Date of Award

Spring 5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department/Program

Forensic Psychology

Language

English

First Advisor or Mentor

Elizabeth Jeglic

Second Reader

Cynthia Calkins

Third Advisor

Ashley Spada

Abstract

Studies have shown that pornography has a negative impact on societal views of women (Fritz & Paul, 2017) and promotes risky sexual practices (Harkness et al., 2015; Yunengsih & Setiawan, 2021). Moreover, the literature has established a link between sexual violence and pornography (Krahé et al., 2021) and that pornography usage can play a role in sex offending in the presence of existing risk factors (Malamuth et al., 1995). The present study investigates the relationship between pornography usage, victim characteristics, and paraphilia diagnosis in a sample of convicted sexual offenders. Overall, we found that offenders in our sample ( n=2511) who used pornography at the index offense were more likely to have male minor victims and have a diagnosis of pedophilia. These findings are discussed as they pertain to the role of pornography exposure in the prevention of sexual violence.

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