What motivates men to not consume pornography? Moving beyond themes of addiction and abstinence

Authors:
Meagan Tyler La Trobe University, Australia

Search for other papers by Meagan Tyler in
Current site
Google Scholar Close
and
Natalie Jovanovski RMIT University, Australia

Search for other papers by Natalie Jovanovski in
Current site
Google Scholar Close
Article Category:
Research Article
Copyright:
© Authors 2025
Online Publication Date:
17 Feb 2025
Pages:
1–23
Publisher:
Policy Press
Volume/Issue:
Early View
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808Y2025D000000068
Restricted access
Get eTOC alerts
Rights and permissions Cite this article
Buy article/chapter (
GBP  £25.00
)

This article presents a thematic analysis of responses from an international qualitative survey of men who do not consume pornography. We find the two most common reasons given by respondents relate to sexism, misogyny and violence against women, and varied conceptualisations of harm to the self. A significant minority of responses contained interrelated or overlapping themes, attesting to the complex thinking and multiple factors that many men detailed around their decision to stop using pornography. This empirical contribution builds on limited, extant work considering particular cohorts of men who wish to ‘quit’ pornography (for example, Burke and Haltom, 2020; Fernandez et al, 2021; Jovanovski and Tyler, 2023) and seeks to expand discussions about men’s motivations to end their ‘commitment’ to pornography (Garner, 2016) beyond notions of addiction and abstinence. While not all respondents gave feminist or pro-feminist reasoning for their non-consumption of pornography, that some men clearly did consider issues of violence against women in their decision-making should be of particular interest to researchers and practitioners focused on gender-based violence. In an era of ubiquitous pornography consumption, these men’s experiences show an alternative path which might help to open further discussions around gender equality and sexuality.

  • Anderson, S. and Clarke, V. (2019) Disgust, shame and the psychological impact of skin picking: evidence from an online support forum, Journal of Health Psychology, 24(13): 1773–84. doi: 10.1177/1359105317700254

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Antevska, A. and Gavey, N. (2015) ‘Out of sight, out of mind’: detachment and men’s consumption of male sexual dominance and female submission in pornography, Men and Masculinities, 18(5): 605–29. doi: 10.1177/1097184x15574339

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Ashton, S., McDonald, K. and Kirkman, M. (2020) Pornography and sexual relationships: discursive challenges for young women, Feminism and Psychology, 30(4): 489–504. doi: 10.1177/0959353520918164

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Atkinson, R. and Flint, J. (2001) Accessing Hidden and Hard-to-Reach Populations: Snowball Research Strategies. (Social Research Update No. 33), Guildford, UK: University of Surrey.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Attwood, F. (2005) What do people do with porn? Qualitative research into the consumption, use and experience of pornography and other sexually explicit media, Sexuality and Culture, 9(2): 65–86. doi: 10.1007/s12119-005-1008-7

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bhaskar, R., Danermark, B. and Price, L. (2017) Interdisciplinarity and Wellbeing: A Critical Realist General Theory of Interdisciplinarity, New York: Routledge.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Boyle, K. (2010) Everyday Pornography, London: Routledge.

  • Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2): 77–101. doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bridges, A. and Bergner, R. (2002) The significance of heavy pornography involvement for romantic partners: research and clinical implications, Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 28(3): 193–206. doi: 10.1080/009262302760328235

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bridges, A., Bergner, R. and Hesson-McInnis, M. (2003) Romantic partners’ use of pornography: its significance for women, Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 29(1): 1–14.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bridges, A., Wosnitzer, R., Scharrer, E., Sun, C. and Liberman, R. (2010) Aggression and sexual behavior in best-selling pornography videos: a content analysis update, Violence Against Women, 16(10): 1065–85. doi: 10.1177/1077801210382866

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bridges, A., Willis, M., Ezzell, M., Sun, C., Johnson, J. and Wright, P. (2023) Pornography use and sexual objectification of others, Violence Against Women, 30(1): 228–48.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Burke, K. (2016) Christians Under Covers: Evangelicals and Sexual Pleasure on the Internet, Oakland, CA: UCLA Press.

  • Burke, K. and Haltom, T. (2020) Created by God and wired to porn: redemptive masculinity and gender beliefs in narratives of religious men’s pornography addiction recovery, Gender & Society, 34(2): 233–58.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Burnett, S. (2022) The battle for NoFap: myths, masculinity and the meaning of masturbation abstention, Men and Masculinities, 25(3): 477–96. doi: 10.1177/1097184X211018256

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Carmoody, M. (2003) Sexual ethics and violence prevention, Social and Legal Studies, 12(2): 199–216. doi: 10.1177/0964663903012002003

  • Cawston, A. (2019) The feminist case against pornography: a review and re-evaluation, Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, 62(6): 624–58.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Commonwealth of Australia – Department of Social Services (2022) National Action Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children, 2022–2032, Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, https://www.dss.gov.au/national-plan-end-gender-based-violence/resource/national-plan-end-violence-against-women-and-children-2022-2032.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Coy, M. and Tyler, M. (2020) Pornographication and heterosexualisation in public space, in J. Berry, T. Moore, N. Kalms and G. Bawden (eds) Contentious Cities: Design and the Gendered Production of Space, London: Routledge, pp 49–59.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • DeKeseredy, W. and Corsianos, M. (2016) Violence Against Women in Pornography, London: Routledge.

