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Methodological Issues in Defining Aggression for Content Analyses of Sexually Explicit Material

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Abstract

There exists an important tradition of content analyses of aggression in sexually explicit material. The majority of these analyses use a definition of aggression that excludes consent. This article identifies three problems with this approach. First, it does not distinguish between aggression and some positive acts. Second, it excludes a key element of healthy sexuality. Third, it can lead to heteronormative definitions of healthy sexuality. It would be better to use a definition of aggression such as Baron and Richardson's (1994) in our content analyses, that includes a consideration of consent. A number of difficulties have been identified with attending to consent but this article offers solutions to each of these.

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Notes

  1. The terms “violence” and “aggression” are used by researchers to describe similar phenomena and often used interchangeably even within a single work (see, e.g., Felson & Tedeschi, 1993; Grimes, Anderson, & Bergen, 2008; Renfrew, 1997). In this article, I use the term “aggression” because of its implication of a human agent; however, I also include previous studies of “violence” in this category.

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Acknowledgments

The writing of this article was made possible by a grant from the Queensland Government National and International Research Alliances program scheme, Improved Surveillance, Treatment and Control of Chlamydial Infections Research Program 5: Education—Developing Improved Sexual Health Education Strategies.

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  1. Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4059, Australia

    Alan McKee

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McKee, A. Methodological Issues in Defining Aggression for Content Analyses of Sexually Explicit Material. Arch Sex Behav 44, 81–87 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0253-3

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