The prevalence of sexual gratification or satisfaction through pornography consumption has been described as a growing phenomenon (Kasemy, Desouky, & Abdelrasoul, Reference Kasemy, Desouky and Abdelrasoul2016). Pro-pornography scholars state that pornography may be a means through which individuals receive informal sexual education, ease stress, and gain entertainment (McCormack & Wignall, Reference McCormack and Wignall2017). However, anti-pornography scholars say pornography consumption may enhance pre-marital or extramarital sex as well as increase the sex drive among young adults (Reference DasGuptaDasgupta, 2017). Nonetheless, the advent of social media may have enhanced sharing, receiving, and accessing pornographic contents with minimal limitations (González-Ortega, Vicario-Molina, Martínez, & Orgaz, Reference González-Ortega, Vicario-Molina, Martínez and Orgaz2015), thereby creating further concerns about the phenomenon.
Romantic relationships may be described as mutual and intimate relationships that exist between two people, thereby facilitating love, affection, and sexual intimacy (Fernández, Quiroga, & Del Olmo, Reference Fernández, Quiroga and Del Olmo2006). Romantic relationships create bonds between the partners involved and facilitates financial, emotional, and psychological commitment. Desire in romantic relationships involves the wants and needs that individuals require for a fulfilling and happy relationship (Diamond, Reference Diamond2003). These include but are not limited to sexual gratification, happiness, effective communication, and faithfulness between partners, harmony, and the ability to express personal feelings.
Today, social media has become easily accessible to a vast majority of people. With easy access also comes the proliferation of pornographic content on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (Coletto, Aiello, Lucchese, & Silvestri, Reference Coletto, Aiello, Lucchese and Silvestri2016). The presence of social media platforms such as #blacksexvideos on Twitter may have further created easier access for individuals to access pornographic content on social media. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate if pornography consumption on social media platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat) ultimately facilitates gratification in romantic relationships (i.e. relational satisfaction). Gratification in this study is referred to as happiness, satisfaction, and fulfilment in a romantic relationship. Although pornography is widely consumed on internet platforms (www), social media platforms such as Twitter have made it quite easy for individuals to share/retweet content, which has further increased the number of active and passive consumers of social media pornography. In addition, pornography on social media is gaining an increasing audience, thereby making it an interesting but necessary area to be studied. For instance, the BBC reports that there is a high number of pornographic content available on Facebook (“Online usage grows”, 2019).
Literature Review
Pornography
The term pornography originates from the Greek word ‘‘pornographos” which translates to “an act of writing about prostitutes” (D’Orlando, Reference D’Orlando2011). While pornography continues to play a pivotal role in entertainment, new controversies are emerging on the phenomenon (Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner, & Irizarry, Reference Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner and Irizarry2010). Cowen (Reference Cowen2016) states that there is no harm for individuals who may be sexually attracted to each other to consume pornography together, as long as there is a mutual agreement.
Hald and Malamuth (Reference Hald and Malamuth2008) elucidate that men will be more likely to be exposed to pornographic content at a younger age and consume more pornography than women. The study explains further that men often use pornography to satisfy their sexual urges and increasingly watch high-level pornographic content. In another study by Carroll et al. (Reference Carroll, Padilla-Walker, Nelson, Olson, Barry and Madsen2008), findings indicate that a majority of the respondents agree that it is normal to watch pornography. These studies confirm that men predominantly watch pornography to gratify their sexual desires.
While examining the relationship between pornography consumption and the various measures of marital well-being, Doran and Price (Reference Doran and Price2014) conducted studies that reveal adults who access pornographic contents are either divorced or unsatisfied with their current romantic relationships. Being sexually confident may be considered an essential part of a relationship, as individuals may require a certain level of confidence to satisfy their partner and maintain a fulfilling relationship. In this case, accessing pornography may expose individuals to a variety of sex styles and positions, which can also serve as a form of education, thereby boosting sexual confidence and in turn facilitating gratification (Hald, Smolenski, & Rosser, Reference Hald, Smolenski and Rosser2013).
