Research and analysis

The relationship between pornography use and harmful sexual behaviours

A report on the relationship between pornography use and harmful sexual behaviours towards women, based on interviews with workers in social work, justice, and health.

Documents

The relationship between pornography use and harmful sexual behaviours (PDF)

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The relationship between pornography use and harmful sexual attitudes and behaviours: literature review (PDF)

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Details

This research was commissioned under the previous government and before the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result the content may not reflect current government policy or forthcoming policy announcements. The views expressed in this report are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of the government.

The purpose of this report is to provide primary evidence to the Government Equalities Office (GEO) on the relationship between pornography use and harmful sexual behaviours towards women, from the perspective of those who work with individuals who have exhibited, or are at risk of exhibiting, this behaviour.

As the sensitive nature of the topic makes it difficult to study experimentally, this report focuses on the voices of those working in the field in order to fully understand the issue.

To this end, 20 interviews were conducted with frontline workers across social, justice, and medical sectors.

The report finds that:

  • the majority of frontline workers spontaneously mentioned pornography as an influential factor for harmful sexual behaviours towards women and girls – all acknowledged it as a factor when it was later introduced into the discussion
  • frontline workers highlighted a range of factors that play a role in harmful sexual behaviours towards women and girls – the interrelation of these factors, including pornography, contributes to a conducive context facilitating these behaviours

Updates to this page

Published 15 January 2021

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