The use of technology during the past ten years has skyrocketed and all sorts of content is available to us whenever we feel like viewing it. The content we may view is pornography and the effects of being exposed to it can be harmful. Often it involves violence, coercion, degradation, and nonconsensual actions made by men against women. Researchers Bernstein et al. (2023) claim that “internet pornography may be fostering the development of gendered, coercive, and aggressive sexualized beliefs and attitudes toward women”. Most violent acts against women are sexual in nature and if pornography can be linked as the root of it then this could address the issue and then action can be taken against it.
The aggressive acts depicted in pornography have a hand in the normalization of violent sex that involves women. The whole internet is readily available to individuals at such a young age. Children are getting tablets and phones for birthday presents at much younger ages and for the most part, their usage is not being monitored. While parents can take some liberty and put parental controls on them, this does not completely solve the problem. Researchers claim that pornography is being viewed at a stable rate and these patterns are established during adolescence or young adulthood. (Bernstein et al., 2023). During this time, we are still developing our own identity, beliefs, and attitudes making people at this age very susceptible. They are at risk of viewing violent pornography and developing gendered and stereotypical assumptions about women. While they might not go on to commit violent sexual acts against women they could still hold these beliefs that are still harmful towards women such as objectifying them. These traditional gender role attitudes can be reinforced due to the problematic viewing of pornography when viewed at a young age.
Other factors need to be taken into account when discussing the viewing of pornography. Studies have found that it is not how much an individual is viewing this type of content, but how they interact with their urges that tends to be the issue (Bernstein et al., 2023). If a young adult wants to be intimate with their partner and their only knowledge is from what they have seen in pornography, then this could cause complications. Women in this study were also asked about their sexual beliefs and many of them believed that “it is acceptable for women to be coerced into sexual activity” (Bernstein et al., 2023). This is a dangerous belief because if you are coerced into sex then it is nonconsensual sex and that is unacceptable. These beliefs could put them at risk for depression, PTSD, injuries, sexually transmitted diseases, etc. Their rights should not be second to what their male partner thinks or feels.
Being exposed to pornography alone does not mean you inherently hold sexist beliefs and attitudes or that you will become violent towards women. This study is intended to show that being exposed to violent pornography at a young age can make you more susceptible to these beliefs especially if you are not properly educated. Sexual education programs need to be implemented because people still hold these harmful and stereotypical beliefs about sex and women if young adults are viewing this type of content then programs discussing consent and respect are needed if you are pursuing a sexual relationship with your partner.
References
Bernstein, S., Warburton, W., Bussey, K., & Sweller, N. (2023). Pressure, preoccupation, and porn: The relationship between internet pornography, gendered attitudes, and sexual coercion in young adults. Psychology of Popular Media., 12(2), 159-172.