As Paul and Shim (Reference Paul and Shim2008) argued, individuals vary in their inclination for sexual activity. Individuals with high level of cravings for sexual activities may desire and demand sex more from their spouses; if such demands are not met, they may result into gratifying their urge via pornography consumption on social media platforms. As posited by Maas and Dewey (Reference Maas and Dewey2018), pornography may help individuals with high sexual drive in fulfilling their sexual urge thereby resulting in sexual confidence in self and sexual compulsiveness.
Sun, Miezan, Lee, and Shim (Reference Sun, Miezan, Lee and Shim2015) assert that pornography is mostly consumed by men and may start as early as 14 years old. In addition, their study states that men who watch pornography are usually more sexually active, positively disposed to sex, and introduce a variety of styles in their sexual activities to their female partners or to other men who do not watch pornography. Research has also confirmed that frequent exposure to pornographic content boosts sexual behavior (such as sexual activities) of the individual (Sakalli-Ugurlu, Reference Sakalli-Ugurlu2003).
Weitzer (Reference Weitzer and Boyle2011) states that pornography can be classified as a form of sex education that enables individuals to derive satisfaction from their sexual lives. Therefore, pornography consumption may be used by an individual to receive education on sexual styles as well as how to satisfy a romantic partner sexually. In addition, reasons for consumption of pornography may be due to gratifying personal sexual desire, confidence or facilitating an individual’s sexual activeness.
Social Media and Pornography
The global technological revolution has not only promoted interpersonal communication, but it has also brought about a revolution in the production and distribution of pornographic content (Tziallas, Reference Tziallas2015). As such, the use of social media in gratifying romantic relationship desires has become easier. For instance, social media users are able to share erotic pictures with other friends, sex chat and ultimately communicate. So far, literature on pornography has significantly investigated internet pornography (www) (Wright, Reference Wright2013), however this study investigates the association between consuming pornographic content on social media platforms, such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter, and sexual gratification in romantic relationships.
Though highly criticized, pornography has generated billions of dollars for companies and individuals who are involved in the business (Carroll et al., Reference Carroll, Padilla-Walker, Nelson, Olson, Barry and Madsen2008). Today, there is a large amount of internet platforms including social media which deal exclusively with pornographic content. These pornographic social media platforms are most common on Instagram and Snapchat as followers and viewers enjoy free and unlimited access to watch uncensored videos and pictures. Generally, online platforms have facilitated access to erotic content, thereby helping consumers gratify their urges (Carroll, et al., Reference Carroll, Padilla-Walker, Nelson, Olson, Barry and Madsen2008; Wright, Reference Wright2013). As such, social media may have contributed to this phenomenon.
Social media has further boosted the outreach of pornographic content as well as providing easy access to its subscribers (D’Orlando, Reference D’Orlando2011). However, this may negatively affect their psychological well-being as consumers may become addicted due to high consumption of pornographic contents. Social media has created a platform worldwide where users can easily upload and publicly share nude or semi-nude pictures, with different motivations, gratifications, and intentions (Tziallas, Reference Tziallas2015). It has also provided a platform where users can be involved in sexting (exchanging sexually explicit messages/pictures/videos through a mobile phone) with the opposite sex or a sexual partner (Weitzer, Reference Weitzer and Boyle2011). This has also facilitated sharing other people’s nude or semi-nude pictures with or without their consent. Social media has therefore enabled pornography consumption and crossing boundaries regardless of privacy policy of the platforms.
Through social media, operators of pornographic platforms boost their followership and audience by sending direct messages, spam, or posting a link or handle on the comments section for others to follow or access (Gehl, Reference Gehl2016). Today, there are hundreds of thousands of social media users now following erotic pages. Social media also facilitates the sending of pornographic content between young adults and teens, thereby exposing them to sexual content at an early age (Faruq, Reza, Rahman, & Alam, Reference Faruq, Reza, Rahman and Alam2017). For example, countries such as Thailand, Bangladesh, China, North Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia among others have heavily censored what their citizens can access through the internet; as such, social media pornography may be a suitable alternative for citizens who desire pornography consumption and cannot access it through any other means.
