A New Flight from Womanhood? The Importance of Working Through Experiences Related to Exposure to Pornographic Content in Girls Affected by Gender Dysphoria

Figures & data

Table 1. Consumption patterns of pornographic content and sexual knowledge.

False beliefs concerning sex

- Women have orgasms relatively easily through vaginal intercourse.

- It is common for women to “squirt” fluids when they have orgasms.

- Most women enjoy anal sex.

- Men prefer multiple nonexclusive sexual encounters to a committed relationship.

- Men enjoy romantic sex much less than women do.

- Rough sex is common [and joyful for both partners] (e.g., sex involving gagging, spanking, and insults).

- Gentle sex is comparatively rare (e.g., sex involving kissing, hugging, and complements).

Patterns of consumption

- Type of pornography consumed (age of proponents, sex of proponents, pornographic scripts: gangbang, facial ejaculation, double penetration, rough oral sex, BDSM, coersion, rape)

- Frequency of watching pornography (during a day, week, month)

- Is pornography used for masturbation?

- Dependency on pornography (tried to stop, feeling guilty while watching or afterwards).

- Dependency on pornagraphy for sexual knowledge (sexual intercourse, oral sex, different sexual positions, anatomy, how to talk about sex, sexual pleasure and orgasm).

Suggestions for questions for qualitative or quantitative research or history taking. Adapted from Wright et al. (2022a).

Table 2. Grooming.

- Which social media or internet platforms are you using?

- Which online games do you play?

- Pattern of online usage: per day / week / month.

- How would you characterize your pattern of usage of online chats?

I chat with only those I know personally.

Sometimes I chat with people I do not know personally.

I chat with everybody

Online chats are my main source to get to know friends

- Have you encountered an adult in Internet who …

wanted to meet you?

has offered a present to get a picture of you?

has asked you to take off your clothes and turn on your webcam?

has told you, he would be a photographer or modelscout and who would like to make a photo session with you?

has sent you nude pictures from himself?

has threatened you (for example to publish pictures of you) if you not obeyed to his demands?

- How did the adult person present himself?

age, sex, did he change how he presented?

- Did you know the adult from before?

- Did you get introduced by a friend?

- Did you meet the adult?

- Have you talked to other adults or friends in real life about your experiences?

- Do you sometimes participate in challenges with your friends in which you contact strangers to make them do silly things? (a)

(a): Item added from the author.

Suggestions for questions for qualitative or quantitative research or history taking. Adapted from Nennstiel & Isenberg (2022).

Table 3. Internalized sexism.

Self objectification

A woman …

- Worries about whether her clothes are appreciated by others.

- Always wants to be the most beautiful.

- Wears uncomfortable shoes to look beautiful.

- Is easily ashamed if her body size differs from her ideal.

- Often goes on a diet to be more beautiful.

- Is more concerned with how she feels than how she looks.

Derogation

- There are two types of women: those for dating and those for marriage.

- A woman …

Should dedicate herself to her family.

Should not laugh loudly.

Sometimes deserves violence.

Should not demonstrate improper behavior, while for men this is not as relevant.

Is often less competent than a man, even if she is more educeted or experienced.

Loss of self / powerlessness

- A woman …

Is better in fulfilling wishes of others than knowing what she wants herself.

Feels guilty when giving priority to her own wishes and needs.

Underestates her abilities and achievements because she fears to get negative reactions.

Always apologizes.

Articulates her wishes decisively.

Does not express her ideas directly, but frames them in a question.

- It is more important for a woman to do the right thing for her loved ones than for herself

Self-separation / competition

- I am not used to intrigue like some other women.

- I do not tend to lie like other women.

- I do not like to look alluring like some other women.

- I am not a gossipmonger like some other women.

- Ambitious women make me frustrated.

- The enemy of the woman is again the woman.

Male prioritization

- I prefer working with male colleagues rather than females.

- I prefer my superior to be a man

- I prefer to spend time with male friends than females in my free time.

- When making important decisions, I consult the men around me.

- I care more about men's respect, approval, praise, or criticism than that of women.

Suggestions for questions for qualitative or quantitative research or history taking. Bozkur (2020) used factor analysis to arrive at 5 main dimensions of internalized Sexism: Self Objectification, Derogation, Loss of Self / Powerlessness, Self-Separation / Competition, and Male Priorization.

Wright, P. J., Herbenick, D., Paul, B., & Tokunaga, R. S. (2022a). U.S. parents underestimate their children’s pornography use and learning. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 52(1), 373–383. doi:10.1007/s10508-022-02449-7

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