Men who watch porn at a young age more likely to want to dominate women, study finds

The link between porn viewing habits and male attitudes to women has been long been attested. Now, new research has found evidence that these claims may hold scientific significance.

The study from the University of Nebraska shows that the age a man first encounters pornography will shape his later attitude to women, with significant differences between younger and older viewers and their adherence to certain sexist attitudes.

Researchers surveyed 330 men, between 17 and 54 years old, about their first encounter with pornography. They then asked the men to respond to a series of questions to determine their general approach to women.

The team found that the younger a man is when he first views pornography, the more likely he is to “want power over women”. Those who first encountered pornography when they were older, on the other hand, are more likely to engage in sexually promiscuous “playboy” behaviour.

“The most interesting finding from this study was that older age at first exposure predicted greater adherence to the playboy masculine norms,” noted Chrissy Richardson, who co-authored the study. “That finding has sparked many more questions and potential research ideas because it was so unexpected based on what we know about gender role socialisation and media exposure.”

The data additionally found that the average age of first exposure to pornography was 13.37 years of age, with the youngest age of the group being five and the oldest being 26. The study also asked about the nature of that first encounter, with 43.5% claiming it had been accidental and 33.4% that it had been intentional. More than 17% said it had been forced, and 6% didn’t indicate the nature of the encounter.

The researchers found no correlation between nature of exposure and attitudes to women, which went against their predictions. They did, however, note that more work needed to be done to determine how other factors impact the results, such as whether the first experience was positive or negative, the subjects’ religiosity and sexual performance anxiety. The participants in this study were also 93% heterosexual and 85% white, so race and sexuality presumably need to be taken into consideration. A survey size of 330 is also far from wide ranging.  

Despite its limitations, Richardson claimed the study, presented at the 25th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, provides further evidence porn has a definite impact on heterosexual men. She noted that knowing more about young men’s relationship with pornography and attitudes to women could help prevent sexual assault, and to treatment of emotional issued experienced by young heterosexual men that have viewed pornography.  

In the UK, measures are being rolled out to make it harder for under 18s to access online pornography. ID checks, as part of the Digital Economy Act, will encompass age-verification rules for sites that provide porn “on a commercial basis” to UK viewers. While the specifics of the measures have yet to be announced, there are reports that this could include the use of credit card information to prove a user’s age. Those opposing the measures point to the fact that giving adult sites access to huge swathes of credit card information could allow those companies to build databases of user’s porn habits, and that this may also be vulnerable to hacking.