Sexually Explicit Internet Material and Problematic Pornography Use: Perceived Realism in Adolescents’ Life

Sexually Explicit Internet Material and Problematic Pornography Use: Perceived Realism in Adolescents’ Life

Abstract

One of the hardly studied segments of scholarly work is the link between adolescents’ exposure to sexual media content and their sexual socialization within identity development framework. Furthermore, role of the adolescent exposure to sexually explicit material on Internet has also been investigated less. Within this paper, it is found that more frequent exposure to sexually explicit Internet content is associated with greater sexual uncertainty and more positive attitudes towards uncommitted sexual investigation. More attention is drawn to adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit material on the Internet. Over the past years, use of pornography has been socially accepted and become widespread. Nevertheless, reliable and valid instruments assessing problematic use of pornography lack. Problematic pornography use appears to be uniquely distinguished from the features of behavioral addictions related to gambling and Internet use.  

Introduction

The impacts of pornographic content use on individual basis have been one of the most investigated topics with the spread of internet-enabled technology. The Internet and all technological advancements are penetrating in our everyday lives via mobile phones, laptops, tablets and personal computers every single day. With the growth of the technological advancements, access to pornographic material has been widely and easily spread. Technology has changed means of distribution of pornography. There have been different researches in order to expand our understanding of the impact of the pornography use and its perception in realistic world. However, the likelihood of using pornography has stretched over the Internet use. Additionally, sex and age are very important components of pornography use. Not matter which technological platform is being discussed – such as films in theatres, films on VCRs and pornographic content websites – it is evident that sexually explicit Internet material and problematic pornography use has tangible impact on perceived realism and behaviors of individuals. 

Furthermore, the explosion of pornography and its appearance as a mainstream material especially through the Internet have deeply influenced both youth and adolescent psychology and its development. Specifically, Internet-enabled devices, such as mobile phones, tablets. Laptops, etc., have allowed people to come across and consume sexually explicit content that has also shown that enormous body of pornographic data is a lot more common in adolescent world. In comparison with other media tools, the Internet is said to host highly sexualized and explicit platform. Many researches on the topic have also shown a considerable inclination in the number of people who either accidentally or intentionally meet pornographic material on the World Wide Web.

3.3 billion people use Internet on a daily basis. In other words, almost half of the world’s population accesses to online material everyday. There are not only Internet users who obtain, consume, use and recycle online material in line with proper needs but also people who abuse and misuse the content widely. Access to the Internet can be positive, if people utilize this medium for information for sexual education and sexual health, work, news, social connection and academics. However, problematic pornography use can raise concerns regarding potential risks on how to manage online dangers and content in safe and healthy ways. While the Internet use increases every single day, it is highly important to understand the systemic impact of this medium and its exposure to pornographic stimuli of the adolescent development. 

It is quite normal for an adolescent to have sexual curiosity especially when pornography is easy, free and unmonitored on the Internet. However, a vital question is always posed regarding this situation. If there is any, what impact does exposure of to Internet pornography and its problematic use? With the help of recent literature, this paper will aim to examine the impact of sexually explicit Internet material and problematic pornography use. This study will also mention effects of sexually explicit Internet material on different aspects of people’s lives such as parent’s compulsive use of the Internet pornography for sexual arousal and the quality of family relationship. This study and literature review will also seek to understand the impact of sexually explicit Internet material and problematic pornography use within perceived realism on sexual attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. The influence of sexually explicit Internet material on self-concept, body image, social development as well as expanding body of research on adolescent brain function and physical development are also to be discussed within this paper.  

Methodology

This thesis of this paper is a secondary analysis. Therefore, the following part will be dedicated to theoretical part of this study. To help us find theoretical results, a literature review will be applied on relevant researches that are done on sexually explicit Internet material and problematic pornography use. A critical approach will also be present. The reason why this literature review is feasible for this paper is because there are a lot of researches that have been done on the matter. The material for this literature review was obtained via Google Scholar, electronic database of the University of Bologna and the library of the Corvinus University of Budapest. Also several magazines, articles and web-based material have been used. Different search and selection criteria were used to obtain the information relevant to the theories and researches. The keywords, such as sexually explicit material, adolescent, pornography, history of pornography, age, gender, problematic Internet use, etc., have been used. The timeframe for the researches relevant to this paper was selected from the years between 1987 and 2016. Since the Internet has only existed for a relatively short period of time, the researches were limited to a short period of time when questions and hypotheses had been actively initiated.

