Irish newspaper Independent.ie reports on a survey of the porn-watching habits of 1002 internet users. It’s found that an impressive number of Irish women are enjoying porn:
The survey by Amarach Research points to the double standards at play in Irish society when it comes to pornography, with 69pc of Irish adults of all ages admitting they have seen or watched pornographic content “in some form”.
The findings were higher for males than females, with 83pc of men having viewed pornography compared with 56pc of women. Those aged 35-44 were most likely of any age group to have seen or watched porn.
The study, which surveyed 1,002 Irish internet users over the age of 18, found that a quarter of all those who have viewed porn watch it on a weekly basis. Those findings are further broken down, with 36pc of those who are not in a relationship watching porn weekly, as against 21pc who are currently in a relationship.
The survey also found that women weren’t too concerned about their partners watching porn online “with just 18pc of those who believe their partners watch pornography reporting that they felt disturbed by it.” Also, women were more likely to have a positive view of porn’s usefulness in their relationship – 25% of men and 27% of women felt it was a good thing.
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A majority of both men and women surveyed said they felt that the porn they watched was sometimes “disturbing” or “too hardcore”. The survey also seemed to pose a question as to whether violence in porn was OK because it was just a fantasy. The majority disagreed.
I find it interesting the way this Irish newspaper has framed some of the responses. They use the term “admitted using pornography” as though it’s a crime, an admission of guilt. One could argue that when article uses the term “admitted” it shows a sex-negative bias. There’s also this:
A disturbing 7pc of people said they had seen porn before the age of 12.
Or, to put it another way, 93% of people had seen porn only after the age of 12 which is a fairly average age for the onset of puberty. That’s a pretty good figure really. Remember all the people panicking about kids seeing porn? Is 7% worth the massive censorship that is always proposed?
Also, 31% of people believe that porn is “morally wrong” in general. Or, to put it another way that’s 69% of the population that’s OK with it.
The survey was conducted for a two-part documentary on the topic. One of the producers discusses their motivations here. The survey’s definition of “pornography” is spectacularly vague:
Without reverting to moral panic mode, we felt it was important to be clear within the programme that when discussing pornography, we weren’t referring to erotica or traditional “I need a plumber” style narratives.
Still, they seem to have made an effort to approach the subject with an open mind; the article is strongly in favour of porn education.