New Study Debunks Supposed Link Between Porn, Sexual Aggression

A new research study published in the scientific journal Aggressive Behavior casts serious doubt on the belief that teen boys who watch porn are more likely to engage in sexually aggressive or coercive behaviors. The study conducted by researchers in Ireland and Croatia on 574 high-school sophomore boys found that for most teens watching porn is not correlated with higher levels of sexual aggression. The study did find, however, that teen boys who had generally had troubled upbringings and were already predisposed toward sexual aggression viewed greater quantities of porn than those with no, or “marginal,” levels of sexual aggression. Boys who had been bullied or were otherwise highly susceptible to peer pressure tended to view more porn, as well as to show higher levels of sexually aggressive behaviors, according to the study, which observed the teenagers, ages 15-17, over a period of 20 months. "A lot of people watch porn every day and they would not act aggressively at all,” psychologist Kate Dawson who led the study at National University of Ireland  Galway, told the Independent newspaper. "It does not mean the more you watch you are going to have problematic traits.” Dawson added that placing legal age restrictions on porn viewing—such as the law recently scrapped by the United Kingdom, and a similar one now being considered in Australia—“does not really work.” Dawson did call for increased education around the issue, such as “porn-literacy” programs, could help young people better make sense of sexually explicit content online, particularly because some porn may contain aggressive content. But as AVN.com reported, a study by researchers at Canada’s McGill University last year found not only that the level of sexually aggressive or violent content in porn has declined over the past decade—but also that porn consumers tend to shy away from aggressive content.  In fact, that study found, most viewers prefer to watch scenes in which women in porn appear to be experiencing pleasure, as opposed to scenes in which women are made to look uncomfortable, or in pain. Photo By The Naughty American / Wikimedia Commons