Female Affective Perception of Mainstream and Paraphilic Pornography: Associations with Sexual and Psychological Intrapersonal Variables

Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Archives of Sexual Behavior https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02701-8 ORIGINAL PAPER Female Affective Perception ofMainstream andParaphilic Pornography: Associations withSexual andPsychological Intrapersonal Variables SabinePrantner1· CristinaGiménez‑García1· AlejandroEspino‑Payá1,2· MiguelA.Escrig3· NievesFuentes‑Sánchez1· RafaelBallester‑Arnal1· M.CarmenPastor1 Received: 24 October 2022 / Revised: 23 July 2023 / Accepted: 6 September 2023 © The Author(s) 2023 Abstract Understanding affective perceptual processes can further contribute to the explanation of motivation and actions, as well as sexual risk behaviors. Pornography can be considered salient emotional content and is popular, also among females. Yet, the female perspective on pornography has often been overlooked and it remains unclear how individual variables may be associated with the affective perception of pornography and could provide a risk profile. Possible associations between several sexual and psychological intrapersonal variables and the affective perception of various forms of pornography were analyzed from the female perspective. A sample of 231 females (M = 21.87years; SD = 3.9years) provided ratings of affective valence, arousal, disgust, and moral and ethical acceptance for mainstream pornographic and paraphilic images of dominance, submission, or sexual violence. Paraphilic pornography was perceived as less pleasant, arousing, and moral and ethically acceptable, but more disgusting compared to mainstream pornography. This was more pronounced among females who had never consumed pornography. Results further suggest that the female affective perception of pornography was associated with the following sexual intrapersonal variables: sexual sensation seeking for physical sensations, erotophilia, lack of sexual control, problematic pornography consumption, and sexual disgust sensitivity. Of the assessed psychological intrapersonal variables, only anxiety was negatively associated with disgust for paraphilic pornography. It is important to further analyze the female affective perception of pornography and associated variables to include them in strategies for prevention and for addressing problematic consequences of the acceptance of specific sexual content and behaviors, especially related to sexualized violence. Keywords Pornography· Valence· Arousal· Disgust· Moral and ethical acceptance· Women Introduction Affective perception refers to the process of experiencing emotional content of any kind and can be measured on a behavioral level. Emotions may be considered powerful, pervasive, predictable, sometimes harmful and sometimes beneficial drivers of decision making and are associated with affective perceptions, routinely affecting how and what we see, and have strong motivational forces (Bradley etal., 2001; Döring, 2007; Lang etal., 1998; Lerner etal., 2015; Mirabella, 2018; Zadra & Clore, 2011). Sexual stimuli are known to be of particular emotional salience (Bradley etal., 2001). Thus, understanding affective perceptual processes can further contribute to the explanation of motivation and actions, as well as potentially risky sexual behaviors. Although a vast array of environments are available, individuals will often be selective, choosing only those environments that are best-suited to them and are congruent with their affect and/or individual dispositions (Emmons etal., 1985, 1986). This association has also been noted for sexual contexts, as people are said to be selective in their sexual media viewing habits, directing their choices to material that is congruent with preexisting dispositions (Bogaert, 2001). Along these * M. Carmen Pastor [email protected] 1 Departamento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universitat Jaume I, 12071CastellódelaPlana, Spain 2 Institute forBiomagnetism andBiosignalanalysis, University ofMünster, Münster, Germany 3 Departamento de Psicología. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Europea de Valencia, Valencia, Spain Archives of Sexual Behavior 1 3 lines, previous research has linked pornography use to several intrapersonal variables such as greater sexual motivation, sexual compulsivity, affect, and anxiety (e.g., Bőthe etal., 2019; Castro-Calvo etal., 2018; Kowalewska etal., 2022; Paul, 2009; Willoughby etal., 2019), but has not examined its relationship to females' affective perception of diverse pornographic content. Although consuming pornography has become more common for large segments of the population, also among females with a female pornography consumption between 40 and 60%, the literature focuses mainly on the male perspective (Ballester-Arnal etal., 2017, 2022; BlaisLecours etal., 2016; Bőthe etal., 2018; Bridges etal., 2016; Grubbs etal., 2021; Martyniuk etal., 2016; Rissel etal., 