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The Effects of Pornography [Caution] This article should be read by all parents, but may be inappropriate for children. This is the original full-length version of a new study released jointly by the Family Research Council and the North Carolina Family Policy Council. A condensed version of this article appeared in Family North Carolina magazine, Winter 2010. The conjugal act—the act of sexual intercourse—brings humanity into existence and sets in motion the next generations of society. Sexual intercourse, like atomic energy, is a powerful agent for good if channeled well, but for ill if not. Healthy societies maintain their stability by channeling the sexual energies of young adults into marriage, an institution that legitimizes sexual intercourse, protects the children that are the fruit of intercourse, and channels the giving and receiving of sexual pleasure in a way that builds up rather than tears down society. Sexual taboos are one set of the normal mechanisms of social control of the sexual appetite. They are analogous to the control rods of a nuclear reactor plant: they block the sexual from straying off course and into destructive pathways. One of the biggest tasks of adolescent members of all society is to come to grips with their burgeoning sexuality. Some have always tested the limits of sexual expression even when strong social controls were in place. In well-ordered societies, such testing triggers immediate social sanctions from parents, mentors, and community. In today’s media-saturated society, these sanctions operate in fewer and fewer quarters. A substantial factor in this shift has been the growth of digital media and the Internet. This “digital revolution” has led to great strides in productivity, communication, and other desirable ends, but pornographers also have harnessed its power for their profit. The cost has been a further weakening of the nation’s citizens and families, a development that should be of grave concern to all. The social sciences demonstrate the appropriateness of this concern. Two recent reports, one by the American Psychological Association on hyper-sexualized girls, and the other by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy on the pornographic content of phone texting among teenagers, make clear that the digital revolution is being used by younger and younger children to dismantle the barriers that channel sexuality into family life.2 Family Consequences Young Children. The impact of a parent’s use of pornography on young children is varied and disturbing. Pornography eliminates the warmth of affectionate family life, which is the natural social nutrient for a growing child. Other losses and traumas related to the use of pornography when a child is young include:
Adolescents. Pornography viewing among teenagers disorients them during that developmental phase when they have to learn how to handle their sexuality, and when they are most vulnerable to uncertainty about their sexual beliefs and moral values.4 A study of 2,343 adolescents found that sexually explicit Internet material significantly increased their uncertainties about sexuality.5 The study also showed that increased exposure to sexually explicit Internet material increased favorable attitudes toward sexual exploration with others outside of marriage and decreased marital commitment to the other spouse.6 Another study by Todd G. Morrison, professor of psychology at the University of Saskatchewan, and colleagues found that adolescents exposed to high levels of pornography had lower levels of sexual self-esteem.7 A significant relationship also exists between frequent pornography use and feelings of loneliness, including major depression.8 9 Finally, viewing pornography can engender feelings of shame. In a study of high school students, the majority of those who had viewed pornography felt some degree of shame for viewing it. However, 36 percent of males and 26 percent of females said they were never ashamed of viewing pornography,10 giving some idea of the level of desensitization already reached in society. High adolescent consumption of pornography also affects behavior. Male pornography use is linked to significantly increased sexual intercourse with non-romantic friends,11 and is likely a correlate of the so-called “hook-up” culture. Exposure to pornographic sexual content can be a significant factor in teenage pregnancy. A three-year longitudinal study of teenagers found that frequent exposure to televised sexual content was related to a substantially greater likelihood of teenage pregnancy within the succeeding three years. This same study also found that the likelihood of teenage pregnancy was two times greater when the quantity of that sexual content exposure, within the viewing episodes, was high rather than low.12 In many cases, the wives of pornography users also develop deep psychological wounds, commonly reporting feelings of betrayal, loss, mistrust, devastation, and anger in responses to the discovery or disclosure of a partner’s pornographic online sexual activity.15 Wives can begin to feel unattractive or sexually inadequate and may become severely depressed when they realize their husbands view pornography.16 The distress level in wives may be so high as to require clinical treatment for trauma, not mere discomfort.17 Viewers of pornography assign increased importance to sexual relations without emotional involvement,18 and consequently, wives experience decreased intimacy from their husbands.19 The emotional distance fostered by pornography and “cybersex” (a form of sexually explicit interaction between two people on the Internet) can often be just as damaging to the relationship as real-life infidelity,20 and both men and women tend to put online sexual activity in the same category as having an affair.21 The estrangement between spouses wrought by pornography can have tangible consequences as well: when the viewing of pornography rises to the level of addiction, 40 percent of “sex addicts” lose their spouses, 58 percent suffer considerable financial losses, and about a third lose their jobs.22 In a study on the effects of “cybersex,” researchers