Porn Culture and Sexual Harassment

“Public sexual harassment is widespread in our society. The majority of women and girls in the UK will experience this violence in their lifetime, and usually it will begin during their childhood. PSH has become a ‘normal’ part of being a girl in the UK.”
Women and Equalities Committee¹

In recent years, we’ve become increasingly aware of the serious and profound harms of sexism, sexual objectification and sexual harassment. What was often written off as harmless in the past is now recognised as being an abuse of masculine power, an expression of aggression, and a form of hostile manipulation towards women and girls.²What it really takes to stop sexual harassment We’re only now beginning to understand its devastating toll on women’s confidence, wellbeing and performance.

This understanding is evident in research, government initiatives and legislation, school curriculums, and workplace training. We all want to fight gender-based sexual violence in all of its forms, to challenge harmful attitudes, and to give victims the support they need. We care deeply and spend liberally, ploughing huge resources into trying to create a more equal society where women are able to live without fear of sexual abuse, violence and harassment.

However, in spite of the fact that the vast majority of people in the UK would endorse the values of gender equality, mutuality, respect and non-violence, the wider evidence suggests that we still live in a culture of pervasively hostile sexism, where policies often remain empty tick-box exercises. Consider the facts:

Thirty-one percent of young women aged 18-24 report having experienced sexual abuse in childhood.³
Among women and girls aged 16-24, 63% reported experiencing sexual harassment.
Approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men (aged 16-59) experience rape, attempted rape or sexual assault by penetration in England and Wales alone every year; that’s roughly 11 of the most serious sexual offences (against adults alone) every hour.

Whilst there are of course many contributory factors to this complex issue, it’s easy to overlook the powerful cultural and commercial drivers that undermine our beliefs, ideals and values.

The commercial sex industry is utterly absolved of responsibility and detached from the usual principles of equality, mutuality and respect that govern our social relationships. Here, the attitudes and behaviours we demand from men simply don’t apply. Men’s raw sexual dominance over women is not only tolerated but positively endorsed and celebrated. Women are shamelessly reduced to sex objects, body parts to be ogled, touched, squeezed, used and abused for sexual gratification.

Harmless fun?

It’s easy to dismiss the sex industry as a closed, self-contained world of fantasy and escapism. Doesn’t porn give us a refreshing break from the constrictions of political correctness, an honest insight into how men and women might sexually relate to one another outside of society’s strictures? Surely how people choose to get their sexual kicks in private shouldn’t be a public concern.

But perhaps we’re blind to the fact that, over the past 40 years, the sex industry has exerted incredible influence on our society driving hypersexualisation, pornification and the sexual objectification of women which is felt in virtually every corner of popular culture. Like any other media, pornography’s effects on us are serious and profound.

Sexualising violence

The internet has made porn more accessible, anonymous and affordable than ever before. This has led to an unprecedented surge in consumption, with the major porn site Pornhub boasting more than 100 million visits every single day. In this saturated marketplace, pornographers have to make their material stand out – and they typically do so by making it more hardcore and extreme. Scenarios that would have been judged obscene 50 years ago are now part of the ‘mainstream’ pornographic experience.⁴

A recent study found that the most prominent messages presented by pornography are male domination, hypermasculinity, and the prioritisation of male sexual pleasure.⁵ A study from 2010 analysing the most popular porn scenes found that 88% contain physical violence and 49% contain verbal aggression, almost always directed against the woman.⁶ In porn, the aggressive sexual superiority of men and the dehumanising sexual objectification of women is virtually ubiquitous.

There are whole genres on Pornhub depicting brutal gang rape, the seduction of children, blackmail and coercion, public sexual harassment, abuse, assault, torture and various kinds of non-consensual sex acts. Popular search tags include phrases like, “wife abuse,” “painal,” “domestic discipline,” “crying in pain,” “extreme abuse,” and “sleep assault.”⁷ There are videos on “no means yes” and whole sites devoted to rape such as rapedvideos.com, which boasts a “handpicked collection of the best HQ uncensored rape videos on the Net! Helpless young and mature women are kidnapped, abused and brutally raped without mercy!”

Perpetuating rape myths

In the majority of porn, consent is depicted as optional; in fact, the lack of consent is often what is deemed to make it arousing. In the enduringly-popular category of ‘teen porn’, one of the most common scenarios involves young-looking women being taken advantage of against their will, or manipulated into doing things they don’t want to do.⁸

What’s more, in porn, there’s nearly always a “happy ending.” Female performers are manipulated, verbally abused and generally treated with contempt and aggression, but they rarely ever object. In fact, most of the time they act as though, in the end, they like it, in spite of their initial reluctance. In the 2007 study cited above, in 95% of the instances where women experience slapping, gagging, strangulation, hitting and verbal abuse, they respond either neutrally or with pleasure.

“In porn, no matter how rough a person treats their partner, nearly everything looks like it feels good.”
Dr Jason Carroll⁹

In short, porn portrays women as enjoying the harassment, dominance and violence directed against them. Porn basically enacts rape myths:

“…there are a few basic themes in pornography: (1) All women at all times want sex from all men, (2) women enjoy all the sexual acts that men perform or demand, and, (3) any woman who does not at first realize this can be easily turned with a little force, though force is rarely necessary because most of the women in pornography are the imagined nymphomaniacs about whom many men fantasize.”
Dr. Robert Jenson, Author¹⁰

In her book Pornland, researcher and campaigner Dr. Gail Dines writes: “In image after image, violent and abusive sex is presented as hot and deeply satisfying for all parties.” Using examples from porn scenarios, she outlines how porn reinforces rape myths; for example:

RAPE MYTH: A woman might not want it at first, but once she gets a taste of hot sex, she can’t get enough.
PORN EXAMPLE: ”Katie was a bit reluctant at first but after two hard cocks stretched her tight ass wide open she screamed with joy.”

