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Research Article

Women Reporting on Their Use of Pornography: A Qualitative Study Exploring Women’s Perceived Precursors and Perceived Outcomes

Katerina Litsoua Centre for Sexual Health Research, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UKCorrespondence[email protected]

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1632-8946 View further author information

,

Cynthia Grahamb Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, BloomingtonIndiana, USA

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7884-599X View further author information

&

Roger Inghama Centre for Sexual Health Research, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7964-413X View further author information

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore motivations women describe for using pornography. A qualitative online interview study was conducted with 30 women (Mean age 30.23, range 20–47; residing in the UK and in Greece; of varied sexual orientations and relationship status) about their pornography use, motivations for use, and preferences. Reflexive thematic analysis was used. Results were organized into four themes: Sexual Precursors, Non-sexual Precursors, Intended Outcomes, and Unintended Outcomes. The findings highlight that pornography use for women can have both positive and negative ramifications for women’s sexual lives. Implications for clinical practice and education are discussed.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank all the women who participated in this study for their time and effort, and for sharing their experiences and feelings so openly. Without them, this study would not be possible. The first author would also like to thank Dr Lauren Towler and Dr James L Denison-Day for their valuable help regarding recruiting via Reddit.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Initially the intention was to conduct in-person interviews but due to COVID-19 restrictions all interviews were conducted online via Microsoft Teams.

2 Regarding the “use” of pornography the words: use, consume, view, engage, expose to and access are also used interchangeably, although we recognise that these may have somewhat different meanings.

3 For the sake of clarity, a code is an analytic unit, used to develop themes and it captures one observation (Braun & Clarke, Citation2006, Citation2020). By contrast, a theme captures multiple observations, is richer and more complex than a code and it usually contains multiple codes (Braun & Clarke, Citation2006, Citation2020). A sub-theme is a theme-within-a-theme and can be used to provide structure to a large and complex theme (Braun & Clarke, Citation2006). It shares the same main concept of a theme but it captures just a certain aspect of it so it cannot stand alone as a separate theme (Terry et al., Citation2017).

4 Letter P and a number refer to specific participants. For example, Participant 1 is P1. Then follows participant’s age in years; their relationship status: CR = committed relationship, D = dating, M = married, S = single; and sexual orientation: H = heterosexual, B = bisexual, Q = queer, P = pansexual.

5 In this group of participants religion did not seem to play a role for their pornography use and their sexual lives. Five of the participants stated they are spiritual meaning being good to one another, appreciating relationships, practicing mindfulness etc. That did not appear to play a role to their pornography use and sexual lives either.

Additional information

Funding

The research for this paper was funded by the first author’s PhD scholarship, provided by the School of Psychology at the University of Southampton.