Date of Award
5-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department/Program
Psychology
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
John Paul Wilson
Committee Member
Erica Nahin
Committee Member
Valerie Sessa
Abstract
Does the consumption of lesbian pornography promote the objectification of Queer women? In this work, I investigated the relationship between pornography consumption and attitudes toward Queer women. Participants completed measures of hostile and benevolent sexism, anti-Lesbian attitudes, and pornography consumption. In the existing literature, there have been some attempts to study various impacts of pornography consumption. For example, some work has examined the effect of violent pornography on sexist attitudes and violence against women (Hald et al., 2010). There have been other studies that explored the idea that beliefs behind the perpetration of sexual violence against Queer women can reinstate the perpetrator's masculinity (Bedera & Nordmeyer, 2020). Research has also shown that pornography of this nature is correlated with increased hostile sexist beliefs towards women and Rape Myth Acceptance from both men and women (Chapleau et al., 2007). The present study found that cisgender (being defined as one's gender identity that corresponds with their sex at birth) heterosexual men report consuming more pornography overall than women and non-hetero men. Although positive correlations were observed between pornography consumption and sexist attitudes, and between sexist and Lesbophobic attitudes, the hypothesized correlation between consumption of lesbian pornography and sexist and lesbophobic attitudes was not observed.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Graves, Samantha Renee, "Lesbophobia Through Pornography" (2024). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1426.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1426