Theory
Wright’s (Reference Wright2011) acquisition, activation, application model was adopted as the theoretical framework for this study. Wright’s model proposed that exposure to sexually explicit contents invariably impacts on the sexuality of individual which can lead to sexual satisfaction (Wright, Reference Wright2013). Although the model may be affiliated to some social learning theories, it expands knowledge that human beings learn certain acts through consumption of media content (Wright & Randall, Reference Wright and Randall2012). The model further explains that mediated models may influence human actions, satisfaction, and gratification. Thereby emphasizing the influence of media platforms in influencing human satisfaction. Huesmann (Reference Huesmann1986) argues that the media processes the power to affect certain cognitive behaviors in its audience. He claims that through the media, the audience learns certain behaviors that they begin to apply in their activities. For instance, through the consumption of pornographic content on the media, romantic partners may begin to learn different sexual styles and thereafter introduce these into their sexual activities. Therefore, when an individual learns new sexual styles through pornography consumption, an acquisition effect may be said to have occurred (Wright, Tokunaga, Kraus, & Klann, Reference Wright, Tokunaga, Kraus and Klann2017).
Through the media, however, individuals may become exposed to sexually explicit content, thereby encouraging sexually compulsive behavior, in addition to building their sexual confidence (Wright & Randall, Reference Wright and Randall2012). As such, this may contribute to an increase in the sexual drive and desire of the individual. Sometimes, such individuals may have already been exposed to different sexual styles through other means, however, the media further strengthens an individual’s sexual confidence; this, according to Wright (Reference Wright2013), may be classified as script activation. He states that, “An activation effect occurs when media exposure cues a script that has already been acquired” (Wright, Reference Wright2013, p. 61). Thus, when individuals are exposed to pornographic content through various social media platforms, they thereafter want to apply some of the sexual styles they learn in order to fulfil their own sexual urges through instant gratification and thereafter gratify the sexual aspect of their romantic relationships. Wright (Reference Wright2011) refers to this as an activation effect. At this point, the individual may not be as discerning about who they have sex with if their motivation is to please their own sexual urges.
The availability of and access to pornographic content on social media has further encouraged viewers to attempt putting into practice what they watch on these platforms. Hald, Malamuth, and Lange (Reference Hald, Malamuth and Lange2013) assert that consumption of pornographic content may affect the attitude and perception of individuals towards sex. For example, when individuals watch pornography, they may be sexually aroused, thereby seeking practical or physical gratification. However, this may predispose consumers to extra marital sex when their romantic partners are not available or when they do not have any. This may also be categorized as an activation effect.
Ultimately, when romantic partners are exposed to pornographic content on social media, they are able to learn new sexual styles, reaffirm some of the ones they already knew and thereafter activate the new styles learnt in order to satisfy their urges and more specifically their romantic relationships.
Hypotheses
Wright et al. (Reference Wright, Tokunaga, Kraus and Klann2017) postulated that there is a negative relationship between pornography consumption and relationship satisfaction. As such, when individuals in a relationship consume pornography, it may act as a form of threat to the satisfaction and ultimate sustainability of the relationship. Research by Kvalem, Traeen, and Iantaffi (Reference Kvalem, Traeen and Iantaffi2015) indicates that individuals that consume pornography through social media often have an improved self-perception because they readily learn from content and focus on the similarities that exist between themselves and the pornography actors. However, some individuals may end up unhealthily obsessed with their appearance or sexual abilities due to comparing themselves with porn stars and become fixated on sexual attractiveness; some even going so far as to have surgery on their bodies to look more like porn stars or what they perceive to be ‘sexy’. Also, several authors such as (Hald & Malamuth, Reference Hald and Malamuth2008; Hald, Malamuth, & Lange, Reference Hald, Malamuth and Lange2013) have come to the conclusion that pornography has a positive influence on the consumers as they learn new techniques, discover new erotic desires, experiment with new erotic behaviors and also reduce performance anxiety. This was also affirmed by an earlier research by Morrison, Bearden, Harriman, Morrison, & Ellis (Reference Morrison, Bearden, Harriman, Morrison and Ellis2004) that consuming pornographic content increases sexual self-esteem. Pornography consumption may bolster sexual satisfaction by promoting an interest in sexual variety (Miller, McBain, Li, & Raggatt, Reference Miller, McBain, Li and Raggatt2019). However pornography may also have a negative impact on consumers including the young people who may not have had sex yet and who are learning about sex from pornography, which can contain quite a lot of violence and subjugation of women.
