Research and Synthesis
In this module, I must write a research proposal to be used as the basis for my dissertation in my final year.
PORNOGRAPHY AND THE MANOSPHERE
Hannah Blackwell
5MEST016W.2 Research and Synthesis
BA Contemporary Media Practice
University of Westminster, 2025
Word count: 3200
Introduction
This research proposal lays the foundation for my dissertation on pornography on social media and its use in the context of the manosphere. I will be looking at how the manosphere uses pornography to reinforce ideas around misogyny and sexism as well as what it means to be a ‘man’ for young men today as part of this culture. I will explore how pornography has historically been criticised by feminists and how its resurfacing on social media has caused debate among young people. Case studies such as The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast and The Reality Check Podcast will be delved into to see how men react to the porn industry on the online world. I will also be focusing on TikTok as a place for people to air their feelings about the pornography industry, particularly OnlyFans, ‘a space where [young people feel they] can share sexual content on their own terms.’ (VoiceBox, 2020, pg 8)
As a sister to a younger brother, this topic deeply troubles me and I often wonder what it may be like for him as a young boy on social media. I want to explore this world and how it may affect him and others in order to better understand what can be done to protect the young people in our society. This study aims to better understand the pressures young men face and the dangers imposed by provocative imagery on the internet and its ease of access.
To begin this research, however, I must first look at the history of pornography and previous studies on its effects on the mind. Malamuth, Itzin, Long, Bronstein and Boyle are all important figures in this case and delve deep into the history of misogyny and pornography. They research how ‘certain forms of pornography may reflect, perpetuate, and cause sexist ideology, greater acceptance of violence against women, and increased aggression’ (Malamuth et al, 1984, pg 140) which are crucial into understanding some of the beliefs behind the manosphere.
Research Option
I will be pursuing the dissertation option for this research as I believe that it will allow me to delve deep into this subject through many different arguments. This is a very large topic and one which has had a lot of research already put into it and, thus, through my research, I hope to gain a full understanding by connecting the areas of pornography, social media and the manosphere. Since these topics have largely been researched in isolation, this research dissertation will allow me to form bonds and connections with each area. I will also carry out some primary research which will be integrated into the dissertation, reflecting the thoughts of young men today via a questionnaire. This primary research will complement my research well as it will allow me to make some connections between my sources and overall topic. The word count will also allow me to explore these topics in great detail, allowing my analysis to be thorough and well-thought-out.
Research Aims
This study aims to investigate the online world and its effects on young people, particularly young men, in relation to the rise of the porn-star on social media. It will explore creators such as Bonnie Blue, Lily Phillips and Sophie Rain who have contributed massively to the controversy surrounding this subject. According to Nation World’s article; ‘Most controversial porn and OnlyFans stars of 2024: Names include Bonnie Blue and Lily Phillips’, these creators have faced backlash after committing stunts, such as ‘participating in a challenge where [they] slept with 100 men in a single day’ and ‘engaging with 1,000 men in 24 hours’ (Ghazali, 2024). These ‘stunts’ were marketed on social media towards “barely legal boys” (Bonnie Blue), perhaps causing some sexual frustration in young men.
In conjunction with this, this study will aim to shed light on the state of the manosphere and its effects on young boys once again. By looking at studies surrounding sexual aggression and isolation, I hope to gain an understanding of the reasons for male communities to believe women to be hostile (Price, 2023, pg 1051).
Finally, I want to explore how misogynistic ways of thinking can be avoided and link it to the pornographic industry. Some feminists believe that pornography is inherently misogynistic and there may be a link between pornography consumption and misogynistic views in men, as I will come to discuss. Therefore, I want to round of my investigation with hopeful education on the subject moving forward.
Literature Review
The purpose of this literature review is to demonstrate the sources I have been able to find in relation to pornography and the manosphere. The sources I have gathered range from research over the pornographic industry and its effects on young men and research pertaining to ideas surrounding misogyny in young males in relation to social media. This research will be further explored during the dissertation which this document proposes.
Firstly, this review will focus on the issues surrounding pornography usage, with a focus on young men. I will look into literature by Neil M. Malamuth and Edward Donnerstein whose work in the 1980s has shed light on the effects of pornography, especially in the work Pornography and Sexual Aggression. They express that ‘certain forms of pornography may reflect, perpetuate, and cause sexist ideology, greater acceptance of violence against women, and increased aggression’ (1984, pg 140). Malamuth has been an outspoken source in the world of pornography study and is well-regarded in the field. His work here is important to this study as it helped to understand why some men may feel some hostility towards women and why some may fall into the trap of the manosphere.