2017; Zheng & Zheng, 2014). The current study fills an important gap in the literature by examining associations between diverse sexual and psychological intrapersonal variables, and the affective perception of mainstream and paraphilic pornography among Hispanic females. This will contribute to a better comprehension of the female experience with pornography and possible intraindividual associations with it, which is particularly important for understanding preferences for and acceptance of different sexual scenarios, as well as the motivational processes involved. Pornography andParaphilic Interests The security and anonymity offered by the Internet may support the discovery and development of new preferences and sexual behaviors (Griffiths, 2012; Hald & Štulhofer, 2016; Walters & Spengler, 2016; Yu, 2013). In this regard, about 10% to 15% of pornography users are said to prefer nonmainstream pornographic content such as violent, coercive, fetish, bondage and discipline, or sadomasochistic pornography, which often is nested under the concept of paraphilic interests (Hald, 2006; Sørensen & Kjørholt, 2007; Štulhofer etal., 2007). An increase in aggressive content in pornographic videos, especially the more subtle violence, has been reported (Bridges etal., 2010; Carrotte etal., 2020; Fritz etal., 2020). Sexual fantasies of submission and domination seem to be quite common, and across different studies between 10 and 30% of people reported paraphilic interests (Bártová etal., 2021; Brown etal., 2020; Chan, 2021; Hald, 2006; Joyal etal., 2015; Sørensen & Kjørholt, 2007; Stefanska etal., 2022). Regarding gender differences toward paraphilic preferences, little research has been conducted in this line, but males seem to show more general paraphilic interests and thus may be more likely to engage in paraphilic pornography (Chan, 2021; Stefanska etal., 2022). Nevertheless, prior research also shows that exposure to violent pornography is associated with dating violence and that the odds of exposure to such forms of violence are higher for females than for males (Herbitter etal., 2022), which highlights the importance of examining acceptance and enjoyment of violent sexual content from a female perspective. One hypothesis is that viewing of such pornographic material can favor the acquisition of harmful sexual scripts also in offline sexual behaviors (Bridges etal., 2016; Vandenbosch & van Oosten, 2017; Wright, 2011). Violent pornography has been repeatedly linked to problematic outcomes such as sexually aggressive attitudes and behaviors (Allen etal., 1995; Bogaert, 2001; Hald etal., 2010; McKee, 2015; Seto etal., 2001). Viewing pornography may promote sexual objectification and sexually objectifying attitudes (Willis etal., 2022), and it is likely that endorsement of sexual objectification can lead to acceptance of violence against women (Wright & Tokunaga, 2016). It does not take extreme forms of sexual objectification such as sexual assault to already negatively impact those targeted (Szymanski & Feltman, 2014), whereby in the case of violent pornography most often females are targeted (Bridges etal., 2010; Carrotte etal., 2020). Already subtle, everyday sexual objectification can impair the emotional well-being of those targeted (Szymanski & Feltman, 2014). However, only few studies have examined individual variability in sexual and affective responses to sexually violent stimuli. Previous research of this type has been conducted primarily with male samples and has shown, for example, that males with high self-reported arousal toward sexually violent movies, and individual predispositions of among others higher hypersensitivity, and high interest in sexual variety as well as a promiscuous approach to sexual activity are more prone to watch sexually violent content and to accept sexual violence (Bogaert, 2001; Fisher etal., 2013). Lower sexual inhibition proneness in males was also associated with higher subjective sexual arousal toward visual stimuli of non-consensual sexual intercourse in experimental settings (Carvalho & Rosa, 2020; Carvalho etal., 2023). Pornography andAssociations withIntrapersonal Variables Research suggests that a number of individual variables may play a role regarding the viewing and perception of pornographic material. Intrapersonal variables such as greater sexual motivation, sexual openness, and pleasure seeking were associated not only with paraphilic interests but also with mainstream pornography (Baranowski etal., 2019; Bogaert, 2001; Carvalho & Rosa, 2020; Carvalho etal., 2023; CastroCalvo etal., 2018; Emmers-Sommer etal., 2013; Fisher etal., 2013; Rissel etal., 2017). Sensation seeking is commonly associated with different aspects of online sexual activities and especially pornography consumption (Bőthe etal., 2019; Zheng & Zheng, 2014). Archives of Sexual Behavior 1 3 Furthermore, an individual's sexual disposition of erotophobia versus erotophilia was found to relate to their arousal toward pornography, indicating that