As such, pornography consumption may lead to sexual confidence, which may enhance sexual satisfaction. We, therefore, predict that sexual confidence interacts with pornography consumption and gratification in romantic relationships. Thus, when there is an increase in sexual confidence, it will be more likely that pornography consumption will lead to satisfaction in a relationship. In addition, it is most likely that increase in pornography consumption will lead to an increase in sexual compulsivity and in turn result in self-satisfaction. Findings from extant literature suggest that age and sex may confound the empirical result of investigation relating to pornography consumption (Sabina, Wolak, & Finkelhor, Reference Sabina, Wolak and Finkelhor2008)
Based on these arguments, we posit that:
Hypothesis 1: Pornography consumption on social media will be positively associated with (a) being sexually confident (b) being sexually compulsive in romantic relationships.
Hypothesis 2: Pornography consumption on social media will be positively associated with gratification in romantic relationships.
Hypothesis 3: Being (a) sexually confident and (b) sexually compulsive in romantic relationships will be positively associated with gratification in romantic relationships.
Hypothesis 4: The association between pornography consumption on social media and gratification in romantic relationships is mediated by (a) being sexually confident and (b) being sexually compulsive in romantic relationships.
Figure 1. Proposed Research Model
Method
Instrument
The current study solicited information from participants through the use of an online questionnaire survey. This decision was based on the sensitivity of the research topic and the adequacy of the method since the focus of the study is centered on the use of social media. The online method served as a way of building confidence in the respondents, as it had no means of identifying the respondent due to ethical reasons. The questionnaires were distributed through a central university email system and via social networking platforms. The process of filling in the questionnaire offered participants period of 35 days to respond.
Participants
The sample of this study was determined using the sample size table (Krejcıe & Morgan, Reference Krejcıe and Morgan1970). Respondents in this study comprised (n = 379) university students who are currently in a romantic relationship and have viewed pornography at least five times while in their relationship. The age group of the respondents ranged between 18 and 35. The majority of the respondents were male at 55.4% and female at 46.6%. The marital status of the respondents showed that a majority representing 81.8% were single but currently in a romantic relationship. While identifying which social media platforms participants accessed containing pornographic content, a significant number of the respondents (59.7%) identified Instagram as the most flexible platform.
Measures
Pornography consumption on social media (PCSM)
As an inclusion criterion, Wright’s (Reference Wright2013) pornography consumption measurement was adopted to determine participants’ eligibility for the study. Participants were asked if they had viewed pornographic contents through social media within the last year (1 = No; 2 = Yes). This was necessary in order to determine participant’s eligibility for the study. The measure of pornography consumption was adopted from (Noor, Rosser, & Erickson, Reference Noor, Rosser and Erickson2014). Participants were instructed to answer the questions based on consumption of pornography on social media. Sample items included: “I watched pornography even though I did not want to”; “I watched pornography to feel at ease”. A 5-point Likert scale was used (1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree). See Table 1 for Cronbach’s alpha values for all measures
Table 1. Indicator Outer Loading and Construct Reliability
Note. (-) item dropped during CFA, PCSM (pornography consumption on social media), SC (sexual confidence), SXC (sexual compulsivity), GRR (gratification in romantic relationship), OL (outer loading), CR (composite reliability), AVE (average variance extracted), and (α).
Gratifying romantic relationship desires (GRR)
The study adopted eight questions as developed by Hendrick (Reference Hendrick1988) to measure the use of pornography in gratifying romantic relationship desires. Questions were modified and included responses such as “My partner significantly meets my needs” or “I am generally satisfied with my romantic relationship”. A 5-point Likert scale was used in measuring how watching pornography on social media is used to gratify romantic relationship desires (1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree).
Sexual confidence (SC)
In measuring sexual confidence, the study adopted a 5-item scale for sexual self-esteem as developed by Snell and Papini (Reference Snell and Papini1989). The scale included: “I would rate my sexual skill quite highly”, “I sometimes have doubts about my competence”, “I am not very confident in sexual encounters”. The items facilitated an understanding of how sexually confident the respondent considered themselves to be. İtems were measured on a scale of 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree.
