Research on sex media has often been divided into two categories, depending on whether the sexual stimuli are embedded within a larger context or not. The first type, illustrated by a TV soap opera in which some of the scenes, although typically not a majority, include references to or actual portrayals of sexual interactions, depicted in varying degrees of sexual explicitness. The second category, typically referred to as “pornography,” is primarily intended to sexually arouse the consumer and contains mostly explicitly sexual content.
The most influential theory guiding research in this area has been social learning theory, with emphasis on the concept of “reciprocal determinism,” referring to a continuous reciprocal interaction between the person and the social environment. Thus, people seek out certain types of media that reflect their personalities, interests, attitudes, social interactions, and so forth, and such media experiences in turn may influence these personal characteristics, both directly, and indirectly via influences on peers and others in their social environment. In contrast to people who voluntarily seek out sexual media, there are also those who report unwanted exposure, particularly on the Internet. Surveys reveal that 25 percent of young Internet users per year are exposed to unwanted sexual pictures and about 20 percent receive unwanted sexual solicitations, with about a quarter of these unwanted exposures described by users as distressing or upsetting (Mitchell et al. 2003).
Embedded Sexual Content
Content analyses have generally shown dramatic increases in sexual content in the past two decades in media such as television and movies. Moreover, only a small fraction emphasizes any risks or advantages of birth control or abstinence (Kunkel et al. 2003).
Surveys of teens generally indicate that they rank entertainment media as a very powerful source of influence for shaping their knowledge and views about sexuality and sexual health, and they believe that such media do exert much pressure on them to become sexually active. Systematic studies of whether such effects occur have shown media experiences as one of the complex interacting factors that do have significant influences for many, albeit not all, people (Ward 2003). The data have primarily derived from (1) correlational research in naturalistic settings, and (2) experimental research designs, usually limited to laboratory settings. When the findings have converged from both types of methodologies, the ability to infer causation in naturalistic settings has improved, although caution is certainly needed in inferring causation based on correlational data alone. There have also been some longitudinal data, particularly useful for ascertaining long-term media effects.
For example, in one study investigators used a national telephone survey in the US in 2001 and 2002 that surveyed 1792 adolescents twice, 1 year apart. Important associations were found between amount of sexual content viewed at Time 1 and sexual behavior at Time 2. For example, the likelihood that adolescents would have sexual intercourse over the year in question doubled for those adolescents residing in the 90th percentile in their exposure to sexual TV content as against those in the 10th percentile (Collins et al. 2004). Another large longitudinal study that surveyed white and black adolescents from the southeastern US found media effects for the former but not the latter. After controlling for factors such as parental disapproval of teenage sex and peer sexual norms, the subsequent sexual behaviors of black adolescents was unaffected by baseline sexual media diet (SMD). In contrast, for white teens, even after controlling for other factors, those who had reported the largest SMD at baseline (i.e., those in the top quintile) were 2.2 times more likely than those in the bottom quintile to have had sexual intercourse two years later (Brown et al. 2006).
Results from nonlongitudinal research have also pointed to some significant associations that need to take other factors into account as well. A 2006 study assessing effects of SMD in relation to other contextual factors found that SMD accounted for more of the variance in adolescent intentions to have sexual intercourse than religious and school factors, but less than peer, parent, and demographic factors. After controlling for these other factors, SMD added a small but significant contribution to the prediction of adolescent sexual intentions (L’Engle et al. 2006).
Relatively reliable effects of media on attitudinal variables have been found regarding exposure to highly sexual media genres, e.g., soap operas and music videos. These studies also suggest that individual difference factors such as viewer involvement may be influential in determining outcome behaviors. Correlational research has found that greater exposure to or involvement with soap operas and music videos can result in more stereotypical sexual attitudes, greater endorsement of dysfunctional relationship models, and greater acceptance of sexual harassment (Ward 2003; Pardun et al. 2005).
In laboratory experiments (i.e., one group is exposed to sexual content, another to neutral content, with the two groups then compared on outcome measures), too, evidence suggests that participants exposed to highly sexual media genres become more accepting of casual and stereotypical attitudes about sex and relationships, and that their real-world perceptions come to reflect their media exposure. For example, students exposed to stereotypic music videos are subsequently more accepting of sexual harassment than are students exposed to neutral media content (Ward 2003). Although many experimentally induced attitudinal changes are likely temporary, to the extent that experimental conditions are habitually replicated in real-world environments, enduring attitudinal changes can be expected.
