Level of ‘outness’ and pornography use among men who have sex with men: results from an online survey

Abstract

Higher levels of 'outness' -a fundamental experience of people who experience samesex attraction or engage in same-sex relationships -have been associated with increased community engagement, improved self-worth and relationship satisfaction. Pornography viewing is common among men who have sex with men (MSM), and may be associated with outness. Current literature lacks analyses of outness and pornography viewing among MSM. In data taken from a 2009 online survey 1995 MSM participants reported accessing pornography via the Internet (58.8%), video/ digital versatile disc (32.3%) and magazines (10.4%). Viewing of pornography portraying only safer sex encounters (oral sex, mutual masturbation and/or anal sex with condoms) was reported by 49.4%; 4.5% reported exclusively viewing high-risk sex (anal sex without condoms with/without oral sex or mutual masturbation); and 46.1% reported viewing both safer sex and high-risk pornography. In multivariable modelling -compared to the other two groups -men who watched only safer sex pornography were more likely to report being single, HIV negative, a lower degree of outness and to indicate their sex life resembled pornography. Self-identifying as gay was not associated with type of pornography watched. These findings highlight the need to incorporate level of outness when analysing pornography-viewing behaviours among MSM, as outness may be associated with different viewing habits.

A Literature Review of Studies into the Prevalence and Frequency of Men’s Pornography Use

“…Six datasets provide information on the media used to access pornography. In four of these datasets the Internet was the most frequently utilised medium for accessing pornography, followed by videos/DVDs, and then magazines (Kvalem et al, 2016;Traeen, Noor et al, 2014 and related study;Silvera, Grov, Stein, Hagerty, & Marmor, 2015;Stein et al, 2012). In one dataset (Hald, Smolenski, & Rosser, 2013 and related studies), Internet pornography use was divided into computer-based usage and phone/tablet-based usage.…”

Preferences for facial sexual dimorphism is related to frequency of pornography consumption among heterosexual‐identifying men and homosexual‐identifying men: A mediating role of sociosexuality

“…According to the sexual script theory, less restrictive sexual attitudes and behaviours may result from more frequent consumption of pornography. Around half of men who have sex with other men have reported that pornography has contributed to their engagement in “riskier” sexual behaviours, over 90% have fantasies about engaging in acts similar to those seen in pornographic films (Schrimshaw et al, 2016), and most (80.9%) said their sex life was “exactly,” “mostly,” or “somewhat” similar to the pornography they had viewed (Silvera et al, 2015). These data suggest that SEM consumption may shape homosexual men's sociosexuality.…”