those with more erotophilic tendencies are more likely to approach and show greater sexual arousal in response to explicit sexual stimuli (Paul, 2009). Also, aspects of compulsive sexual behavior and hypersexuality have been associated with pornography consumption and riskier usage patterns in particular (Clayton etal., 2018; Derbyshire & Grant, 2015; Kowalewska etal., 2022). In this sense, some users seem to develop a problematic pornography consumption pattern with strong negative intraand interpersonal consequences, associated with, e.g., affect and emotion in terms of increased anxiety and depression (Ballester-Arnal etal., 2017, 2021, 2022; Bancroft, 2008; Castro-Calvo etal., 2018, 2021; Clayton etal., 2018; Middleton etal., 2008). Greater emotional avoidance has also been associated with problematic female pornography consumption (Baranowski etal., 2019). Another important intrapersonal variable related to sexual behavior is disgust sensitivity. Disgust sensitivity has emerged as an important trait in personality, social, and moral psychology, primarily because disgust serves a very important function, namely regulating certain threats, such as those of infectious diseases, costly sexual behavior, and risky interactions within groups (de Jong & Merckelbach, 1998; Inbar etal., 2009; Mancini etal., 2001; Olatunji etal., 2007; Tybur etal., 2010, 2011). Disgust sensitivity has been shown to be relevant to general and mental health, but also specifically to sexual health. However, it has also been suggested that sexual arousal may in turn inhibit sexual disgust to promote, e.g., the willingness of females to engage in potentially risky behaviors (Lee etal., 2014). Thus, on the one hand, disgust sensitivity can motivate people to avoid potentially dangerous activities (Curtis etal., 2011; Oaten etal., 2009) but, on the other hand, excessive disgust might also contribute to sexual problems (de Jong etal., 2009, 2010). Viewing sexual material has been associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms (Willoughby etal., 2019). But, the affective state can also impact an individual's ability to experience pleasurable and anxiety-free sexuality (Laurent & Simons, 2009). Research on female sexual arousal indicates that, i.e., both physiological and subjective measures of sexual arousal vary as a function of anxiety level (Kalmbach etal., 2014). A relationship between affect and anxiety with female sexual dysfunction has been discussed (Fabre & Smith, 2012; Goldstein, 2000); therefore, it may be assumed that affect and anxiety are also related to the female affective perception of pornographic material. Current Study According to the aforementioned reasons, the aim of this study was to do an exploratory analysis of sexual and psychological intrapersonal variables (i.e., sexual sensation seeking, hypersexuality, problematic pornography consumption, sexual disgust sensitivity, general affect, anxiety, depression) that might be associated with the affective perception of mainstream and paraphilic pornography in a sample of Hispanic females. In relation to paraphilic pornography, this study focuses on certain forms of paraphilia, which can be counted among subgroups of violent pornography, as they primarily depict acts of sexual dominance/submission. In this context, the following research questions were addressed: (RQ1) Will females show differences in regard to their affective perception toward mainstream and paraphilic pornographic content? (RQ2) How are the aforementioned sexual and psychological intrapersonal variables associated with the female affective perception of mainstream and paraphilic pornography? Method Participants The data were obtained within a larger research project, and data from male participants have been excluded in order to focus exclusively on the female affective perception of pornography. Inclusion criteria were female assigned at birth, over 18years old and Spanish-speaking. Thus, a total of 231 female participants aged between 18 and 51years (M = 21.87; SD = 3.9) were included in this study. The majority of the participants were college students or graduates from various faculties of universities in Spain with 15.2% vocational training, 81.8% Bachelor’s degree and 3% Master’s or Ph.D. degree. Participants self-reported their sexual orientation and identified as 68.4% heterosexual, 22.9% bisexual, 2.6% homosexual, 5.2% pansexual and 0.9% asexual. Following Kinsey etal. (1948), participants were also asked about their sexual attraction: “Please indicate which of the following statements best describes to whom you are sexually attracted.” The participants could answer this question on a scale from 1 = I am attracted only to the other sex to 7 = I am attracted only to my own sex. Additionally, the following option was offered: 0 = I am not attracted to any sex, whereby no female of the analytic sample chose this option. Participants were asked to indicate choosing between Yes and No if they have had same-sex experiences, had