Theoretical Background and Literature Review

In literature review and theoretical background of this paper, historical overview of the issue and variables surrounding the concept of pornography being a problem for mental health and psychology will be outlined. In this regard, it is important to look at the international scope of Internet pornography use and addiction briefly. It is also essential to look at the discussion on Internet pornography consumption and its impacts on individual. For an individual, Internet pornography consumption can be a substitute for sexual activity with a partner. It can also be used as an escape from individual’s anxiety and depression. The paper will include the negative effects of pornography using the Internet for sexual activities that have several effects within social and occupational environments as well as having a financial impact on the user and on the family. 

Since the existence of mankind, attitudes and beliefs about sex have been present in society. Especially in the US, pornography has been widely available since the mid 1800s that was called ‘erotica’ (Aratow P.,1973). In addition to that, the presence of sexually explicit material has been existing, yet the reaction of people have been different noticeably. For instance, The Report of the Commission on Obscenity and pornography was commissioned in 1967 and was published in the time of President Nixon( The Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, Bantam Books, 1970). At that time it was completely rejected by the President himself and the Senate. It was understood as ‘morally bankrupt conclusions’. Subsequently, the Commission had advised that legislation prohibiting the sale, exhibition or distribution of sexual materials to consenting adults should be appealed. It was thought that pornography, which was consumed by adults, was no harm to the society. 

It is crystal clear that sexuality has been an essential component of the mental health profession for quite some time. However, pornography itself has had varying uses and has also been interpreted differently in the course of the time. Earlier, pornography was thought to be recognized as a legitimate aid for relationships and it was used by the sex therapists, psychiatrists, marriage and family therapists to show adults that actually pornography was as an initiative to explore their bodies (Zitzman, S., & Butler, M. 2005). Even some therapists used pornography in sessions with clients as a sex therapy manual or a training tool. 

Even though some individuals use Internet pornography as a sexual gratification and some as sexual education and experimentation, others use Internet pornography as a means of psychological escape. Those individuals might be at greatest risk to develop dependence, compulsion and addiction to Internet pornography. Some thinkers mentioned that this situation might be due to the fact that those people feel that viewing pornography is just a visual form of stimulation and or entertainment. However, the partners of such people in question might feel betrayed and cheated on. For instance, United States vs. McBroom case was resulted in with an outcome that ‘downloading viewing and transferring of Internet pornography was less about erotic satisfaction but more about an emotional escape concept to relieve mental tension.

The impact of sexually explicit Internet material and problematic pornography use on attitudes and beliefs is one of the most important aspects to study. Recently, the research on the topic has suggested that a relationship exists between adolescents who are exposed to Internet pornography and possession of variety of sexual beliefs.  Peter and Valkenberg  (2008) claim that sexually explicit material might offer numerous sexual attitudes to viewers. These differences are attributed to increased sexual uncertainty (Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. 2008). Some research show that potential implications for the use of sexually explicit material can be explored in adolescents who are exposed to sexually explicit material that these adolescents may develop unrealistic attitudes about sex and misleading attitudes towards relationships (Tsitsika, A., Critselis, E., Kormas, D., Konstantoulaki, E., Constantopolus, A., & Kaferzis, D. 2009). Furthermore, according to Peter and Valkenburg, there are two dimensions of perceived realism in adolescents that are social realism and utility. Social realism is a framework to understand the extent to which the content of sexually explicit Internet material is perceived to be similar or same to real-world sexual intercourse (Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. 2010). 

Moreover, adolescents can learn sexual behaviors from viewing the behaviors depicted in sexually explicit Internet material (Alexy, E. M., Burgess, A. W., & Prentky, R.A 2009). Additionally, Haggstrom-Nordin put forward that adolescents believe sexually explicit material might serve as a source of knowledge (Haggstrorm-Nordin, E., Hanson, U., & Tyden T. 2005). In other words pornographic content is a sort of manual framing what to do and how to do. Parallel to this, adolescents who are more frequently exposed to sexually explicit material are said to believe that pornography influences their sexual behavior as well as sexual behaviors of peers. 

Sexual aggression is also one of the most investigated impacts of the relationship between sexually explicit Internet material and problematic pornography use. Sexual aggression and consumption of sexually explicit Internet material is directly proportional. Frequency of exposure to pornographic content cannot be lined to increased level of sexual aggression. In other words, an adolescent who has inclining risk levels towards aggressive behavior are those who consume pornography frequently have greater levels of sexual aggression compared to the counterparts who infrequently consume pornography (Ybarra, M.L. & Mitchell, K. J. 2005).

