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United States Women and Pornography Through Four Decades: Exposure, Attitudes, Behaviors, Individual Differences

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Abstract

Responding to a call for research on pornography and women’s sexuality made by Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner, and Irizarry (2010), this study assessed pornography consumption, predictors, and correlates using nationally representative data gathered from U.S. women between 1973 and 2010 (N = 18,225). Women who were younger, less religious, and non-White were more likely to consume pornography. Women who consumed pornography had more positive attitudes toward extramarital sex, adult premarital sex, and teenage sex. Women who consumed pornography also had more sexual partners in the prior year, prior 5 years, and were more likely to have engaged in extramarital sex and paid sex. Consistent with Wright’s (2011a) acquisition, activation, application model of mass media sexual socialization and the theorizing of Linz and Malamuth (1993), liberal–conservative ideology moderated the association between pornography exposure and sexual behavior. Specifically, the positive association between pornography exposure and women’s recent sexual behavior was strongest for the most liberal women and weakest for the most conservative women. Cultural commentators and some academics argue that technological advances have resulted in a steady increase in the percentage of individuals who consume pornography. Little support was found for this assertion among U.S. women.

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Notes

  1. The word “pornography” is often seen as pejorative. This study associates no derogatory connotation with the term, using it only as shorthand for mediated content depicting nudity and explicit sexual acts (Wright, Malamuth, & Donnerstein, 2012).

  2. Conservatives admit that they are attracted to and at times indulge in pornography (Arterburn & Stoeker, 2009; Ferree, 2001). An answer to the question of why conservatives view pornography when doing so defies their moral values is beyond the scope of this study. It is likely, however, that (1) conservatives access pornography for the same reasons as non-conservatives: sexual arousal, masturbation, curiosity, stress relief, etc. (Paul & Shim, 2008) and (2) rationalizing behavior dissonant with conservative moral values is easier for “unreal” pornography consumption than “real” sexual behavior with another person.

  3. An alternative interpretation of these data is that the percentage of all women who consume pornography has stayed relatively constant while the percentage of young women who consume pornography has been subject to more dramatic oscillations.

  4. Another possible future research direction is “aggregate analysis” (Kingston & Malamuth, 2011). In an aggregate analysis, researchers examine (1) “the availability of pornography in a given society” and (2) “fluctuations” in a given behavior thought to be related to pornography consumption (Kingston & Malamuth, 2011, p. 1045). Pornography researchers are divided as to the merit of aggregate studies. We side with Kingston and Malamuth and others (e.g., Gunter, 2002), who argue that the limitations of aggregate studies outweigh their benefits. One serious limitation is that such studies measure availability of pornography, as opposed to actual exposure to pornography. Another serious limitation is that behaviors are multiply determined; pornography exposure could encourage recreational sex, but this effect could be masked by other inhibiting factors. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that some pornography researchers believe in aggregate studies.

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Wright, P.J., Bae, S. & Funk, M. United States Women and Pornography Through Four Decades: Exposure, Attitudes, Behaviors, Individual Differences. Arch Sex Behav 42, 1131–1144 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0116-y

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