  • DeKeseredy, W. and Hall-Sanchez, A. (2017) Adult pornography and violence against women in the heartland: results from a rural southeast Ohio study, Violence Against Women, 23(7): 830–49. doi: 10.1177/1077801216648795

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Dines, G. (2010) Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked Our Sexuality, Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

  • Donegan, M. (2020) How PornHub – one of the world’s biggest sites – caused untold damage and pain, The Guardian (US), 16 December, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/16/pornhub-untold-damage-pain, (Accessed: 20 Dec 2023).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Ezzell, M. (2013) Men’s use of pornography, in C. Carter, L. Steiner and L. McLaughlin (eds) The Routledge Companion to Media and Gender, London: Routledge, pp 473–82.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Fernandez, D.P., Kuss, D.J. and Griffiths, M.D. (2021) The pornography ‘rebooting’ experience: a qualitative analysis of abstinence journals on an online pornography abstinence forum, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50: 711–28. doi: 10.1007/s10508-020-01858-w

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Flood, M. (2016) Submission to the Australian Commonwealth Senate Inquiry into the harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the internet, https://xyonline.net/sites/xyonline.net/files/Flood%2C%20Senate%20submission%20Porn%20and%20youth%202016.pdf.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Friedman, M. (2016) Terry Crews says that porn addition nearly ruined his life, Esquire, 25 February, https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/sex/news/a42445/terry-crews-pornography-addiction/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Garlick, S. (2010) Taking control of sex? Hegemonic masculinity, technology and internet pornography, Men and Masculinities, 12(5): 597–614. doi: 10.1177/1097184X09341360

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Garner, M. (2016) Conflicts, Contradictions and Commitments: Men Speak about Sexualisation of Culture, PhD Dissertation, London,UK: London Metropolitan University.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hardy, S. (1998) The Reader, The Author, His Women and Her Lover: Soft Core Pornography and Heterosexual Men, London: Cassell.

  • Hartmann, M. (2021) The totalizing meritocracy of heterosex: subjectivity in NoFap, Sexualities, 24(3): 408–30. doi: 10.1177/1363460720932387

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hester, H. (2015) After the image: labour in pornography, in M. Laing, K. Pilcher and N. Smith (eds) Queer Sex Work, London: Routledge, pp 32–43.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Irizarry, R., Gallaher, H., Samuel, S., Soares, J. and Villela, J. (2023) How the rise of problematic pornography consumption and the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a decrease in physical sexual interactions and relationships and an increase in addictive behaviours and cluster B personality traits: a meta-analysis, Cureus, 15(6): e40539. doi: 10.7759/cureus.40539

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Jensen, R. (2007) Pornography and the End of Masculinity, Cambridge, MA: South End Press.

  • Johansson, T. and Hammarén, N. (2007) Hegemonic masculinity and pornography: young people’s attitudes toward and relations to pornography, The Journal of Men’s Studies, 15(1): 57–70. doi: 10.3149/jms.1501.57

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Jovanovski, N. and Tyler, M. (2018) ‘Bitch, you got what you deserved!’ Violation and violence in sex buyer review of legal brothels, Violence Against Women, v24(16): 1887–908. doi: 10.1177/1077801218757375

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Jovanovski, N. and Tyler, M. (2023) ‘Pornography encouraged me to belittle women’: a thematic analysis of men’s reflections on violence against women and ceasing pornography use, Violence Against Women, 29(11): 2266–87. doi: 10.1177/10778012221125502

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kimmel, M. (2008) Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, New York: HarperCollins.

  • Kohut, T., Fisher, W.A. and Campbell, L. (2017) Perceived effects of pornography on the couple relationship: Initial findings of open-ended, participant-informed, ‘bottom-up’ research, Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 46: 585–602. doi: 10.1007/s10508-016-0783-6

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kristof, N. (2020) The children of Pornhub, The New York Times, 4 December, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.html.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Lim, M., Agius, P., Carrottee, E., Vella, A. and Hellard, M. (2017) Young Australians’ use of pornography and associations with sexual risk behaviours, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 41(4): 438–43. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12678

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • McKee, A., Albury, K. and Lumby, C. (2008) The Porn Report, Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Press.

  • McMahon, T. (2014) Masters of their domain, Macleans, 127(3): n.p.

  • McNair, B. (2002) Striptease Culture: Sex, Media and the Democratization of Desire, London: Routledge.