While Malamut and Donnerstein’s work mainly suggested that pornography may only have negative effects on the male mind when exposed specifically to violent pornography, Catherine Itzin in 1992, debates this heavily in Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties, a Radical New View. Coming from a feminist perspective, Itzin asserts that pornography depicts, glorifies and eroticises violence against women, nor that it is separate from real-world violence.
‘In our society, a woman on view means “sex”, a leg means “sex”, a leg means “sex”, a breast means “sex”, a mouth means “sex”, simply because the body is the body of a woman. In our culture, women are “the sex”. This historical social subordination of women to the status of “sex” as a gender ensures the cultural ‘meaning’ of a woman’s body as “sex”, ensures the objectification of women in representation. The pornographic plot does not require explicit sex: the presence of a woman objectified, in the context of women’s powerlessness as a gender, supplies the implicit action.’ (1992, pg 93)
She explores the commodification of the female body on screen and how this may affect men when looking for a mate. She is very blunt and oppositional towards Malamuth and believes that pornography is almost always bad. Some of her work also revolves around young men, suggesting that the exposure to pornography is part of a boy’s ‘rite of passage’ (1992, pg 179).
The debate among pornography is further documented by figures such as Kate Gleeson in From Suck magazine to Corporate Paedophilia. Feminism and Pornography - Remembering the Australian Way. Here, Gleeson offers a critical historical reflection on how Australian feminism engaged with pornography from the 1970s onward, calling for a renewed feminist engagement with issues of sexualisation, commodification and gender power dynamics.
Carolyn Bronstein’s Battling Pornographyalso gives great historical analysis of the anti-pornography movement in the late 20th century. With analysis on Women Against Violence Against Women, Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media and Women Against Pornography, this book reveals the struggles of these movements and the effects they had on the pornography industry.
After understanding the significance of the feminist movement against pornography, I will focus on the research which has helped shaped our understanding of the effects of pornography on the mind once again. With Malamuth’s data and research in mind, many of these next sources explore the relationship young people have with pornography and how this may shape their thoughts.
Megan Donovan et al found that ‘while almost all boys and a considerable proportion of girls used pornography across the three waves [2004, 2009, 2014], the lifetime prevalence of pornography use decreased overall for both girls and boys’ (2021, pg 1124) in their study, Adolescents’ Use of Pornography: Trends over a Ten‑year Period in Sweden.
Other studies, such as Can Pornography be Addictive? An fMRI Study of Men Seeking Treatment for Problematic Pornography Use by Mateusz Gola et at found that the subjects in the study showed signs of addiction after being exposed to pornography in a controlled setting, expressing ‘higher motivational behaviour for cues predictive of erotic content.’ (2017, pg 2027)
Coupling these experiments with Associations between pornography exposure, body image and sexual body image: A systematic review helps build an idea around pornography and its effects on people, particularly children and teens. This study found a correlation between pornography usage and negative body image among the test subjects. (2020, pg 755)
To then narrow my research, I began focusing on studies which look at pornography through the lens of social media. Erotic Use of Social Media Pornography in Gratifying Romantic Relationship Desires by Abdulgaffar Arikewuyo et al investigates how consuming pornography via social media platforms influences individuals’ satisfaction with romantic relationships. They found that ‘pornography consumption enhances the level of sexual thoughts of romantic partners as well as occasionally contributing to struggles with controlling their sexual thoughts and behaviours.’ (2019, pg 8)
A more recent study on the role of pornography use by adolescents produced by Paul J. Wright et al investigates the relationship between pornography consumption and sexual knowledge among U.S. teenagers. Pornography vs. sexual science: The role of pornography use and dependency in U.S. teenagers suggests that ‘adolescents who are dependent on pornography for sexual information are more likely to precociously enact sexual scripts they have learned from pornography than adolescents who are less dependent on pornography for sexual information.’ (2021, pg 349)
Studies such as Why Do People Watch Pornography? The Motivational Basis of Pornography Use by Beáta Böthe et al uses the ‘Pornography Use Motivations Scale’ to assess various reasons individuals engage in pornography consumption. This may help give an understanding as to why adolescents use pornography
Additionally, with respect to the above, Young People, Pornography and Sexuality: Sources and Attitudes by Gudrun Wallmyr and Catharina Welin further explores patterns of pornography consumption among young people aged 15 to 25. They found that ‘the majority of females (61.0%) portrayed their attitudes about pornography in negative terms compared with males (29.3%)’ (2006, pg 292)
Building off of these studies, further studies such as Desensitization and Resensitization to Violence Against Women: Effects of Exposure to Sexually Violent Films on Judgments of Domestic Violence Victims by Charles R. Mullin and Daniel Linz and Violence, Sex, and Dreams: Violent and Sexual Media Content Infiltrate Our Dreams at Night by Jan Van den Bulck et al explore the relationship between exposure to violence (particularly sexually) and its effects on the mind both while awake and asleep. These studies found that participants tended to have more violent tendencies and violent dreams when exposed to violence onscreen. This is significant in understanding how young people may be affected by pornography.
