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The most common argument against child pornography is that children are harmed in the process of producing it. This is the argument from abusive production. However, it does not apply to ‘virtual’ child pornography, i.e. child pornography produced using computer technology without involving real children. Autilitarian who wishes to condemn virtual child pornography cannot appeal to the argument from abusive production. I discuss three possible ways out of this: (1) abandoning the intuition that virtual child pornography is wrong, (2) abandoning utilitarianism, or (3)circumventing the problem. I propose a version of the third way out.

Rough sex appears to be experiencing a cultural ‘moment’. Depictions of rough sexual behaviours are common in contemporary movies, lifestyle magazines, and mainstream heterosexual pornography. Concerningly, rough sex has also been an aspect of numerous high-profile murder trials around the world where the accused has claimed that the woman’s death was the result of consensual rough sex, prompting this edited collection (see Introduction chapter).

Despite widespread acceptance of the term ‘rough sex’, it lacks definitional and conceptual clarity, which has implications for research, criminal justice, sexual violence prevention, and for understandings about consent between sexual partners. This chapter argues that mainstream heterosexual pornography is a critical site for understanding the development of collective meanings about rough sex. Through an analysis of the definitions of rough sex provided on three popular pornography websites in the MindGeek network – Pornhub, Youporn, and Redtube – this chapter signals how framings of rough sex in pornography provide a reference point for understanding what rough sex is and how it is performed. It argues that the framing of rough sex on pornography websites serves to reinforce wider normative ideas about heterosexual sex, presenting rough sex as something that is done by men, to women, in legitimate pursuit of sexual pleasure. Further, this chapter argues that these framings reinforce wider social messages that position rough sex as popular, common, and desirable. This chapter provides a starting point for developing more comprehensive understandings of what constitutes rough sex, as well as suggesting several avenues for future research agendas.

Mainstream pornography is popular, freely accessible, and infused with themes of male dominance, aggression, and female subservience. Through depicting sex in these ways, mainstream pornography has the potential to influence the further development of harmful sexual scripts that condone or endorse violence against women and girls. These concerns warrant the adoption of a harms-based perspective in critical examinations of pornography's influence on sexual experiences. This chapter reports on findings from interviews with 24 heterosexual emerging adults living in Aotearoa/New Zealand about how pornography has impacted their lives. Despite a shared awareness among participants of mainstream pornography's misogynistic tendencies, and the potential for harm from those displays, men's and women's experiences were profoundly gendered. Men's reported experiences were often associated with concerns about their own sexual behaviors, performances, and/or abilities. Conversely, women's experiences were often shaped by how pornography had affected the way that men related to them sexually. Their experiences included instances of sexual coercion and assault which were not reported by the men. These findings signal the need for a gendered lens, situated within a broader harms-based perspective, in examinations of pornography's influence.

Canada criminalized the nonconsensual distribution of intimate images in 2014. Lawmakers and commentators noted that this new offense would fill a legislative gap in relation to “revenge pornography,” which entails individuals (typically men) sharing intimate images of their ex-partners (typically women) online in an attempt to seek revenge or cause them harm. Feminist writers and activists categorize revenge pornography as a symptom and consequence of “rape culture,” in which sexual violence is routinely trivialized and viewed as acceptable or entertaining, and women are blamed for their sexual victimization. In this chapter, I analyze Canada's burgeoning revenge pornography case law and find that these cases support an understanding of revenge pornography as a serious form of communal, gendered, intimate partner violence, which is extremely effective at harming victims because of broader rape culture. While Canadian judges are taking revenge pornography seriously, there is some indication from the case law that they are at risk of relying on gendered reasoning and assumptions previously observed by feminists in sexual assault jurisprudence, which may have the result of bolstering rape culture, rather than contesting it.

The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of university students with nonconsensual pornography. The focus of the present work is on nonconsensual pornography – the nonconsensual distribution of intimate images and sexual extortion – that are becoming common experiences for many people. While the forms of nonconsensual pornography may vary, each case has one thing in common: the offender has shared a private image of the victim without the victim’s consent.

The data for this study was collected from student participants at a southeastern university. The stratified sample of university students was sent a link to an online survey and the responses of those who chose to respond were used in subsequent analyses (n = 300).

The findings of this exploratory study show low self-control as a significant predictor of sexting. Significant predictors of victimization via nonconsensual pornography included participation in sexting and use of dating apps.

While not generalizable, the descriptive data provide an important landscape for consideration of policy and legal recommendations to protect potential victims as well as would-be perpetrators beyond a university setting.

Accessing and distributing child pornography is an emerging problem. This paper aims to examine the judicial sentencing decisions of child pornography cases and whether they differ from decisions of child molestation cases.

Using a legal database of Canadian court judgments, the study examined sentencing decisions of 50 child pornography and 50 child molestation cases, identifying variables that were present in the judges' reasons for their decision.

The results revealed a disparity in sentencing that favours incarceration rather than community sentences for child molesters over child pornography cases. Despite what appears to be lighter sentences for child pornography offenders, judges were more likely to sanction treatment and recommend restrictions in cases of child pornography than child molestation. In light of the absence of literature exploring sentencing disparity among child sexual offences, further directions and suggestions for practice are discussed.