ever consumed pornography voluntarily or were currently in a romantic relationship. The majority has not had same-sex experiences (84.42%), but had consumed pornography voluntarily (74.46%). Further, 54.98% reported being in a romantic relationship. Additionally, participants were Archives of Sexual Behavior 1 3 asked about their religious beliefs and how conservative they considered their sexual education on a scale from 1 = very conservative to 7 = very open. See Table1 for a reporting of descriptive statistics for the study sample. Procedure The present study is part of a larger investigation of sexual perception that aims to standardize an explicit pornographic picture set. Due to the sanitary health crisis inflicted by COVID-19, the assessment procedure took place via online meetings using Google Meet and Qualtrics. Sessions lasted approximately 90min. Several recruitment channels were used inviting individuals over 18years old to an online study about the perception of diverse explicit pornographic pictures, including campus advertisement, social media and personal communication in the form of invitations to friends, colleagues and acquaintances of the researchers. Individuals interested in the study made appointments with the principal investigator to participate. During the assessment procedure, participants were first informed of the anonymous, voluntary and confidential nature of this study and then given the instructions to how the affective ratings to the pornographic stimuli are correctly done by two experimenters followed by several practice trials in order to make sure that the procedure was understood. Following the affective ratings, participants filled in the sociodemographic and sexuality-related questions, as well as the questionnaires assessing the intrapersonal variables of interest. The participants took part using their private devices (computers, tablets or laptops). During the whole procedure, participants were able to ask the two experimenters via the chat of Google Meet for private assistance when in doubt. In total, 192 pornographic pictures acquired from online pornography platforms and 24 control IAPS pictures were rated by the participants (Lang etal., 1999). The pornographic images belong to an explicit pornographic picture set, which is currently being standardized on a Spanish-speaking population and available upon request. These pictures were prior gathered by females from feminist (ErikaLust) and amateur (flickr) pornography platforms, when needed permission to use for research purposes has been acquired by the producers, and eventually categorized by six experts (50% females) in the field of sexuality according to the sexual practices and the sexes of the pornography performers depicted. Eventually, 72 images—from four sets of each different 48 sexually explicit pornographic images and the same 24 IAPS control stimuli—were presented to each participant. Each pornographic picture was rated by an average of 57 females. The stimuli consisted of equal-sized images of the different categories of oppositeand same-sex interactions of most common and also popular sexual practices in mainstream pornography: masturbation, oral sex, vaginal sex, anal sex, group sex, and additionally images outside mainstream pornography, which are of paraphilic media showing scenes of dominance, submission, sexual violence or fetishes (8 images per category). This categorization was based on Hald and Štulhofer (2016). For this study, a total of 5 images from the category of paraphiliac pornography was excluded from further analysis, because these images showed fetish content (e.g., transvestism, foot fetish) and did not picture dominance, submission or sexual violent pornography. Stimuli were presented in randomized order for each participant using the Qualtrics randomization tool. Table 1 Descriptive statistics of participants’ characteristics a Sexual attraction by Kinsey etal. (1948): 1 = I am attracted only to the other sex to 7 = I am attracted only to my own sex, bConservatism of Sexual education: 1 = very conservative to 7 = very open n% or mean (SD) Level of education Vocational training 35 15.2 Bachelor’s degree 189 81.8 Master’s or PhD degree 7 3.0 Gender identity Woman 226 97.8 Agender 5 2.2 Self-reported sexual orientation Heterosexual 158 68.4 Bisexual 53 22.9 Homosexual 6 2.6 Pansexual 12 5.2 Asexual 2 0.9 Sexual attractiona231 2.24 (1.48) Same-sex experiences Yes 36 15.58 No 195 84.42 Ever consumed pornography Yes 172 74.46 No 59 25.54 Romantic relationship Yes 127 54.98 No 104 45.02 Religious beliefs Practicing believer 23 10.04 Non-practicing believer 57 24.89 Atheist or agnostic 149 65.07 bConservatism of sexual education 231 3.11 (1.22) Archives of Sexual Behavior 1 3 Measures Affective Ratings The images were presented one at a time during 6s each, followed by the subjective ratings. The emotional dimensions of affective valence and arousal were assessed using a 9-point non-verbal Self-Assessment Manikin rating scales (SAM; Bradley & Lang, 1994), where 1 = highly unpleasant/ least arousing, and 9 = highly pleasant/highly arousing, respectively. In addition, the emotional categories of disgust as well as moral and ethical acceptance were dimensionally rated using 9-point Likert rating scales. The disgust scale ranged from 1 = not at all disgusting to 9 = extremely disgusting. The moral and ethical acceptance scale ranged from 1 = absolutely immoral to 9 = totally acceptable. Participants were asked to give an immediate, spontaneous reaction to the seen images. Each rating scale was available for 6s before skipping to the next one. After 2s, participants also had the option to click on a next-button in order to see the next rating scale. As soon as the participants finished all the ratings of one image, a new screen with the subsequent randomized image was displayed preceded by an alert message. The affective ratings were presented in a randomized order to avoid halo effects. Sexual Intrapersonal Variables Sexual Sensation Seeking The Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale (SSSS) measures sensation seeking related to sexual behavior (Kalichman etal., 1994). The SSSS includes 11 items with 4-point scales (1 = not characteristic of me to 4 = very characteristic of me) and can be analyzed in two subscales of physical sensations attraction (PSA), referring to the emphasis on the physical and sensual aspects of sexual encounters and the desire to feel sexual stimulation, and new experiences seeking (NES), related to the desire to try new sexual experiences (Kalichman etal., 1994). That structure was later also verified for a Spanish sample, with high internal consistency for the total scale (α = 0.81), as for each factor (Ballester-Arnal etal., 2018). Moreover, the SSSS had adequate convergent validity, making it a useful brief screening measure in research for Spanish-speaking people (Ballester-Arnal etal., 2018). In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.75 for the total scale, 0.64 for PSA and 0.84 for NES. Erotophilia The EROS is an adaptation of the Sexual Opinion Survey and measures the bipolar concept of erotophilia–erotophobia, which refers to learned attitudes toward sexual scenarios along a continuum that extends from a negative pole (erotophobia) to a positive pole (erotophilia) (del Río Olvera etal., 2013). Higher scores indicate more erotophilia and lower scores more erotophobia. Thus, individuals who score high on erotophobia would tend to respond with more negative attitudes to sexual scenarios, evaluating them negatively and trying to avoid them. On the other hand, people who score high on erotophilia would have the opposite behavior, i.e., they would respond with more positive attitudes to sexual scenarios, evaluate them positively and seek those out. It consists of 20 items which are answered on a 7-point scale (1 = totally disagree to 7 = totally agree). The EROS has adequate parameters, like a high reliability with an internal consistency of 0.85, for use in research in Spanish samples (del Río Olvera etal., 2013). In the present study Cronbach's alpha was also 0.85. Hypersexuality The Hypersexual Behavior Inventory (HBI) is a questionnaire composed of three subscales, assessing coping (sex and sexual behaviors as a response to emotional distress), control (lack of self-control in sexuality-related behaviors), and consequences (diverse consequences of sexual thoughts, urges, and behaviors) associated with sexual thoughts, feelings and behaviors related to hypersexuality (Reid etal., 2011). It consists of 19 items with 5-point scales (1 = never to 5 = many times). The psychometric properties of the HBI suggest it has high reliability and validity ranging between 0.89 and 0.96 also for Spanish speakers (Ballester-Arnal etal., 2019). In the present study, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.88 for the total scale, and 0.86 for coping, 0.76 for control, and 0.69 for consequences. Problematic Pornography Consumption The PPCS-6 (Short Version of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale) assesses problematic pornography use measuring salience, tolerance, mood, modification, relapse, withdrawal, and conflict (Bőthe etal., 2021). It includes 6 items that are answered on a 7-point scale (1 = never to 7 = all the time). The PPCS-6 yielded strong psychometric properties and offers a cutoff score of 20 out of 42 points to distinguish between problematic and non-problematic pornography use. With Cronbach’s alpha indices higher than 0.70, the PPCS-6 can be considered a reliable and valid scale to assess PPU in studies (Bőthe etal., 2021). In the present study, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.79. Sexual Disgust Sensitivity The Spanish questionnaire Escala Multidimensional de Sensibilidad al Asco/Multidimensional Disgust Scale (EMA) is a 30-item multidimensional scale of disgust, whereby one subscale of 5 items measures sexual disgust on a 5-point scale (1 = not at all to 5 = very much) (Sandín