By Kasia Uzieblo & David Prescott
Note: This blog is broken into two sections. This post
is part 1, with part 2 appearing in the coming week – Kieran
Websites like Pornhub are part of a daily routine for
more than 120 million people. What happens when our daily routines are gravely
disrupted due to an unseen, frightening worldwide crisis and we suddenly have
to spend most of our time at home?
Pornhub’s statisticians have analyzed changes in its daily
traffic since the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Traffic has increased
dramatically from early February. This pattern was observed in North and South America,
Europe, the UK, Russia, Asia, and Oceania; no data seem to be available for the
Middle-East or Africa. Just to give an idea of the increases: Worldwide traffic
to Pornhub was up 11.6% on March 17th; 13.7% on March 20th,
and 18.5% on March 24th, with increases going up to even 57% (Italy
and Russia) and 61% (Spain). In most countries, the highest spikes were clearly
related to Pornhub’s making its Premium Services free to visitors. However, increases
were also apparent before this announcement, suggesting that as both males and
females were spending more time at home, they have increasingly turned to
online pornography.
Online pornography, a way to manage the crisis?
#What drives an increasing number of people to visit
Pornhub when confronted with the Coronavirus crisis? Interestingly, this seems
to be not only specific to the current crisis; the scarce literature on this
topic suggests that pornography has played an important role in other crises as
well, including for instance the American Civil War (Giesberg, 2017). One
explanation could be found in the stressors related to crises. People are
currently experiencing many un(fore)seen stressors in their everyday life. From
almost one day to the next, people have been obligated to combine full-time jobs
with fulltime parenting responsibilities, with many others quarantined by
themselves. Still others have been confronted with unemployment.
In addition, this virus – this invisible enemy – itself
elicits fear and feelings of powerlessness in many. According to the Threat
Appraisal and Coping Theory of Lazarus and Folkman (1984), people can respond
with both adaptive or maladaptive coping behaviors when confronted with such
life stressors. Adaptive coping involves behaviors that are linked with
positive outcomes on both the short- and long- term, while maladaptive coping
can create short- and long-term problems. Research suggests that the use of
(online) pornography might also be seen as a way to cope with life stressors,
especially in people who feel powerless (Black & Hendy, 2019).
Is this rise in pornography use a reason
to panic?
No, not necessarily. Just to be clear: Pornography use
itself is not problematic. Pornography use might, however, become maladaptive coping
for some. In other words, these behaviors can provide a sense of relief in the
short-term, while the long-term effects produce a negative impact on the
individual’s psychosocial and/or physical well-being, especially when it becomes a habit in the
absence of other adaptive means for coping with stress. Much depends on the
individual viewer; there is no specific point where porn use becomes
problematic for all.
Habitual and excessive pornography use can lead to a variety
of negative outcomes. These can include a diminished life and problems with
relationships and sexual satisfaction (Böthe, Tóth-Király, Demetrovics, &
Orosz, 2017; Buttler, Pereyra, Draper, Leonhardt, & Skinner, 2017). Other
forms of psychological distress can also result (Grubbs, Stauner, Pargament,
& Lindberg, 2015).
Of course, not everybody uses pornography excessively
when confronted with stressors. Some people seem to be more vulnerable than
others. For instance, a recent study in 713 Israeli adolescents shows that
anxiously attached adolescents were particularly prone to using pornography. Further,
loneliness increases pornography use, particularly among secure and anxiously
avoidant individuals (Efrati & Amichai-Hamburger, 2019). Another study by
Borgogna and Aita (2019) suggests that personality traits might play a role:
Especially people with higher levels of neuroticism and extraversion seem to
exhibit excessive online pornography use. Whether the increased number of
Pornhub’s visitors reflect excessive or more habitual use of visitors can
however not be deduced from the statistics reported on the site.
Ultimately, while sexualized coping is a well-known
risk factor for sexual re-offending, we are seeing now that it is not uncommon
in times of crisis. Two ways that professionals can be helpful to others are:
1. To be
aware that increased sexualized coping is to be expected in times of crisis.
2. To be
prepared for the ambivalence, confusion, and shame that many people (not just
those who have abused) can experience.
3. To be
prepared to have conversations about alternative methods for coping in a manner
that is non-judgmental.
4. To have
resources for people who are anxious about their pornography use. One recent
example is this article on how modeling safe behaviors can help children and
adolescents at home.
References
Black, P., & Hendy, H. M. (2019). Perceived
Powerlessness as a Mediator between Life Stressors and Deviant Behaviors. Deviant
Behavior, 40(9), 1080–1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2018.1461744
Borgogna,
N.C., & Aita, S.L. (2019). Problematic
Pornography Viewing from a Big-5 Personality Perspective. Sexual Addiction
& Compulsivity. The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, 26(3-4),
293-314. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720162.2019.1670302
Böthe, B., Tóth-Király, I., Demetrovics, Z., &
Orosz, G. (2017). The pervasive role of sex mindset: beliefs about the
malleability of sexual life is linked to higher levels of relationship
satisfaction and sexual satisfaction and lower levels of problematic
pornography use. Personality and Individual Differences, 117, 1–8. doi:
10.1016/j.paid. 2017.05.030
Butler, M. H., Pereyra, S. A., Draper, T. W.,
Leonhardt, N. D., & Skinner, K. B. (2017). Pornography use and loneliness:
a bi-directional recursive model and pilot investigation. Journal of Sex
& Marital Therapy, 44(2), 21–32. doi: 10.1080/0092623X.2017. 1321601
Efrati, Y., & Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (2019). The
Use of Online Pornography as Compensation for Loneliness and Lack of Social
Ties Among Israeli Adolescents. Psychological Reports, 122(5),
1865–1882. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294118797580
Giesberg, J. (2017). Sex and the Civil War:
Soldiers, Pornography, and the Making of American Morality. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press.
Grubbs, J.B., Stauner, N., Exline, J.J., Pargament,
K.I., & Lindberg, M.J. (2015). Perceived addiction to Internet pornography
and psychological distress: Examining relationships concurrently and over time.
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29(4), 1056-1067. doi: 10.1037/adb0000114.
Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress,
Appraisal, and Coping. NY: Springer.
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