A recent Irish report suggests that the abundance of explicit violence depicted in mainstream pornography has a meaningful impact on the increase in acts of physical and sexual aggression towards females. The published report, Going Digital: Recognising Pornography’s Role in the Increasing Voilence against Women and Girls, proposes that most of the pornography freely accessible on the internet can be classified as sexually violent. It also suggests that this violent content is moulding the attitudes and behaviours of its viewers.
The report was authored by the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy (SERP) Institute, under the direction of Women’s Aid and supported by Community Foundation Ireland. The research involved review of existing studies on pornography, and consultation with domestic and global experts. The focus was on the characteristics of pornography, and its effects, particularly with regards to the effects of consumption on gender equality, sexual orientation, and gender-based violence.
The report claims that the violent scenes in pornography create a distorted and harmful overlap between sex and sexual violence. It outlines significant adverse effects on adults and young people, triggering sexual violence, unhealthy relationships, overt misogyny and an intensification of gender inequality. The report states that there is a considerable amount of evidence linking the viewing of pornography, especially regular consumption, to acts of violence against women and girls.
Instances of choking and verbal abuse are frequently featured in pornographic content, the report suggests. In an analysis of 300 scenes from popular porn videos, it found that nearly 90 per cent contained moments of physical aggression. The report sheds light on the growing occurrence of incestuous content in pornography, and how easily child sexual abuse material can be found on widely-used porn websites. It also cites another study that discusses the availability of content recorded and circulated without the individual’s consent, covering instances from upskirting to actual rape.
In response to the report issued on Thursday, the charity, Women’s Aid, urged for proactive measures to mitigate the damages resulting from pornography. They propose a robust public discourse, educational programs, enhancing safeguarding measures for children and challenging the commercial structure of the colossal porn industry.
Sarah Benson, the CEO of Women’s Aid, has emphasised putting up resistance to the operations of the adult entertainment industry rather than shutting it down in entirety. She suggested taking cue from other locales where regulations have been implemented to throw spanners in the works of the industry.
Moreover, Ms Benson pointed out how major credit card companies, Visa and Mastercard halted their payment services to Pornhub in 2020, subsequent to a New York Times enquiry uncovering illicit content on the site. She stands by her argument that there are possible strategies that can hamper the commercial operations of the industry.
She additionally highlighted that a large volume of content hosted on mainstream pornographic websites as well as other video sharing platforms depict serious harm.