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Who Seeks Aggression in Pornography? Findings from Interviews with Viewers

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Abstract

Despite the recent proliferation of research on aggression in pornography, we still know relatively little about the preferences and perceptions of viewers themselves. In particular, very little research has examined how women who watch pornography feel when encountering aggression toward women. To explore this question, we conducted interviews with 122 regular pornography viewers (61 women, 60 men, and 1 gender-diverse). Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data show that the majority of both men and women reported that they did not enjoy aggressive content. However, in contrast to common conceptions among most scholars and pundits, it was women, not men, who were more likely to report being aroused by aggression, mainly consensual aggression toward women, which was perceived as pleasurable. Women were also more likely to report actively seeking for aggression and wanting to see more aggression in mainstream pornography. These findings challenge long-held radical feminist views regarding the preferences of both women and men and offer new insights on the relationship between gender and sexual fantasies.

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Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Code availability

Interviews cannot be shared as they contain potentially identifying information. Coded data and STATA code will be shared as an online appendix.

Notes

  1. Of note, one should exercise caution regarding the figures released by PornHub, as the website does not release full information regarding the methods it uses to calculate statistics such as viewing by gender.

  2. We spoke with interviewees from Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Mauritius, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Syria, the United Kingdom, the United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.

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  1. McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Eran Shor

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  1. Eran Shor
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Appendix: Interview Guide

Appendix: Interview Guide

Part 1: Demographics

  1. 1.

    Obtain individual’s: age, gender identification, ethnicity, immigrant status, sexual orientation/identity, relationship status, habituation status (e.g. with parents, alone, with a friend), occupation, education/income (if not current students), and parents’ occupation/income/education). Where did you see ad for this study?

Part 2: Past/Early Experiences with Pornography

  1. 1.

    Could you tell me about the first (or the earliest that you can remember) time you watched porn? What age were you? (With whom did you watch it? What were your thoughts before, during, and after? What did you think and feel about the experience?)

    1. a.

      Note for interviewer: Differences/contradictions or overlaps between thoughts about porn and emotional reactions to porn?

  2. 2.

    Thinking about your earliest experiences with porn, did anything stand out for you? (probe: was anything exciting? Invigorating? Gross? Humiliating? Arousing? Boring?)

Part 3: Current Experiences with Pornography

  1. 1.

    How frequently do you watch pornographic materials? When was the last time you watched pornography? Where do you typically watch it?

    1. i.

      Which websites?

  2. 2.

    Could you describe the “process” of how you navigate the website(s) you visit?

  3. 3.

    What type of pornography do you prefer to watch?

    1. a.

      Are there certain aspects that you look for? That you avoid? (Probe: categories, tags, scenarios)

    2. b.

      Do you alter pornography in some way while you watch? (e.g. fast-forwarding, rewinding, stopping, skipping, muting)

    3. c.

      Do you watch it by yourself?

      1. i.

        If someone watches porn with someone else, ask about frequency of co-viewing vs solo viewing; pre- and antecedents to shared viewing; etc.

Part 4: Aggression & Consent [remind interviewee that everything is confidential and that you understand the sensitivity of the topic—iterate that they can skip questions at any time. Also make note of any gendered patterns to answers in this section].

We’ll now move on to discuss aggression in particular:

  1. 1.

    How do you define aggression in the context of pornography? (i.e. What makes you think of something as aggressive?) (Prompts: could be verbal, physical, contextual, or something else)

    1. a.

      What acts would be included as aggressive (prompt if needed: facials, hair-pulling, spanking, gagging, slapping on face, choking, etc.)?

  2. 2.

    Have you encountered pornography that features some sort of physical or verbal aggression? How frequently do you encounter these materials?

  3. 3.

    Do you sometimes enjoy watching aggressive porn? If so, which acts do you enjoy seeing in porn?

  4. 4.

    * Ask specifically about each of the following acts:

    1. a.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching spanking?

    2. b.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching biting?

    3. c.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching pinching?

    4. d.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching forced gagging?

    5. e.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching choking?

    6. f.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching kicking?

    7. g.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching hitting face of body?

