Pornography Problems Due to Moral Incongruence

Fisher, William A. Montgomery-Graham, Stephanie Kohut, Taylor [UCL]

Pornography is incongruent with the moral perspective of many persons and groups who view the consumption of sexually explicit material as likely to cause significant problems for individuals, couples, and society at large. Sexual scientists have reflected the view that pornography is morally unacceptable and individually and socially pathogenic as early as Ivan Bloch’s report, in 1902, that “There is no sexual aberration, no perverse act, however frightful, that is not photographically represented today” (Bloch, 1902, p. 204) and as recently as Wright, Tokunaga, and Kraus’s (2016) conclusion that “…the accumulated data leave little doubt that, on the average, individuals who consume pornography more frequently are more likely to hold attitudes conducive to sexual aggression and engage in actual acts of sexual aggression…” (p. 201).