Pornography Consumption and Opposition to Affirmative Action for Women

Abstract

Despite the persistence of wage gaps and other indicators of discrimination, many Americans oppose affirmative action for women. Our study investigated a potential source of social influence that has often been hypothesized to reduce compassion and sympathy for women: pornography. National panel data were employed. Data were gathered in 2006, 2008, and 2010 from 190 adults ranging in age from 19 to 88 at baseline. Pornography viewing was indexed via reported consumption of pornographic movies. Attitudes toward affirmative action were indexed via opposition to hiring and promotion practices that favor women. Contrary to a selective-exposure perspective on media use, prior opposition to affirmative action did not predict subsequent pornography viewing. Consistent with a social learning perspective on media effects, prior pornography viewing predicted subsequent opposition to affirmative action even after controlling for prior affirmative action attitudes and a number of other potential confounds. Gender did not moderate this association. Practically, these results suggest that pornography may be a social influence that undermines support for affirmative action programs for women. Theoretically, these results align with the perspective that sexual media activate abstract scripts for social behavior which may be applied to judgments that extend beyond the specific interaction patterns depicted.