Sex, Guys, and Cyberspace: Effects of Internet Pornography and Individual Differences on Men's Attitudes Toward Women

The current research examined effects of exposure to Internet pornography on university men's attitudes toward women. Study 1 assessed effects of increasing amounts of Internet pornography on undergraduate men's (N = 24) attitudes toward women, self-reported likelihood of sexually harassing a woman, and rape myth acceptance, and no evidence of effects of Internet pornography was detected. Study 2 assessed relationships between individual difference factors (including sensation seeking, hypermasculinity, erotophobia-erotophilia, and past experience with sexually explicit material) and self-regulated exposure to Internet pornography in a free-choice situation, with the same dependent measures in a separate sample of undergraduate men (N = 31). While the individual difference factors were found to be related to self-regulated exposure to Internet pornography, as well as to the dependent measures, amount of exposure to Internet pornography per se had no detectable relationship with the dependent measures of misogynist attitudes. Discussion addresses future longitudinal research examining whether individual difference factors and exposure to sexually explicit materials act synergistically to determine negative attitudes toward women, or whether, as suggested here, individual difference factors are directly and independently associated with pornography exposure and with misogynist attitudes.