Sexual behavior is characterized by violent content

According to a study by the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute of Ireland (SERP), sexually violent content shapes the sexual behavior of adults and children in Ireland.

The study, commissioned by domestic violence charity Women’s Aid and funded by the Community Foundation of Ireland, shows that many of the elements found in mainstream pornography depict sexual violence.

Facing Reality: Addressing the Role of Pornography in the Pandemic of Violence against Women and Girls draws on international and Irish research.

It says the multi-billion dollar pornography business attempts to normalize extreme acts and promote the dehumanization of women and girls.

Ireland ranks 42nd in traffic to one of the world’s most popular mainstream pornography sites, Pornhub, and consistently ranks in the top 20 for other popular porn sites.

Stripchat, which describes itself as a “social network” and “community” with free live streaming webcam “performances,” is also very popular.

This website has been in the top 20 most popular websites in Ireland quite consistently for at least two years.

According to SERP, there is a wealth of research showing the connection between regular consumption of pornography and the perpetration of violence against women and girls.

In fact, the Institute was commissioned by Women’s Aid to carry out the study after previous research by the domestic violence organization showed that there was a very high level of public concern in Ireland about the harm of pornography to gender equality, healthy sexuality and children exists.

The study, published today, says both adults and children access pornography across a variety of devices.

Devices children used when they were first exposed to pornography included family desktops, laptops, personal tablets and smartphones.

However, one author told SERP that while it is believed that first access to pornography occurs “as soon as a child gets their first smartphone,” the specific devices are used by children to access a whole range of harmful online content, including Accessing pornography “is less relevant than the setting and level of unsupervised access they may have to an internet-enabled device.”

She and other contributors emphasized that parents are increasingly concerned about their children’s physical safety and may feel more comfortable knowing they are “safe” at home and in their bedrooms.

Through its research, SERP found that many young people regularly consume pornography before their first sexual experience with another person, which in turn influences expectations.

The family psychotherapist Dr. Richard Hogan described the effects of pornography to researchers he observed at his work.

“Young men often come to my clinic, teenagers trying to get away from pornography. And I sit with teenage girls and they tell me what’s required of them in a relationship and that motivates me and I think, ‘How?'” Could this 14-year-old girl have a 14-year-old boyfriend who thought that ? [violent/aggressive act during sex] “What did you do to someone at 14 years old?”

According to the report, it is crucial to educate children, parents, professionals and society at large about the harmful nature and effects of pornography.

It also says a broader and deeper discussion is needed on the issue of sexual consent in the context of a culture steeped in pornography.

While Women’s Aid has found that mainstream pornography provides a “blueprint” for the sexual, verbal and physical abuse of women by their male intimate partners; Scientists say more research is needed to understand the complex role pornography plays in the dynamics of domestic violence and coercive control that both women and girls experience in their intimate relationships.

It is clear from the research that pornography has become “widely accepted in mainstream society” while providing increasingly extreme and violent content.

An Irish GP reported “multiple harms” she observed in her practice from pornography consumption.

“Although I am a GP in every sense of the word, down here in rural Ireland I see the impact at work every week. With all the revelations over the years and conversations about sexual health, I definitely feel pornography and the now.” The highly visible escort service industry is now providing information about the predator and his behavior.

“But could it also somehow normalize/sanitize the assaults for the women themselves and create another hurdle in dealing with the violence against them?” she added.

The same GP highlighted increased levels of sexual violence against young women that she observed during the Covid-19 pandemic, including cases where vulnerable young women were deceived into trusting someone and then sexually assaulted or raped by them became.

She noted that none of these young women ever wanted to report these assaults and asked whether the experience of sexual violence had been in any way “normalized” for them given the prevalence of pornography consumption.

Despite what its marketers may have the world believe, SERP says that the pornography trade does not exist to provide “sexual liberation,” or to “teach people about sex,” nor to add “fun” into people’s lives bring.

“The company exists primarily to make money, and to achieve this it has refined its business model to maximize profits at every turn,” they added.

The institute has also warned that no woman or girl whose image is accessible online is immune from being targeted by exploiters using the technology due to artificial intelligence.

Images can be “naked” and deepfake videos are also on the rise.

There has also been a global increase in the use of AI to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM), with material also increasing in severity.

The report’s authors claim the study shows the urgent need to have an open conversation about the consumption of pornography and its wider impact on Irish society, including reformulating the concept of “consent”.

Ruth Breslin, director of the SERP Institute, said the research was not derived from a position advocating censorship of erotic material, but rather from the perspective that “there is an urgent need to understand and address pornography as what what she really is – sexual violence, torture and humiliation of real women and girls in the film”.

Denise Charlton, CEO of Community Foundation Ireland, described the research as a disturbing but essential read that provides important clarity.

“By ignoring or avoiding the issue of pornography, we are failing our young people and passing on the legacy of gender-based violence to a new generation. Now is the time to take meaningful action to prevent this,” she said.

Women’s Aid director Sarah Benson said the research was “directly relevant” to the organisation’s work as women who approached it for support reported their partner’s use of pornography as part of sexual coercion and the abuse they were subjected to.

She added that pornography in general has a “hugely negative impact on young people and society.”

“It shapes the sexual expectations of children and young people in ways that normalize harmful, compulsive, dangerous and abusive behavior. “It reinforces misogynistic and disrespectful stereotypes and undermines any education on consent, safe, healthy and respectful relationships and gender equality,” she said.