Heterosexual-identified men’s endorsement of masculinity ideologies moderates associations between pornography consumption, body satisfaction and sexual functioning

ABSTRACT

Social comparison processes during pornography consumption and the pressure to adhere to traditional masculinity ideologies (TMIs) about how a male body should look may influence men’s body satisfaction and in turn explain potential associations between pornography consumption and men’s sexual functioning. The current study analysed whether pornography consumption was associated with men’s experience of distressing sexual problems through men’s body satisfaction, and whether men’s endorsement of TMIs moderated those associations. At an Austrian medical university, 261 self-identified heterosexual men (M_age = 24.4, SD = 3.5) participated in an online questionnaire study. Results revealed that high frequency of pornography consumption was associated with poor body satisfaction only in men who strongly endorsed the TMI of men needing to be the dominant. Poor body satisfaction in turn was associated with frequent and/or distressing experiences of erectile difficulty, ejaculating sooner than desired, or diminished intensity of orgasmic sensations. The study’s results suggest that TMIs and Western ideals about an ideal body should be addressed in clinical practice when treating men with sexual problems. Empowering patients with sexual problems to challenge those norms may be important, especially for men who endorse TMIs.

KEYWORDS:

• Body satisfaction
• pornography consumption
• sexual problems
• heterosexual men
• masculinity
• Austria

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nikola Komlenac

Nikola Komlenac, PhD is an early career psychologist at the Medical University of Innsbruck. His research focuses on understanding and revealing the influences of gender norms, especially masculinity, and heteronormativity on human sexuality, medical education, help-seeking, and patient-physician conversations. Furthermore, he does research in and teaches courses on gender medicine. 

Margarethe Hochleitner

Prof. Margarethe Hochleitner is professor for gender medicine and head of the committee for equal treatment at the Medical University of Innsbruck. She is a distinguished researcher and has implemented and advanced gender medicine and diversity in medicine at this medical university. Her achievements of implementing gender medicine as compulsory courses in all medical curricula is well known across Europe and has also role model status.