Camsites as a Context for Sexual Consent Education: User Experiences

Understanding sexual consent is essential for the promotion of healthy sexual relationships and the prevention of sexual violence. Emerging sexual technologies can provide opportunities for users to learn about and potentially practice navigating sexual consent with partners, but this field of research is still nascent. In this study, we surveyed 5,828 erotic camsite users to determine whether they learned something new about sexual consent from their use of the site. Participants mostly identified as heterosexual white men, aged 18 to 99. Our results showed that 12% (n = 699) reported learning something new about sexual consent from their camsite use. Those who reported learning something new were prompted to provide a qualitative report of what they had learned; 36% (n = 252) did so. Users reported learning about the importance of respecting boundaries; how consent can change or differ based on the person, context, or time; the implicit and explicit forms of sexual consent, and the need to explicitly communicate about sexual consent; and how consent norms apply to commercial sexual contexts. Our findings show that people are learning about sexual consent from camsites, but the obtained knowledge is complex and sometimes negative. This study sheds light on the potential of emerging sexual technologies as sources for sexual education, and highlights the need for further research exploring the ways in which understandings of digital sexual consent translate to broader contexts.

Exposure to Pornography and Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Formative experiences in adolescence lay the foundation for healthy and pleasurable romantic and sexual relationships. Exposure to pornography may affect these experiences.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to synthesize evidence published in the past decade on the relationship between exposure to pornography and sexual behavior (earlier age of first sex [<16 years], condomless sex, past-year multiple partners [>1], lifetime multiple partners [>1], group sex, sexual aggression including forced sex, paid sex, teenage pregnancy, and history of sexually transmitted infection) in adolescents aged between 10 and 19 years.

METHODS

We identified 19 eligible studies by searching MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane, CINAHL, Embase, and Web of Science databases from January 2010 to November 2022.

RESULTS

Out of 8 studies that assessed earlier age of first sex, 5 studies, including 1 longitudinal study, found a statistically significant association with exposure to pornography. Given that most studies were cross-sectional or had substantial limitations, causal inference could not be made. Also, exposure to pornography was not measured consistently. The evidence was conflicting or insufficient to draw any conclusions regarding other outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

More quantitative research is needed to elucidate the association between pornography exposure and sexual behavior, and sex education should adopt evidence-based approaches to minimize the potential harms from pornography.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42021227390; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=227390.

The role of pornography in the sex life of young adults-a cross-sectional cohort study on female and male German medical students

BACKGROUND

Due to easy online accessibility of pornography its consumption is popular among adolescents and young adults. Considering recently developed frameworks on the effects of sexual media, we assessed how increased consumption of pornography is associated with the experience of certain aspects of offline and online sexual activity in German medical students.

METHODS

Between April 2018 and March 2020 medical students from the Technical University of Munich in Germany were anonymously surveyed with regards to their sexual behavior, consumption of pornography, and use of social media. 468 students (female: n = 293; male: n = 175) were included in the current analysis. Data was analyzed using simple and multiple Poisson regression analysis.

RESULTS

Only 7.3% of female students but the majority of male students (79.1%) consumed pornography more than 4 times in the last 4 weeks. Female and male students who reported to be inspired by pornography (female: 52.0%, male: 74.6%) and who have enjoyed the experience of anal intercourse in their life (female: 17.1%, male: 32.2%) consumed pornography more frequently. Female students who have experienced a "threesome" (9.0%), have sent erotic pictures of themselves (33.5%), or use social media in their dating life (27.6%) consumed pornography more frequently. Male students who did not experience a sexual transmitted disease (82.9%) and did not cheat on their partner (68.0%) consumed pornography more frequently (results of multiple Poisson regression analysis; all p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Many students consider pornography as inspiration for their sex life and frequent consumption of pornography seems to be associated with gender specific characteristics congruent with short-term sexual quality. The desire of adolescents and young adults for practical information about sexual intercourse should be addressed openly and a proper understanding of the sexuality shown in pornography should be taught.

The relationship between consumption of pornography and consensual sexual practice: Results of a mixed method systematic review

This article reports on the findings of a systematic review of literature on pornography use and sexual consent published between January 2000 and December 2017. The review found that there exists little research explicitly addressing consent. There exists an extensive literature on the relationship between the consumption of pornography and sexual aggression/violence; however, this work fails to distinguish between consensual (kink, spanking, BDSM) and nonconsensual acts (sexual harassment and rape). Our thematic analysis found that there is no agreement in the literature reviewed as to whether consumption of pornography is correlated with better or worse understandings or practices of sexual consent. The majority of articles that identified correlations between aspects of sexual health and pornography consumption incorrectly assigned causality to pornography consumption.