However, this paper does not simply explore the relationship between pornography and the mind as so many others has done so before. The aim of this paper is to have this discussion in relation to misogyny and the manosphere.
We will then begin to discuss OnlyFans and TikTok, two titans in the world of social media pornography. OnlyFans and young people: exploitation or empowerment?by VoiceBox helps to distinguish views by people around the space of OnlyFans and helps bring understanding to the issue in the eyes of young people today. ‘For many young people, OnlyFans is a space where they can share sexual content on their own terms.’ (2020, pg 10) However, some worry that some content creators may be underage, having navigated around the identification guidelines (2020, pg 11).
Julia Long's Anti-Porn examines the revival of anti-pornography feminism in the UK, analysing how contemporary feminist activists are challenging the increasing normalization of pornography in Western society. Although this once again pulls on ideas from the past, Long’s focus on today’s issues and feminist ideals help bring it to the forefront for this paper. She explores how ‘the project of dismantling the porn industry is deeply bound up with the ultimate feminist project of dismantling patriarchy’ (2012, pg 165) This is significant when talking about the manosphere as there are clear links between both masculinity and patriarchy.
Everyday Pornography By Karen Boyle builds off Long’s work and addresses the proliferation of porn culture and its entwinement with daily experiences. By relating this to social media, it is clear to see how pornographic imagery is apparent throughout and may be an issue as it becomes more normalised in society. Boyle relates pornography clearly the patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity:
‘He is at once a male who is accountable to the demands of patriarchal hegemonic masculinity and a consumer who is subject to the weight of modern imperial capitalism. Patriarchy emphasises difference whereby hegemonic masculinity is established through dominance over femininity yet is routinely vulnerable to challenge and suspicion.’ (2010, pg 188)
Now, after exploring how pornography can infect the mind with violent tendencies and how it is used in the patriarchy as a form of dominance over women and outlet for men, we can turn our attention to the manosphere and the male gaze. Deconstructing the Male Gaze: Masochism, Female Spectatorship, and the Femme Fatale in Fatal Attraction, Body of Evidence, and Basic Instinct by Miranda Sherwin explores how the male gaze is used in media explaining that ‘female spectatorship was theorized in light of assumptions about the primacy of the male gaze and of a perception of masochism that stressed victimization and passivity.’ (2008, pg 174)Female Body-Male Gaze by Fedwa Malti-Douglas also explores this subject through storytelling and Deanda discusses the male gaze by expressing that while pornography can be seen as a dominantly male form of pleasure, ‘close ups [etc], show us parts of human sexuality that many would rather leave behind closed doors. […] Porn is forcing us to accept all that we are as humans’ (2018). These articles discuss the use of the male gaze in relation to pornography, showing how such media is made specifically with men in mind.
The male gaze, it seems, is a mechanism to entrap men in a cycle where they must constantly watch pornography for sexual gratification. By watching and masturbating to unrealistic pornography, it is apparent that some men do not view women as people, and more-so as objects. To understand why that is, I want to implore the manosphere into the conversation. In this way, I hope to gain a better understanding of misogyny and the reasons for its existence among male circles.
In particular, one circle would be the incel community. The Incel Rebellion by Lisa Sugiura explores how misogynistic ideologies have perpetuated online spaces, leading to the incel identity. ‘The term incel is a portmanteau of the words involuntary and celibate, those who adopt the name view themselves as unsuccessful in obtaining sex and romantic relationships, with those they desire.’ (2021, pg 17) This book had a profound impact on my research as I became aware of the reasons for ‘toxic masculinity’ as many men feel as though the West has lost faith in masculinity and, thus, direct their anger towards women.
Furthermore, the incel community is widely documented in articles such as Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the Masculinities of the Manosphere by Debbie Ging, Mainstreaming the Blackpill: Understanding the Incel Community on TikTok by Anda Iulia Solea and Lisa Sugiura, Anti-feminism as anti-establishment and emancipatory: the gendered metapolitics of Incel by Henry Price and An Exploration of the Involuntary Celibate (Incel) Subculture Online by Roberta Liggett O’Malley et al. These articles document the life of an incel and where they may have gotten their twisted viewpoints from: usually social media, online forums and rejections from females. Many of these studies also discuss how the community is made up of predominantly young males whom may not have had sexual experiences yet in their life, perhaps linking them to pornography and its usage before live sexual encounters can occur.