    8. h.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching rough handling (e.g. pushing, shoving, tossing, shaking)?

    9. i.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching facials?

    10. j.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching slapping on face?

    11. k.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching hair pulling?

    12. l.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by watching BDSM?

    13. m.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by non-consensual aggression in pornography?

    14. n.

      Do you sometimes enjoy/feel aroused by forceful penetration (vaginal or anal) with penis, hand, or another object, with an apparent intent to cause pain/discomfort?

  5. 5.

    How important is it for you to see the woman in the video enjoying herself? Do you prefer to watch videos where women express clear pleasure at the acts they are performing? Is it important whether this pleasure seems genuine or not?

  6. 6.

    How important is it to see the women reach orgasm? Do you prefer such videos?

  7. 7.

    How important is it to see the men reach an orgasm?

  8. 8.

    Where would you prefer the men to ejaculate (e.g. in the vagina; on the face; in the mouth; on a particular body part)?

  9. 9.

    Do you like to watch anal penetration? If so, do you prefer it to vaginal penetration?

  10. 10.

    Do you prefer the camera to focus on the woman, the man, or both?

  11. 11.

    Is it arousing for you to sometimes see women express pleasure in response to aggression?

  12. 12.

    Is it arousing to sometimes see them express pain/suffering in response to aggression? If so, in which situations/acts/scanrios/categories?

  13. 13.

    Do you like it when women take charge of the situation or do you prefer them to play a submissive role?

  14. 14.

    Do you actively seek aggressive materials?

    1. a.

      If so, how often? What kinds? And how? (e.g. titles that convey aggression; categories that might feature aggression)

  15. 15.

    How do you respond when you encounter aggression in pornography? (Note for interviewer: Differences/contradictions or overlaps between thoughts about porn and emotional reactions to porn.)

    1. a.

      What do you do/think/feel when encountering aggression or “humiliation” in a pornographic video (e.g. skip; still watch; curious; aroused)?

  16. 16.

    What types of aggressive acts do you find “acceptable” or “arousing”, if at all? (Probe about specific types of acts from our definition of aggression, going from spanking to hitting or gagging)

  17. 17.

    Do you think that the aggression you see (if any) in pornography impacts your life?

    1. a.

      (If YES) How?

    2. b.

      (If NO) Why not?

  18. 18.

    In what ways, if at all, do you think that the aggression you see (if any) in pornography impacts your intimate partner(s)? (if participant has a partner who is aware of their porn watching)

  19. 19.

    In what ways, if at all, do you think that the aggression you see (if any) in pornography impacts your intimate relationship(s) or sexual encounters?

    1. a.

      Probe: Can you think of elements that you’ve gotten from pornography (or that your partner got from pornography) that you or your partner have wanted to try? In what ways (if at all) has this impacted your sex life? Your relationships and/or sexual encounters?

  20. 20.

    What are things you enjoy seeing in porn that you don’t enjoy in real life and vice versa

  21. 21.

    If you could design/direct your own “ideal” video, would it include any aggressive/hard sex acts?

    1. a.

      If so, which ones?

  22. 22.

    Regarding the selection of videos in your favorite porn site, would you like to see more/less/the same amount of videos containing aggressive or arguably “humiliating” acts? What type of acts would you like to see more/less of? (Probe with examples: facials, anal, gagging, spanking, etc.)

Part 5: Sexed and Porn

  1. 1.

    How do you think, if at all, have your experiences with porn helped/inform your knowledge of sexual practices?

  2. 2.

    Do you think there is a direct link between porn and sex education? If so how and in which ways?

  3. 3.

    Specifically, with sexual consent, did porn play a role in your conceptualization of sexual consent?

  4. 4.

    Do you think porn helped/ hindered your understanding of sexual consent?

  5. 5.

    Do you think porn offers realistic portrayals of consent being given?

  6. 6.

    Do you think you implicitly/explicitly internalize the scenarios that you see, particularly surrounding consent?

Part 9: Wrap-Up

Is there anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to discuss?

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Shor, E. Who Seeks Aggression in Pornography? Findings from Interviews with Viewers. Arch Sex Behav 51, 1237–1255 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02053-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02053-1

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