Brooke A. de Heer , Sarah Prior, Gia Hoegh
J Interpers Violence. 2020 Mar 9:886260520906186. doi: 10.1177/0886260520906186.
Abstract
Past research has indicated that there is a relationship between pornography consumption and sexually aggressive behavior. This study sought to expand an understanding of that relationship by examining measures of masculinity among a sample of undergraduate heterosexual males (N = 152) along with pornography consumption variables to assess the predictive value that both pornography consumption and varying levels of masculinity have on sexual aggression. Linear regression analyses indicate that males who had higher scores on the Likelihood of Sexual Force (LSF) measure consumed pornography more often and were more likely to watch male-dominant pornography. In addition, males who had higher scores on LSF exhibited higher masculinity scores on two scales. Results are discussed in the context of the complexities of masculinity and pornography consumption and the implications for prevention programs on college campuses.
KEYWORDS: media and violence; offenders; sexual assault; sexuality; situational factors
- PMID: 32146855
- DOI: 10.1177/0886260520906186
Overall, increased amounts of online pornography consumption (frequency) and male-dominant pornography consumption (type) were shown to be unique predictors of hypothetical likelihood of sexual force, as reported my heterosexual male undergraduates. Furthermore, there was an interaction between frequency and preference for male-dominant pornography in that those that reported consuming pornography more often and preferred maledominant pornography were more likely to have higher scores on the LSF. In addition, higher masculinity scores (as measured by the MBS and GRCS) also appear to predict unique variance separate from pornography when entered into independent models. It was hypothesized that males who watched more online pornography (frequency), prefer more extreme types of porn (violent/degrading), and who score higher on masculinity indexes would be more likely to report perpetration and have higher scores of the LSF. Due to the small N associated with self-disclosed perpetration, we were limited to only using the outcome variable of hypothetical likelihood of sexual force for analyses. Given that, part of the hypotheses was supported in that males who watched more pornography (frequency) and who exhibited higher masculinity scores (as measured through the MBS and GRCS) did indeed have increased scores on the hypothetical likelihood of sexual force measure. Although our results did not indicate that men who preferred more extreme types of online pornography had increased hypothetical likelihood of sexual force, results did show that those who preferred male-dominant pornography had increased scores on the LSF. It could be argued that there is some conceptual overlap in the predictor variable of preference for male-dominant pornography and the LSF outcome variable, thus slightly limiting the conclusions that can be drawn.
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