Violence

Open Access: No.

Abstract

This article analyzes the content of 172 popular videos from the pornographic website PornHub.com. Although I found no difference between the levels of aggression in videos featuring teenage performers and those featuring adult performers, the former were more likely to have a title that suggests aggression and to include anal penetration and facial ejaculation. In addition, although all female performers were more likely to express pleasure following aggression, this association was stronger in videos featuring teenage performers. These videos portray aggression and degradation as both consensual— i.e., men dominating willing women—and sensual— i.e., producing pleasure for both men and women.

Relevance

“Videos featuring female teenagers were about three times more likely to receive a title that suggests aggression compared with those featuring an adult female performer. ”

Teenage performers, when compared to adults, were five times more likely “to take part in videos featuring forceful anal penetration (with an apparent intent to cause pain).” Teens, too, were more likely have male performers subject them to demeaning acts, such as ejaculating on their face.

The videos, too, showed “a general tendency among female performers to  react favorably (showing pleasure or even climaxing) to various acts of  physical aggression” – even more so when the videos featured teenagers. Hence, “where teenage performers were more likely than older performers to react to aggressive acts by displaying pleasure.”

As a result, these videos suggest “that female performers–in particular young performers–enjoy aggressive sex more than they do nonaggressive sexual acts. Even when they do not appear to enjoy these acts (such as in cases where the acts clearly elicit painful responses or requests to cease), this response is likely to change later in the video and never provides grounds for terminating the sexual interaction. This fact signals that aggression is normative and either enhances or simply does not interfere with women’s (especially young women’s) ability to experience sexual pleasure.”

Hence, “a considerable portion of popular pornographic videos does legitimate and even celebrate aggression and degradation by portraying these acts as both consensual—showing the dominance and aggression of men over willing women—and sensual—producing pleasure and satisfaction for both men and women. That is, these videos still reinforce the idea that women desire and derive pleasure from aggressive and degrading sexual practices, an idea that serves to perpetuate a rape culture.”

“Moreover, the findings reveal that the image of pleasure following aggression is particularly common in videos that include adolescent women (or female performers who depict adolescents).”

“When young women watch videos of their peers, in which aggressive and degrading acts are mostly associated with pleasure, they may feel pressures to also enjoy (or at least pretend to enjoy) such acts. Young men may also find such scripts limiting and distressing as these seem to demand that they act aggressively against their romantic and sexual partners if they wish to satisfy their partners’ sexual fantasies and urges.”

“Finally, beyond its effect on younger viewers, pornography featuring teenage performers enjoying (aggressive) sex with older men may also be problematic because of its potential contribution to notions of minors as legitimate targets for sexual encounters and sexual aggression and, consequently, to the abuse of teenagers and children.”

Citation

Shor E. (2019). Age, Aggression, and Pleasure in Popular Online Pornographic Videos. Violence against women, 25(8), 1018–1036. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801218804101