Violence

Open Access: No.

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested a substantial number of men who have sex with men (MSM) have consumed and used pornography to learn about same-sex sexual behaviors. Yet, past research  has focused almost exclusively on condom-use in the category of Gay pornography and ignored the types of sexual behaviors and aggression depicted within the content. This study examined  aggression and sexual behaviors depicted in Gay online pornography (N = 415). We found fellatio and anal sex were the most common behaviors, occurring in roughly two-thirds of scenes, while  kissing occurred in less than a third of scenes. Additionally, sexual aggression occurred in 31% of scenes, with spanking being the most common, occurring in 20% of scenes. Anal sex and forced  fellatio were found to be predictors of physical aggression. These findings point to normalization of aggression and narrow sexual behaviors in Gay pornography, which may have implications for  MSM’s norm perceptions related to sexuality.

Relevance

In this study of gay pornography almost 50% scenes depicting anal sex did not show condom use, 27% of scenes showing fellatio included depictions of forced or aggressive fellatio, and 31% of scenes depicted at least one act of physical aggression, typically spanking. Additionally, compared to studies of actual sex between men, gay pornography grossly under-represents kissing, “reinforcing a script of casual, non-intimate sex,” and over-represents the occurrence of anal sex.

Citation

Fritz, N., & Bowling, J. (2023). Sexual Behaviors and Aggression in Gay Pornography. Journal of homosexuality, 70(14), 3353–3373. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2022.2093688