Violence

Open Access: Yes.

Abstract

Background: Although the acceptance of sexual aggression myths (ASAM) has been intensively studied over the past 30 years, there is still a lack of conclusive information on its relationships with a given set of cognitive and behavioral variables.

Objective: This study aimed to examine to what extent sexual coercion, compulsive cyberporn use (CCU), arousing cyberporn scenes, moral incongruence, impulsivity, and sexual self-esteem can predict the ASAM—assessed with the Acceptance of Modern Myths About Sexual Aggression (AMMSA) score—among people who use cyberporn.

Methods: Overall, 1557 English speakers who used cyberporn at least once during the previous 6 months (mean age 33.3, SD 10.9 years; men: n=1000, 64.2%; women: n=557, 35.8%) were included in this study after completing an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included measures of the AMMSA, sexual coercion experiences including perpetration and victimization, CCU, arousing cyberporn scenes, moral incongruence, impulsivity, and sexual self-esteem. Data analytics included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, analysis of variance, and multivariate linear regression.

Results: Male participants had significantly higher scores than their female counterparts regarding the following variables: AMMSA (t1551=12.46, P<.001), sexual violence perpetration (t1551=3.10, P<.001), CCU (t1551=8.05, P=.003), aroused by “groups with several females” porn scenes (t1551=8.71, P=.002), and age (t1551=7.11, P<.001). Female participants had significantly greater mean scores than their male counterparts regarding the following variables: sexual violence victimization (t1551=−11, P<.001), aroused by “submission” pornographic scenes (t1551=−5, P<.001), aroused by “soft” pornographic scenes (t1551=−2.40, P=.03), and aroused by “groups with several males” pornographic scenes (t1551=−5.93, P<.001). Among the male participants, AMMSA scores were significantly predicted by scores of sexual coercion (both perpetration and victimization; β=.042, P<.001 and β=.023, P=.03, respectively), CCU (β=.339, P<.001), arousing cyberporn scenes displaying humiliation and groups of males (β=.136, P=.003), sexual self-esteem (β=.164, P<.001), and moral incongruence (β=.131, P<.001). Among the female participants, AMMSA scores were significantly predicted by the scores of sexual coercion perpetration (β=.060, P<.001), CCU (β=.287, P<.001), arousing cyberporn scenes with several females (β=−.111, P=.02), sexual self-esteem (β=.188, P<.001), and age (β=.025, P<.001). Age emerged as a distinct factor in women, with older. participants more inclined to accept sexual aggression myths.

Conclusions: This study identified key psychological and behavioral correlates of the ASAM across genders. CCU, sexual coercion perpetration, and sexual self-esteem predicted the ASAM. Impulsivity and moral incongruence were salient among men, and age was salient among women. Gender differences emerged in arousal of pornographic content.

Relevance

Sexual aggression myths, which include rape myths, are “false beliefs about sexual aggression, survivors, and sexual offenders that create an adverse atmosphere for survivors, including justifications for coercion, victim blaming, and gendered power dynamics.” These myths distort the reality of sexual violence and reinforce harmful stereotypes that perpetuate misogyny and “uphold male sexual dominance and minimize or excuse acts of aggression.” Among both men and women, higher use of pornography were linked to higher endorsement of sexual aggression myth. For men, moreover, this was especially true for the consumption of pornographic content featuring humiliation.

Citation