“The ultimate test of self-discipline”: Lockdown and the NoFap community by David S. Smith, Alice Butler-Warke, Emma-Lee Davidson, and Gemma Stevens is a particularly interesting deep dive into the minds of men involved in the manosphere and how they refuse to interact with pornography. Men over lockdown ‘leg go’ and ‘exacerbated the urge to masturbate: smartphones, laptops, and televisions were all seen as pathways to sexual thought’ (2022, pg 949). I would like to explore exactly why that is.
It is also interesting to note that Netflix’s Adolescence has had a profound impact on the male community as many have expressed their disdain for the way the show depicts masculinity in young men. Noticias Financieras explores Adolescence in a couple articles which explore the discourse online.
Conclusion
To conclude, I believe there is much to say and discuss regarding the topic of pornography and the manosphere. There are clear connections which have little discussion outside of what I have discussed today and I would like to further explore the connection in regards to the online spaces available to young people and the ease of access to pornography.
In my dissertation, I will go into depth on these subjects and explore connections between the pornography industry and figures in the manosphere through a feminist lens. They are clear signs of misogyny in both aspects and thus there is much to research in relation to how both are correlated. This is also indicative of capitalism and patriarchy which prey on the financially vulnerable and fights for male dominance. With this in mind, I believe there is much to research in relation to male motivations when using pornography.
However, there may be some issues with this approach as there is little research done which clearly connects both pornography and misogynistic views. Pornography is a difficult topic which many people do not talk about outside academic study and it is not predominantly spoken about on social media as, perhaps, I think it should be. The aim of this paper and final dissertation is to shed light on the ways in which young minds can be twisted to believe they are not good enough for women and spiral into a delusion where they must be a certain way in order to feel attractive. It also aims to shed light on how pornography can perpetuate these ideals.
I would like to end this paper on a quote fron Catherine Itzin which perfectly encapsulates why I wish to pursue this research:
‘Pornography is the institution of male dominance that sexualises hierarchy, objectification, submission and violence. As such, pornography creates inequality, not as artefact but as a system of social reality; it creates the necessity for and the actual behaviours that constitute sex inequality.’ (Itzin, 1992, pg 528)
Bibliography
Afifitri, B.M. (2024) Easy Access To Social Media, Pornography Causing Social Problems Among Children [Journal], Kuala Lumpur. BERNAMA: Malaysian National News Agency
Arikewuyo, A., Ozad, B. and Lasisi, T.T. (2019) ‘Erotic Use of Social Media Pornography in Gratifying Romantic Relationship Desires’, The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 22, p. E61. doi:10.1017/sjp.2019.60.
Bőthe, B. et al. (2021) ‘Why do people watch pornography? the motivational basis of pornography use.’, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 35(2), pp. 172–186. doi:10.1037/adb0000603.
Boyle, K. (2010) Everyday pornography. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Bronstein, C. (2013) Battling pornography: The American feminist anti-pornography movement; 1976-1986. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Deanda Discusses Porn, Male Gaze 2018, , Carlsbad.
Donevan, M. et al. (2021) ‘Adolescents’ use of pornography: Trends over a ten-year period in Sweden’, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 51(2), pp. 1125–1140. doi:10.1007/s10508-021-02084-8.
Financieras, N. (2025) Netflix's 'Adolescence': what is the manosphere, related to incel culture? 2025, , English ed. edn, Miami.
Financieras, N. (2025) The "incel" culture: the dark side of male loneliness 2025, , English ed. edn, Miami.
Ghazali, R. (2024) Most controversial porn and OnlyFans stars of 2024: Names include Bonnie Blue & Lily Phillips. [online] NationalWorld. Available at: https://www.nationalworld.com/culture/celebrity/most-controversial-porn-and-onlyfans-stars-of-2024-names-include-bonnie-blue-lily-phillips-4919494 [Accessed 26 Feb. 2025].
Ging, D. (2017) ‘Alphas, Betas, and incels: Theorizing the masculinities of the Manosphere’, Men and Masculinities, 22(4), pp. 638–657. doi:10.1177/1097184x17706401.
Gleeson, K. (2013) From Suck magazine to Corporate Paedophilia. Feminism and pornography — Remembering the Australian way [Journal], Women's Studies International Forum, Volume 38, 2013, Pages 83-96, ISSN 0277-5395, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2013.02.012. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277539513000447)
Gola, M., Wordecha, M., Sescousse, G., Lew-starowicz, M., Kossowski, B., Wypych, M., Makeig, S., Potenza, M.N. & Marchewka, A. (2017), Can Pornography be Addictive? An fMRI Study of Men Seeking Treatment for Problematic Pornography Use [Research Paper], Neuropsychopharmacology, vol. 42, no. 10, pp. 2021-2031.
Itzin, C. (1992) Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties, A Radical New View [book], Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Linz, D. and Malamuth, N. (1993) Pornography [Book], Newbury Park; London; New Delhi.
