Study: Male Porn Fans at AVN Expo Less Misogynist Than Other Men

Above, crowds at the 2017 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo; photo by Rick Garcia/@IndustryByRick

An academic survey conducted at the 2017 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, as AVN.com reported at the time, has finally released its results, and in the description of the sociologists who conducted the study, those findings “call into question some of the claims that porn consumption fosters de facto negative and hostile attitudes towards women.” 

An earlier study, conducted in 2013, reinforced the widespread view that “exposure to pornography was related to and increased sexist attitudes” in men. But at least among men who attended the 2017 AVN Expo—men described as “porn superfans” by the researchers—the research by an international team of academics from the United States and Australia found that the earlier study did not reflect reality.

“We found that ‘porn superfans’ are no more sexist or misogynistic than the general U.S. public,” on two of the four topics they quizzed AVN Expo-goers about. And on the other two topics, the AVN Expo attendees “held more progressive gender‐role attitudes than the general public.”

What were those topics? 

The researchers grilled the “superfans” on their views regarding whether there should be “affirmative action” for women in the workplace, working mothers, traditional gender roles within the family structure, and finally, the role of women in politics.

The study found that on the questions regarding women in politics and women in the workplace, there were no significant differences in attitude between AVN attendees and men in the general population. But on the issues of whether women who work can also fulfill their role as mothers, and gender roles within the family, the survey participants were actually less sexist than average.

In fact, on the issue of working mothers, the AVN Expo-goers “were over three times more likely to endorse the idea that working mothers can establish as warm and secure relationships with their children as mothers who do not work."

The study’s conclusions, published in the journal Sociological Forum, paint porn fans—at least those who make the effort to attend the annual AVN Expo—as far more enlightened than the general stereotype. And they further show that “porn culture” is not the threat to public order and morality that anti-porn crusaders would have America believe.

“Porn cultures do not strengthen a hegemonic masculinity entirely predicated on negative attitudes toward women, as porn critics fear,” the study’s authors wrote.

Photo By LasVegasVegas.com / Wikimedia Commons