DeKeseredy is Anna Deane Carlson Endowed Chair of Social Sciences, Director of the Research Center on Violence, and Professor of Sociology at West Virginia University. He is an award-winning scholar, and he is internationally recognized for his research on various types of violence against women.
Listen to our podcast episode with Dr. DeKeseredy here:
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