Internet Pornography, gendered beliefs, and pressure tactics in sexual relationships.

What is it about?

Heterosexual internet pornography (IP) which is freely available online, often depicts violent, coercive, and degrading acts by men against women. Most young people see IP before adulthood, and many continue to watch it as they mature. Concern exists that regularly viewing this type of content may be associated with the development of gendered, coercive, and sexually aggressive beliefs and attitudes toward women. To address this issue, this study of young adult males and females (17–25 years) explored problematic IP viewing and its association with gendered and sexually aggressive attitudes. The results suggested that problematic IP viewing was associated not only with stereotypical gendered attitudes, IP-congruent beliefs (including beliefs that support sexual coercion), and sexual impulsivity, but also with depression, and the tendency to dissociate. The results from this study suggest that some young adults’ sexual attitudes and beliefs may be associated with their exposure to the violent, coercive IP.

Featured Image

Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash

Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Gender based violence in all its forms continues to be a public health emergency across the world. Given that heterosexual internet pornography routinely depicts coercive and aggressive sexual acts by men against women, it is important for policymakers and clinicians to consider the findings showing associations between Internet Pornography (IP), gendered and sexually coercive beliefs and behaviours. This study found that environment and person factors were linked with problematic IP viewing patterns and gendered, sexually aggressive beliefs and attitudes. Implications for addressing the role of IP for reducing violence against women are discussed.