Long, Julia (2012) Anti-porn. Zed Books.
Mack, S. (2023) The OnlyFans Phenomenon – Words of Warning for Young Men. Available at: https://bedbarsbeyond.substack.com/p/the-onlyfans-phenomenon-words-of (Accessed: 12.03.25)
Malamuth, N.M. and Donnerstein, E. (1984) Pornography and Sexual Aggression[book], Orlando, Fla.
Malti-Douglas, F 2001, Medicines of the Soul : Female Bodies and Sacred Geographies in a Transnational Islam, University of California Press, Berkeley. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [28 April 2025].
Mullin, C.R. and Linz, D. (1995) ‘Desensitization and resensitization to violence against women: Effects of exposure to sexually violent films on judgments of domestic violence victims.’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(3), pp. 449–459. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.69.3.449.
O’Malley, R.L., Holt, K. and Holt, T.J. (2020) ‘An exploration of the involuntary celibate (incel) subculture online’, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(7–8). doi:10.1177/0886260520959625.
Paslakis G, Chiclana Actis C, Mestre-Bach G. (2020) Associations between pornography exposure, body image and sexual body image: A systematic review [Research Paper], Journal of Health Psychology. 2022; 27(3):743-760. doi:10.1177/1359105320967085
Price, H. (2023) ‘Anti-feminism as anti-establishment and emancipatory: the gendered metapolitics of Incel’, Feminist Media Studies, 24(5), pp. 1042–1058. doi: 10.1080/14680777.2023.2291314.
Sherwin, M. 2008, "Deconstructing the Male Gaze: Masochism, Female Spectatorship, and the Femme Fatale in Fatal Attraction, Body of Evidence, and Basic Instinct", Journal of Popular Film & Television, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 174-182.
Smith, D.S. et al. (2022) ‘“The ultimate test of self-discipline”: Lockdown and the NoFap Community’, Sexualities, 27(4), pp. 939–961. doi:10.1177/13634607221091493.
Solea, A.I. & Sugiura, L. 2023, "Mainstreaming the Blackpill: Understanding the Incel Community on TikTok", European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 311-336.
Sugiura, L. (2021) The incel rebellion: The rise of the manosphere and the Virtual War Against Women. Bingley, U.K: Emerald Publishing Limited.
Van den Bulck, J. et al. (2016) ‘Violence, sex, and dreams: Violent and sexual media content infiltrate our dreams at night.’, Dreaming, 26(4), pp. 271–279. doi:10.1037/drm0000036.
VoiceBox (2020) OnlyFans and young people: exploitation or empowerment? Available at: https://voicebox.site/sites/default/files/2023-01/onlyfansreport.pdf (Accessed: 28 April 2025).
Wallmyr, G. & Welin, C. 2006, "Young People, Pornography, and Sexuality: Sources and Attitudes", The Journal of School Nursing, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 290-5.
Wright, P. J. et al. (2021) ‘Pornography vs. sexual science: The role of pornography use and dependency in U.S. teenagers’ sexual illiteracy’, Communication Monographs, 89(3), pp. 332–353. doi: 10.1080/03637751.2021.1987486.
This research proposal lays the foundation for my dissertation on pornography on social media and its use in the context of the manosphere. I will be looking at how the manosphere uses pornography to reinforce ideas around misogyny and sexism as well as what it means to be a ‘man’ for young men today as part of this culture. I will explore how pornography has historically been criticised by feminists and how its resurfacing on social media has caused debate among young people. Case studies such as The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast and The Reality Check Podcast will be delved into to see how men react to the porn industry on the online world. I will also be focusing on TikTok as a place for people to air their feelings about the pornography industry, particularly OnlyFans, ‘a space where [young people feel they] can share sexual content on their own terms.’ (VoiceBox, 2020, pg 8)
As a sister to a younger brother, this topic deeply troubles me and I often wonder what it may be like for him as a young boy on social media. I want to explore this world and how it may affect him and others in order to better understand what can be done to protect the young people in our society. This study aims to better understand the pressures young men face and the dangers imposed by provocative imagery on the internet and its ease of access.
To begin this research, however, I must first look at the history of pornography and previous studies on its effects on the mind. Malamuth, Itzin, Long, Bronstein and Boyle are all important figures in this case and delve deep into the history of misogyny and pornography. They research how ‘certain forms of pornography may reflect, perpetuate, and cause sexist ideology, greater acceptance of violence against women, and increased aggression’ (Malamuth et al, 1984, pg 140) which are crucial into understanding some of the beliefs behind the manosphere.
