Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Throughout the years, intense legal, political, and academic discussions have centered upon the use of pornography and its implications (→  Pornography, Media Law on ; Sex and Pornography as Media Content: Feminist Perspectives ). Currently, these discussions have been revived because the →  Internet provides not only adults but also adolescents and children with free and anonymous access to pornography (→  Sex and Pornography Online ). The easy availability of pornographic material for all age groups has raised questions about the extent to which people of different age groups are exposed to such material. Although research on the issue is scarce, the existing studies suggest that younger people use pornography more often than older people ( Buzzell 2005 ; Janghorbani et al. 2003 ; Traeen et al. 2004 ). This particularly applies to males – exposure to pornography is generally much more common among males than among females ( Laumann et al. 1994 ). Young male adults and, with the advent of the Internet, also male adolescents seem to be the most frequent users of pornography. Exposure to pornography declines somewhat among people older than 30 years. People who are older than 60 are the least frequent users of pornographic materials. This age gap also shows in the fact that people older than 60 years are less likely than young adults to have ever been exposed to pornographic ... log in or subscribe to read full text