Women's reported motivations for, and outcomes from, their pornography use

Abstract

Research on women’s pornography use has been increasing but there has been little focus on the motivations for using pornography, the outcomes women report from their pornography use, and on the role pornography plays in their sexual satisfaction. A mixed methods systematic review and a thematic synthesis were conducted to investigate the reported motivations and outcomes that women in relationships report about their pornography use. Results showed that women’s own pornography use played both positive and negative roles in their sexual and relationship lives. A qualitative study using in-depth, semi-structured interviews was then conducted with 30 adults (mean age 30.23, range 20 to 47), all of whom identified as women, resided in UK and in Greece, had accessed pornography previously, and were of mixed sexual orientations and relationship status. The aims were to explore women’s motivations for pornography use and potential outcomes from pornography use. Results were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and were organised in two themes, Precursors and Outcomes, with both themes consisting of two subthemes; Sexual and Non-sexual precursors; Intended and Unintended outcomes. Again, results highlighted that pornography use has both positive and negative ramifications for women’s sexual lives. Informed by these themes, a large scale international, online survey was conducted to explore women’s motivations for their own pornography use, outcomes from their pornography use, associations between pornography use and women’s reported sexual satisfaction, and associations between women’s pornography use and subsequent emotions. Participants were 3330 adults (mean age 27.5, range 18 to 70) who identified as women, of mixed sexual orientations and relationship status, all of whom had used pornography at least once in the last six months. Frequent pornography use (once a week or more) was associated with higher sexual satisfaction than reported infrequent use (once a month or less); and partnered pornography use was associated with higher sexual satisfaction than solo pornography use. Regarding women’s emotions after pornography use, as women reported higher positive emotions, they reported lower negative emotions; older age was associated with less negative emotions. Overall, the findings contribute to the literature on women’s pornography use, their sexual satisfaction, and their emotions after pornography use. Pornography use can help women become sexually empowered and enjoy their sexual lives.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Aikaterini-Maria Litsou: orcid.org/0000-0002-1632-8946

ORCID for Cynthia Graham: orcid.org/0000-0002-7884-599X

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