found that more than half of those engaged in “cybersex” had lost interest in sexual intercourse, while one-third of their partners had lost interest as well, while in one-fifth of the couples both husband and wife or both partners had a significantly decreased interest in sexual intercourse. Stated differently, this study showed that only one-third of couples maintained an interest in sexual relations with one another when one partner was engaged in “cybersex.”23 Prolonged exposure to pornography also fosters dissatisfaction with, and even distate for, a spouse’s affection.24 Cynical attitudes regarding love begin to emerge, and “superior sexual pleasures are thought attainable without affection toward partners.”25 These consequences hold for both men and women who have had prolonged exposure to pornography, with the decline in sexual happiness being primarily due to the growing dissatisfaction with the spouse’s normal sexual behavior.26 Finally, pornography users increasingly see the institution of marriage as sexually confining,27 have diminished belief in the importance of marital faithfulness,28 and have increasing doubts about the value of marriage as an essential social institution and further doubts about its future viability.29 All this naturally diminishes the importance for them of having good family relations in their own families.30 Studies have also shown that viewing pornography increases the chances of infidelity by the user. Dolf Zillman of the University of Alabama, in one study of adolescents, shows that the steady use of pornography frequently leads to abandonment of fidelity to their girlfriends.31 Steven Stack of Wayne State University and colleagues later showed that pornography use increased the marital infidelity rate by more than 300 percent.32 Another study found a strong correlation between viewing Internet pornography and sexually permissive behavior.33 Stack’s study found that Internet pornography use is 3.7 times greater among those who procure sexual relations with a prostitute than among those who do not.34 “Cybersex” pornography also leads to much higher levels of infidelity among women. Women who engaged in “cybersex” had about 40 percent more offline sexual partners than women who did not engage in cybersex.35 Given the research already cited, it is not surprising that addiction to pornography is a contributor to separation and divorce. In the best study to date (a very rudimentary opportunity study of reports by divorce lawyers on the most salient factors present in the divorce cases they handled), 68 percent of divorce cases involved one party meeting a new paramour over the Internet, 56 percent involved “one party having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites,” 47 percent involved “spending excessive time on the computer,” and 33 percent involved spending excessive time in chat rooms (a commonly sexualized forum).36 Cybersex, which often takes place in these chat rooms, was a major factor in separation and divorce. In over 22 percent of the couples observed the spouse was no longer living with the “cybersex” addict, and in many of the other cases spouses were seriously considering leaving the marriage or relationship.37 Differences between Men and Women Use. Men are more than six times as likely to view pornography as females,38 and more likely to spend more time viewing it. In a study of self-identified female ”cybersex” addicts, women reported that they preferred engaging in “cybersex” within the context of a relationship (via email or chat room), rather than accessing pornographic images. This preference may contribute to the significant difference one study found in the proportion of women who have real-life sexual encounters with their online companions compared to men. It found that 80 percent of women who engaged in these online sexual activities also had real-life sexual encounters with their online partners, compared to only 33 percent for men.39 Also, as stated above, such women are much more likely to have had very high numbers of such sexual encounters and partners.40 However, in another study of men who flirted in Internet chat rooms, 78 percent reported they had at least one face-to-face sexual experience with someone they had met through a chat room in the past year.41 Thus, it seems that a very high proportion of both men and women who engage in “cybersex” may go on to have physical sexual encounters with their online partners. Reactions. The way men and women view infidelity is very different. One study, using undergraduates from a large university in Northern Ireland, investigated how men and women perceive online and offline sexual and emotional infidelity. When forced to decide, men were more upset by sexual infidelity and women by emotional infidelity. Only 23 percent of women claimed they would be more bothered by sexual infidelity, compared to the 77 percent of women who would be more bothered by emotional infidelity. Males felt the opposite way. Eighty-four percent of the men reported they would be more bothered by sexual infidelity, whereas only 16 percent say they would be more bothered by emotional infidelity.42 In a study which examined different types of degrading pornography, featuring themes such as “objectification” and “dominance,” both men and women rated the same three major themes as the most degrading of all, but with different intensities: women rated them as even more degrading than men did.43 Individual Consequences The pornography industry adapted to this desire for more bizarre and uncommon images. An analysis of the content of Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler from the years 1953 to 1984 revealed 6,004 child images, and an additional 14,854 images depicting crime or violence. