Sexually Explicit Material and Dating Abuse

Sexually explicit material and dating abuse

Emily F. Rothman, ScD May 2016

Multi‐person sex study (2011)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11524‐011‐9630‐1

1 The battle has been fought and won. You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And it's just passé at this juncture

‐Playboy's Chief Executive, Scott Flanders (October 2015)

Pornographies (SEM)

Online Magazines Literature Films TV shows videos

Amateur Professional

Online videos

Amateur Professional

Shared Website Paid sites Free sites informally approved

Legal Illegal Legally Not sharing sharing compliant compliant

2 Pornographies

Illegal content Legal content

BDSM, fetish, kink Other

Actual rape Child porn Animal porn porn Couples Anime LGT

Public Anal Water boarding Electroshock Gonzo Feminist disgrace prolapse

“In future work, it is important not to use an overly simplistic lens of focus in which pornography exposure is seen as generally harmful or not.

Depending on particular constellations of personality characteristics, the effects of pornography may differ considerably among different teenagers as well as within different

cultures.” https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcomagrini/698692268 ‐ Malamuth and Huppin (2005)

% of youth (ages 10‐17 years old) who have seen at least one form of sexually explicit media in past year on purpose (N=1,500)

40% 38% 35%

30%

25% 26%

20% male female 15%

10% 11% 8% 5% 5% 3% 4% 0% 1% 10‐11 yrs 12‐13 yrs 14‐15 years 16‐17 years A telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 1500 Wolak, Mitchell and Finkelhor, 2007 youth Internet users in 2005

3 Some articles claim some positives re: SEM

Negotiate sexual identity (Arrington‐Sanders et al., 2015)

Increased sexual knowledge and openness (Lofgren‐Martenson & Mansson, 2010; Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner,& Irizarry, 2010).

Women can communicate dissatisfaction (Orlowski, 2012)

Improve sexual desire for partner, less boredom (Prause & Pfause, 2015; Grove et al. 2011)

Some articles claim some negatives re: SEM

Hypersexuality disorder (Brand et al., 2011) Erectile dysfunction (Capogrosso et al., 2013)

Sexual risk‐taking behavior (Peter & Valkenburg, 2011; Braithwaite et al., 2015)

Reduced intentions to use condom (Jonas et al., 2014)

Relationship dissatisfaction (Syzmanski et al., 2015; Maddox et al., 2009; Yucel & Gassanov, 2010). Lower commitment to partner (Bridges &Morokoff, 2011; Lambert et al., 2012)

Body‐dissatisfaction & penis‐size dissatisfaction (Valkenburg, 2014; Cranney 2015)

Self‐esteem (Stewart et al., 2012)

Sex‐trafficking (Cusak, 2015; Flowers

Some articles negate negatives…

U.S porn users hold more gender‐equitable attitudes than porn non‐users (Kohut, 2016)

No erectile dysfunction (Landpriet & Stulhofer, 2015)

4 Youth risks (evidence)

Sexually Indirect impact Sexual Compulsive use permissive on family preoccupancy attitudes

Intoxicated Traditional Negative Sexually Earlier sexual hookups gender roles beliefs about permissive debut without a strictness women behaviors condom (Braithwaite et al., 2015)

Social Aggression Body image development

Theories of PORN → AGGRESSION Conditioning theory Excitation transfer theory Feminist theory Social Learning theory Causal models

Media practice model (Steele & Brown, 1995) Friends, family, school, neighborhood etc. impact each step

Identity Media selection Interaction Application

•Who am I? •What I •My •How I •Where do I choose to experience incorporate fit in the listen to of the media media in my world? •Movies I like •How I make life •Band sense of the •How I resist posters I put media the on my wall messages or don’t

Media permeates my entire life and my entire world

5 25 different content reviews have been conducted…

from 1979 (cartoons) to 2015 (internet videos)

Does Top 4 websites pornography Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn, xHamster normalize gender inequality? 100 most viewed videos of February 2013 resulting in a selection of 400 videos

Analyzed content of first sex scene (most videos had only one scene)

Klaassen, MJE & Jochen , P. (2014): Gender ‐‐average 16 min‐‐ (In)equality in Internet Pornography: A Content Analysis of Popular Pornographic Internet Videos, The Journal of Sex Research, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2014.976781

Klaassen, MJE & Jochen , P. (2014): Gender (In)equality in Internet Pornography: A Content Analysis of Popular Pornographic Internet Videos, The Journal of Sex Research, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2014.976781

6 Klaassen, MJE & Jochen , P. (2014): Gender (In)equality in Internet Pornography: A Content Analysis of Popular Pornographic Internet Videos, The Journal of Sex Research, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2014.976781

Bridges (2010) went to the AVN website in 2005; selected the top 30 best‐selling videos for a 7 month period which gave her 275 movies; selected 50 of those movies at random and analyzed the scenes in them, which was 304 scenes.

