Fall 2022
“We have been warned against it all our lives by the male world, which values this depth of feeling enough to keep women around in order to exercise it in the service of men,” Audre Lorde said in 1978. Women have long been subjected to sexualization and subordination under patriarchal powers, often deemed as sexual objects whose purpose is for the pleasure of men. Sex has been defined by a male perspective that says male power and aggression are innate in the erotic (Lorde, 1978). The advent of the internet has led to expansion of many industries, notably the pornography industry that capitalizes on “audience’s fascination with seeing women, in particular, not just having sex” but being degraded. Pornography frequently displays spitting, choking, hitting, and name calling directed at women continually during sex, often coupled with a lack of clear consent (Rothman, 2018). In a discussion on pornography with high school teenagers, Maggie Jones found that some male students “assume that girls like it, because the women in porn do” (Jones, 2018). Pornography is laced with dominant ideals on subordination and objectification of women and violence towards women. Media is too often consumed as reality and can set standards for what consumers expect from real life. In this paper, I explored the question: how does pornography impact violence against women?
Pornography and its repercussions have long been debated by feminist scholars and the issue has in many ways polarized the community. However, not until the past two and a half decades, with the rise of the internet and internet pornography, have researchers taken a deeper look into the effects of viewing pornography on consumers. There is little research on how viewing pornography directly impacts sexual violence against women, but there are various studies which examine consumers’ perceived realism of pornography, use of sexual scripts, objectification of women, and rape myth acceptance and sexist attitudes.
As a whole, media provide a basis for and strengthen hegemonic relations through media’s unchecked and uncontrolled power that media consumers are frequently unconscious of. While media have the power to make positive contributions to the public sphere, media also have the power to spread symbolic violence, hate speech, and negative discourses with the intention to abuse (Mengü, 2015, p. 225). Pornography as a genre is not exempt from these characteristics. Pornographic sites routinely display excessive gendered violence, abuse, and degrading labeling towards women, which further enforce hegemonic standards when viewers are not conscious of media’s power and consume content as if it were reality (Mengü, 2015, p. 212).
A viewer’s perceived realism of pornography influences how they consume content and carry information from the content into their lives, which can occur through applications of sexual scripts seen in pornography in the viewer’s life. The 2021 study, “Preliminary Insights from a U.S. Probability Sample on Adolescents’ Pornography Exposure, Media Psychology, and Sexual Aggression,” analyzes perceived realism of pornography in relation to sexual scripts and aggressive behavior. Utilizing data collected by the population-based probability survey, Nation Survey of Porn Use, Relationships, and Sexual Socialization, researchers examined a sample of 94 male and female adolescents and their pornography exposure, psychological factors related to pornography use, and their sexually aggressive behavior (Wright, 2021, pp. 39-41). Findings showed that if pornography is viewed as an authentic template for reality, there is a greater likelihood that sexual scripts present in pornography will be applied in real life (Wright, 2021, p. 44).
Wright, in a 2016 study, offers a meta-analysis of 22 experimental studies and considers how pornography exposure correlates with acts of sexual aggression (Wright, 2016, p. 183). This research weighs many factors including viewer age, violent versus non-violent pornography, pre- versus post-internet studies, physical versus verbal aggression, and viewers predispositions to aggression. When considering sexual scripts, Wright found that repeated pornography exposure desensitized viewers to violent content in pornography thus decreasing their negative reactions. These results of repeated exposure led to normalization of sexual scripts present in pornography and higher chances of script application in real life. Pornography’s displays of gendered power and aggression were found to likely influence adults’ implementation of scripts in reality (Wright, 2016, p. 197).
Wright (2021) and Wright’s (2016) findings each show how viewing pornography can lead to the application of pornographic sexual scripts in reality, a harmful process that can lead to aggression and gendered power structures being played out in real life. Wright’s (2016) analysis, however, takes on the additional consideration of pornography exposure over an extended period of time. Extended exposure to pornography works to normalize sexual scripts, leading viewers to find the behavior acceptable and implement scripts in reality. Wright (2021) comes to a similar conclusion, but rather than extended exposure’s effects causing implementation of scripts it is the viewer’s perceived realism of pornography that leads to implementation of scripts. Since scripts are seen as an authentic template for reality, viewers believe the behavior is acceptable and that sexual scripts can be applied to real life situations (Wright, 2021, p. 44).
