“Do I Really Need To Ask?”: Relationship Between Pornography and Sexual Consent

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to understand the relationship between pornography consumption and attitudes toward sexual consent. The study included 1329 adults who answered a sociodemographic questionnaire, questions about pornography consumption, Paraphilic Pornography Consumption Scale, Sexual Consent Scale, and questions about the use of verbal and non-verbal sexual consent behaviors. The results indicate that participants who don’t watch pornography have more positive attitudes towards sexual consent and those that watch pornography every day tend to feel more uncomfortable asking or giving sexual consent. Additionally, there were no gender differences in the way of giving or asking for sexual consent. Our findings acknowledge that pornography has an impact in the attitudes and behaviors of sexual consent, which reinforces the importance of mentioning its impact in sexual education classes. Sexual consent education is a fundamental part of sexual education, and in a digital world where pornography is just a click away, we need to further explore how this relationship can negatively impact people’s sexual experiences.