etal., 2013). It showed good reliability and the internal consistency of this subscale is high (Sandín etal., 2013). Cronbach’s alpha in this study was 0.71. Archives of Sexual Behavior 1 3 Psychological Intrapersonal Variables Positive andNegative Affect The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scales assess positive and negative affect via each 10 items with 5-point scales (1 = very slightly or not at all to 4 = extremely) (Watson etal., 1988). Support is provided for the two-dimensional structure of the measure (i.e., positive and negative affect), as well as for its high internal consistency, reliability, and stability over time, also within Spanish-speaking samples with Cronbach’s alpha higher than 0.70 (Sandín, 2003; Watson etal., 1988). Regarding the internal consistency in the present study, Cronbach’s alpha is 0.91 for positive affect and 0.89 for negative affect. Anxiety andDepression The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) has been developed to be a reliable instrument for detecting states of depression and anxiety in the setting of outpatient samples (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983). It comprises 14 items with 4-point rating scales, ranging from 0 to 3. Also, the Spanish version of the HADS had good internal consistency and external validity, with favorable sensitivity and specificity in identifying anxiety and depression (Herrero etal., 2003). The internal consistency, as assessed by Cronbach’s alpha, was 0.90 for the full scale, 0.84 for the Depression subscale and 0.85 for the Anxiety subscale (Herrero etal., 2003). For the present study, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.90 for the full scale, 0.77 for the Depression subscale and 0.86 for the Anxiety subscale. Data Analysis Data were analyzed with R using RStudio Desktop (RStudio Inc., Boston, MA, USA). Descriptive statistics summarized study variables. Bivariate correlation matrix of the intrapersonal variables of interest (i.e., sexual sensation seeking, erotophilia, hypersexuality, problematic pornography consumption, sexual disgust sensitivity, affect, anxiety, depression) were calculated. Affective ratings (i.e., valence, arousal, disgust, moral and ethical acceptance) given for the mainstream and paraphilic pornographic images were further compared using paired t tests, and effect sizes of Cohen’s d were calculated. Because partnership status and previous experiences with pornography were expected to influence one's affective ratings to explicit content (Kunaharan etal., 2017), Welch’s t tests and effect sizes of Cohen’s d were calculated regarding these binary variables for all affective ratings (i.e., valence, arousal, disgust, moral and ethical acceptance) assessed. Affective ratings did not differ significantly between groups of participants, who had and those who had not reported a romantic partnership (p > 0.05). However, affective ratings differed significantly between groups of participants, who have and those who have never consumed pornography before (p < 0.05). Consequently, for the further analyses previous pornography consumption has been introduced as covariate. Additionally, self-reported sexual attraction has been included as a covariate in all multiple linear regression models, controlling like this for the different scenarios of sameand opposite-sex content in the pornography stimuli. A series of multiple linear regression models were conducted with the aim of exploring the effect of variables of interest (i.e., sexual sensation seeking, erotophilia, hypersexuality, problematic pornography consumption, sexual disgust sensitivity, affect, anxiety, depression) with regard to the different affective ratings to the mainstream pornographic images. Then, this process was repeated for the affective ratings given to the paraphilic images. All variables of interest were z-standardized before the final analyses and assessed for multicollinearity. Diagnostic plots of residuals were used to assess the validity of multiple regression assumptions. The significance threshold was set to α = 0.05. All analyses should be regarded as exploratory. Results Descriptive Analysis ofIntrapersonal Variables In Table2, the participants’ questionnaire data regarding their intrapersonal variables of interest are described. Within this sample, less than 2% of respondents had reported actual problematic pornography use according to PPCS-6 cutoffs (Bőthe etal., 2021). Table3 includes the correlation matrix between the intrapersonal variables of interest. Differential Analysis ofMainstream andParaphilic Pornography Table4 depicts mean and standard deviation values of the affective ratings to the different pornography content as well as inferential statistics and effect sizes. The affective ratings of the participants are indicating that the mainstream and paraphilic category were separated in the arousal, valence, disgust and moral and ethical acceptance spaces. Mean arousal ratings of paraphilic pictures were