The differentiation between consumers of hentai pornography and human pornography

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate if hentai consumers differed from other pornography consumers regarding their attachment style, attraction to, and desire for romantic relationships with anime characters and humans. Pornography consumers were categorized into three groups. The first group consumed both hentai and human pornography (hentai consumers), the second consumed human pornography but not hentai (non-hentai), and the third did not consume hentai or human pornography (non-porn). Two hundred and eight participants completed an online study that involved self-report surveys and an image rating task. The results revealed that hentai consumers did not differ from non-hentai or non-porn consumers on avoidant attachment. However, among females, hentai consumers were higher on anxious attachment compared to non-porn consumers. For the image rating task, hentai consumers rated anime characters more attractive than non-hentai and non-porn consumers. However, there were no group differences for the image ratings of real people. Hentai consumers indicated stronger romantic desire towards anime characters compared to non-hentai and non-porn consumers; there were no group differences in romantic desire for humans. The findings highlight the importance of differentiating individuals who consume hentai and those who do not.