Gender Stereotypes in Pornography

Research has frequently shown that 9 out of 10 males have viewed pornography at some point in their life, and about 4 out of 10 women are exposed to it. I wonder if this is actually true, and well, it all depends on how we define pornography.

For the most part pornography is interpreted as visual stimulation, images and videos, that are found in magazines and online. What constantly gets over looked is books. Books, and most notably 50 Shades of Grey, can still be "mentally pornographic" and as indicated by a recent report, it may be more abusive, or hardcore, than just sexually stimulating.

But apparently reading material that is sexually stimulating is more acceptable, especially among women. If a man was caught watching a video that was the portrayal of a scene from 50 Shades of Grey, there would be turmoil in that couple. But a woman caught reading it, all is well.

I believe this comes down to gender differences. As the saying goes, men are like microwaves and women are like slow cookers. Men get stimulated by clicking through clips on a website and women get stimulated by slowly turning the pages of a book.

So when we say that 9 out of 10 males are exposed to the gender stereotyped pornography of images and videos, I wonder if we should too say 9 out of 10 females are exposed to their gender stereotyped pornography of reading.

Mormon Men Perspective

LDS Living recently did a survey on mormon men, and they are currently releasing their findings.  For me, I found the first article the most fascinating where they looked at what LDS men look for in a spouse.

I was however, amazed at some of the comments, regarding physical attractiveness being so low (9 out of 15). I think I get were some women are coming from, that if they have been perceived as not-attractive by a man those other top 8 categories may not compensate for physical attraction. LDS men are not shallow, they are like any other man when it comes to courtship, however, eternity is at stake, that's why other factors rank higher, but they still need to find a spouse that is attractive to them. It's hard to propose marriage, have children with, and be together for eternity with someone you are not attracted to.  I think it would have been fun to see what LDS women would have listed as the priorities for men in a wife.

LDS Living has published five articles so far:

1. We keep it to ourselves
2. We don't want unrighteous dominion
3. I can't keep my wife happy
4. Women have more options than we do
5. What do mormon men want in a wife?