Decades of studies from respected academic institutions, have demonstrated significant impacts of porn consumption for individuals, relationships, and society. "What’s the Research" aims to shed light on the expanding field of academic resources that showcase porn’s harms in a variety of ways. Below are selected excerpts from published studies on this issue.
The full study can be accessed here.
Sexual Behaviors and Aggression in Gay Pornography
Authors: Niki Fritz and Jessamyn Bowling
Published: June 2022
Peer-Reviewed Journal: Journal of Homosexuality
Background
Previous studies have suggested a substantial number of men who have sex with men (MSM) have consumed and used pornography to learn about same-sex sexual behaviors.
Yet, past research has focused almost exclusively on condom-use in the category of Gay pornography and ignored the types of sexual behaviors and aggression depicted within the content. This study examined aggression and sexual behaviors depicted in Gay online pornography
Methods
The current study analyzed sexual behaviors in a sample of Gay pornographic videos consisting of 415 video scenes found on two of the most popular free Internet pornographic tube sites.. All videos were randomly selected during the spring of 2014.
Results
Overall, the results suggest anal sex and fellatio are common behaviors in pornography while kissing is relatively infrequent.
Notably, acts of physical aggression are present in about a third of scenes but may be different than the types of aggression seen in heterosexual pornography… Physical sexual aggression was present in 31% of all scenes. This suggests physical aggression may be somewhat normalized in Gay pornography.
Spanking was the most common act of physical aggression in Gay pornography, occurring in 20% of scenes… Double penetration occurred in 8% of scenes while ATM occurred in 6%… Another more common type of aggressive behavior in Gay pornography was forceful fellatio, which was depicted in 16% of scenes…
Notably, in more than a quarter (27%) of all scenes depicting fellatio in Gay pornography, forced fellatio was also depicted.
The full study can be accessed here.
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Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
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