The examination of the disparity of sentencing decisions for child molesters and child pornography offenders and the identified variables that may contribute to these decisions suggests that the judiciary views child pornography and child molestation offenders differently and are more punitive toward contact offenders. Such disparity has implications for the criminal justice system.

This study offers the first exploration of sentencing disparity and decisions on child pornography and child molestation cases in Canada.

The purpose of the study is to understand how the consumption of online pornography runs through fantasy, discourse and the exercise of female sexuality.

First, the study analyzed a few information obtained from a secret group of the social media Facebook. Secondly, the research was developed based on the information gathered during the observation period; 11 in-depth interviews were conducted with women that participated in the aforementioned group. In order to analyze the data, the study used the French discourse analysis as methodological tool.

It was possible to realize that the consumption of pornographic content is motivated by curiosity, pursuit of variety and sexual fantasies, and it ends up strengthening stereotypes related to the concept of beauty and body standards. Also, the consumption of pornography can be seen as an important feature in the reformulation of perceptions and creation of senses related to pornography itself, pleasure, self-knowledge and in the constitution of the subjectivities of the consumers, despite the influence of the cultural context in which they are inserted into.

The consumption of online pornography can be seen as an important “social operator”; that is, the consumption of pornography reflects and refracts what is socially established as beautiful and adequate in terms of the human figure. The outcomes of this research lead to debates that can challenge standardized world perspectives, besides expanding the discussion of such consumption made by women.

Taking into consideration the significant volume of pornography consumption and the high figures that this market indicates, one can notice that literature related to consumption studies has neglected this specific theme.

This paper aims to analyze some of the epistemically pernicious effects of the use of the internet and social media. In light of this analysis, it introduces the concept of epistemic pornography and argues that epistemic agents both can and should avoid consuming and sharing epistemic pornography.

The paper draws on research on epistemic virtue, cognitive biases, social media use and its epistemic consequences, fake news, paternalistic nudging, pornography, moral philosophy, moral elevation and moral exemplar theory to analyze the epistemically pernicious effects of the internet and social media.

There is a growing consensus that the internet and social media activate and enable human cognitive biases leading to what are here called “failures of epistemic virtue.” Common formulations of this problem involve the concept of “fake news,” and strategies for responding to the problem often have much in common with paternalistic “nudging.” While fake news is a problem and the nudging approach holds out promise, the paper concludes that both place insufficient emphasis on the agency and responsibility of users on the internet and social media, and that nudging represents a necessary but not sufficient response.

The essay offers the concept of epistemic pornography as a concept distinct from but related to “fake news” – distinct precisely because it places greater emphasis on personal agency and responsibility, and following recent literature on moral elevation and moral exemplars, as a heuristic that agents might use to economize their efforts at resisting irrational cognitive biases and attempting to live up to their epistemic duties.

The disclosure of private images with the intent of causing distress is often described as “revenge pornography”. In the UK, this newly legislated crime has received a high level of media attention following several high profile cases, however, there is a paucity of research in this area. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In total, 168 adults (UK general public) completed an online survey using a vignette approach. Views of the influence of perpetrator-victim relationship length and reason for termination were considered alongside perception of an offence, the necessity of police intervention, what extent revenge pornography creates psychological harm in victims, and victim blaming.

Perpetrator-victim relationship length and reason for relationship breakdown did not influence perceptions of victim blame. Participants believed that the situation described in the vignettes was likely to be an offence, and that police intervention is somewhat necessary. Participants believed that the scenario was “very likely” to create fear, and “moderately likely” to create psychological/mental harm in victims. In line with the literature relating to stalking and sexual assault, men blamed the victim significantly more than women. Furthermore, women rated police intervention as significantly more necessary than men.

The public are recognising that revenge pornography is an offence, with consequences being fear and psychological harm, showing an awareness of the impact on victims. However, there are sex differences in the perceptions of revenge pornography and victim blaming, and this could be addressed by raising awareness of this crime. This research, which highlights that the public are aware of some of the harm caused, may encourage victims in coming forward to report such a crime.

There is a paucity of research into revenge pornography, and this study is one of the first in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to explore non-violent pornography within secure hospital settings.

It includes a systematic review (n = 40 papers), followed by a qualitative study comprising semi-structured interviews (n = 24, 6 patients and 18 staff) and staff focus groups (n = 22 staff).

The systematic review identified six themes, as follows: pornography is inconsistently defined, pornography exposure can increase general aggression, pornography exposure may increase the risk for sexual aggression, pornography exposure can increase aggression supportive beliefs, pornography exposure impacts negatively on those with a violent predisposition and pornography is educational for men not identifying as heterosexual. The semi-structured interviews and focus groups revealed four themes as follows: staff members hold diverse beliefs about pornographic material, pornography is difficult to obtain and use for patients who do not identify as heterosexual, pornography is used for specific functions, and frequent exposure to pornography can have negative effects for staff members.

Trying to obtain consensus on the impacts of pornography on forensic patients is not possible; material access decisions should be on a case-by-case basis. Policy decisions should be based on fully represented views, including the LGBTI community. The impacts on staff of their occupational exposure to such material should be recognised and support provided. Clinical decision-making in this area should consider not only if access should be allowed but also how it can be managed safely, if at all. This includes for all those who could be exposed to such material, inadvertently or otherwise.

It addresses the under-researched area of patient access to pornography, capturing a poorly considered sample, namely, high secure psychiatric.