Female Pornography Use and Sexual Coercion Perpetration

Abstract

The issue of the impact of pornography on sexual violence has been controversial for several decades with the publication of conflicting findings making the relationship between these two phenomena murky at best. In addition, this field of research has generally focused on sexual assault and almost exclusively on male perpetrators. This study examines how pornography is related to female sexual aggression and coerciveness. Women have been found to perpetrate sexual coercion at a rate similar to males (Struckman-Johnson and Struckman-Johnson 1994). In this study, pornography use among females was found to be a significant predictor of all forms of sexual aggression, except physical violence and intimidation.

Notes

∗At least once in past year to get someone to do something sexual that they did not want to do.

∗Significant at p < .05; ∗∗Significant at p < .01.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Poco D. Kernsmith

DR. POCO D. KERNSMITH is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Wayne State University. Her primary research interests include violence in families and relationships. In particular, her interests include examining gender differences in perpetration, interventions with perpetrators, and possible long-term effects on victimized children, such as eating disorders, self-injury, risk-taking, and perpetration of violence in adolescence and adulthood.

Roger M. Kernsmith

DR. ROGER M. KERNSMITH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology. His research interests include deviance and violence. He is Vice President for the professional advisory board to the Coalition for a Useful Registry.