The impact of sexually explicit Internet material on social development, interpersonal relationships and attachment of an adolescent is another concern. Some research showed that adolescents with higher degrees of social interaction and bonding do not consume sexually explicit material as their less social counterparts do (Mesch, Gustavo S. 2009 ). Namely, the correlation between sexually explicit content and social development are not directly proportional. It means that the greater the quantity of pornography consumption, the lower degrees of social integration are. Last but not least, conduct issues and social maladjustment are also very much investigated. For instance, adolescents who indicated infrequent use of pornography were twice as likely to have conducts issues as those who did not consume pornography at all. Moreover, frequent consumers were more likely to indicate abnormal conduct issues as well as borderline addictive Internet use.

Many individuals who are addicted to Internet pornography are also taken into serious consideration. This type of addiction easily changes from an occasional diversion or fantasy to habitual problem that has a very real danger to destroy almost every aspect of their lives. The adolescents who are unable to stop their consumption of sexually explicit material despite repeated attempts to limit or reduce their pornography use. In extreme cases, individuals might have significant changes in mood and they often neglect social, professional, recreational and physical opportunities and needs. In such cases, individuals consume also much of their time on the Internet looking for sexual arousal. Eventually, it might be difficult for some individuals to feel pleasure and safety from anxiety and stress without masturbating to pornography. This is because they have bonded with the sexually explicit material as a means of regulating and calming their mood. This situation might also result in having negative impact on an individual’s job, family life, psychological health, and sexual practices within or without a coupled relationship, emotional and physical health as well as legal problems.

Conclusions

With the increase in the opportunities in digital world, adolescents accessing to the Internet have started to have unprecedented occasions for sexual education, growth and learning. However, the risk of harm is clearly evident in the literature. This situation has led many researches into an investigation of adolescent’s exposure to the pornographic content on the World Wide Web. It is found out that adolescents who consume pornographic content might develop unrealistic sexual values, behaviors and beliefs. More frequent consumption of pornographic content has been correlated with higher levels of permissive sexual attitudes, sexual preoccupation and earlier sexual experimentation. Furthermore, degrees of sexually aggressive behavior are also proportionally related with sexually explicit material consumptions specifically in adolescent’s frequent use of Internet material. 

Briefly, a correlation between adolescents’ use of sexually explicit material and self-concept can be found. It can also be said that increase in social development and self-confidence leads to a decrease in pornographic material consumption. In addition to that, adolescents who especially consume online sexually explicit material frequently have lower levels of social integration, higher levels of depressive symptoms, decreased emotional bonding as well as having conduct issues.

To conclude, the long terms impacts of behavioral disorders after pornographic material consumptions still need to be investigated. Especially children and adolescents are much more vulnerable audiences to sexually explicit material. This also might vary from generations to generations in terms of Internet use. The impacts of Internet pornography use might be better explained via applicable and robust research. By doing so, the healthy development of youth can be fostered, consolidated and supported by health professionals, parents and other key actors in society to minimize the risk of potential negative effects related to sexually explicit Internet material and problematic pornography use.

REFERENCES

Aratow, P. (1973). 100 Years of Erotica: A Photographic Portfolio of Mainstream American Subculture from 1845 – 1945. Ten Speed Press, p. 16.

Alexy, E. M., Burgess, A. W., &Prentky, R. A. (2009). Pornography use as a risk marker for an aggressive pattern of behavior among sexually reactive children and adolescents. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 14(6), p. 442–453.

Haggstrom-Nordin, E., Hanson, U., & Tyden, T. (2005). Associations between pornography consumption and sexual practices among adolescent. International Journal of STD & AIDS, 16, p. 102–107.

Mesch, Gustavo S. (2009). Social Context and Adolescents’ Choice of  communication Channels. Computers in Human Behavior. 25 (1), p. 244-251.

Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2008). Adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit internet material, sexual uncertainty, and attitudes toward uncommitted sexual exploration: Is there a link? Communication Research, 35, p. 579–601. 

Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2010). Processes underlying the effects of adolescents’ use of sexually explicit internet material: The role of perceived realism. Communication Research, 37, p. 375–399.

The Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, Bantam Books, 1970.

Tsitsika, A., Critselis, E., Kormas, D., Konstantoulaki, E., Constantopoulos, A., & Kafetzis, D. (2009). Adolescent pornographic Internet site use: A multivariate regression analysis of the predictive factors of use and psychosocial implications. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 12, p. 545–550.

Ybarra, M.L. & Mitchell, K.J. (2005). Exposure to Internet pornography among children and adolescents: A National Survey. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8(5), p. 473-486.

Zitzman, S., & Butler, M. (2005). Attachment, addiction, and recovery: Conjoint marital therapy for recovery from sexual addiction. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 12(4), p. 311-337.