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POST-SECONDARY WOMEN'S POSITIVE EXPERIENCES WITH PORNOGRAPHY: A GROUNDED THEORY EXPLANATION OF INITIAL EXPOSURE AND SUBSEQUENT USE OF SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIALS IORDANKA PETZANOVA Bachelor of Arts, University of British Columbia, 2004 A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION FACULTY OF EDUCATION LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA February 2010 Library and Archives Bibliothèque et ?F? Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-68794-9 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-68794-9 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ¦?I Canada Abstract The intent ofthis research thesis is the examination of post-secondary women's positive experiences with pornography. Very little research has been conducted with women who enjoy pornography and yet recent statistics in Canada and the United States show that there is an increasing amount of female users of pornography (Cantor, Mares, & Hyde, 2003). This study presents an emerging grounded theory ofthe process through which a small group ofpost-secondary women come to label their experiences with pornography as positive. The study traces the experiences of four post-secondary women in Western Canada from their initial exposure to pornography to their current use of the material. Results showed the importance ofpersonal control in the development of female sexual identity and the enjoyment ofpornography. This study is embedded in a social constructionist theoretical framework and offers recommendations for further research in the area. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Noella Piquette-Tomei for her unending support and guidance from the beginning to the completion of this thesis. She taught me invaluable information and skills about all aspects ofthe research process. I would also like to thank my parents, Elena and Kostadin Petzanovi. They gave me constant support, encouragement, and love. iv Table of Contents Abstract "i Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents ? List of Tables ix List of Figures x CHAPTERIrINTRODUCTION 1 Clarification Between Pornography and Sexually Explicit Materials 1 Diverging Views on Pornography 2 Pornography as a Male Dominated Arena 3 Women's Use of Pornography 6 Focus of Thesis 7 Conclusion 9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 10 Personal Assumptions and Biases 11 Defining Pornography 14 Pornography Outside ofNorth America 17 Greater Acceptance of Pornography 17 Censorship 18 Deviant Pornographic Material 20 Pornography as an Expression of Rebellion 20 Spiritual Views of Pornography 21 Men and Pornography 23 ? Men' s Use of Pornography 23 Impact of Pornography on Men 27 Limitations to Correlational Laboratory Studies 28 Women and Pornography 31 Women and Romance Novels 33 Biological Arguments Related to Pornography 35 Social Construction of Sexuality 40 Sexual Scripts and Gender Schematas: Different Sexualities for Boys and Girls 44 The Female Sexual Desire in North America 48 Benefits of Pornography for Women 53 Summary 60 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD 63 Grounded Theory 64 Constant Comparative Method 67 Coding 69 Grounded Theory Methodology Applied in Practice 71 Participants 71 Recruitment 71 Selection Process 72 Instruments/Materials 75 Interview Procedure 76 Pre-Interview Contact 76 Vl The First Interview 77 Risks 77 Confidentiality 78 Follow-up Interview 79 Data Analysis 79 Development of Categories 79 Theoretical Sensitivity and Major Preconceptions 81 Reflexivity 83 Reliability and Validity 86 Summary 87 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 88 Evidence ofthe Emergent Grounded Theory 88 Category I: Development of Identity as a Sexual Being 91 Liberal Background 91 First Exposure 95 Pornography as Education 99 Variations in Pornography Use 101 Progression ofUse 1 06 Category II: Struggling with Double Standards and Duality 108 Double Standards for Women 108 Distinguishing Between Real Sex and Sex Depicted in Pornography. ...112 Internal Contradictions with Pornography (fantasy vs reality) 113 Category III: The Forbidden Fruit 116 vii Pornography as Private and Hidden 116 Accessibility 1 20 Core Category: Control 122 Feedback from Follow-up Interviews 128 Summary ofthe Emergent Grounded Theory 131 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION 133 Limitations and Suggested Future Research 142 CHAPTER 6: REFLECTIVE SUMMARY OF RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS 146 Limitations in Validity 146 Assumptions in the Design ofthe Study 149 Reflective Analysis of Methodological Decisions and Limitations to Results... 152 References 157 Appendices 1 74 A: Recruitment Poster 1 74 B : Pre-Screening Questionnaire 175 C : Interview Questions 1 76 D: Participant Consent Form 1 77 viii List of Tables Table !.Participant Demographics 75 ix List of Figures Figure 1. Post-Secondary Women's Positive Experiences with Pornography: The Emergent Grounded Theory 89 ? 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Pornographic materials such as pictures and magazines have been a part of human culture for a very long time (Zilbergeld, 1992). Even in the sexually oppressive Victorian era, spanning from 1837 to 1901, pornographic material was quite popular (Kimmel & Plante, 2004). The prevalence and impact of pornography cannot be denied whether one supports or opposes it, whether one wants it strictly censored or left unrestricted. The sheer popularity and widespread use ofpornography can be illustrated by the enormous profits brought in by pornographic materials. It is a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing tremendously from year to year (Stack, Wasserman, & Kern, 2004). North Americans are spending more than $8 billion dollars annually on adult cable programming, hard-core videos, computer pornography, and sex magazines (Stack et al.). The amount spent on these adult materials surpasses the annual profits from all movie box office receipts in the United States (Thio, 2001). With the popularity ofthe internet, adult oriented websites are responsible for the greatest on-line commerce and profit worldwide (Thio). Search engine queries for sexually explicit material outnumber any other topics by a landslide (Parker & Wampler, 2003). Clearly, people are spending a great deal of money on adult entertainment and due to this popularity, pornography is an area ofresearch that is both interesting and important. Clarification Between Pornography and Sexually Explicit Materials For the purpose of this study, the definition ofpornography and sexually explicit materials will be explained. Sexually explicit materials are videos, photographs, and writings that present sexual content without deliberately obscuring or hiding it (Ciclitira, 2002). Pornography is the visual or literal depiction and/or description of bodily features 2 and acts aimed at arousing the viewer or reader (Ciclitira). The formal distinction between the two terms is the intent of the material. The purpose and intent of pornography is to arouse, where as sexually explicit materials can portray sexual acts without necessarily the intent of arousing the viewer. For example, an instructional video on safe sex practices portraying genitalia can be labeled as sexually explicit but not pornographic since its intent is to educate and not arouse (Juffer, 1998). In this study, the focus of research was pornography since participants were asked to reflect on their experiences with materials whose purpose was arousal. When the term sexually explicit materials is used in this research document, it should be noted that the text refers to pornographic sexually explicit materials meaning materials that have been produced generally for the purpose of arousal. Therefore, in this thesis the terms pornography and sexually explicit materials are used interchangeably and refer to the same concept. Diverging Views on Pornography The issue ofpornography is not a simple