Gender inequality in porn: how serious is it?

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The Internet is one of the earliest causes of gender inequality. At least that”s what many researchers and feminists say. Surprisingly, there is little research on this topic. Fortunately, a study recently published in the journal Sex Research provides valuable insight into how sexism is expressed in the world of pornography. Scientists from the University of Amsterdam studied this issue.

Contents of the article:

• Main objective of the study
• What is the focus?
• Is there room for equality?
• Scenes of violence and submission
  • Has gender equality been achieved?!
• What conclusions can be drawn
  • Gender inequality: how does it manifest itself?

Main objective of the study

In this study, the researchers identified several questions that require clear answers.

• Who acts more as sexual objects: men or women?
• How is power distributed between men and women in Internet pornography?
• To what extent does Internet pornography depict violence against men and women?

The analysis was based on the 400 most popular videos as of 2013. At the same time, four of the most popular porn sites — PornHub, RedTube, YouPorn and xHamster — were included in the sale. The 100 most viewed videos were taken from each site. On average, each video lasted between 16 and 17 minutes. This means that the total time spent watching the most popular videos was approximately 108 hours. All this time, scientists had to examine the videos for sexism. Before we talk about the results, we note that they are based on heterosexual videos.

What is the focus?

In terms of objectification, women are more often perceived as sex objects than men. In particular, the commercials focused on female genitalia and the body. It has been observed that during sexual intercourse the main focus is on the man”s pleasure. However, these scenes do not speak of the “dehumanization” of women. Indeed, women are equally likely to be portrayed as initiators of sexual contact, and in close-up lenses, women”s faces are flashed more often than men”s.

Is there room for equality?

If we talk about power from a social point of view, about a third of all selected videos reflect complete equality between men and women. This means that both women and men often held leadership positions such as supervisors. The same applies to lower status professions. In terms of dominance, in 50% of the videos, neither partner showed clear dominance, while in the next 50% of the videos, the men showed clear dominance. Thus, women in these films played the role of subordinates.

Read also: Who watches more porn, men or women, and for what reason?

Absolutely all adults watch pornography. Some consider this addiction shameful and prefer to watch only prohibited videos. Other.

Scenes of violence and submission

Has gender equality been achieved?!

As for violence, it was relatively rare and often took the form of slaps or a fast pace. In many cases, the initiators of “violence” are men. However, this behavior was not perceived by women as negative or truly cruel. It was like a game for both of them. Actual violence was very rare. When sex occurred without consent, both genders were equally portrayed as victims. Women were subjected to more sexual manipulation.

Let”s talk about the differences between amateur and professional pornography. If we trace these differences, scenes of gender inequality are much more common in amateur pornography. In such videos, women were much less likely to initiate sex. They also had sex to please their partners rather than for their own pleasure. In amateur pornography, women were 85% more likely to have low social status, be submissive, and be sexually manipulated.

Again, take the data with a grain of salt. These findings do not define all pornography available on the Internet. Nevertheless, these results are very important for the study of the porn industry. They show that even in today”s world, where equality is desperately fought for, women are also abused by pornography.

What conclusions can be drawn

Overall, these data confirm that gender inequality exists not only in the porn industry, but also in other areas. However, this inequality is not reflected in all indicators. While professional pornography attempts to balance the rights of women and men, a more complete and real picture of sexual interaction is seen in amateur pornography, where women”s rights and desires are questioned. There, women also occupy all social positions and are portrayed as playthings for the satisfaction of men.

However, the results satisfied both skeptics and feminists. Violence against women in pornography has become less visible, and this has undoubtedly been influenced by the public mood. Perhaps in 20 years, women will become the dominant force in amateur pornography.

Gender inequality: how does it manifest itself?