Porn Made Me Do It: Examining Individual Differences and Exposure to Violent Pornography as a Pathway to Violence Towards Women

• In Event: EXTREME-Inventory: An Experimental Paradigm Exploring Behavioral & Psychological Processes Underpinning the Effect of Extreme Content Online

Abstract

Viewership of pornography has increased with the advent and globalization of the internet, with increasingly violent and niche subgenres gaining more popularity among even casual viewers of pornography. Excess viewing of extreme materials such as pornography has been found to have negative effects on sexual and romantic relationships by depicting unrealistic expectations of sex, consent, and body types. Some literature suggests that viewership of violent pornography is associated with intimate partner violence and violence against women, though these results are not always supported. Awareness of violence against women has increased in recent years in light of an uptick in domestic and foreign femicides; further, misogynistic culture (e.g., involuntary celibate [“incels”], “alpha males”) has transcended the internet, so much so that people who are not a part of misogynistic communities have become more aware of these formerly “fringe” groups. However, not all individuals who consume violent forms of pornography subsequently engage in violence against women. This study uses revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory to examine individual differences that may lead a person toward or away from support and/or perpetration of violence against women. This research has implications in the realms of safe internet usage and sexual education, especially among children and adolescents.

Authors

• AnaCristina Bedoya, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Presley McGarry, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Neil D. Shortland, University of Massachusetts Lowell