RAPE MYTH: Women are sluts who get what they deserve.
PORN EXAMPLE: “Gia is a nasty little whore that can’t seem to get enough cock. We make sure that she gets what she deserves and more!”

RAPE MYTH: All women are whores at heart and want to be fucked by any available man.
PORN EXAMPLE: “Vanessa might seem like a sweet girl, but deep inside, she’s a whore wanting a big white dick.”¹¹

And this is not even taking into consideration the niche genres of rape-oriented pornography, which tend to show simulated sexual assault: a man or men forcing a woman into performing sexual acts in response to physical or verbal demands, threats or physical manipulation. In such pornography, “anyone viewing the material, regardless of social status, physical presence, or demeanour, could see himself (or herself) as the perpetrator of sexual assault… The consumer is essentially viewing the material ‘through the eyes of the rapist.”¹²

All of this is justified by the argument that porn is ‘just fantasy’; that all the scenarios in porn are ‘fake’, acted out by consenting, adult professionals, and that those who watch the porn understand that it’s not real, and don’t allow it to affect the way they think about women and sex in the ‘real’ world.

Porn’s not real?

It should be understood that, in the vast majority of cases, the violence acted out in porn is real.

Sometimes it’s real because it’s literally depicting video footage of ‘real-life’ abuse. The world’s largest pornsite, Pornhub, makes it easy for users to upload virtually anything. ‘Amateur porn’ is in high demand and, alongside the self-made porn, there’s a huge amount of material made through trafficking and coercion, or posted without women’s knowledge or consent – everything from sex tapes and so-called ‘revenge porn’ to deepfakes, spy-cam porn, upskirting, public sexual harassment, sexual assault, child sexual abuse and gang rape.13

At other times, the violence in porn is real because performers are paid for it. There are no ‘body doubles’ or special effects here, and this is an industry with notoriously light-touch regulation and lax health and safety standards. Countless stories from women who have exited the porn industry speak of its endemic sexual harassment, coercion and exploitation, and how they’re pressurised into breaking their own boundaries and doing more than they signed up for.¹⁴

‘Leaky images’

Secondly, we should tackle the objection that watching porn has no real effect on users. This is perhaps something we have to hope to be the case, given the ubiquity of extreme violence in today’s pornography. Perhaps a pervasive ideology of optimistic ‘cyberlibertarianism’ has made us reluctant to subject the online world to the same level of scrutiny as we do for the real world. But the research is incontrovertible and we’re playing catch up: watching porn does affect how a person thinks and acts out when it comes to sex, sometimes profoundly.¹⁵

“Extensive research has shown that porn undermines the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical health of individuals, families, and communities. These studies also demonstrate that porn shapes how we think about gender, sexuality, relationships, intimacy, sexual violence, and gender equality.”
Culture Reframed¹⁶

Porn affects how users see other people, particularly women, who are nearly always represented as passive sex objects. Watching porn feeds sexist attitudes, reinforces rape myths and normalises men’s sexual domination and women’s sexual submission.17 A meta-analysis of pornography consumption and acts of sexual aggression found “an overall significant positive association between pornography use and attitudes supporting violence against women.”¹⁸ Another evaluation found that, internationally, the consumption of pornography was significantly associated with increases in verbal and physical aggression, among both men and women.¹⁹

These findings have profound implications for a society that is struggling to combat sexual harassment. How, when we support sex equality and relationships based on mutuality, can we overlook the influence of something that promotes sexual objectification, trivialises rape, implicitly blames the victim and minimises the harm of sexual violence?

Obviously, porn influences different individuals in different ways. Unsurprisingly, its influence is more profound in boys and men already prone to aggression and criminality.²⁰ However, whatever someone’s starting point on the continuum, porn moves them on towards more hostile sexism, sexual aggression and coercion. Examining the extensive international research from studies on the effects of exposure to pornography in adolescence, Eric Owens of West Chester University and his colleagues listed the behaviours associated with more frequent consumption of pornography. These included:

Attitudes towards sex that regard it as primarily physical and casual, rather than affectionate and relational
Greater sexual uncertainty due to dissonance between the sexual attitudes and beliefs communicated through pornography and those instilled by families or schools
Beliefs that pornography can contribute to a more stimulating sex life
Stronger preoccupation with sex to the exclusion of other thoughts; high levels of distraction
Fewer progressive gender role attitudes for both males and females; acceptance of the narrative of male dominance and female submission
Increased likelihood that adolescents, regardless of gender, would regard women as sex objects, sexual playthings, eager to fulfil male sexual desires
Positive attitudes toward casual or recreational sex, uncommitted sexual exploration and extramarital sexual relations
Increased likelihood of having casual intercourse with a friend, group sex, oral sex, anal sex and using drugs or alcohol during sex
Earlier reported ages for sexual intercourse
Among boys, increased sexual harassment of female peers
Increased insecurity for boys about their ability to perform sexually
Increased insecurity for girls about body image
Increased levels of social maladjustment²¹

Pornography is a toxic influence on our minds, our relationships and on our culture. It makes many billions of dollars profit, but it costs us in ways that we can never truly measure.