The effects of pornography on sexual minority men’s body image: an experimental study

ABSTRACT

Pornography’s effects on sexual minority men have not been extensively researched. Studies specifically examining its effects on body image in both heterosexual and sexual minority men have reported conflicting findings and have only used correlational and qualitative methods. This is this first known experimental study to investigate the impact of pornography on sexual minority men’s body image. Eighty-seven sexual minority men were recruited for an online study. Participants were randomly assigned to watch either a pornographic video or nature video, and then completed three questionnaires assessing male genital self-image, drive for muscularity, and social physique anxiety. Results indicated that participants exposed to pornography did not report greater social physique anxiety, greater drive for muscularity, or reduced genital body image compared to participants exposed to the nature video. Self-reported history of pornography use was not associated with scores on the body image measures utilized. These results contradict previous findings indicating a positive correlation between pornography use and body dissatisfaction in sexual minority men, and further research is needed to explore these discrepancies.

KEYWORDS:

• Pornography
• gay men
• bisexual men
• queer men
• body image

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Of note, much of the literature has not distinguished between types of pornography (paid pornography, pornography produced by professional or amateur studios, ‘homemade’ amateur pornography uploaded to tube websites, etc.). Given the increasing ubiquity and heterogeneity of pornography with the advent of the internet, future research in this area should distinguish between these evolving categories.

2. A recent study by Herbenick, Reece, Schick, and Sanders (2014) found mean erect penile length in a large sample of men to be 14.15 cm. Performers in the selected clips appeared to have penises larger than this length.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Neil Gleason

Neil Gleason is a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at University of Washington. He received his MA in clinical psychology from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2017. His research interests include sexuality, sexual health, and LGBT psychology.

Eric Sprankle

Dr. Eric Sprankle is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Minnesota State University, Mankato and is the co-director of the Sexuality Studies program. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Xavier University in 2009, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota Medical School's Program in Human Sexuality in 2011. He is a licensed psychologist and AASECT-certified sex therapist providing clinical services at the Minnesota Sexual Health Institute. Dr. Sprankle's research interests include sex work stigma, the effects of sexually explicit material, and secular sexuality.