Violence

Full Article Name: A Descriptive Analysis of the Types, Targets, and Relative Frequency of Aggression in Mainstream Pornography

Open Access: No

Abstract

For decades, scholars and public health officials have been concerned with the depictions of sexual aggression in pornography, especially when acts of aggression are depicted with no consequences. Social cognitive theory suggests behaviors that are rewarded are more likely to be learned by consumers while those punished are less likely to be learned. To date, however, there has not been a large-scale content analysis to provide researchers with the baseline knowledge of the amount of sexual aggression in online pornography nor have previous content analyses examined the reactions of the targets of sexual aggression. This study of 4009 heterosexual scenes from two major free pornographic tube sites (Pornhub and Xvideos) sought to provide this baseline. Overall, 45% of Pornhub scenes included at least one act of physical aggression, while 35% of scenes from Xvideos contained aggression. Spanking, gagging, slapping, hair pulling, and choking were the five most common forms of physical aggression. Women were the target of the aggression in 97% of the scenes, and their response to aggression was either neutral or positive and rarely negative. Men were the perpetrators of aggression against women in 76% of scenes. Finally, examining the 10 most populous categories, the Amateur and Teen categories in Xvideos and the Amateur category in Pornhub had significantly less aggression, while the Xvideos Hardcore category had significantly more physical aggression against women. This study suggests aggression is common against women in online pornography, while repercussions to this aggression are rarely portrayed.

Relevance

“The current study found that physical aggression was substantially more common in online pornographic videos than verbal aggression. Although this study did not record the content of every insult, many insults were gender-specific, such as calling a woman a “bitch” or “slut.”

“..more extreme aggression such as mutilating, kicking, punching, or using a weapon occurred relatively infrequently across the videos in the sample. [But, Culture Reframed notes, they did occur.] While “extreme” types of aggression were rare, the greater prevalence of milder versions of aggression such as spanking suggests to viewers that such acts are normative without explicit verbal consent as part of sexual behavior.”

“The findings indicate women’s response to both physical and verbal aggression is overwhelmingly positive or neutral, demonstrating either explicit or implicit affirmations of pleasure…it is problematic if women respond to aggression appetitively, or by displaying no reaction at all…If the only responses seen when women are the target of aggression are pleasure or non-response, male viewers may assume women either enjoy aggression or that their feelings or feedback regarding aggression is simply not important. This may normalize a script of a woman’s body as an object or recipient of aggression. Women may also learn that they are supposed to experience pleasure with aggression or that they should ignore any discomfort they do experience and give a neutral response. This general lack of displeasure by women in response to seemingly unpleasant occurrences in pornography implies they should enjoy all sexual behaviors enacted upon them.”

“This study suggests that a significant portion of pornography contains depictions of aggression against women with no negative responses from targets; this may lead to the development
among consumers of a sexual script that encourages the learning of aggression against women.”

Citation

Fritz, 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, (20200713). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0