The influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudes

Mainstream pornography presumably influences explicit and implicit attitudes. This study presents a media literacy intervention specifically for pornography in form of a short video (3 min.) highlighting that pornography is effortfully constructed. After exposing 80 adults between 18 and 33 (60% fem...

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Main Authors: Marina F. Thomas, Moniek Buijzen
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG 2025-03-01
Series:Studies in Communication, Media
Online Access:https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/2192-4007-2025-1-8
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author Marina F. Thomas
Moniek Buijzen
author_facet Marina F. Thomas
Moniek Buijzen
author_sort Marina F. Thomas
collection DOAJ
description Mainstream pornography presumably influences explicit and implicit attitudes. This study presents a media literacy intervention specifically for pornography in form of a short video (3 min.) highlighting that pornography is effortfully constructed. After exposing 80 adults between 18 and 33 (60% female) to mainstream pornography, it was experimentally tested if the porn literacy intervention (compared to a matched control video) decreased perceived porn realism, undesired explicit and implicit attitudes, and whether the influence of the intervention was moderated by sexual experience and prior porn use. The preregistered experiment showed that the porn literacy intervention had no effect on perceived realism of pornography, body dissatisfaction, implicit sexism, or explicit and implicit attitudes toward condom use (all materials, data, and analysis scripts available at https://osf.io/2pk5e/). Explicit sexist attitudes were decreased in individuals with few sex partners and increased in individuals with mean or higher prior porn use. The intervention influenced self-reported sexism but not the presumed mechanism perceived realism (associated with younger age). Across conditions, participants were neither more dissatisfied with their bodies nor more dismissive toward condoms after watching mainstream porn; sexist attitudes were even lower at posttest. The study proves the need for more research clarifying what, how, and when we learn from porn, including more theoretical refinement in media literacy theory with its mechanisms, its application to pornography, and concrete interventions.
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spelling doaj-art-5b94b68c41fb4960bd862a149e597f132025-08-20T02:50:26ZdeuNomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KGStudies in Communication, Media2192-40072025-03-0114183610.5771/2192-4007-2025-1-810577121924007202518The influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudesMarina F. ThomasMoniek BuijzenMainstream pornography presumably influences explicit and implicit attitudes. This study presents a media literacy intervention specifically for pornography in form of a short video (3 min.) highlighting that pornography is effortfully constructed. After exposing 80 adults between 18 and 33 (60% female) to mainstream pornography, it was experimentally tested if the porn literacy intervention (compared to a matched control video) decreased perceived porn realism, undesired explicit and implicit attitudes, and whether the influence of the intervention was moderated by sexual experience and prior porn use. The preregistered experiment showed that the porn literacy intervention had no effect on perceived realism of pornography, body dissatisfaction, implicit sexism, or explicit and implicit attitudes toward condom use (all materials, data, and analysis scripts available at https://osf.io/2pk5e/). Explicit sexist attitudes were decreased in individuals with few sex partners and increased in individuals with mean or higher prior porn use. The intervention influenced self-reported sexism but not the presumed mechanism perceived realism (associated with younger age). Across conditions, participants were neither more dissatisfied with their bodies nor more dismissive toward condoms after watching mainstream porn; sexist attitudes were even lower at posttest. The study proves the need for more research clarifying what, how, and when we learn from porn, including more theoretical refinement in media literacy theory with its mechanisms, its application to pornography, and concrete interventions.https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/2192-4007-2025-1-8
spellingShingle Marina F. Thomas
Moniek Buijzen
The influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudes
Studies in Communication, Media
title The influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudes
title_full The influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudes
title_fullStr The influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudes
title_full_unstemmed The influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudes
title_short The influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudes
title_sort influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudes
url https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/2192-4007-2025-1-8
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