Most of us are familiar with pornography, whether it is online or offline. The popularity of porn has grown over recent years due to online accessibility. If you do not know what pornography is, it can be defined as “any sexually explicit material that you can find offline (magazines, DVDs, peep shows) or online on the Internet (text, audio, visual)” (Gruman et al, 2017). There are many different forms of pornography, but in this essay I will be focusing on three forms; erotica, nonviolent pornography, and violent pornography. As we will see in this essay, certain forms of pornography can be extremely damaging to the viewer.
Erotica and nonviolent pornography are not as damaging as other forms. Erotica is “nonaggressive sexual activity between willing, sensitive, and caring partners” (Gruman et al, 2017). Erotica is probably the most popular or well known form of pornography. Nonviolent pornography is “nonaggressive explicit sexual activity typically among casual acquaintances” (Gruman et al, 2017). These definitions may seem very similar, but unlike erotica, nonviolent pornography does not show the men and women as having compassion or empathy for one another. Lastly, we have violent pornography. Violent pornography ‘portrays violence or coercion that is juxtaposed with, or an integral part of, explicit sexual activities with an underlying theme of dominance” (Gruman et al, 2017). All of these forms of pornography can have damaging effects to the viewer.
How is nonviolent pornography damaging to the viewer? The U.S. Department of Justice produced a report that showed that substantial exposure to nonviolent pornography is related to increases in sexual violence and sexual coercion. If there is no violence of coercion in erotica or nonviolent pornography, why is there an increase in sexual deviance? Many people become desensitized to what they are viewing, causing a need to find more intense videos. The more intense these videos become, the higher the likelihood of developing deviant tendencies becomes. Pornography makes horrible situations appealing to viewers, and causes the person to believe that these behaviors are normal and common. As we are beginning to see, any form of pornography can be damaging, not solely violent portrayals.
If nonviolent pornography is damaging, how much worse is violent pornography? Combining sex and violence is especially harmful to viewers. Effects of violent pornography on viewers includes “a) increases in sexual arousal, b) increases in rape fantasies, c) decreases in sensitivity to the embedded violent sexual acts, d) increases in acceptance of rape myths and violence toward women, and e) increases in tolerance toward rapists” (Gruman et al, 2017). All of these effects are extremely damaging, not only to the viewer, but to the women whom they are close to. Even though viewing violent pornography does not cause actual violent acts, these thoughts are precursors to committing violent acts against women. Since porn is so accessible, it is very dangerous for young adults to view this content.
Although pornography does not directly cause violent acts, it can be the push that sets violent tendencies in motion. Men are most affected by these videos, so it is important to monitor what you are viewing and think about the consequences that may occur. Informing individuals about the consequences of viewing violent pornography is a step in the right direction, as it causes individuals to have more empathy towards the women involved.
References:
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W. & Coutts, L. M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. (3rd ed). Thousand Oaks; CA: Sage Publications.
Wow, such an eye-opening blog post that I wish more people could see. Pornography use has become all too common in this day of age, with so many platforms used to promote. My question lies in all these ways that people are unaware of, just how damaging is pornography? Like you said, it creates thoughts that stray upon true social norms, as pornography often portrays “fantasies.” In a study I found when looking for answers to this problem, I also found that pornography has a negative effect on marital satisfaction (Fadaki & Amini, 2015). As well, a study in 2005 demonstrated that 95% of youth had seen pornography at least once (Fadaki & Amini, 2015). These statistics are shocking. Considering they were from 2005 and pornography has become far more accessible, with children having iPad, social media, etc., I think it’s really important to raise more awareness to the harmful effects. Thanks for your post.
Works Cited:
Fadaki, S., & Amini, P. (2015). Retrieved from http://jfmh.mums.ac.ir/?_action=showPDF&_ob=40844d035caeda0b9b71d1edea69fe91&article=12368&fileName=full_text.pdf&sc=1
I wanted to add a tidbit about pornography, both violent and non violent. It’s been found that pornography watching has a correlation with adolescent dating violence and aggression even when the pornography is not violent. In a study on violent pornography’s effects, the researchers found that boys who watched violent pornography were between double and TRIPLE more likely to commit acts of victimization or teen dating violence, and girls were about 1.5 times more likely to commit these acts (Rostad, 2019). This is a staggering number considering just how prevalent pornography is, as you pointed out. It’s possible that instances of rape and other sexual crimes are exasperated and increased due to this sexually graphic material.
Sources:
Rostad, W. L., Gittins-Stone, D., Huntington, C., Rizzo, C. J., Pearlman, D., & Orchowski, L. (2019). The Association Between Exposure to Violent Pornography and Teen Dating Violence in Grade 10 High School Students. Archives of sexual behavior, 48(7), 2137–2147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-1435-4