A new study released by Mount Royal University and the University of Western Ontario has suggested that men who watch pornography on a regular basis are more likely to elevate women’s rights. Despite the common assertion that pornography degrades women, this study suggests many religious men think otherwise.
The researchers surveyed a sample of 11,658 men and 13,988 women – most of who were white, married and Christian, with an average age of 44. Participants were quizzed about their church attendance, how often they had watched porn in the last year, and their personal attitudes towards women.
Questions included:
- “Should women take care of their homes and leave running the country up to men?”
- “Would you vote for a woman to be president?”
- “Are men better suited emotionally to politics?”
Bizarrely, the survey results indicated that those who watch pornography on a regular basis tended to have more accepting views toward women.
Researchers discovered that those who attended church at least once a month were more likely to believe that women should not be granted abortion rights, that they shouldn’t work outside the home nor hold political office.
Throw porn into the mix, however, and the results shifted dramatically. Men who went to church once a month and used porn appeared to champion the so-called empowerment of women.
Speaking to Newsweek, Dr Kyler R. Rasmussen, co-author of the study, said: “On a societal level [the results] could be potentially interesting, especially since it tipped religious people across the threshold toward favoring abortion, on average.”
Rasmussen also suggested a possible explanation for the strange results. He believes that the negative “sinful” connotations of nursing a pornography habit have caused Christian men to attempt to re-define the very nature of the content so that they no longer feel guilty.
“One way they can do so is by changing their attitudes toward pornography – if porn isn’t wrong, then they no longer have to feel uncomfortable,” he added.
But does porn really empower and respect women? Key research has unearthed clear links between the proliferation of pornography and sexual slavery, sexual exploitation, and even assault and rape.
The “dichotomy between sex trafficking and the realities of pornography is a serious misconception that needs to be addressed,” Covenant Eyes explained on its website. Indeed, if we are people who are staunchly opposed to human trafficking, we must face up to the reality of pornography and its vile roots.
Covenant Eyes added:
“According to Shared Hope International’s report on the demand for sex trafficking, pornography is the primary gateway to the purchase of humans for commercial sex. Why this is so becomes clear when we think critically about what pornography is and how it affects its consumers.
Pornography comes from the Greek words porne, meaning “prostituted woman” or “prostitution”, and the word graphos, meaning “writings.” If we can begin to comprehend that what is depicted in pornography is not simply sex or sexuality, but commercial sexual exploitation, we can begin to rightly appreciate the negative and corrosive effects of this content.””
This is not a claim made by Christian organizations alone. Secular anti-porn campaigners “Fight The New Drug” discovered exactly the same sordid relationship.
The group said they experience heavy pushback when it comes to putting forward this assertion about the adult industry. People just do not want to hear about the harsh realities related to the production of the very content they are consuming.
“We can’t tell you how many people scoff when we tell them that one of the harmful effects of pornography is its inseparable link to sex trafficking,” Fight The New Drug wrote on their website.
“Unfortunately, there are many in our society that are blind to the inseparable link between porn and sex trafficking. The porn industry is a sketchy industry to begin with, but it takes a really dangerous turn when porn involving sex trafficking victims is made and distributed. Countless women have been kidnapped, abused, drugged, threatened, and coerced into doing porn; this is, by definition, sex trafficking/slavery.”
On this point, there seems to be a general consensus can be reached on this particular element of the pornography industry. As Huffington Post’s John Henry-Westen wrote:
“For decades, pornography has been praised as the epitome of freedom of expression by men and at times women alike. However, as time goes on, social conservatives and feminists alike — as well as various media outlets and academic organizations — are coming to agree that not only does pornography harm individuals and families, but it is also a major factor in the underground sex slave industry.”
Pornography has also been proved to erode a healthy human sexual function and is know to ruin relationships. According to TIME, marriages are more than twice as likely to end in divorce if one or both partners begin to consume pornographic material on their own. It is safe to say that private pornography use in marriage breeds secrecy, shame and relational unhealth.
“Husbands in poor relationships tend to consume more sexually explicit material and consuming more sexually explicit material also leads to poorer relationships. Some sociologists have speculated that men turn to porn as a way of lifting their mood about their difficult home life and that the porn then becomes an easier route to sexual satisfaction than being with their partner, so they disinvest in the marriage.”
As part of their peer-reviewed research regarding the effects of pornography on the human mind, Fight The New Drug added:
“After being exposed to pornography, men reported being less satisfied with their partners’ physical appearance, sexual performance, and level of affection and express greater desire for sex without emotional involvement.
Among the effects of the use of pornography are an increased negative attitude toward women, decreased empathy for victims of sexual violence… and an increase in dominating and sexually imposing behavior.”
So, it is pretty clear that pornography leads to the disrespect of women and a dulling of our God-given compassion towards the broken. As Fight The New Drug’s motto declares: “Porn Kills Love.”
But perhaps the most damning rebuttal this strange new study can be seen from Joshua Knobe at Psychology Today. Citing a study in which participants were asked to judge the degree to which they believed a sexually presented woman could think for herself, Knobe discussed the notion that the male use of pornography is indicative of treating women as “objects.” His findings were even more devastating than expected:
“In short, it doesn’t look like pornography is leading men to treat women as mere ‘objects’ (like a table). Instead, we seem to be getting something that might be called animalification—treating a woman as though she lacks the capacity for complex thinking and reasoning, but at the same time, treating her as though she was even more capable of having strong feelings and emotional responses.”
You have to ask yourself, what feminist treats women as if they lack the capacity for independent thinking? Would those seeking to empower women really seek after the introduction of “animalification”? Unlikely.