significantly lower compared to mainstream pornography for the total sample (t(227) = 6.5, p < .001, d = 0.43). Females were found to show significantly more valence for mainstream than paraphilic pornography (t(227) = 18.76, p < .001, d = 1.24). They found mainstream less disgusting (t(230) = − 10.67, p < .001, d = 0.70) and more morally and ethically acceptable (t(230) = 18.04, p < .001, d = 1.12) than paraphilic pornography. Furthermore, females who have and who have never consumed pornography were compared regarding their Archives of Sexual Behavior 1 3 affective ratings toward mainstream and paraphilia pornography (Fig.1). Significant differences were found between these groups in mainstream pornography regarding arousal (t(98.51) = 3.29, p = .001, d = 0.50), valence (t(95.92) = 5.27, p < .001, d = 0.81) and disgust (t(79.8) = − 3.34, p = .001, d = 0.60). Regarding paraphilia pornography, significant differences between females who have and those who have never consumed pornography were found regarding arousal (t(104.31) = 2.23, p = .028, d = 0.33), valence (t(125.44) = 4.48, p < .001, d = 0.60), disgust (t(95.02) = − 2.50, p = .014, d = 0.39) and moral and ethical acceptance (t(98.99) = 2.87, p = .005, d = 0.44). Females, who had consumed pornography, had higher arousal, valence and moral and ethical acceptance and lower disgust ratings than females, who had never consumed pornography. Intrapersonal Variables andAffective Processing ofMainstream Pornography In Table5, four multiple regression models are presenting relevant linear model parameters for the intrapersonal variables of interest—sexual sensation seeking, erotophilia, hypersexuality, problematic pornography consumption, sexual disgust sensitivity, affect, anxiety, depression—regarding mainstream pornography affective perception. Checking for the variance inflation factors for all intrapersonal variables indicated that there was no problem with multicollinearity. Regarding arousal, a statistically significant positive relation was found with females reporting being more aroused by this content as their PSA scores (B = 0.41, p = .003) were higher. This model explained 14% of the arousal variance for mainstream pornography (R2 = 0.20, Adj R2 = 0.14). Among the intrapersonal variables entered in the regression model for explaining the level of valence, erotophilia (B = 0.31, p < .001) and problematic pornography consumption (B = 0.20, p = .019) scores were significantly positively associated with it. Also, a negative association regarding sexual disgust sensitivity (B = − 0.23, p = .003) scores was found for the valence ratings given to mainstream pornography. This model explained 38% of the valence variance for mainstream pornography (R2 = 0.42, Adj R2 = 0.38). Erotophilia (B = − 0.61, p < .001) was negatively related to females' affective ratings of disgust to the mainstream pornographic images. Additionally, sexual disgust sensitivity (B = 0.28, p = .002) scores showed positive associations with females' affective ratings of disgust. This model explained 31% of the disgust variance for mainstream pornography (R2 = 0.36, Adj R2 = 0.31). Regarding moral and ethical acceptance ratings to pornographic images, it was found that erotophilia (B = 0.56, p < .001) was positively related to it. Additionally, sexual disgust sensitivity (B = − 0.25, p = .024) Table 2 Questionnaire descriptive statistics SSSS, Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale (ranging from 1 to 4); EROS, adaptation of the Sexual Opinion Survey (ranging from 1 to 7); HBI, Hypersexual Behavior Inventory (ranging from 1 to 5), PPCS-6, short version of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale (ranging from 1 to 7); EMA, Escala Multidimensional de Sensibilidad al Asco/Multidimensional Disgust Scale (ranging from 1 to 5); PANAS, Multidimensional Disgust Scale (ranging from 1 to 4); HADS, Multidimensional Disgust Scale (ranging from 0 to 3) n M 95% CI SD Min Max Sexual sensation seeking (SSSS) Physical sensations attraction 231 16.01 15.51–16.51 3.83 8 27 New experiences seeking 231 9.33 9.01–9.65 2.47 3 12 Erotophilia (EROS) 225 108.9 106.62–111.19 17.49 20 140 Hypersexual behavior (HBI) Coping 231 12.11 11.47–12.76 4.97 7 34 Control 230 10.44 10.03–10.93 3.45 8 26 Consequences 230 5.03 4.77–5.26 1.91 4 20 Problematic pornography consumption (PPCS-6) 231 8.62 8.15–9.10 3.69 6 23 Sexual disgust sensitivity (EMA) 231 10.42 9.94–10.90 3.67 5 25 Positive and negative affect (PANAS) Positive affect 231 32.58 31.50–33.65 8.26 10 50 Negative affect 231 23.21 22.17–24.25 8.03 10 50 Anxiety and depression (HADS) Depression 231 8.3 7.73–8.87 4.4 0 20 Anxiety 231 5.72 5.22–6.22 3.9 0 17 Archives of Sexual Behavior 1 3 was negatively associated with moral and ethical acceptance ratings. This model explained 20% of the moral and ethical acceptance variance for mainstream pornography (R2 = 0.25, Adj R2 = 0.20). Intrapersonal Variables andAffective Processing ofParaphilic Pornography The multiple regression analyses