FR 2-2 11/11 ABSTRACT PORNOGRAPHY VIEWING AMONG FRATERNITY MEN: EFFECTS ON BYSTANDER INTERVENTION, RAPE MYTH ACCEPTANCE AND BEHAVIORAL INTENT TO COMMIT SEXUAL ASSAULT Prepared by: Tamara Scherich HDFS- Marriage and Family Therapy student scheric@ostatemail.okstate.edu Dr. Matt Brosi HDFS- Assistant Professor matt.brosi@okstate.edu Foubert, J. D., Brosi, M. W., & Bannon, R. S. (in press). Pornography viewing among fraternity men: Effects on bystander intervention, rape myth acceptance and behavioral intent to commit sexual assault. Journal of Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity. IMPLICATIONS FOR COOPERATIVE EXTENSION: This study focuses on pornography use and the impact it has on society. Professionals working with young adult populations, sexual offenders, and victims of sexual assault need to assess for pornography use in order to address the appropriateness of various sexual encounters. Pornography use is increasing across the nation and consumers may not be aware of the dangerous potential that pornography has towards women as victims and towards men as both perpetrators and bystanders in sexual situations. effect and hypothesized that men who use pornography would report higher likelihood of raping, higher levels of belief in rape myths, lower bystander willingness, and lower bystander efficacy. Overview Instruments used to gather data include the Bystander Efficacy Scale, Bystander Willingness to Help Scale, Illinois Rape Myth Scale, and parts of the Malamuth’s attraction to sexual aggression scale. Participants selfreported on the above instruments in order to measure likelihood to rape, likelihood to sexually assault, acceptance of rape myths, bystander efficacy, and bystander willingness to help a victim. Participants self-reported on whether or not they had used mainstream pornography, sadomasochistic pornography or rape pornography in the past 12 months. Data was collected anonymously during chapter meetings and dinners. Pornography use has increased with advanced access through online resources. Demand for pornography has escalated to more explicit material including under age women and sexual violence towards women. Research shows that pornography is especially utilized by college-age men and women and indicates that there is a connection between pornography use by males and their likelihood of engaging in sexually aggressive behaviors, especially when violent pornography is used. Studies indicate that male and female users of violent pornography are desensitized to rape in addition to believing in victimization of women. Pornography is also associated with a separation in emotional connection and sexual intercourse for viewers in current relationships. This study analyzed how pornography use may contribute to bystander Method Participants comprised of 489 men involved in a fraternity at a public Midwestern university. The sample represents 62% of all fraternity members at the campus. 99% of the participants were ages 18 to 23 and 90% of them were Caucasian. Results Use of pornography is associated with sexual attitudes and behavioral intentions. More specifically, those that reported using mainstream pornography reported significantly higher scores for likelihood to rape and sexually assault than participants who did not report using mainstream pornography. Those that reported using sadomasochistic pornography reported significantly higher scores for likelihood to rape and sexually assault in addition to acceptance of rape myths and reported significantly lower scores on bystander efficacy than those that did not report using sadomasochistic pornography. Finally, men that reported using rape pornography reported significantly higher scores for likelihood to rape, sexually assault and accept rape myths in addition to significantly lower scores for bystander willingness to intervene. Discussion Pornography is a social problem due to its potential to misconstrue a user’s understanding of appropriate sexual encounters. Exposure to violent pornography seems to inhibit pro-social behavior by creating situations where rape and sexual assault are more acceptable. Also, violent pornography that depicts sexual encounters as ultimately pleasurable seems to create confusion for users and their ability to know how to stop or prevent sexual assault as a bystander. Pornography also objectifies women and downplays the role of intimacy in sexual activity. Therefore, users may become habituated to utilize more dehumanizing perspectives of women in actual sexual situations.