Watching pornography gender differences violence and victimization: An exploratory study in Italy (2011)

 2011 Oct;17(10):1313-26. doi: 10.1177/1077801211424555

Romito P1, Beltramini L.

Source

1University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.

Abstract

The aims of this article are to analyze exposure to pornography, its content, and the associations between victimization and pornography in a sample of 303 students (49.2% female). The questionnaire included questions on pornography exposure, psychological and physical family violence, and sexual violence.

Almost all male students and 67% of female students had ever watched pornography; 42% and 32%, respectively, had watched violence against women. Female students exposed to family psychological violence and to sexual violence were significantly more likely to watch pornography, especially violent pornography than those who had not been exposed.

No such association was found among male students.


 

More about it 

More recently, Romito and Beltrami described the content of pornography watched by young Italian students, aged 18—25, analyzing the link between having experienced psychological and physical family violence and/or sexual violence and pornography use (Romito and Beltrami, 2011). The results indicated that male students were 5 times more likely to watch pornography than female ones; they started earlier and more frequently on their own initiative, found pornography more sexually exciting, and reacted less often with fear or disgust. In particular, 42% of males and 32% of females watched violence against women, including extreme degradation, rape, torture, and murder; 33% of males and 26% of females watched depictions of women seeming to enjoy the violence inflicted on them. In addition, a significant minority watched pornography containing sex with animals, sadomasochism, and women torturing men.