Sexy Science: 'It turns out that pornography is good for you' reports Psychology Today

January 23, 9:01 AMSex & Relationships ExaminerSarah Estrella

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Pornography: Beneficial or detrimental?

This week Psychology Today reports on a series of recent studies suggesting that the deletrious effects of pornography at the individual and societal level are myth, and that – if anything – there may be "an inverse causal relationship between an increase in pornography and sex crimes" and a positive correlation between consuming harcore pornography and the perception (among both sexes) of "the viewing of hardcover pornography as beneficial to their sex lives, their attitudes towards sex, their perceptions and attitudes towards members of the opposite sex, toward life in general, and over all."

In other words, as the Psychology Today headline has it, It turns out that pornography is good for you.

Writing for the Pyschology Today blog Homo Consumericus this week, The Evolutionary Bases of Consumotion author Dr. Gad Saad first discusses a review of a broad number of studies on the effects of sexually explicit material (SEM) published in September 2009 in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry titled "Pornography, public acceptance, and crime: a review"

Here's the abstract from that report:

A vocal segment of the population has serious concerns about the effect of pornography in society and challenges its public use and acceptance. This manuscript reviews the major issues associated with the availability of sexually explicit material. It has been found everywhere it was scientifically investigated that as pornography has increased in availability, sex crimes have either decreased or not increased. It is further been found that sexual erotica has not only wide spread personal acceptance and use but general tolerance for its availability to adults. This attitude is seen by both men and women and not only in urban communities but also in reputed conservative ones as well. Further this finding holds nationally in the United States and in widely different countries around the world. Indeed, no country where this matter has been scientifically studied has yet been found to think pornography ought be restricted from adults. The only consistent finding is that adults prefer to have the material restricted from children's production or use.

The other study Dr. Saad discusses is Self-Perceived Effects of Pornography Consumption, published by Gert Martin Hald and Neil M. Malamuth in August 2008 in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Here's the abstract from that study:

The self-perceived effects of “hardcore” pornography consumption were studied in a large representative sample of young adult Danish men and women aged 18–30. Using a survey that included the newly developed Pornography Consumption Effect Scale, we assessed participants’ reports of how pornography has affected them personally in various areas, including their sexual knowledge, attitudes toward sex, attitudes toward and perception of the opposite sex, sex life, and general quality of life. Across all areas investigated, participants reported only small, if any, negative effects with men reporting slightly more negative effects than women. In contrast, moderate positive effects were generally reported by both men and women, with men reporting significantly more positive effects than women. For both sexes, sexual background factors were found to significantly predict both positive and negative effects of pornography consumption. Although the proportion of variance in positive effects accounted for by sexual background factors was substantial, it was small for negative effects. We discuss how the findings may be interpreted differently by supporters and opponents of pornography due to the reliance in this study on reported self-perceptions of effects. Nonetheless, we conclude that the overall findings suggest that many young Danish adults believe that pornography has had primarily a positive effect on various aspects of their lives.

Dr. Saad concludes:

Now here is the kicker: A positive correlation was obtained between the amount of hardcover pornography that was viewed and the impact of the benefits reaped. This positive correlation was found for both sexes. In other words, the more that one watched porn, the stronger the benefits (for both sexes)! There you have it.

This post should not be construed as my being in favor of pornography, as my personal opinion is irrelevant to the matter at hand. Rather I am reporting on recent data regarding this debate and in so doing I wish to highlight the fact that ideology should never trump scientific evidence.

Don't miss Sarah Estrella's previous Sexy Science and Sexy Films reporting! And for the latest Sex & Relationships headlines, please subscribe to this column and follow @Sexaminer on Twitter