• When an aggressive act occurred, 95% of the targets responded with pleasure or neutrality.

• 94% of the aggressive acts were directed at women

• Men perpetrated 70% of the aggressive acts

7 What acts does Top 10 google websites for porn; use only free websites and those that pornography include MILF / Teen

redtube.com, pornhub.com, xnxx.com, keezmovies.com, show? youporn.com, sunporno.com, youjizz.com, orgasm.com, spankwire.com, and shufuni.com

100 randomly selected videos from 2011‐2012

Analyzed content of entire video

Vannier , SA, Currie, AB & O'Sullivan , LC. (2014) Schoolgirls and Soccer Moms: A Content Analysis of Free “Teen” and “MILF” Online Pornography, The Journal of Sex Research, 51:3, 253‐264, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2013.829795

16%

U.S.: Ever experienced opposite‐sex anal sex, by year 40% 39% 39%

38% 37% 37%

36%

35% 34% 34% 33% 33% 32% 32%

31% 30% 30% 2002 2006‐2010 2011‐2013 Men Women

National Survey Family Growth, 15-44 yrs old; NHSR No. 36, Table 5 and 6 [PDF ‐ 603 KB] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/key_statistics/s.htm#analsex

8 Paul Wright

Wright, PJ, Tokunaga, RS., Kraus, A. (2015). A Meta-Analysis of Pornography Consumption and Actual Acts of Sexual Aggression in General Population Studies. Journal of Communication. doi:10.1111/jcom.12201 • Review included 22 studies • Among them: 16 content analyses & 3 prior meta‐analyses • All studies in a general population (not sex offenders or clinical samples) • Aggression measure was perpetration; not attitudes

• Questions: • Is pornography associated with aggression? • Is violent pornography more strongly associated with aggression?

Was pornography associated with aggression?

r = .28 The sample‐weighted mean effect size of the association between SE = 0.01 pornography use and sexual aggression was positive and significant 95% CI [.24, .32], p<.001 No difference for males vs. females as viewers

Not moderated by age group

Not moderated by U.S vs. international

Not moderated by year (thus, online or offline)

Was violent pornography associated with aggression?

Nonviolent: Consensual sex, without coercive acts or aggression Not violent (degradation may be included) r = .27 95% CI [.07, .45],

p =.008, k =( 2

Although violent pornography consumption produced a Violent stronger association on average than nonviolent pornography r = .37 consumption, the moderation was nonsignificant (p = .34)

95% CI [.28, .45] (a) the level of violence, degradation, and objectification p < .001, k = 8 matters, but

(b) the pornography consumed by the average individual contains enough of these elements that it is associated with an elevated likelihood of sexual aggression

9 Was pornography associated with a certain form of sexual aggression ?

Verbal r = .30, 95% CI [.24, .36], Pornography consumption was associated with both verbal and physical p < .001 sexual aggression, but the association was significantly larger for verbal sexual aggression, p = .02. Physical r = .20 95% CI [.13, .26], p < .001, k = 6

Among a sample of 16‐ to 18‐year‐old, low income, urban‐residing, youth of color, who had viewed pornography in the past year…

1. What types of pornography do they report Research watching, where, and for what purpose? 2. Do they feel that pornography exposure has an questions impact on their own sexual behaviors?

3. What kind of interactions do they have with their parents about pornography?

10 39% eligibility rate Eligibility among those screened (N=23) 16‐18 years old

Medically stable

English‐speaking

Boston resident

Saw pornography once or more in past year

All Females Males participants (n=14) (n=9) (N=23) Sex Female 60% (14) 100% (14) 0% (0) Male 40% (9) 0% (0) 100% (9)

Race Black 47% (11) 50% (7) 44% (4) Hispanic 43% (10) 43% (6) 44% (4) Multiracial 9% (2) 7% (1) 11% (1)

The number of times in the past year the participant has seen or looked at pornography or X‐rated material, including online, in a magazine, or video/cable Mean number of times 47 14 99 Median number of times 12 9 12 Range 3‐730 3‐52 4‐730 1‐2 times 0% (0) 0% (0) 0% (0) 3‐5 times 39% (9) 50% (7) 22% (2) 6‐10 times 0% (0) 0% (0) 0% (0) M th 10 ti 61% (14) 50% (7) 78% (7)

Qualitative research procedures

Team Atlas.ti was Coding list 4transcripts Coding meeting to used to look Read for coded to Discrepancies discuss at themes “sense of harmonize resolved themes and inductive deductive within each whole” interrater (95% IRR) select development application of code reliability illustrative of categories categories category quotations