Research Option
I will be pursuing the dissertation option for this research as I believe that it will allow me to delve deep into this subject through many different arguments. This is a very large topic and one which has had a lot of research already put into it and, thus, through my research, I hope to gain a full understanding by connecting the areas of pornography, social media and the manosphere. Since these topics have largely been researched in isolation, this research dissertation will allow me to form bonds and connections with each area. I will also carry out some primary research which will be integrated into the dissertation, reflecting the thoughts of young men today via a questionnaire. This primary research will complement my research well as it will allow me to make some connections between my sources and overall topic. The word count will also allow me to explore these topics in great detail, allowing my analysis to be thorough and well-thought-out.
Research Aims
This study aims to investigate the online world and its effects on young people, particularly young men, in relation to the rise of the porn-star on social media. It will explore creators such as Bonnie Blue, Lily Phillips and Sophie Rain who have contributed massively to the controversy surrounding this subject. According to Nation World’s article; ‘Most controversial porn and OnlyFans stars of 2024: Names include Bonnie Blue and Lily Phillips’, these creators have faced backlash after committing stunts, such as ‘participating in a challenge where [they] slept with 100 men in a single day’ and ‘engaging with 1,000 men in 24 hours’ (Ghazali, 2024). These ‘stunts’ were marketed on social media towards “barely legal boys” (Bonnie Blue), perhaps causing some sexual frustration in young men.
In conjunction with this, this study will aim to shed light on the state of the manosphere and its effects on young boys once again. By looking at studies surrounding sexual aggression and isolation, I hope to gain an understanding of the reasons for male communities to believe women to be hostile (Price, 2023, pg 1051).
Finally, I want to explore how misogynistic ways of thinking can be avoided and link it to the pornographic industry. Some feminists believe that pornography is inherently misogynistic and there may be a link between pornography consumption and misogynistic views in men, as I will come to discuss. Therefore, I want to round of my investigation with hopeful education on the subject moving forward.
Literature Review
The purpose of this literature review is to demonstrate the sources I have been able to find in relation to pornography and the manosphere. The sources I have gathered range from research over the pornographic industry and its effects on young men and research pertaining to ideas surrounding misogyny in young males in relation to social media. This research will be further explored during the dissertation which this document proposes.
Firstly, this review will focus on the issues surrounding pornography usage, with a focus on young men. I will look into literature by Neil M. Malamuth and Edward Donnerstein whose work in the 1980s has shed light on the effects of pornography, especially in the work Pornography and Sexual Aggression. They express that ‘certain forms of pornography may reflect, perpetuate, and cause sexist ideology, greater acceptance of violence against women, and increased aggression’ (1984, pg 140). Malamuth has been an outspoken source in the world of pornography study and is well-regarded in the field. His work here is important to this study as it helped to understand why some men may feel some hostility towards women and why some may fall into the trap of the manosphere.
While Malamut and Donnerstein’s work mainly suggested that pornography may only have negative effects on the male mind when exposed specifically to violent pornography, Catherine Itzin in 1992, debates this heavily in Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties, a Radical New View. Coming from a feminist perspective, Itzin asserts that pornography depicts, glorifies and eroticises violence against women, nor that it is separate from real-world violence.
‘In our society, a woman on view means “sex”, a leg means “sex”, a leg means “sex”, a breast means “sex”, a mouth means “sex”, simply because the body is the body of a woman. In our culture, women are “the sex”. This historical social subordination of women to the status of “sex” as a gender ensures the cultural ‘meaning’ of a woman’s body as “sex”, ensures the objectification of women in representation. The pornographic plot does not require explicit sex: the presence of a woman objectified, in the context of women’s powerlessness as a gender, supplies the implicit action.’ (1992, pg 93)
She explores the commodification of the female body on screen and how this may affect men when looking for a mate. She is very blunt and oppositional towards Malamuth and believes that pornography is almost always bad. Some of her work also revolves around young men, suggesting that the exposure to pornography is part of a boy’s ‘rite of passage’ (1992, pg 179).
The debate among pornography is further documented by figures such as Kate Gleeson in From Suck magazine to Corporate Paedophilia. Feminism and Pornography - Remembering the Australian Way. Here, Gleeson offers a critical historical reflection on how Australian feminism engaged with pornography from the 1970s onward, calling for a renewed feminist engagement with issues of sexualisation, commodification and gender power dynamics.
Carolyn Bronstein’s Battling Pornographyalso gives great historical analysis of the anti-pornography movement in the late 20th century. With analysis on Women Against Violence Against Women, Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media and Women Against Pornography, this book reveals the struggles of these movements and the effects they had on the pornography industry.
After understanding the significance of the feminist movement against pornography, I will focus on the research which has helped shaped our understanding of the effects of pornography on the mind once again. With Malamuth’s data and research in mind, many of these next sources explore the relationship young people have with pornography and how this may shape their thoughts.