Sexual compulsivity (SXC)
Items under this measure were based on finding out the level of agreement of respondents on the use of pornography as a form of expressing sexuality in a romantic relationship. A 5-item scale for measuring how an individual rated themselves as being sexually compulsive was adopted from the study of Liao, Lau, Tsui, Gu, and Wang (Reference Liao, Lau, Tsui, Gu and Wang2015). The scale for the items included: “I find myself thinking about sex”, “I feel that sexual thoughts and feelings are stronger than I am”, “I have to struggle to control my sexual thoughts and behaviors”, “I think about sex more than I would like to” and ranged between 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree.
Results
Measurement model
To assess the measurement model of the data, we conducted factor-focused consistent bootstrap using SmartPLS 3. This approach is gaining relevance in scholarly literature due to its accuracy in estimating data sets of varying qualities (sample sizes, model complexity and so on) (Hair, Hult, Ringle, & Sarstedt, Reference Hair, Hult, Ringle and Sarstedt2016). All items were loaded under their corresponding constructs, and all loadings were above 0.6 (Chin, Peterson, & Brown, Reference Chin, Peterson and Brown2008), except for three items taken from the sexual confidence construct and two items taken from the gratification construct. Composite reliability, average variance extracted, and Cronbach’s alpha were all greater than their recommended thresholds. These results as shown in Table 1 confirm the convergent validity of our data. Further, as reported in Table 2, the square root of AVE is greater than inter-construct correlations. This further confirms the discriminant validity of the study data as recommended by Fornell and Larcker (Reference Fornell and Larcker1981).
Table 2. Inter-construct Correlations and Scale Validity
Note. Square root of AVE in boldface on the diagonal, M implies Mean, SD implies Standard deviation
**p < .001; 2-tail test,
Hypotheses testing
In order to test our hypothesized relationships, we ran Hayes’ (Reference Hayes2017) Process Model 4. All constructs were entered together as a parallel mediation model. All direct paths were supported at p ≤ .001, namely, H1a proposed a direct effect of social media pornography consumption on sexual confidence in romantic relationships; H 1b also proposed direct effect of social media pornography consumption on sexual compulsivity. Furthermore, H 2 proposed direct effect of pornography consumption on gratification in romantic relationships, while H 3a and H 3b proposed the direct effect of both sexual confidence and sexual compulsivity on gratification in romantic relationships respectively.
Moreover, H 4a and H 4b proposed that the relationship between pornography consumption and gratification in romantic relationships would be mediated by sexual confidence and sexual compulsivity respectively. A 95% bias-corrected and accelerated confidence interval (BCa CI) bootstrap with 5,000 resamples provided statistical significance for the indirect effects. As reported in Table 3, the direct path between pornography consumption on social media and gratification in romantic relationships remain significant in the presence of the mediating variables and the indirect effects were also signification, indicating a partial mediation, thus providing support for H 4.
Table 3. Effect of Pornography Consumption on Gratification in Romantic Relationship (Direct Paths, Indirect Paths, Total and Direct Effects)
Note. PCSM = pornography consumption on social media; SC = sexual confidence; SXC = sexual compulsivity; GRR = gratification in romantic relationship; 95%BcaCI = Bias-corrected confidence interval, LLCI = Lower level confidence interval; ULCI = Upper level confidence interval.
In addition, we used variance accounted for (VAF), which is the ratio for indirect-to-total effects in scrutinizing the magnitude of the indirect effects. Particularly, sexual confidence explained 5.9% of the effect of social media pornography consumption on gratification in romantic relationships while sexual compulsivity explained 5.4% of the effect. Finally, the difference between the two specific indirect effects on gratification in romantic relationships was not statistically significant as the confidence interval contained zero.
Control variables, such as age and sex, were found to be statistically significant in the study. This was to further understand how these variables ultimately affected an individual’s sexual satisfaction. Age was found to be negatively associated with sexual confidence in romantic relationships (β = –.201, SE = .073, p ≤ .001) and gratification in romantic relationships (β = –.156, SE = .062, p ≤ .001), while gender (β = .318, SE = .095, p ≤ .001) was found to be significantly associated with being sexually compulsive.