11 Participants most often watched:

• Heterosexual intercourse •Women having sex with women

Several mentioned that they had seen pornography featuring: • bondage • bukkake (i.e., multiple men ejaculating onto one woman’s face), •group sex • choking • public humiliation A few females expressed distaste and surprise. The general reaction to these was indifference They also reported watching: or acceptance •incest •rape • bestiality

17 year old female describes “humiliation porn”

It’s called public humiliation. Which means they tie the girl up, say on the statue or pole or something. Then they strip them down naked and a guy or girl will embarrass them in public. But the person wants it, so they ask for it . . . so they’re, like, forced to do things like give head or even if they haven’t did it in the butt before, they have to, ‘cause they asked for it.

18 year old female describes “rape porn”

Like, basically they had her in this room, this dirty mattress on the floor, she was laying on the mattress and then, like, six different guys keep goin’ back and forth. She just layin’ there. And then after, they was bein’ mean to her, they was throwin’ all her clothes at her, tellin’ her to get out and stuff.

12 17 year old describes watching pornography in school

Some guys just open up the porn [site], and then they just start watchin’ it. And then like the boys start like slapping girls’ butts, grabbing their boobs and stuff. And actually one time this dude—this one time in tenth grade, this dude, he kept going like that to me, he kept reachin’ for my boob, and then, um, I smacked him. Like really hard. And then he hit me back, and I started punchin’ him, and then I got expelled.

Another 17 year old describes watching pornography in school

I’ve actually watched pornography in school, to be honest with you. We all huddle up on one computer [laughs], and then it’s so funny because—we all huddle up on one computer, and then the girls, they get in the mood in the class with the boys, and the boys start smacking ass and stuff like that. That actually happens.

A 17 year old female describes imitating porn

What shocked me is how those females can take anal sex. I tried it once. I seen how the woman and stuff is so—they look like they get an orgasm from it. But when I tried it, I was so stunned, like, I ended up getting ibuprofens [sic] and stuff because I was in so much pain.

13 A 17 year old male describes imitating porn

If I watch porn and, like, I see a male porn star, and sometimes like, if I’m with a female, I try to do the exact same thing as they’re doing, ‘cause I figure that they’re stars.

An 18 year old female describes imitating pornography because her boyfriend wanted to

[The position is] with me laying down on my stomach and him laying down on top of me. It often, um, I know it is kind of extreme, but it feels like rape. Like, I don’t know [laughs]. I just feel like I can’t move. I feel like even if he’s not being rough or anything on me, I just feel like stuffed, like it’s not right. I feel like that’s something that—it just doesn’t—it just doesn’t feel like . . . it’s not comfortable. Yeah, it doesn’t feel like that’s what couples do [laughs]. It feels like I’m being forced. I don’t like it.

"It's not so much that the more extreme porn instills desires, as it instills anxiety.

These kids are convinced or afraid that things they've seen are expected of them ‐‐ and they may not be interested in, or looking forward to it.“ ‐Dan Savage

14 http://www.mdpi.com/2076‐328X/6/1/1

Methods • Convenience sample of youth

• Pediatric emergency department of a large, urban, Safetynet hospital

45% eligibility rate Eligibility among those screened

16‐17 years old (N=72)

Medically stable

English‐speaking

Boston resident

Saw pornography twice or more in past year

15 http://www.mdpi.com/2076‐328X/6/1/1

ADA measurement

• Past year ADA victimization was assessed via an 11‐item version of the Severity of Violence Against Women Scales (SVAWS). Sample items included the question stem “In the past year, how many times has a partner . . . ” and “hit or kicked a wall, door, or furniture”, or “demanded sex whether you wanted it or not.” The scale reliability coefficient in this sample was = 0.81.

69% ADA victims

http://www.mdpi.com/2076‐328X/6/1/1

16 http://www.mdpi.com/2076‐328X/6/1/1

Implications…

• We need more and better pornography scholarship • Pornography media literacy • High quality and available sex education • Thoughtful and enforceable legislation

17 Banning stuff is not the only public health response option

Public health pornography class The history of pornography The “porn wars” of the 1980s Important U.S. 1st Amendment obscenity cases Masculinity and pornography Race, racism and pornography (Intersectionality and pornography) The history of gay porn; lesbian pornography controversies Feminist pornography The content of pornography: How much of it is violent? Mental health and pornography: Does “porn addiction” exist? Youth and pornography: Rates of exposure, policies intended to prevent exposure, impacts Global perspective Occupational safety: The labor force that makes pornography Child pornography Pornography and sex trafficking Using GSS data to analyze porn‐related research questions

18 Emily F. Rothman, ScD [email protected]

Twitter @EmRothman