Responding to a call for research on pornography and women's sexuality made by Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner, and Irizarry (2010), this study assessed pornography consumption, predictors, and correlates using nationally representative data gathered from U.S. women between 1973 and 2010 (N = 18,225). Women who were younger, less religious, and non-White were more likely to consume pornography. Women who consumed pornography had more positive attitudes toward extramarital sex, adult premarital sex, and teenage sex. Women who consumed pornography also had more sexual partners in the prior year, prior 5 years, and were more likely to have engaged in extramarital sex and paid sex. Consistent with Wright's (2011a) acquisition, activation, application model of mass media sexual socialization and the theorizing of Linz and Malamuth (1993), liberal-conservative ideology moderated the association between pornography exposure and sexual behavior. Specifically, the positive association between pornography exposure and women's recent sexual behavior was strongest for the most liberal women and weakest for the most conservative women. Cultural commentators and some academics argue that technological advances have resulted in a steady increase in the percentage of individuals who consume pornography. Little support was found for this assertion among U.S. women.

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Extramarital sex is one of the most commonly cited reasons for divorce. U.S. adults who have more positive extramarital sex attitudes are more likely to engage in extramarital sex. Given pornography's positive portrayal of extramarital sex, several recent studies have explored whether people who consume pornography have a more positive attitude toward extramarital sex. Consistent correlations have been found, but limitations to inference are posed by the sampling of adolescents and college students and the cross-sectional designs used. This brief report used national panel data gathered from two separate samples of married U.S. adults. Data were gathered from the first sample in 2006 and in 2008 (N ϭ 282). Data were gathered from the second sample in 2008 and in 2010 (N ϭ 269). Consistent with a social learning perspective on media, prior pornography consumption was correlated with more positive subsequent extramarital sex attitudes in both samples, even after controlling for earlier extramarital sex attitudes and nine additional potential confounds. Contrary to a selective exposure perspective on media, prior extramarital sex attitudes were unrelated to subsequent pornography consumption in both samples.

This chapter reviews scientific theory and research on pornography consumption and male socialization. The term pornography is often used pejoratively. Consistent with our prior work (e.g., Wright & Bae, 2013;Wright, Malamuth, & Donnerstein, 2012), we use the term only as shorthand for mediated content depicting nudity and explicit sexual acts. No evaluative connotation is implied. 1 The voluminous nature of the pornography literature necessitates the adoption of certain chapter parameters. We focus on quantitative studies, general-as opposed to sex offender-samples, males who have sex with females (see Chapter 16, this handbook, for a discussion of gay, bisexual, and transgender males), and studies published in the last 10-15 years. Recent studies are emphasized because research conducted prior to this period has already received extensive analysis and critique (Linz & Malamuth, 1993;Malamuth, Addison, & Koss, 2000), sociosexual norms change over time (Treas, 2002), and the dawn of the Internet has led to a flurry of studies yet to receive much systematic review.The first part of the chapter reviews theory and research on males' consumption of pornography. Studies generally find that males are more likely to consume pornography than females (Goodson,

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