BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—According to a new study published in the academic journal Communication Research, straight men who watch porn are more likely to support gay marriage.
The study was conducted by Indiana University professors Paul J. Wright and Ashley K. Randall.
“Our study suggests that the more heterosexual men, especially less educated heterosexual men, watch pornography, the more supportive they become of same-sex marriage,” Wright told the Washington Examiner.
The study "used nationally representative three-wave longitudinal data gathered from adult U.S. males to examine the over-time interplay between pornography consumption, education, and support for same-sex marriage."
According to Wright and Randall's study, "support for same-sex marriage did not prospectively predict pornography consumption, but pornography consumption did prospectively predict support for same-sex marriage. Education was also positively associated with support for same-sex marriage. Scientific and social implications of these findings are discussed."
The two researchers believe that porn opens the viewer to a world where many non-traditional sexual arrangements are on display, thereby influencing the viewer that a large range of sexual preferences are socially acceptable.
“Pornography adopts an individualistic, non-judgmental stance on all kinds of non-traditional sexual behaviors and same-sex marriage attitudes are strongly linked to attitudes about same-sex sex,” Wright said.