Total media exposure (e.g., total television viewing) has not been linked with behavioral changes, but specific genres such as music videos and soap operas have yielded stronger results (Ward 2003). Frequent viewing of music videos is associated with more sexual experience and more sexual partners for young women. For men, frequent viewing of soap operas has shown similar associations. Lastly, longitudinal studies demonstrate predictive relationships between sexual media exposure and early initiation of sexual behaviors, although associations may vary by demographic variables such as race and age (Brown et al. 2006).
Pornography
People who seek out sexual images in one type of media often also seek it in other media. For example, among 745 Dutch adolescents, a very high correlation was found between frequency of exposure to sexually explicit content on the Internet and to R- and X-rated TV, movies, and magazines (Peter & Valkenburg 2006).
Although both genders show considerable pornography use in many cultures, research has shown that males are much more likely to be the consumers and to use it, particularly as masturbatory stimuli, across all cultures (Malamuth 1996).
Although experimental and correlational studies have provided most of the data, there have also been a few aggregate studies that examine larger populations rather than individuals. Some research has extended the findings with “embedded sexual media.” For instance, in a recent survey of 2,001 Taiwanese adolescents, 38 percent of whom indicated that they had accessed pornographic websites, significant correlations were found between Internet pornography exposure and permissive sexual attitudes and behavior, even with demographic variables, general media use, and exposure to traditional pornography controlled for statistically (Lo & Wei 2005). Exposure to Internet pornography showed even stronger associations with sexual attitudes and behavior than did exposure to traditional pornography.
The focus of many of the other pornography research studies has addressed concerns about aggression against women. It has been asserted that certain types of pornography, particularly those presenting nonconsenting or violent images, might cause changes in sexual arousal patterns, fantasies, attitudes, or behaviors, increasing such aggression. Some other research has also focused on potential adverse effects of nonviolent pornography use on family values (Zillmann 1994).
The research has been integrated in various meta-analyses and reviews. These have generally reported that greater exposure to pornography (both violent and nonviolent) may be associated with increased acceptance of violence against women and aggression toward women, and other research also suggests negative changes in family values. The type of pornography people are exposed to does seem to make a difference. For example, depictions of nudity only actually reduce rather than increase aggressive tendencies in laboratory studies, while exposure to violent pornography appears to increase aggressive tendencies (Allen et al. 1995). In correlational studies focusing on consumption in naturalistic settings, however, it has been more difficult to separate consumption of different types of pornography, since consumers typically consume various types, and it has been concluded that higher levels of consumption of even some forms of nonaggressive pornography may be associated with increased risk for sexual aggression. Any causal interpretation of such correlational data must, of course, consider the possibility that pornography may be spurious and a “marker” for other risk factors. For example, more generally hostile, antisocial individuals may be more likely to use aggression in sexual interactions and may also be drawn to pornography due to its impersonal opportunity to exert control over a member of the opposite sex.
The third type of research has examined in various cultures how much pornography is being consumed in society at large or in a particular region of the country at large, and changes in such consumption over time. Such changes have then been correlated with other changes in the society, such as changes in sexual crimes (Wongsurawat 2006). In contrast to the conclusions emerging from the studies described above, these types of population-level studies actually suggest that increased pornography consumption may be associated with decreases in sexual crimes in society. Although such research has provided an interesting window regarding varied cultures, one problem is that it is difficult to relate changes at the larger societal level to individual behavior. Also, there are typically many other changes that have occurred in a society at the same time as changes in pornography consumption have been happening. Nevertheless, these studies do raise important cautions about any sweeping generalizations about pornography’s effects on varying individuals and in differing cultural environments.
Although the meta-analyses described above indicated that there is generally some association between consumption of pornography and aggression against women and that the associations are typically stronger for nonconsenting adult pornography than for other types of pornography, some earlier studies and particularly more recent ones conducted since these meta-analyses have particularly focused on individual differences among consumers. In the area of aggression against women, research suggests that if a man already has relatively strong tendencies to be aggressive, then heavy pornography consumption may “add fuel to the fire” and increase his aggressive tendencies. This seems to be particularly likely if the type of pornography he is sexually aroused by includes nonconsenting content. On the other hand, if a man has little risk for being aggressive toward women as defined by researchers (i.e., the majority of the male population) then whether or not he consumes much pornography does not significantly affect his risk for being aggressive toward women (Vega & Malamuth 2007).
References:
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