Pornography Content

2021 ◽  
pp. 47-68
Author(s):  
Emily F. Rothman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Marketing Strategy ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Sexually Explicit Media ◽  
Internet Pornography ◽  
Content Analyses ◽  
Sexually Explicit ◽  
Feminist Pornography

There are now more than 90 categories of pornography on offer on mainstream Internet sites. This chapter argues that pornography is far from monolithic, which makes studying its impact complicated. Further, the chapter suggests that the sheer volume and variety of pornography are not inherently harmful to public health, although there is some potential that the variety of sexually explicit media available could be marketing strategy to lure or secure consumers. Four specific types of pornography—magna/anime, incest, barely legal, and kink/BDSM—are discussed. The chapter reviews findings from content analyses of porn, including so-called feminist pornography. The need for more research on race and racism in mainstream, Internet pornography is highlighted.

scholarly journals Women's Age of First Exposure to Internet Pornography Predicts Sexual Victimization

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J Harsey ◽  
◽  
Laura K Noll ◽  
Melissa J Miller ◽  
Ryan A Shallcross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Sexual Coercion ◽  
Sexual Victimization ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Sexually Explicit Media ◽  
Internet Pornography ◽  
Undergraduate Women ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Sexually Explicit ◽  
Pornography Use

Increases in the availability and accessibility of Internet pornography have led growing numbers of children to become consumers of sexually explicit media. Research has identified negative behavioral and attitudinal outcomes associated with Internet pornography use in childhood and adolescence, but few studies have examined sexual victimization as a correlate. The current study aimed to examine the association between age of first Internet pornography exposure and sexual victimization. Data from 154 undergraduate women yielded several important findings. Women who viewed Internet pornography unintentionally at a younger age reported more sexual victimization. Specifically, compared to women who were first unintentionally exposed to Internet pornography at age 14 or older, women with unintentional first Internet pornography exposure before the age of 14 reported more childhood sexual abuse, sexual abuse in adulthood, and more instances of sexual coercion and aggression. Women with younger age of unintentional Internet pornography exposure also reported more interpersonal sexual objectification than women who had never viewed Internet pornography at all. Age of first intentional exposure to Internet pornography was not related to women’s self-reported experiences of objectification, although this may be because women’s intentional exposure tended to happen at older ages. Overall, the results of this study suggest that women’s unintentional Internet pornography exposure at a young age may contribute to a potentially harmful sexual socialization. Early Internet pornography exposure in childhood should be considered a potential risk factor for women’s sexual victimization.

Pornography and Public Health

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily F. Rothman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Health Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Cases ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Sexually Explicit ◽  
Sex And Sexuality

Pornography and Public Health explores the scientific evidence that helps answer the question: “Is sexually explicit media causing epidemic harm to human health?” It situates this question in the context of historical concerns that sex and sexuality have the power to radicalize people and legal cases that have defined obscenity in the United States. It reveals how pornography came to be considered a public health crisis in multiple US states despite a lack of support and involvement of any governmental public health agency. It also reviews peer-reviewed scientific findings that address whether pornography contributes to epidemics of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, the dissolution of intimate relationships, eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, and compulsive use. Further, it discusses working conditions for pornography performers and outlines possible methods for improving them. It suggests that public health frameworks and tools can be applied meaningfully to analyses of pornography’s impact on health. This title is written for emerging public health advocates.

The Political Economy of Health: Revisiting Its Marxian Origins to Address 21st-Century Health Inequalities

2020 ◽  
pp. e1-e8
Author(s):  
Michael Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Theories ◽  
Political Economy Of Health ◽  
Marxian Political Economy

The “political economy of health” is concerned with how political and economic domains interact and shape individual and population health outcomes. However, the term is variously defined in the public health, medical, and social science literatures. This could result in confusion about the term and its associated tradition, thereby constituting a barrier to its application in public health research and practice. To address these issues, I survey the political economy of health tradition, clarify its specifically Marxian theoretical legacy, and discuss its relevance to understanding and addressing public health issues. I conclude by discussing the benefits of employing critical theories of race and racism with Marxian political economy to better understand the roles of class exploitation and racial oppression in epidemiological patterning. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print December 22, 2020:e1–e8. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305996 )

Pornography as a US Public Health Problem

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Emily F. Rothman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Sexually Explicit Material ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
Dating Abuse ◽  
Explicit Material ◽  
Sexually Explicit

Pornography is being indicted as a public health crisis in the United States and elsewhere, but the professional public health community is not behind the recent push to address pornography as a public health threat. While pornography may not be contributing directly to mortality or acute morbidity for a substantial percentage of people, it may be influencing other public health problems, such as sexual violence, dating abuse, compulsive behavior, and sexually transmitted infections. However, the evidence to support pornography as a causal factor is mixed, and there are numerous other factors that have more strongly established associations with these outcomes of interest. Throughout history, repressive forces have inflated the charges against sexually explicit material in order to advance a morality-based agenda. Nevertheless, a public health approach and tried public health practices, such as harm reduction and coalition-building, will be instrumental to addressing the emergence of mainstream Internet pornography.

scholarly journals Measuring exposure to sexually explicit media among young men who have sex with men: a pilot study

Sexual Health ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly M. Nelson ◽  
Matthew R. Golden ◽  
Sara Nelson Glick
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Risk ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sexual Risk Taking ◽  
Sexually Explicit Media ◽  
The Past ◽  
Risk Characteristics ◽  
Sexually Explicit ◽  
Sex With Men

Background Sexually explicit media (SEM) consumption may contribute to sexual risk-taking among young men who have sex with men (YMSM). Methods: The prevalence and frequency of SEM consumption as well as associations with contextual and sexual risk characteristics among 61 YMSM were estimated. Results: All participants (n = 61, 100%) reported viewing SEM; 45 (74%) in the past week. There were no significant associations between viewing SEM in the past week and measured characteristics. Conclusion: SEM use among YMSM is extremely common. Future research should clarify potential relations between SEM and sexual risk-taking with larger samples of YMSM and specific measures, including SEM content and amount.

Pornification and the Mainstreaming of Sex

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanna Paasonen
Keyword(s):  
Public Debate ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Digital Cameras ◽  
Sexually Explicit Media ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Production Distribution ◽  
Sexually Explicit ◽  
Children’S Exposure

The changing cultural role, visibility, and meaning of pornography, particularly its increased accessibility and the sociocultural reverberations that this is seen to cause, have been lively topics of public debate in most Western countries throughout the new millennium. Concerns are routinely yet passionately voiced, especially over the ubiquity of sexual representations flirting with the codes of pornography in different fields of popular media, as well as children’s exposure to hardcore materials that are seen to grow increasingly extreme and violent. At the same time, the production, distribution, and consumption have undergone notable transformations with the ubiquity of digital cameras and online platforms. Not only is pornography accessible on an unprecedented scale, but also it is available in more diverse shapes and forms than ever. All this has given rise to diverse journalistic and academic diagnoses on the pornification and sexualization of culture, which, despite their notable differences, aim to conceptualize transformations in the visibility of sexually explicit media content and its broader sociocultural resonances.

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