Guest Lecture: Pornography Flashcards
What is the difference between pornography and sex in other media?
- Direct depiction of sexual activities
- Genders are unconcealed
- Penetration may be visible
- Intended to arouse
intentional vs. unintentional exposure
- 7-59%
- Actively seeking pornography
- 19-84%
- Pop-up ads, unintentional exposure
who is more likely to consume pornography? (4)
- men/boys
- Pubertally more advanced
- Individuals high in sensation-seeking
- Weak or troubled family relationships
opponents of porn
- Leads to risky sexual behaviours
- Permissive sexual attitudes
- Greater acceptance of premarital sex
- A tendency to see sex without love as more important than sex with love
- Lower age of sexual intercourse
- Negative view of women
- Increases body image issues
proponents of porn
- Plays a constructive role in various aspects of sexuality
- Often, has positive influences on sexual attitudes and behaviours
- Aids in sexual relationship satisfaction
- Used to support those with erectile dysfunction
- Outlet for the 2SLGBTQ+ community
- More egalitarian views of women
- Keeps you from being bored!
Porn Addiction
Glorified as a valid affliction in the mainstream media -> No empirically proposed operational definition of what is considered pornography addiction
- no definition in the dsm or icd
- Widely criticized in peer-reviewed, academic literature.
problems with this diagnosis?
Lack of clarity in diagnoses and definitions of pornography addiction
lead to confusing, invalid, and unreliable science, ignoring the relational, psychological, and social context with which these behaviours can occur.
problems with this study: Participants demonstrated increased electrical brain responses to the erotic imagery they were shown, just as shown in the brains of “normal people”
- No control groups
- No operational definition of porn
- Small sample sizes
- Only men included
- Strict cultural contexts (Japanese study)
- Self-report
moral incongruence
inconsistency between beliefs about pornography, and the behaviours exhibited through use of pornography)
what was the TA study
- Are unrealistic ideals being perpetuated through consumption of pornography?
- Is pornography distorting views of what sex truly looks like?
- What kind of an effect could this have on people? Good? Bad?
operational definition of pornography
“Any material aimed at creating or enhancing sexual feelings or thoughts in the recipient and, at the same time:
1. containing explicit exposure and/or descriptions of the genitals and
2. clear and explicit sexual acts”
(playboy where nudity is present but sexual activity is absent—should be disregarded as SEM/Porn)
research questions: frequency
Frequent consumers of pornography will report greater misunderstandings of:
- Typical male and female anatomy
- Sexual physiology
- Typical sexual intercourse
research questions: gender/age
Gender, age, & sexual experience will significantly affect participants’ understanding of anatomy, sexual physiology, & sexual behaviours.
research questions: Positive/Negative
Participants will report greater positive self-perceived effects of pornography consumption.
findings
Frequent consumers of pornography did not report larger misunderstandings of sexual anatomy, physiology, & sexual behaviours.
