Analysis Finds “Widespread Problems” in Research Linking Porn to Sexual Aggression

The debate has raged for decades, if not longer: Does the use of porn lead to sexually aggressive behavior? Critics of adult media have long sought to establish a connection, while free speech advocates and others have tried to prove that there is none. Meanwhile, cultural debate has raged, starting a few years ago with state legislatures declaring porn a “public health crisis” and culminating recently in the “war on Pornhub,” which has linked online pornography to sexual assault in the minds of many and resulted in sweeping changes to the online porn landscape, with legislators and financial institutions jumping onboard.

A study published this summer in the journal Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, however, found no link between porn consumption and sexual aggression. The meta-analysis, which reviewed the methodology and findings of over fifty scientific studies conducted from the 1970s until now, has been studiously ignored by organizations like Traffickinghub, Fight the New Drug, and other anti-porn groups. But its findings are important, because they not only show no link between the two things, but also actually uncovered that shoddy research is what allowed anti-porn groups to say there is a link in the first place.

“During the past few years many states have declared that pornography is a public health crisis,” Chris Ferguson, a professor of psychology at Stetson University and the leader researcher on this study, told UTSA Today. “Dr. Hartley and I were curious to see if evidence could support such claims—at least in regard to sexual aggression—or whether politicians were mistaking moral stances for science. Our evidence suggests that policymakers should examine other causes of sexual aggression and that beliefs about pornography may be driven more by methodological mistakes than sound science.”

Let’s take a close look at that last bit: Not only did the meta-analysis of decades of research reveal no clear link between sexual aggression and porn consumption—it found that poor research methodology may be what led to the belief that there was a link at all. Better, more carefully conducted research led to finding less evidence for any relationship between porn and sexual aggression.

In the study’s abstract, Ferguson and his research partner, Richard Hartley, wrote, “Studies that employed more best practices tended to provide less evidence for relationships whereas studies with citation bias, an indication of researcher expectancy effects, tended to have higher effect sizes.”

In other words, as Big Think broke it down for readers, “The studies that employed higher levels of best practices for research tended to also be the studies that provided less evidence of any potential link between pornography and sexual aggression.”

And, more than that, the researchers wrote, “Methodological weaknesses were very common in this field of research.” [Emphasis added.]

Dr. Ferguson told UTSA Today, “I hope that Dr. Hartley and I can point out some of the widespread problems in much of the research as well as the culture of this field, whereas some scholars appear to be too quick to try and find evidence for effects,” said Ferguson, who led the study. “We need more preregistered, transparent research and a field that is looking to falsify hypotheses and not entirely in confirmatory mode because it feels morally right.”

In other words—a lot of the research from the past five decades that has found a link between porn use and sexual assault is bunk. In fact, the study found that there’s a negative correlation between porn availability and bad behavior: “Population studies suggested that increased availability of pornography is associated with reduced sexual aggression at the population level.”

So, porn fans—do your thing. It doesn’t seem to be hurting anyone, and may actually be helping people across your larger population. And, if you or someone you know has problems with sexual aggressiveness, seek help with that. But don’t blame porn. Science says it’s not the smut’s fault.

“Caution” keyboard photo by Fernando Arcos from Pexels