Megan Donovan et al found that ‘while almost all boys and a considerable proportion of girls used pornography across the three waves [2004, 2009, 2014], the lifetime prevalence of pornography use decreased overall for both girls and boys’ (2021, pg 1124) in their study, Adolescents’ Use of Pornography: Trends over a Ten‑year Period in Sweden.
Other studies, such as Can Pornography be Addictive? An fMRI Study of Men Seeking Treatment for Problematic Pornography Use by Mateusz Gola et at found that the subjects in the study showed signs of addiction after being exposed to pornography in a controlled setting, expressing ‘higher motivational behaviour for cues predictive of erotic content.’ (2017, pg 2027)
Coupling these experiments with Associations between pornography exposure, body image and sexual body image: A systematic review helps build an idea around pornography and its effects on people, particularly children and teens. This study found a correlation between pornography usage and negative body image among the test subjects. (2020, pg 755)
To then narrow my research, I began focusing on studies which look at pornography through the lens of social media. Erotic Use of Social Media Pornography in Gratifying Romantic Relationship Desires by Abdulgaffar Arikewuyo et al investigates how consuming pornography via social media platforms influences individuals’ satisfaction with romantic relationships. They found that ‘pornography consumption enhances the level of sexual thoughts of romantic partners as well as occasionally contributing to struggles with controlling their sexual thoughts and behaviours.’ (2019, pg 8)
A more recent study on the role of pornography use by adolescents produced by Paul J. Wright et al investigates the relationship between pornography consumption and sexual knowledge among U.S. teenagers. Pornography vs. sexual science: The role of pornography use and dependency in U.S. teenagers suggests that ‘adolescents who are dependent on pornography for sexual information are more likely to precociously enact sexual scripts they have learned from pornography than adolescents who are less dependent on pornography for sexual information.’ (2021, pg 349)
Studies such as Why Do People Watch Pornography? The Motivational Basis of Pornography Use by Beáta Böthe et al uses the ‘Pornography Use Motivations Scale’ to assess various reasons individuals engage in pornography consumption. This may help give an understanding as to why adolescents use pornography
Additionally, with respect to the above, Young People, Pornography and Sexuality: Sources and Attitudes by Gudrun Wallmyr and Catharina Welin further explores patterns of pornography consumption among young people aged 15 to 25. They found that ‘the majority of females (61.0%) portrayed their attitudes about pornography in negative terms compared with males (29.3%)’ (2006, pg 292)
Building off of these studies, further studies such as Desensitization and Resensitization to Violence Against Women: Effects of Exposure to Sexually Violent Films on Judgments of Domestic Violence Victims by Charles R. Mullin and Daniel Linz and Violence, Sex, and Dreams: Violent and Sexual Media Content Infiltrate Our Dreams at Night by Jan Van den Bulck et al explore the relationship between exposure to violence (particularly sexually) and its effects on the mind both while awake and asleep. These studies found that participants tended to have more violent tendencies and violent dreams when exposed to violence onscreen. This is significant in understanding how young people may be affected by pornography.
However, this paper does not simply explore the relationship between pornography and the mind as so many others has done so before. The aim of this paper is to have this discussion in relation to misogyny and the manosphere.
We will then begin to discuss OnlyFans and TikTok, two titans in the world of social media pornography. OnlyFans and young people: exploitation or empowerment?by VoiceBox helps to distinguish views by people around the space of OnlyFans and helps bring understanding to the issue in the eyes of young people today. ‘For many young people, OnlyFans is a space where they can share sexual content on their own terms.’ (2020, pg 10) However, some worry that some content creators may be underage, having navigated around the identification guidelines (2020, pg 11).
Julia Long's Anti-Porn examines the revival of anti-pornography feminism in the UK, analysing how contemporary feminist activists are challenging the increasing normalization of pornography in Western society. Although this once again pulls on ideas from the past, Long’s focus on today’s issues and feminist ideals help bring it to the forefront for this paper. She explores how ‘the project of dismantling the porn industry is deeply bound up with the ultimate feminist project of dismantling patriarchy’ (2012, pg 165) This is significant when talking about the manosphere as there are clear links between both masculinity and patriarchy.
