SECTION 3: A COMPARISON OF EXPOSURE TO X-RATED AND OTHER SEXUAL CONTENT
The contribution of X-rated material and pornography to deviant sexual behavior, negative attitudes towards women, and the acceptance of deviant or aggressive sexual behavior among peers and adults has been studied for decades. Most studies report that sexually aggressive behavior and attitudes are elevated for adults who report pornography consumption.13-16 Men who are at ‘high risk’ for sexual aggression seem to be particularly affected by frequent pornography consumption 13 suggesting that it is important to measure frequency of exposure. Furthermore, violent pornography may be particularly influential in affecting behavior compared to non-violent pornography.17-19 Our analyses of the GuwM data suggest that among youth, exposure to violent X-rated material is significantly associated with sexually aggressive behavior, whereas non-violent X-rated material is not.20 In this section, we share detailed findings about exposure rates among youth. The survey questions regarding X-rated material exposure were adapted from the Youth Internet Safety Survey,12 whereas the sexual content questions are developed specifically for GuwM.
X-rated websites:
We asked youth whether, in the past 12 months, they have gone to or seen an X-rated or “adult” website where the main topic was sex.
Less than 1 of every 7 youth across Wave had gone to or seen an X-rated or “adult” website where the main topic was sex in the past 12 months.
It is interesting to note that between 28-42% of youth said they had never heard of an X-rated site. Too often, perhaps, we assume youth to be savvier about sex than they actually are.
Increases in exposure to X-rated material online were completely explained by the cohort getting older. Once age was taken into account, the actual likelihood of exposure did not change at all over the three year period (note the overlapping lines in the figure below).
Youth who had gone to an X-rated website in the past 12 months most commonly learned about the site from a friend or by using a search engine.
| X-rated website characteristics | Wave 1 (n = 137) |
Wave 2 (n = 135) |
Wave 3 (n = 146) |
| Learned about X-rated site by… | |||
| A friend told me about it | 51% | 46% | 52% |
| Used a search engine | 43% | 33% | 41% |
| Typed website address to see what came up | 31% | 19% | 36% |
| Clicked on link from other websites | 29% | 26% | 28% |
| Pop-up ad | 29% | 26% | 20% |
| Clicked on banner ad | 22% | 15% | 19% |
| Some other way | 17% | 14% | 10% |
| Email link from other people | 11% | 15% | 9% |
| Magazine/ newspaper | 10% | 6% | 4% |
| A family member | 7% | 9% | 8% |
| Online newsgroup | 2% | 3% | 3% |
As shown in the table above, fifty percent of youth who had been to an X-rated website in the past 12 months learned about it from a friend. Other common ways to learn about X-rated websites included using a search engine, typing in a website address to see what came up, or clicking on a pop up ad.
| How often visit X-rated site in the… | Wave 1 (n = 137) |
Wave 2 (n = 135) |
Wave 3 (n = 146) |
| Typical Month | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | 2% | 3% | — |
| Once or twice a week | 16% | 16% | — |
| Once or twice a month | 16% | 30% | — |
| Less often than once a month | 66% | 51% | — |
| Past Year | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | — | 4% | 5% |
| Once or twice a week | — | 12% | 26% |
| Once or twice a month | — | 32% | 27% |
| Less often than once a month | — | 53% | 41% |
Thirty-four percent of youth who went to X-rated sites in the past 12 months at Wave 1 reported visiting them at least once or twice in a typical month; this increased to 49% at Wave 2. Of these youth, 2-3% went to X-rated sites every day/ almost every day. Data were similar if youth were asked about a typical month versus the past year (see Wave 2).
X-rated movies:
We asked youth whether, in the past 12 months, they had seen an X-rated movie where the main topic was sex. This included at a friend’s house, at their house, or at a movie theater.
Less than 1 of every 5 youth across Wave had gone to or seen an X-rated movie where the main topic was sex in the past 12 months.
In Wave 1, 10% of all youth surveyed said that they had seen an X-rated movie in the past 12 months. In Wave 2, 19% had seen an X-rated movie in the past 12 months, as did 14% in Wave 3.
| How often visit X-rated site in the… | Wave 1 (n = 137) |
Wave 2 (n = 135) |
Wave 3 (n = 146) |
| Typical Month | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | 2% | 3% | — |
| Once or twice a week | 16% | 16% | — |
| Once or twice a month | 16% | 30% | — |
| Less often than once a month | 66% | 51% | — |
| Past Year | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | — | 4% | 5% |
| Once or twice a week | — | 12% | 26% |
| Once or twice a month | — | 32% | 27% |
| Less often than once a month | — | 53% | 41% |
Similar to X-rated websites, age strongly predicted exposure to X-rated materials. Interestingly however, trends over time were less clear. It appears that the highest rates were seen in Wave 2 (i.e., the red line trend is higher than the other lines), with Wave 1 and Wave 3 rates similar to each other.
| X-rated movie characteristics | Wave 1 (n = 149) |
Wave 2 (n = 217) |
Wave 3 (n = 158) |
| How often watched X-rated movie in the last year…^ | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | — | 7% | 5% |
| Once or twice a week | — | 10% | 10% |
| Once or twice a month | — | 16% | 28% |
| Less often than once a month | — | 67% | 57% |
| Who wanted to watch X-rated movie… | |||
| I selected movie to watch | 30% | 23% | 33% |
| Other people were watching and I was in the room | 36% | 44% | 36% |
| I felt pressured | 23% | 16% | 20% |
| Something else | 17% | 20% | 19% |
^ At Wave 1, youth were asked if they had watched an X-rated movie in the past 12 months (yes/ no response option) but were not asked how often they had watched this type of movie. At Wave 2, all youth were asked the frequency they had watched an X-rated movie and a never response option was added. Eighty-one percent endorsed ‘never’. At Wave 3, all youth were first asked if they had watched an X-rated movie (yes/ no) and then for those that indicated ‘yes’ the follow-up questions were asked.
The majority of youth who watched an X-rated movie in the past 12 months reported watching them infrequently: fewer than one in five (15-17%) watched them weekly or more often.
Most youth who had seen an X-rated movie in the past 12 months reported personally selecting the movie (23-33%). Other commonly reported reasons youth watched the film included being there when someone else was watching it (36-44%) or feeling pressure to watch it (16-23%). Thus, viewing X-rated material may be an individual behavior, but it also may be a peer experience.