Does Pornography Increase Sexual Violence?

Ending Sexploitation

Episode #4. Research is showing that pornography is linked to increases in sexual violence.

Pornography shapes the user’s sexual template around themes of degradation, ambiguous consent, and violence.

Cognitive Script Theory reveals that media provide a heuristic learning model outlining:

1) what should or should not be happening;

2) how people should or should not behave in response to what is or is not happening;

3) what the outcomes of a particular course of action should be.

Pornography becomes a script to navigate real-world sexual experiences. It can serve as a template for actual sexual behavior.

Pornography teaches that women enjoy sexual violence:

Analysis of the 50 most popular pornographic videos (those bought and rented most often) found that 88% of scenes contained physical violence, and 49% contained verbal aggression.1

Pornography is linked to increased verbal and physical aggression:

A 2015 meta-analysis of 22 studies from seven countries found that internationally the consumption of pornography was significantly associated with increases in verbal and physical aggression, among males and females alike.2

Surveyed college fraternity men who used “mainstream” pornography expressed greater intent to commit rape, should they be assured they wouldn’t get caught.3

A meta-analysis of 46 studies reported that the effects of exposure to pornographic material are “clear and consistent,” and puts one at increased risk for committing sexual offenses and accepting rape myths.

And more.

If we are serious about combatting sexual violence, we must commit to addressing the harms of pornography.

To learn more, visit: http://endsexualexploitation.org/violence/

1. (Ana J. Bridges, Robert Wosnitzer, Erica Scharrer, Chyng Sun, and Rachael Liberman, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis Update,” Violence against Women 16, no. 10 (2010): 1065–1085.)

2. Paul J. Wright, Robert S. Tokunaga, and Ashley Kraus, “A Meta-Analysis of Pornography Consumption and Actual Acts of Sexual Aggression in General Population Studies,” Journal of Communication 66, no. 1 (February 2016): 183–205.

3. Foubert, John D., Matthew Brosi W., and R. Bannon Sean. "Pornography Viewing among Fraternity Men: Effects on Bystander Intervention, Rape Myth Acceptance and Behavioral Intent to Commit Sexual Assault." Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 18.4 (2011): 212-31. Web.

4. Elizabeth Paolucci-Oddone, Mark Genuis, and Claudio Violato, “A Meta-Analysis of the Published Research on the Effects of Pornography,” The Changing Family and Child Development, ed. Claudio Violato, Elizabeth Paolucci, and Mark Genuis (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2000), 48–59.