Are Young Women Into Porn?

Is porn for women or men?

Source: Luke Ford/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.5

In my interviews with straight young men (mean age = 20), watching porn was nearly a universal child and adolescent experience, usually from a young age. It was a predominant means by which they learned about sexual matters and secured sexual pleasure. Comparable data based on adolescent girls and young women are difficult to find. Indeed, little is known about porn use among adolescent young adult women: If they engage in pornography, how early do they begin, what is their motive, do they enjoy the experience, and do they discover sexual pleasure through pornography?

The Majority of Young Women Watch Porn

In their recent study, Julie Fraumeni‑McBride and Brian Willoughby focused specifically on young women and their use of pornography. Nearly 900 women between the ages of 18 and 34 who attended public schools were recruited with an online ad to participate in a survey of “personal attitudes and experiences.” The sample of women was diverse with regard to race, socioeconomic status, education level, and sexual orientation. Given their young age, nearly two-thirds were never married. The researchers supplemented their study by also examining whether the kind of sex education implemented in schools—comprehensive sex education programs versus abstinence-based education programs—mattered in terms of pornography use. Did either prevent or reduce pornography use among the young women?

A majority—nearly 60 percent—reported that they had used pornography, usually before the age of 18. The most common time of first exposure and subsequent use was between the ages 12 and 15 when puberty is at full force and sexual desire is likely at its peak because of associated hormonal and social changes. Nearly all (93 percent) of the young women—similar to the young men in my study—who accessed porn used hardcore, including illegal, forms of pornography. Nearly 80 percent of those who used pornography perceived it as a source of education about sexual issues, especially regarding learning about sexual pleasure and, perhaps, experiencing it as they watched. This did not imply, however, that they saw pornography as the preferred method to learn about sexuality, including essential topics such as sexual pleasure or how best to follow or engage in a sexual script. Perhaps the advantage of pornography was its privacy—one could self-select images and types—and its non-judgmental nature. Very likely, pornography was not only educational but also enjoyable.

Several other findings were noteworthy:

1. Age and religiosity were unrelated to hardcore pornography use.
2. The age of initial pornography use surpassed other variables in predicting the use of hardcore pornography, which suggests comprehensive sexuality education should address early adolescents’ need for information and outlets for sexuality-related pleasure, risks, and information.
3. Girls who had an abstinence-only sexuality education have likely been deprived of accurate medical and interpersonal information. This could lead them to seek such information from pornography with its uncertain if not questionable facts, attitudes, and values.

Does Abstinence Education Prevent or Encourage Porn Use?

Perhaps most surprising to adults, young women who received abstinence-only sexuality education reported not lower but higher frequencies of pornography use compared to their comprehensive sexuality-educated counterparts.

Regardless of the type of sex education curriculum, Fraumeni‑McBride and Willoughby proposed that girls, as well as boys, need opportunities to have “open, accurate discussions about sexuality to reduce their reliance on pornography.” This implies, however, that pornography is a negative educational or experiential factor in the lives of young women. If this is the assumption—and it is easy to believe nearly all parents agree—I can find no evidence that this is true in most cases. In this, the authors appear to agree: “Women's interest in gaining knowledge about female-specific pleasure seems to outweigh perceived risks, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive curriculum development.”

Parents Should Teach Their Children About Sex

On another matter, because young women are incredibly diverse in their sexual experiences, values, attitudes, and needs, ideally what is most needed is sex education “taught by parents or primary caregivers.” However, in the absence of parental instruction—as was the case with the young men I interviewed across all sexual orientation, racial, and class populations—“policymakers and educators should bridge these gaps to develop more effective sexuality education curricula.”