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of the child images were sexual and violent, with most of the images displaying girls between the ages of three and eleven years of age. Each of these magazines portrayed the scenes involving children as though the child had been unharmed by the sexual scene or even benefited from it.51 Heavy exposure to pornography leads men to judge their mates as sexually less attractive,52 resulting in less satisfaction with their affection, physical appearance, and sexual behavior.53 The need for more intense sexual stimulation brought on by pornography can lead to boredom in normal relationships and a greater likelihood of seeking sexual pleasure outside of marriage. Repeated exposure to pornography leads the viewer to consider “recreational sexual engagements” as increasingly important,54 and changes the viewer to being very accepting of sexual permissiveness.55 Distorted Perception. Pornography presents sexual access as relentless, “a sporting event that amounts to innocent fun” with inconsequential effects on emotions, perceptions, and health.56 This is not the case, however. Pornography leads to distorted perceptions of social reality: an exaggerated perception of the level of sexual activity in the general population,57 an inflated estimate “of the incidence of premarital and extramarital sexual activity, as well as increased assessment of male and female promiscuity,” “an overestimation of almost all sexual activities performed by sexually active adults,”58 and an overestimation of the general prevalence of perversions such as group sex, bestiality, and sadomasochistic activity.59 Thus, the beliefs being formed in the mind of the viewer of pornography are far removed from reality. A case could be made that repeated viewing of pornography induces a mental illness in matters sexual. These distortions result in an acceptance of three beliefs: (1) sexual relationships are recreational in nature, (2) men are generally sexually driven, and (3) women are sex objects or commodities.60 These are called “permission-giving beliefs” because they result in assumptions that one’s behavior is normal, acceptable, and commonplace, and thus not hurtful to anyone else.61 These beliefs are deepened and reinforced by masturbation while viewing pornography,62 a frequent practice among those who use pornography to deal with stress.63 Objectification and Degradation of Women. Pornography fosters the idea that the degradation of women is acceptable. Since males use pornography much more frequently than females,64 exposure to sexual and even semi-sexual material from the Internet, magazines, and television is associated with stronger notions that women are sex objects or sexual commodities.65 Men thus exposed are more likely to describe women in overtly sexual terms, rather than by other personal attributes.66 A study of widely distributed x-rated films by Gloria Cowan and colleagues, professors of psychology at California State University, San Bernardino, determined the range and extent of domination and sexual inequality depicted of women in a random selection of movies in family video rental stores in California. Physical aggression was present in 73 percent of the films, and rape scenes were present in 51 percent, with the woman as the victim every time. The films depicted gender-role inequalities as well, typically portraying the men as professionals and the women as school-girls, secretaries, or housewives.67 During the sexual scenes, the man usually remained at least partially clothed, whereas the woman was usually naked.68 Pornographic films also degrade women through “rape myth acceptance” scenes, which depict women being raped and ultimately enjoying the experience. These scenes foster the belief that women really “want” to be raped. Jeannette Norris of the University of Washington conducted a study in which a group of students read two versions of the same story depicting a woman being raped. The story, however, had two different endings: one version ended with the woman deeply distressed, the other ended with the woman seeming to enjoy herself. Even though the two stories were identical in every way except for the woman’s reaction at the end, the students viewed the scenario more positively when the story depicted the woman as enjoying the rape. They perceived the raped woman as having a greater “desire” to have sex and were thus more accepting of what the man had done.69 Women tend to view pornography as more degrading of women than men do. When a sample of students was asked about their feelings toward pornography, 72 percent of the young women but only 23 percent of the young men stated their feelings were negative. Moreover, when asked if pornography is degrading, almost 90 percent of young women, but only 65 percent of young men, agreed that pornography is degrading.70 Clinical Consequences STDs and Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancies. Since pornography encourages sexually permissive attitudes and behavior, users of pornography have a higher likelihood of contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or fathering an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Pornography’s frequent depiction of intercourse without condoms (87 percent of the time) is an invitation for the promiscuous to contract a STD,71 to have a child out of wedlock and to have multiple sex partners.72 Pornography also promotes sexual compulsiveness, which doubles the likelihood of being infected with a STD.73 Sexual Addiction. Pornography and “cybersex” are highly addictive and can lead to sexually compulsive behaviors (that decrease a person’s capacity to perform other major tasks in life). Over 90 percent of therapists surveyed in one study believed that a person could become addicted to “cybersex.”74 In an American survey, 57 percent of frequent viewers used online sexual activity to deal with stress.75 A 2006 Swedish study of regular Internet pornography users found that about six percent were compulsive users and that these compulsives also used much more non-Internet pornography as well.76 Addictive pornography use leads to lower self-esteem and a weakened ability to carry out a meaningful social and work life. A survey of pornography addicts found that they disliked the “out of control” feeling and the time consumption that their pornography use engendered. All reported they had felt distressed and experienced impairment in an important aspect of their lives as a result of their addiction. Almost half said their behavior had significant negative results in their social lives, and a quarter reported