SALT LAKE CITY – A recent study by researchers at Brigham Young University found that college-age females are more accepting of porn, even more so than older men. According to a recent report, the findings of a study titled “Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use Among Emerging Adults” suggest there may be a generational shift taking place, where the acceptance of pornography is concerned.
“These women are part of a rising generation that is deeming pornography as more acceptable and more mainstream,” Jason Carroll, an associate professor at BYU and lead researcher of the study, told the Salt Lake City Tribune.
A total of 813 students — ages 18 to 26 — at six universities across the country (BYU was not included), and 623 parents were polled. According to the report, researchers found that 48 percent of male students report viewing pornography at least weekly, and 3 percent of female students. However, almost half of the women polled (49 percent) said viewing pornography is an acceptable way to express one's sexuality, while only 37 percent of the fathers and 20 percent of the mothers agreed with that view.
The study will be published in the January issue of the Journal of Adolescent Research.
“We were surprised by just how common [porn use] was,” Laura Walker, a professor in the School of Family Life at BYU and co-author of the study, told the Tribune. “If anything, we are probably underestimating [the numbers].”
The report also found that pornography use remained consistent through the age of 26, a vital turning point when other studies have found so-called “risk” behaviors (binge drinking, marijuana use and promiscuous sexual behavior) usually begin to decline.
Walker told the Tribune that she was surprised there were not more existing studies which treated pornography use as something outside of addition or other “clinical” behavior. “Part of the reason may be that outside of BYU, pornography just might not be seen as a problem. It might just be seen as normative.”
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