In a 2021 dissertation, Sarah Harsey examines how the sexual scripts and objectification of women present in pornography influence male viewers’ sexual aggression. Sexual scripts in pornography set the standard for what sexual behavior should look like. They give information on sexual cues, behavioral sequences, and assign roles to participants (Harsey, 2021, p. 52). This dissertation supports connections between consuming pornography and use of sexual scripts. Use of sexual scripts can predict men’s sexual aggression. Harsey concludes that pornography influences the way men view women and frequently informs them that women like pain, degradation, and objectification. “Pornography assures men that of course she does [like pain, degradation, objectification] and shows men how to give her what she wants. Men who follow this script are at risk of participating in the maltreatment of women” (Harsey, 2021, p. 147). Pornographic media uses sexual scripts that portray certain sexual acts/roles as appropriate, normal, and rewarding in reality. Sexual scripts set guidelines for viewers on what roles must be fulfilled and what behaviors must be carried out during sex. Harsey works to further connect sexual scripts in pornography, male viewer’s aggression, and objectification of women. Her findings show that pornographic sexual scripts show an objectification of women, more frequent viewing of pornography leads to a greater implementation of these sexual scripts in reality, and in turn, greater use of pornographic sex scripts in reality are associated with greater levels of sexual aggression in men (Harsey, 2021, p. 126).
Harsey’s analysis of pornography’s sexual scripts and implementation of sexual scripts in reality includes a deeper look into why pornographic sexual scripts are problematic. This dissertation holds a focus on how sexual scripts in pornography perpetuate the objectification of women through ideas that women enjoy degradation and abuse. Wright (2021) and Wright (2016) examine sexual scripts in relation to other elements of the viewer, how scripts function in in relation to perceived realism of pornography and in relation to extended viewing of pornography. Harsey takes a deeper look into the harmful ideals scripts hold, and how these harmful ideals set the standard for what sex should look like in reality, and how this influences sexual aggression in reality. While Wright (2021) and Wright (2016) analyze mixed gender audiences, Harsey’s research analyzes a male audience and pornography’s impacts on violence towards women, where Wright (2021) and Wright (2016) examine pornography’s impacts on violence towards a general population, not just women. Further research should be done into what sexual scripts in pornography are teaching viewers to think about sex and women, but Harsey’s research provides a strong starting point and additional information on how viewers perceive pornography’s characters.
Audience perceptions of pornographic actors are analyzed in a 2005 study conducted by Jack Glascock using a 39 person, male and female, sample. Utilizing a 7-point Likert scale, findings showed that male characters were viewed as aggressive and female characters were viewed as degraded and submissive. Male participants in this study experienced greater arousal to pornography that degraded female characters than female participants did (Glascock, 2005, p. 43). Findings in this study show the ways women are frequently portrayed in pornography and how they are perceived by audiences; women are subordinate to men and subject to greater sexually aggressive acts than men. The subjugation of women to men for the reason of fulfilling sexual needs and wants of men displays an objectification of women that minimizes their personhood (Harsey, 2021, p. 3).
Together, Harsey and Glascock’s research can show how subordination and objectification of women in pornography put forth a greater issue when viewers are unable to recognize pornographic media’s power and disconnect sexual scripts from sexual scenarios in reality. Harsey and Glascock comparatively find that pornography influences male audience’s perceptions of women to view women as subordinate to the aggressive and dominant male. Glascock’s research provides a more thorough analysis of this point, however, by analyzing both male and female viewers reactions to degrading pornography and finding that it aroused male participants but not female participants. When a viewer is aroused by pornographic material, they are more likely to choose to implement those pornographic sexual scripts into their reality. Thus showing that male viewers are more likely than female viewers to objectify and be aggressive towards women in real life sexual encounters. Additional research that accounts for viewer’s sexual orientation would be helpful in understanding how viewer’s sexual aggression impacts violence against women. Would female viewers who are attracted to women watching pornography that degrades women lead to greater arousal in viewers? Does pornography consumption disproportionately impact male viewers who are attracted to women in comparison to female viewers who are attracted to women?
Sexism and rape myth acceptance are closely related. Individuals with sexist beliefs hold perspectives that objectify women and say women are lesser beings than men and should be submissive and compliant to male counterparts. Accepting rape myths “places blame on the victim by implying they had malicious or nefarious intentions, and excuse the perpetrator by implying they simply misunderstood the situation, and thus, acted innocently” (Borgogna, 2022, pp. 511-512). Together, these perspectives disregard women’s personhood and frame women as incompetent objects in relation to men. “She Asked for It: Hardcore Porn, Sexism, and Rape Myth Acceptance” is a 2022 study that analyzed two research questions, whether hostile sexism would predict rape myth acceptance and how hardcore pornography would “exacerbate the relationship between hostile sexism and rape myths”, in a group of 1,295 heterosexual male and female cisgender participants (Borgogna, 2022, p. 522). Researchers used multi-group structural equation modeling to find that previously held hostile sexism in participants was likely to lead to rape myth acceptance, and hardcore pornography viewing, while not directly leading to acceptance of rape myths, could exacerbate rape myth acceptance in those already holding hostile sexist attitudes (Borgogna, 2022, p. 525). Findings show that acceptance of rape myths leads to an increased chance of perpetrating sexual assault, harassment, and violence (Borgogna, 2022, pp. 511).
