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.