Fantasies and Exposure to Sexually Explicit Magazines

Abstract

We assessed whether a relationship exists between the degree of men's exposure to Playboy and Penthouse magazines and the frequency of their sexual and hostile-aggressive fantasies. No significant relationships were found between frequency of readership of Playboy and either sexual or aggressive fantasies. This finding supported the contention by Playboy's publisher that consumers are not attracted to the magazine primarily for sexual fantasizing. Penthouse readership was best predicted by the interaction of sexual and hostile fantasies: For those with low-hostile fantasies, there was not a significant relationship between sexual fantasies and Penthouse exposure, whereas for those with high-hostile fantasies, there was a strong association between exposure to this magazine and sexual fantasizing (r = .51, p <.0001). These results did not change when statistical controls were used for possible confounding with other media and fantasies. Although these findings were largely predicted on the basis of an expressive model, which asserts that consumers' exposure to sexual media is an expression of their conscious fantasies, some of the data may also be explained by other models. The need for better theoretical models to guide further research is emphasized.