Ashley Hedrick’s 2021 meta-analysis of media consumption in relation to rape myth acceptance works to close a gap in a ten year absence in research on rape myth acceptance in relation to pornography consumption. In an analysis of 32 studies, Hedrick found a small correlation between general media consumption and rape myth acceptance and a statistically significant correlation between pornographic media consumption and rape myth acceptance (Hedrick, 2021, p. 645). Hedrick analyzed studies concerning both violent and non-violent pornography. While each show a significant connection between viewing pornography and rape myth acceptance, violent pornography showed a stronger connection between viewing and rape myth acceptance (Hedrick, 2022, p. 651).
Borgogna and Hedrick’s research both find a connection between viewing violent/hardcore pornography and rape myth acceptance. These two studies are unique as they differentiate violent/hardcore pornography from the general pornographic media body, unlike other studies. From each of these studies it is seen how pornography viewing, especially hardcore/violent pornography viewing, perpetuates rape myth acceptance, which in turn can perpetuate acts of sexual assault, harassment, and violence. Both researchers analyze male and female participants, but Borgogna’s analysis of cisgender heterosexual sexual men is more beneficial in answering questions on how pornographic media consumption impacts violence against women.
Sexism and perceived realism of pornography are studied in the 2020 study, “Pornography Use and Sexism Among Heterosexual Men”. This study took an online sample of 323 heterosexual men and measured the frequency of their pornography use, their agreeableness, their perceived realism of pornography, and levels of sexism they displayed (Miller, 2020, p. 110). Findings did not show a correlation between viewing pornography and sexism in participants; however, it was found that “believing pornography to be realistic in its depictions of sexual situations was associated with greater sexism” (Miller, 2020, p.118).
Findings in Miller’s 2020 study correlate with findings in Borgogna’s study showing a connection between heterosexual men’s sexism and pornographic viewing. Each analyze a body of heterosexual participants, although Miller only looks at men, and findings show how sexist beliefs and pornography viewing can influence violence against women. Miller’s study, however, accounts for perceived realism which Borgogna’s study does not. This element of Miller’s study can be useful in understanding implementation of sexism and sexual scripts in connection to Wright’s (2021) study. Again, further research into the impacts of pornography consumption on heterosexual men’s behaviors and beliefs would be beneficial in understanding pornography’s impacts on violence against women.
Attitudes that support violence against women in connection to pornography viewing is analyzed in the 2012 study that was delivered at the 2012 International Communication Association Annual Meeting titled Experimental effects of exposure to pornography: The moderating effect of personality. This study utilizes a randomized experimental design with a representative sample of young adults to examine how personality, previous pornography consumption, and experimental exposure to pornography influence attitudes that support violence against women. The Agreeableness factor of the Five Factor Model was used on a mixed gender sample of 201 participants to measure pornographic exposure’s influence viewers (No Author, 2012, pp. 4-6 ). Findings showed that participants who ranked lower on agreeableness, meaning they were more antisocial, and who had consumed greater levels of pornography in their past were more likely to display attitudes that supported violence against women (No Author, 2012, p. 16). These findings are consistent with prior research that concludes that viewing pornographic media “can increase sexual aggressive outcomes including attitudes” (No Author, 2012, p. 17).
While attitudes supporting violence against women are not the same as sexist attitudes and rape myth acceptance, those who hold attitudes supporting violence against women likely hold sexist attitudes and accept rape myths. The 2012 conference study’s findings correlate to Borgogna and Miller’s findings that pornography viewing can lead to negative beliefs towards women, supporting the conclusion that pornography viewing can lead to acts of sexual aggression and violence towards women. Wright’s (2016) findings that repeated exposure to pornography leads to a desensitization to violent acts towards women in pornography connects with and supports the 2012 conference study’s findings that greater levels of past pornography consumption can lead to attitudes supporting violence against women. Wright (2016) and the conference study both show how pornography can lead to negative perspectives and beliefs towards women, which can lead to violent acts towards women. The conference study is from 2012, and updated research that accounts for pornographic media’s evolution would help provide better understanding on how current pornography influences attitudes supporting violence against women.
This analysis of current scholarship concerning the impacts of pornography on viewers shows that there are negative consequences of viewing pornography that lie within viewer’s perceived realism of pornography, sexual scripts within pornography, objectification of women and sexist attitudes (supporting violence towards women, sexism, and rape myth acceptance). Findings ultimately show that when viewers intake pornography as realistic, there is a greater chance of pornography’s sexual scripts being applied in real life. These scripts contain ideas that objectify women and view them as subordinate to men, which can influence viewer’s attitudes towards women negatively and lead to violent acts towards women in real life. Further research that examines viewer’s pornography consumption in relation to actual acts of violence being carried out against women would be beneficial, but likely difficult to conduct. More research on violent pornography as opposed to general pornography would also be useful in understanding how pornography perpetuates violence towards women, as there are currently only two studies that analyze violent pornography. Media are constantly evolving and gaining power over consumers, and many consumers are unconscious of the influence media have on their everyday lives and actions. It is essential to continue research into the impacts of pornography to educate consumers on the damaging effects of pornographic media consumption on their own lives and to protect women from greater violence that pornography perpetuates.