Dangers of Pornography: Sexism and Mental Health
Fury Basso-Davis | November 6, 2024
Pornography and Sexist Attitudes Among Heterosexuals, an article written by Neil Malamuth, Gert Martin Hald and Theis Lange and published in the Journal of Communication says that pornography can increase aggression, cause self-isolation and increase sexist and misogynistic attitudes as well as violence. Addiction Help states statistics suggest that 69% of American men watch pornography and 40% of women in America watch it.
Porn addiction looks like other addictions in the way that an urge is satisfied, yet in other ways, they look very different. Valerie Voon, a researcher at Cambridge University, says that evidence suggests that the overconsumption of pornography can lead to a habit and a desire for more stimuli.
“Although I wouldn’t yet call it an addiction, it certainly is a compulsive sexual behavior, and there is no question that for some people excessive and compulsive use has led to difficulties in relationships, lost jobs due to watching porn at work, and even suicide attempts,” Voon says.
Dr. Neil Malamuth is an interdisciplinary social scientist focusing on violence and conflict, emphasizing mass media effects wrote that decades of research have shown that men who watch porn excessively are more likely to show sexist attitudes and are more likely to engage in coercive behaviors. According to his biography on the UCLA website, most of his research is focused on identifying the characteristics of men who commit sexual aggression against women.
An article from Science Direct explains that pornography pushes roles and expectations on how one should look and perform during sexual encounters, which can influence sexual behaviors in men and women. Also from Science Direct, analysts have said that porn portrays women in degrading and objectifying ways, including female submission and male domination. When these types of stereotypes are portrayed, women are shown as submissive and controllable objects while men are shown as the dominating ones, which emphasizes male pleasure. The inclusion of dominating women emphasizes men's attitudes toward gendered stereotypes and sexist ideas of women.
“Pornography is a mode of externalized sexism that provides a form of mediated domination and exploitation that bypasses the usual mechanisms of personal moral evaluation. In this way, pornography represents a significant obstacle to overcoming sexist oppression and should remain a feminist topic of serious concern,” says Amanda Cawston, an assistant professor with the philosophy department at the University of Tilburg.
The objectification of women in pornography is not the only issue at hand. Pornography also promotes unfair expectations of how men should act during sex, and an unfair construction of what masculinity should look like. Not only does this affect young men, but it also promotes violence against women, intentional or not. The overconsumption of porn in men can influence how they act causing them to pick up on the sexist attitudes seen in pornography reports from Science Direct state.
On the other hand, women who consume large amounts of pornography are more likely to experience low self-esteem, sexual assault and violence as well as increased marital rape, according to End Sexual Exploitation.
In an article published by Michelle Brock in RELEVANT, she included a quote from a 23-year-old woman who said her addiction began with romantic, soft-core porn, but gradually morphed into a desire for violent, degrading acts.
“I craved my next porn fix all day long. I hid from my family and loved ones to feed my increasingly disturbing appetite,” the woman said. “I taught my body to respond only to very specific stimulation, and this carried over into my marriage. I taught myself that I deserved to be hurt, like the women in porn are hurt. I taught myself that I deserved only domination, pain, disrespect and abuse…I taught myself that I had to let men do what they wanted to me. That was all I was worth. I could have no preference. It has taken years of counseling, communication, and redemptive healing to work through those issues. My porn addiction became a central tenet of who I was, my core identity. It was confusing, traumatizing, and devastating. What hurt most of all was the belief that I was the only one.”
The Prospector, another college news source, included how pornography is a breeding ground for poor mental health in women and depicts unrealistic body standards. Even if women are not the ones watching porn, they can still be affected by the negative impacts it can have on male partners. In relationships, this can impact the dynamic by causing lower rates of sexual satisfaction and can worsen the quality of the relationship. Fight the New Drug says women whose male partners watch porn are also more likely to feel more objectified, and are even likely to develop disordered eating patterns.
Not surprisingly, in the porn industry, female porn stars are likely to experience violence and mistreatment by costars and staff on set. Many women in the porn industry have said that they have been exploited, dehumanized and trafficked in the industry. Fight the New Drug also states that analysts have found that at least 1 in 3 and as many as 9 in 10 porn videos show violence or aggression — and that women are the targets about 97% of the time.
Pornography affects everyone in different ways whether it be how they view others or themselves. The topic of pornography, however, is considered “taboo” which can stop important discussions from happening. Until the silence around this topic is broken, the complex impacts of pornography will continue, allowing the negative consequences to continue to go unnoticed. Whether it is objectification or unrealistic expectations of intimacy, the effects that pornography has on those who watch it will come out beyond the screen. Without taking this issue head-on, people allow a harmful normalization of what sex is and what it should look like. Although these conversations may be uncomfortable to have, they are a necessary part of raising awareness around pornography and its potentially harmful impact. Until these conversations happen, the effects of pornography will continue in silence and cause societal harm.