negative effects on their job.77 No wonder, then, that severe clinical depression was reported twice as frequently among Internet pornography users compared to non-users.78 Aggression and Abuse. Intense use of pornography is strongly related to sexual aggression,79 and among frequent viewers of pornography, there is a marked increase in sexual callousness, including the “rape myth acceptance” noted above.80 A significant portion of pornography is violent in content. A study of different pornographic media found violence in almost a quarter of magazine scenes, in more than a quarter of video scenes, and in almost half (over 42 percent) of online pornography. A second study found that almost half the violent Internet scenes included nonconsensual sex.81 The data suggest “a modest connection between exposure to pornography and subsequent behavioral aggression,”82 though when men consume violent pornography (i.e. depicting rape or torture), they are more likely to commit acts of sexual aggression.83 Pornography strongly affects psychotic men, who are more likely to act out their impulses.84 Consumption of nonviolent pornography also increases men’s self-acknowledged willingness to force compliance with their particular sexual desires on reluctant partners.85 And though there are conflicting data on the relative effects of violent versus non-violent pornography,86 there is little doubt that the consumption of pornography leads to a significant increase in “rape myth acceptance,”87 which involves a reduction of sympathy with rape victims and a trivialization of rape as a criminal offense,88 a diminished concern about child sexual abuse, short of the rape of children,89 and an increased preparedness to resort to rape.90 One study at a rape crisis center interviewed 100 sexually abused women to determine if pornography played a role in any past incidences of sexual abuse. While 58 percent could not say, 28 percent stated that their abuser had in fact used pornography. Of these women, 40 percent reported that pornography actually played a role in the abusive incident they experienced. In some cases, the abuser had watched pornography before abusing the woman, in one case he used pornography while committing the abuse, and in yet some other cases he forced his victim to participate in the making of a pornographic film.91 Sex Offenders and Pornography. Pornography viewing and sexual offense are inextricably linked. One study of convicted Internet sexual offenders reported that they spent more than eleven hours per week viewing pornographic images of children on the Internet.92 Another study compared two groups of offenders: those convicted of Internet collection and distribution of child pornography images, and those who commit real life child sex abuse. The results showed that a majority of those who were convicted of only Internet-based offenses also had committed real life sexual abuse of children. Moreover, the study also found that real life offenders had committed an average of over 13 different child sex abuse offenses, irrespective of whether they had formally been convicted of any real life incident.93 A study of sex offenders revealed significant differences in adolescent pornography use as well as current use. Significant proportions of different types of rapists and molesters had used hard-core pornography during their adolescence: 33 percent of heterosexual child molesters, 39 percent of homosexual child molesters, and 33 percent of rapists. The current use of hard-core pornography was even greater for these groups: 67 percent of heterosexual child molesters, 67 percent of homosexual child molesters, and 83 percent of rapists, contrasted with 29 percent of non-offending pornography viewers. About a third of the sex offenders reported using pornography as a deliberate stimulus to commit their sexual offenses.94 Conclusion The cultural censure of disordered sexuality that enables stable family life has faded with the proliferation of Internet pornography. As a result, the effects of hyper-sexualization permeate society.95 Today’s youth are reaching puberty earlier, engaging in sexual intercourse sooner, while “Emerging Adults” are cohabiting more, having children out of wedlock, and getting married significantly later or not at all. The key to militating against these damaging patterns and to protecting against the effects of pornography is to foster relationships of affection and attachment in family. The first and most important relationship is between the father and mother. The second is engaged parents who love their children. In today’s technological society, this means limiting, monitoring, and directing their children’s Internet use. This, in turn, provides an invaluable shield against Internet pornography, and allows room for a healthy sexuality to unfold in a natural and socially supported way. In our over-sexualized culture, with a longer pre-marriage period, children need the capacity for abstinence if their sexuality is to be channeled into stable marriage, procreation, and healthy family life for their children. Strong families remain the best defense against the negative effects of pornography, especially when aided by regular religious worship with all the benefits it brings.96 Finally, the fundamental role of government (including the courts) is to protect innocent citizens, most especially children, and to protect the sound functioning of the basic institutions of family, church, school, marketplace, and government. They are all interdependent. Pornography, clearly, undermines both marriage and the family, and has a host of ill effects. It is time for government to reassess its laissez-faire attitude towards the proliferation of pornography, especially on the Internet. Our present and future families need protection from this insidious enemy of love, affection, family and social stability. Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D. is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Marriage and Religion Research at the Family Research Council, Washington, D.C. Endnotes
Copyright © 2010. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.
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