Reports & Summaries
Understanding the Harms of Pornography
Full Article Name: Understanding the Harms of Pornography: The Contributions of Social Scientific Knowledge
Open Access: Yes
Abstract
Pornography affects millions of people’s relationships, attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviors. This is not surprising because porn is, as documented by a wealth of research and Culture Reframed resources, widely used, produced and distributed around the world. Indeed, porn consumption is not a rare act committed by a small group of pathological people. There is much cultural and health-related damage associated with porn, and social scientists, particularly psychologists and sociologists, continue to advance a rich empirical understanding of its harmful impacts. This report briefly reviews social scientific knowledge about the harms of porn and suggests new directions in research. Following in the footsteps of the contributors to the anthology Violence Against Women and Children: Mapping the Terrain,1 these three questions will be addressed: What do we know? How do we know it? What are the next steps? First, however, it is necessary to define the terms social science and pornography.
Citation
DeKeseredy, W. S. (2020). Understanding the harms of pornography: The contributions of social scientific knowledge. Prepared for Culture Reframed. https://www.culturereframed. org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/CR_Harms_of_Porn_Report_2020.pdf