Analyses revealed direct and indirect associations between frequent pornography consumption and greater sexual functioning through greater sexual flexibility in women, but not in men

Associations Between Pornography Consumption, Sexual Flexibility, and Sexual Functioning Among Austrian Adults. Nikola Komlenac & Margarethe Hochleitner. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Jan 4 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02201-7

Abstract: To date, only a few studies have examined the associations between pornography consumption and sexual functioning. The Acquisition, Activation, Application Model (3AM) indicates that the frequency of pornography consumption and the perceived realism of pornography may influence whether sexual scripts are acquired from viewed pornography. Having sexual scripts that are alternative to their preferred sexual behaviors may help people switch to alternative sexual behavior when sexual problems arise. The current study analyzed whether frequent pornography consumption was associated with greater sexual flexibility and greater sexual functioning. Additionally, the perceived realism of pornography consumption was tested as a moderator of those associations. At an Austrian medical university, an online cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among 644 medical students (54% women and 46% men; Mage = 24.1 years, SD = 3.8). The participants were asked about their pornography consumption, partnered sexual activity, sexual flexibility, perceived realism of pornography, and sexual functioning. Manifest path analyses revealed direct and indirect associations between frequent pornography consumption and greater sexual functioning through greater sexual flexibility in women but not in men. Perceived realism did not moderate those associations. In conclusion, our study was in line with previous studies that found no significant associations between men’s pornography consumption and sexual functioning in men. However, some women may expand their sexual scripts and learn new sexual behaviors from pornography consumption, which may help with their sexual functioning.

Discussion

The current study found a direct association between frequent pornography consumption and greater sexual functioning in women but not in men (H1). Additionally, an indirect link between frequent pornography consumption and greater sexual functioning through the mediator of sexual flexibility was found in women (H2). The perceived realism of pornographic material did not moderate the found associations (H3).

Frequent Pornography Consumption and Greater Sexual Functioning in Women

Our study supports previous findings that revealed no associations between men’s pornography consumption and sexual functioning (Landripet & Štulhofer, 2015; Prause & Pfaus, 2015). Moreover, our study adds to the literature by providing findings on such associations for women. In contrast to other studies that have analyzed this link (Berger et al., 2019; Wright et al., 2021), we found an association between women’s frequent pornography consumption and greater sexual functioning (Bőthe et al., 2021).

The majority of pornographic content depicts two actors who engage in genital stimulation, oral stimulation, or vaginal intercourse (Gorman et al., 2010; Vannier et al., 2014). Such pornographic material may help women expand their sexual scripts, learn new rewarding sexual behaviors, and thereby increase their sexual flexibility. For example, learning about oral-genital activity has been most frequently cited in this regard (Weinberg et al., 2010). This finding is supported by additional findings showing that women who consume pornography more frequently have oral sexual activity than do women who do not consume pornography (Brown & L'Engle, 2009).

The current finding of associations between frequent pornography consumption and greater sexual functioning is further supported by studies that report consumers’ self-perceived effects of their pornography consumption. Such studies report that people self-perceive positive effects of pornography consumption on their sexuality rather than negative consequences (Daneback et al., 2009; Hald & Malamuth, 2008; Weinberg et al., 2010).

The current study’s findings, as well as the findings of past studies, may encourage some clinical practitioners to use pornography in psychosexual therapy to instruct or show clients new or alternative sexual behaviors (Brewster & Wylie, 2008). Such material may, for example, include portrayals of adult solo and mutual masturbation and oral, vaginal, and anal sexual activity. Such material may encourage clients to explore alternative sexual activities when problems occur during preferred sexual behaviors. Furthermore, such material may help with the understanding and acceptance of certain sexual behaviors (Watson & Smith, 2012). However, one must also bear ethical implications in mind when using pornography in psychosexual therapy. Some clients might find the use of pornographic material challenging and distressing because of their attitudes or past experiences (Rhoades, 2007). Therefore, clinicians must evaluate a client’s readiness to view pornographic material. Additionally, some other sexual health concerns, such as relationship problems, may contraindicate the use of pornographic material (Miller et al., 2019; Wright et al., 2017).

Alternative Explanations

Our hypothesis that the link between pornography consumption and sexual functioning is stronger for people who perceive pornography as realistic than for people who do not perceive such content to be realistic was not supported by our findings. As is the main problem with most cross-sectional studies, the current cross-sectional study does not permit any conclusions about the directionality or causality of the found associations. The associations found between pornography consumption and sexual flexibility could mean that women who are already open and flexible in their approach to sexuality are more likely to consume pornography than are women who are limited in regard to their sexual flexibility. In such a case, one’s perceived realism of pornography is unlikely to influence the association.

