The Relationship Among Online Sexually Explicit Material Exposure to, Desire for, and Participation in Rough Sex

Abstract

The broad accessibility of online sexually explicit material (SEM) exposes viewers to a wide scope of sexual behaviors. Social concern tends to be heightened over SEM that incorporates highly graphic, "rough" sex. This study assessed the associations among exposure to rough sex in SEM, desire for rough sex, and participation in rough sex while accounting for gender, sexual orientation, and perceived realism of SEM. Young adults (N = 327; ages 19-30; 50.8% men) were recruited through a crowdsourcing website. They completed an anonymous online survey that assessed viewing frequency for a range of sexual behaviors in SEM, the perceived realism of SEM, desire to participate in the behaviors viewed, and if they had ever participated in those behaviors. Hair pulling, spanking, scratching, biting, bondage, fisting, and double penetration were used to create the variable of rough sex. Rough sex desire and participation were common among individuals who have been exposed to rough sex in SEM, with 91.4% desiring to engage in 1 + behaviors at least to a small degree and 81.7% having engaged in 1 + behaviors. Exposure to rough sex in SEM was positively associated with desire for and participation in rough sex, emphasizing the need to ensure that individuals can distinguish between consensual rough sex and sexual violence. This study did not parse out causal effects or directionality, but did provide some insights into the interrelatedness of viewing, desiring, and participating in rough sex.

“It Was Scary, But Then It Was Kind of Exciting”: Young Women’s Experiences with Choking During Sex

“…Clinicians, sexuality educators, and those with policy interests for college campuses or adolescent health need to grapple with contemporary sexual repertoires, which appear to often include choking during sex. Sex educators, for example, need to become knowledgeable about choking/strangulation, reasons for engaging in choking, relevant health sequelae, ways that consent may be negotiated, and then create and evaluate educational curricula related to choking and other rough sex behaviors that are prevalent among young adults (e.g., Burch & Salmon, 2019;Herbenick, Fu, et al, 2021a;Vogels & O'Sullivan, 2019). This is particularly important in light of the fact that choking/strangulation appears to be increasing as part of sexual assaults (Cannon et al, 2020;Patch et al, 2021).…”

Surveying Pornography Use: A Shaky Science Resting on Poor Measurement Foundations

“…They are noteworthy because they appeared to be founded on a set of items that have been the focus of some validation efforts, but in each case, adaptations were made without clear justification. All six of these studies (Peter & Valkenburg, 2009, 2011bVandenbosch & van Oosten, 2017;van Oosten, 2016;Vogels, 2018;Vogels & O'Sullivan, 2019), for example, used only four of the original five items proposed by Peter and Valkenburg (2006), with no mention of why the fifth item (i.e., the use of "erotic contact sites", p. 186), with which the scale validity was originally supported, was excluded. Further, the original scale asked about pornography use over the past six months, but three of these studies used either a two month or a four month assessment window.…”

Frequency, Method, Intensity, and Health Sequelae of Sexual Choking Among U.S. Undergraduate and Graduate Students

“…Subsequent research might explore healthcare use among people who have been choked during sex, including whether those who have experienced LOC or AIC have been screened for TBI. Given the prevalence of choking and other forms of rough sex (e.g., Herbenick et al, 2021b;Keene, 2019;Vogels & O'Sullivan, 2019), and that some proportion of experiences will have been frightening or part of an assault, findings underscore a need for trauma-informed, kink-aware clinical care (Lantto & Lundberg, 2021;Speciale & Khambatta, 2022).…”