  • McVey, L., Tyler, M. and Gurrieri, L. (2022) ‘Care’ as camouflaging capitalism and obscuring harm: the user-generated pornography market and women’s inequality, Women’s Studies International Forum, 91: 102573–85.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Mikovski, R. and Szymanski, D.M. (2017) Masculine norms, peer group, pornography, Facebook, and men’s sexual objectification of women, Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 18(4): 257–67.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Miller, D., Raggatt, P. and McBain, K. (2020) A literature review of studies into the prevalence and frequency of men’s pornography use, American Journal of Sexuality Education, 15(4): 502–29. doi: 10.1080/15546128.2020.1831676

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Rothman, E. (2021) Pornography and Public Health, New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Saunders, R. (2020) Bodies of Work: The Labour of Sex in the Digital Age, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Science Daily (2009) Are the effects of pornography negligible?, Science Daily, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091201111202.htm.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Scott, K. (2016) Performing labour: ethical spectatorship and the communication of labour conditions in pornography, Porn Studies, 3(2): 120–32. doi: 10.1080/23268743.2016.1184475

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Smith, C. (2007) One for the Girls! The Pleasures and Practices of Reading Women’s Porn, Bristol: Intellect Books.

  • Smyth, J., Dillman, D., Christian, L. and Mcbride, M. (2009) Open-ended questions in web surveys: can increasing the size of answer boxes and providing extra instructions improve response quality?, Public Opinion Quarterly, 73(2): 325–37. doi: 10.1093/poq/nfp029

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Stewart, D.N. and Szymanski, D.M. (2012) Young adult women’s reports of their male romantic partner’s pornography use as a correlate of their self-esteem, relationship quality, and sexual satisfaction, Sex Roles, 67: 257–71. doi: 10.1007/s11199-012-0164-0

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Szymanski, D.M. and Stewart-Richardson, D.N. (2014) Psychological, relational, and sexual correlates of pornography use on young adult heterosexual men in romantic relationships, The Journal of Men’s Studies, 22(1): 64–82. doi: 10.3149/jms.2201.64

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Tarzia, L. and Tyler, M. (2021) Recognizing connections between intimate partner sexual violence and pornography, Violence Against Women, 27(14): 2687–708. doi: 10.1177/1077801220971352

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Taylor, K. and Jackson, S. (2018) ‘I want that power back’: discourses of masculinity within an online pornography abstinence forum, Sexualities, 21(4): 621–39. doi: 10.1177/1363460717740248

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Toepoel, V. (2015) Doing Surveys Online, New York: Sage.

  • Tyler, M. and Jovanovski, N. (2018) The limits of ethical consumption in the sex industry: an analysis of online brothel reviews, Women’s Studies International Forum, v66(1): 9–17. doi: 10.1016/j.wsif.2017.11.004

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Tyler, M. and Quek, K. (2016) Conceptualizing pornographication: a lack of clarity and problems for feminist analysis, Journal of Sexualisation, Media and Society, v2(2): 1–14.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Tylka, T. and Van Diest, A. (2015) You looking at her ‘hot’ body may not be ‘cool’ for me: integrating male partners’ pornography use into objectification theory for women, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 39(1): 67–84. doi: 10.1177/0361684314521784

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Usbourne, S. (2021) Sex isn’t difficult anymore: the men who are quitting watching porn, The Guardian (London), 6 September, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/sep/06/sex-isnt-difficult-any-more-the-men-who-are-quitting-watching-porn.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Vera Cruz, G. and Sheridan, T. (2022) The normalisation of violence during sex among young Mozambicans reportedly under the influence of pornography, Sexuality & Culture, 26: 397–417.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Vera-Gray, F., McGlynn, C., Kureshi, I. and Butterworth, K. (2021) Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography, British Journal of Criminology, 61(5): 1243–60. doi: 10.1093/bjc/azab035

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Walker, L. (2017) Porn as a public health crisis, in R. Manocha (ed) Nurturing Young Minds: Mental Wellbeing in the Digital Age, Sydney: Hachette Australia.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Whisnant, R. (2010) From Jekyll to Hyde: the grooming of male pornography consumers, in K. Boyle (ed) Everyday Pornography, London: Routledge.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Wright, P. and Takunaga, R. (2018) Women’s perceptions of their male partners’ pornography consumption and relational, sexual, self, and body satisfaction: toward a theoretical model, Annals of the International Communication Association, 42(1): 55–73. doi: 10.1080/23808985.2017.1412802

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
Meagan Tyler La Trobe University, Australia

Search for other papers by Meagan Tyler in
Current site
Google Scholar Close
and
Natalie Jovanovski RMIT University, Australia

Search for other papers by Natalie Jovanovski in
Current site
Google Scholar Close

meagan.tyler@latrobe.edu.au
natalie.jovanovski2@rmit.edu.au

Content Metrics

May 2022 onwards Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 8989 8989 58
Full Text Views 130 130 4
PDF Downloads 134 134 4

Altmetrics

Dimensions

Cover Journal of Gender-Based Violence
Journal of Gender-Based Violence