The Antecedents-Context-Effects Model (Campbell & Kohut, 2017) exemplifies the problem that most of the studies about pornography do not consider the factors or traits that make a person more likely to consume pornography. Thus, many studies do not consider the so-called antecedents of pornography consumption. In some cases, those antecedents and not pornography consumption may be a better explanation for the found links between pornography consumption and components of sexual health (Campbell & Kohut, 2017). This also applies to our study and the hypothesized associations between sexual flexibility, sexual functioning and pornography consumption. Future studies of the links between pornography consumption and sexual health should consider potential factors that may explain pornography consumption and assumed effects of pornography consumption. Additionally, future longitudinal studies or experimental studies are needed to shed light on the directionality of the found associations.

Even though pornography consumption was seen to be indirectly associated with sexual functioning through sexual flexibility, sexual flexibility could not fully explain the association between pornography consumption and sexual functioning. The considerable direct effect between pornography consumption and sexual functioning indicates that further studies need to include additional mediators to explain the found associations. For example, women who consume pornography may be more likely to know their own sexual interests and desires and in turn be willing and able to communicate their preferences during partnered sexual activity (Weinberg et al., 2010). The ability to communicate sexual preferences has been reported to be associated with greater sexual satisfaction in women (Blunt-Vinti et al., 2019; Herbenick et al., 2019).

Gender Differences

The current study replicated the previously known finding that men consume pornography more frequently than women (Landripet & Štulhofer, 2015; Miller et al., 2019; Sun et al., 2016). Additional gender differences became evident, as hypothesized associations between pornography consumption, sexual flexibility, and sexual functioning were supported only in women but not in men.

Notably, an association was observed between frequent pornography consumption and greater sexual flexibility in men. However, sexual flexibility, in turn, was not linked to sexual functioning. One explanation for the different findings in women and men may be explained by the methods used to assess sexual functioning in women and men. For women, we used the FSFI-6, which includes many domains of sexual functioning. The erectile functioning scale of the IIEF, in contrast, contains questions only about erectile functioning. Thus, associations between men’s frequency of pornography consumption and other components of sexual functioning may have been missed because this scale was used. There is evidence that pornography consumption may be positively associated with men’s sexual desire (Prause & Pfaus, 2015). Future studies should use more sophisticated questionnaires that assess each component of sexual functioning with multiple items. Furthermore, future studies may also include questions about the distress a sexual problem causes because sexual problems that cause considerable distress may be clinically relevant. Prevalence rates and estimates of sexual problems change significantly when distress is considered (Hendrickx et al., 2016; Komlenac et al., 2019; Mitchell et al., 2016).

The purpose of pornography consumption may also differ between women and men. Compared to women, men are more likely to use pornography to achieve sexual arousal during solitary sexual activity. Women are more likely than men to report using pornography together with a partner to enhance sexual stimulation during partnered sexual activity (Albright, 2008; Bridges & Morokoff, 2011; Solano et al., 2020). Additionally, gender differences have been reported in regard to preferences for specific pornographic content (Hald & Štulhofer, 2016), for pornographic material (e.g., pictures, films, videos or text) accessed, or for the motivation behind or the purpose of pornography consumption (Solano et al., 2020). All these factors may influence the effects of pornography consumption (Wright, 2011) and may explain the gender differences in the found associations between pornography consumption and components of sexual health, including sexual functioning. Therefore, we agree with recommendations that future studies should extend their measures of pornography consumption to include questions on frequency, content, medium, and motivation (Hald & Štulhofer, 2016; Solano et al., 2020).

Limitations

The current study is not without its limitations. First, the study is based on participants’ self-reports. This approach entails known problems. For instance, participants may not correctly remember all occasions of their sexual activity or pornography consumption. Additionally, participants may have felt that it is socially desirable to withhold or reveal certain information (Choi & Pak, 2005).

Second, the found associations are only small or moderate (Cohen, 1988). Therefore, the found associations between sexual functioning, sexual flexibility, and pornography consumption should be interpreted with caution.

Third, we modified the questions on the IIEF (Rosen et al., 1997) from asking about sexual functioning in the previous 4 weeks to asking about sexual functioning over the last 6 months to be more in accordance with classification time frames for sexual dysfunctions (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, a technical error caused us to not apply the same changes to the FSFI-6 (Isidori et al., 2010). Future studies should include a 6-month time frame for women and men.

Last, even though the study used a relatively large sample, this sample has limitations. The current study’s results are based on a convenience sample of university students. Many other studies of pornography consumption have used such samples (Short et al., 2012). However, such a sample may significantly differ from other populations (Henrich et al., 2010). In general, studies with university students as participants find associations with larger effect sizes than those of studies with more general samples. Additionally, it has been shown that the directionality of an association may be in the opposite direction in studies with university students and in studies with nonstudent samples. This is why conclusions based on studies with only university students as participants may differ from studies that base their findings on a less homogeneous and more general sample (Peterson, 2001). Another limitation of the sample is that sexual minority groups remained relatively underrepresented. Found associations between sexual orientation and pornography consumption indicate that acceptance and habits of pornography consumption may differ between people of different sexual orientations. These limitations indicate the need for future studies with more diverse samples to replicate and extend current findings.