Everyday Pornography By Karen Boyle builds off Long’s work and addresses the proliferation of porn culture and its entwinement with daily experiences. By relating this to social media, it is clear to see how pornographic imagery is apparent throughout and may be an issue as it becomes more normalised in society. Boyle relates pornography clearly the patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity:
‘He is at once a male who is accountable to the demands of patriarchal hegemonic masculinity and a consumer who is subject to the weight of modern imperial capitalism. Patriarchy emphasises difference whereby hegemonic masculinity is established through dominance over femininity yet is routinely vulnerable to challenge and suspicion.’ (2010, pg 188)
Now, after exploring how pornography can infect the mind with violent tendencies and how it is used in the patriarchy as a form of dominance over women and outlet for men, we can turn our attention to the manosphere and the male gaze. Deconstructing the Male Gaze: Masochism, Female Spectatorship, and the Femme Fatale in Fatal Attraction, Body of Evidence, and Basic Instinct by Miranda Sherwin explores how the male gaze is used in media explaining that ‘female spectatorship was theorized in light of assumptions about the primacy of the male gaze and of a perception of masochism that stressed victimization and passivity.’ (2008, pg 174)Female Body-Male Gaze by Fedwa Malti-Douglas also explores this subject through storytelling and Deanda discusses the male gaze by expressing that while pornography can be seen as a dominantly male form of pleasure, ‘close ups [etc], show us parts of human sexuality that many would rather leave behind closed doors. […] Porn is forcing us to accept all that we are as humans’ (2018). These articles discuss the use of the male gaze in relation to pornography, showing how such media is made specifically with men in mind.
The male gaze, it seems, is a mechanism to entrap men in a cycle where they must constantly watch pornography for sexual gratification. By watching and masturbating to unrealistic pornography, it is apparent that some men do not view women as people, and more-so as objects. To understand why that is, I want to implore the manosphere into the conversation. In this way, I hope to gain a better understanding of misogyny and the reasons for its existence among male circles.
In particular, one circle would be the incel community. The Incel Rebellion by Lisa Sugiura explores how misogynistic ideologies have perpetuated online spaces, leading to the incel identity. ‘The term incel is a portmanteau of the words involuntary and celibate, those who adopt the name view themselves as unsuccessful in obtaining sex and romantic relationships, with those they desire.’ (2021, pg 17) This book had a profound impact on my research as I became aware of the reasons for ‘toxic masculinity’ as many men feel as though the West has lost faith in masculinity and, thus, direct their anger towards women.
Furthermore, the incel community is widely documented in articles such as Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the Masculinities of the Manosphere by Debbie Ging, Mainstreaming the Blackpill: Understanding the Incel Community on TikTok by Anda Iulia Solea and Lisa Sugiura, Anti-feminism as anti-establishment and emancipatory: the gendered metapolitics of Incel by Henry Price and An Exploration of the Involuntary Celibate (Incel) Subculture Online by Roberta Liggett O’Malley et al. These articles document the life of an incel and where they may have gotten their twisted viewpoints from: usually social media, online forums and rejections from females. Many of these studies also discuss how the community is made up of predominantly young males whom may not have had sexual experiences yet in their life, perhaps linking them to pornography and its usage before live sexual encounters can occur.
“The ultimate test of self-discipline”: Lockdown and the NoFap community by David S. Smith, Alice Butler-Warke, Emma-Lee Davidson, and Gemma Stevens is a particularly interesting deep dive into the minds of men involved in the manosphere and how they refuse to interact with pornography. Men over lockdown ‘leg go’ and ‘exacerbated the urge to masturbate: smartphones, laptops, and televisions were all seen as pathways to sexual thought’ (2022, pg 949). I would like to explore exactly why that is.
It is also interesting to note that Netflix’s Adolescence has had a profound impact on the male community as many have expressed their disdain for the way the show depicts masculinity in young men. Noticias Financieras explores Adolescence in a couple articles which explore the discourse online.
Conclusion
To conclude, I believe there is much to say and discuss regarding the topic of pornography and the manosphere. There are clear connections which have little discussion outside of what I have discussed today and I would like to further explore the connection in regards to the online spaces available to young people and the ease of access to pornography.
In my dissertation, I will go into depth on these subjects and explore connections between the pornography industry and figures in the manosphere through a feminist lens. They are clear signs of misogyny in both aspects and thus there is much to research in relation to how both are correlated. This is also indicative of capitalism and patriarchy which prey on the financially vulnerable and fights for male dominance. With this in mind, I believe there is much to research in relation to male motivations when using pornography.
However, there may be some issues with this approach as there is little research done which clearly connects both pornography and misogynistic views. Pornography is a difficult topic which many people do not talk about outside academic study and it is not predominantly spoken about on social media as, perhaps, I think it should be. The aim of this paper and final dissertation is to shed light on the ways in which young minds can be twisted to believe they are not good enough for women and spiral into a delusion where they must be a certain way in order to feel attractive. It also aims to shed light on how pornography can perpetuate these ideals.
I would like to end this paper on a quote fron Catherine Itzin which perfectly encapsulates why I wish to pursue this research:
‘Pornography is the institution of male dominance that sexualises hierarchy, objectification, submission and violence. As such, pornography creates inequality, not as artefact but as a system of social reality; it creates the necessity for and the actual behaviours that constitute sex inequality.’ (Itzin, 1992, pg 528)
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