The Pornography Debate: Correlates for Support of Censorship

Background: Spurred by the proliferation of the Internet in the past two decades, access to sexually explicit material and the potential impact of pornography use have become increasingly significant issues in public discourse and policy debates. For example, citing concerns about possible deleterious effects, several states have considered or passed measures declaring pornography a public health crisis. Antipornography campaigns, which equate pornography to a highly addictive drug, have gained traction and even been given a platform in public schools. The effects of pornography—and whether it is addictive—are also being debated within academia and by mental health professionals. Increasing numbers of professionals are purporting to specialize in pornography addiction treatment. This public debate raises the question: What influences persons’ likelihood of supporting policy stances for or against pornography? Perhaps the strongest statement of public action against pornography is censorship. Of note, religiosity may play an especially important role in that religious persons are more apt to pathologize pornography consumption.

Purpose: Prior research literature has explored personal characteristics associated with support for pornography censorship, but those studies are dated and lack generalizability. This study fills this gap by utilizing data from a nationally representative sample, which bolsters and clarifies previous findings.

Methods: Data were drawn from the 2014 General Social Survey (GSS), which incorporates a full-probability, repeated cross-sectional design and is representative of English- and Spanish-speaking U.S. adults. Variables of interest were selected based on past literature. Of special interest was religiosity. The GSS contains several questions assessing participants’ religious behaviors, beliefs, and sense of belonging within a faith. After conducting a principle axis factor analysis, a short religiosity scale was created, which exhibited high internal consistency (α = .89). Variables were entered into a hierarchical logistic regression model, in order of past research support, to explore their relationship to the outcome variable: support of pornography censorship for adults. The latter was measured via one question on the GSS that asked respondents their opinions about pornography laws.

Results: The sample consisted of 1,676 participants. Three steps were used in the regression. Omnibus results for each block were compared to assess model improvement. Each successive block significantly improved overall model fit (p < .001). The final block produced a Nagelkerke R² of .32. Congruent with prior literature, high religiosity, female gender, authoritarian attitudes, conservative political ideology, and older age were all significantly associated with increased odds of supporting censorship.  Additionally, recent pornography consumption significantly decreased odds of supporting censorship.

Conclusion: The debate about pornography has implications from micro to macro social work practice. The tone of public discourse about pornography affects clinical social workers treating clients seeking help for related concerns. For instance, clients and clinicians alike may be more apt to label behaviors addictive based on rhetoric coming from antipornography groups. This research provides important information as to individual characteristics that are associated with strong public stances against pornography, which is critical to understanding and shaping the policy debate.