Figure 2. Proposed Model with Result of Empirical Analysis
Discussion
The present study was motivated by the quest to understand whether social media pornography consumption facilitates sexual gratification in romantic relationships. This study contributes to research on pornography, romantic relationships, and the use of social media. Importantly, our finding is consistent with the assumptions that pornography consumption through social media will facilitate gratification in romantic relationships.
Pornography consumption on social media was found to have a direct effect on sexual partners in achieving gratification in their romantic relationships. In order words, when individuals consume pornography on social media, they are more likely to learn how to sexually satisfy their romantic partner and themselves, thereby ultimately gratifying their desires. This indicates that significantly, there is a positive effect of pornography consumption on an individual’s sexual life; this finding is strongly supported by Hald and Malamuth (Reference Hald and Malamuth2008). However, the finding is in contrast with that of Wright et al.’s (Reference Wright, Tokunaga, Kraus and Klann2017) study where they found that pornography consumption has a negative impact on relationship satisfaction.
Mediation analysis suggested that there is a direct link between consuming pornography on social media and attaining gratification in romantic relationships as well as an indirect link with sexual confidence in romantic relationships. The implication of these results is consistent with Carroll et al., (Reference Carroll, Padilla-Walker, Nelson, Olson, Barry and Madsen2008), that state that pornography consumption enhances the level of trust that individuals have in themselves (sexual abilities), thereby ultimately resulting in gratification in relationships. For example, when romantic partners learn about various sex styles through pornography consumption, it may help them to increase the level of belief they have in themselves. By this, they tend to engage in sexual variety with their romantic partner, which may also increase their level of sexual satisfaction thereby facilitating happiness and gratification in such relationships.
As predicted, findings in this study also suggest that there is a direct link between pornography consumption and being sexually compulsive, while sexual compulsivity serves as a significant mediator between social media pornography consumption and gratification in romantic relationships. As such, pornography consumption enhances the level of sexual thoughts of romantic partners as well as occasionally contributing to struggles with controlling their sexual thoughts and behaviors. This finding resonates with the study of Weinberg et al. (Reference Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner and Irizarry2010), who state that pornography consumption facilitates a change, and indeed, an increase in the sexual wants and activeness of the consumer. However, being sexually compulsive does not necessarily translate to achieving ultimate satisfaction in a romantic relationship or with one’s sexual partner. This may be due to that fact that romantic relationships do not solely thrive on sexual satisfaction as partners may also require other forms of satisfaction such as emotional, financial and other forms of satisfaction.
Interestingly, the study revealed a negative association between age, sexual confidence and gratification in romantic relationships. Although not ultimately, this may indicate that as soon as individuals mature, pornography consumption may no longer facilitate sexual confidence and gratification. As such, negative significance indicates that as partners grow older, their urge for sex may reduce. In addition, however, sexual confidence may also decrease due to certain emotional or psychological factors. Ultimately, there are a range of factors that may contribute to this; however, this propels an area for further research.
The findings in this study suggest that consuming pornography may help to build sexual confidence and sexual compulsivity in an individual. Therefore, when an individual is sexually confident and sexually compulsive, there is a higher probability of gratification in his/her romantic relationship. Conclusively, our findings support Wright’s (Reference Wright2011) acquisition, activation, application model that exposure to pornography facilitates individuals in becoming sexually confident and sexually compulsive in their romantic relationships.
The main limitation of this study is the age category of the respondents which dominated the sample. Because our respondents’ ages ranged between 18 and 35, our study might be limited to individuals who have been in a romantic relationship only within a short time. Therefore, further studies could study how married or cohabiting romantic partners gratify romantic relationship desires with social media pornographic content. Another limitation is the use of the cross-sectional sample in carrying out mediation analysis as it undermined our ability to be definitive with regards to causal direction. Further studies may use a longitudinal approach. Future studies may also investigate if a relationship exists between individuals that are sexually compulsive with regards to their consumption of social media pornography and vice versa.