were repeated for the affective ratings toward paraphilic pornography images as outcomes. In Table6, the regression models are presented showing relevant linear model parameters for the intrapersonal variables of interest. The variance inflation factors for all intrapersonal variables of the models were indicating that there was no problem with multicollinearity. No significant associations between intrapersonal variables and the level of arousal toward paraphilic pornography were found in the regression model. For the affective ratings of valence ratings to paraphilic pornography, significant positive associations were found with problematic pornography consumption (B = 0.32, p = .004) scores and negative associations with sexual disgust sensitivity (B = − 0.46, p = .009). This model explained 19% of the valence variance for paraphilic pornography (R2 = 0.24, Adj R2 = 0.19). Regarding disgust perception for paraphilic pornography, negative associations with erotophilia scores were found (B = − 0.57, p = .001). Additionally, females reported more disgust for paraphilic pornography as their anxiety (B = 0.45, p = .033) was higher. This model explained 16% of the disgust variance for paraphilic pornography (R2 = 0.21, Adj R2 = 0.16). To the moral and ethical acceptance of paraphilic pornography, positive associations with erotophilia scores were found (B = 0.40, p = .049). The model explained 10% of the moral and ethical acceptance variance for paraphilic pornography (R2 = 0.16, Adj R2 = 0.10). Discussion The current research aimed to explore the relation between female sexual and psychological intrapersonal variables with the affective perception of mainstream and paraphilic pornography among a Hispanic sample. This study fills several research gaps in the literature. First, only a few studies have investigated the affective perception of pornographic material comparing subjective ratings to visual sexual stimuli of mainstream pornographic and paraphilic content. Far fewer have taken a nuanced look at multiple affective dimensions in combination with a variety of meaningful intrapersonal variables that might interact with such affective perceptual processes. Moreover, this study is filling a research gap as it describes the experiences with mainstream pornographic and Table 3 Correlation matrix of intrapersonal variables SSSS, Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale; EROS, adaptation of the Sexual Opinion Survey; HBI, Hypersexual Behavior Inventory; PPCS-6, short version of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale; EMA, Escala Multidimensional de Sensibilidad al Asco/Multidimensional Disgust Scale; PANAS, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; Multidimensional Disgust Scale; HADS, Multidimensional Disgust Scale. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1. Physical sensations attraction (SSSS) 1.00 2. New experiences seeking (SSSS) 0.42*** 1.00 3. Erotophilia (EROS) 0.57*** 0.56*** 1.00 4. Coping (HBI) 0.40*** 0.32*** 0.32*** 1.00 5. Control (HBI) 0.30*** 0.12 0.19** 0.48*** 1.00 6. Consequences (HBI) 0.24*** 0.13* 0.14* 0.45*** 0.48*** 1.00 7. Problematic pornography consumption (PPCS-6) 0.49*** 0.16* 0.32*** 0.37*** 0.32*** 0.25*** 1.00 8. Sexual disgust sensitivity (EMA) − 0.27*** − 0.24*** − 0.52*** − 0.12 − 0.11 − 0.11 − 0.12 1.00 9. Positive affect (PANAS) 0.17*** 0.07 0.01 − 0.05 − 0.13* 0.04 0.05 0.00 1.00 10. Negative affect (PANAS) 0.12 0.14* 0.09 0.36*** 0.36*** 0.21*** 0.21*** 0.08 − 0.27*** 1.00 11. Anxiety (HADS) 0.06 0.16* 0.10 0.33*** 0.25*** 0.16* 0.14* 0.03 − 0.41*** 0.77*** 1.00 12. Depression (HADS) 0.03 0.15* 0.01 0.35*** 0.31*** 0.19*** 0.10 0.03 − 0.51*** 0.61*** 0.76*** 1.00 Archives of Sexual Behavior 1 3 paraphilic content of Hispanic females, an underrepresented group in sexuality research. Overall, the results regarding the first research question showed that mainstream and paraphilic pornography evoke different affective states. The differences suggest that females evaluate mainstream pornography more positively. They perceived this material as more pleasant, more arousing, less disgusting and reported more moral and ethical acceptance for mainstream pornographic scenarios than for paraphilic images of dominance, submission and sexual violence. This may be related to the prevalence of such interests and gender differences toward paraphilic preferences, indicating higher paraphilic interests for males (Bártová etal., 2021; Chan, 2021; Hald, 2006; Joyal etal., 2015; Sørensen & Kjørholt, 2007; Stefanska etal., 2022; Štulhofer etal., 2007). Further differences were observed regarding previous pornography consumption, females who have never previously consumed pornography showed significantly lower ratings of arousal and valence, and higher ratings of disgust, toward mainstream and paraphilic pornography. Additionally, females who have never consumed pornography rated paraphilic pornography as less morally and ethically acceptable. Pornography consumers are reporting more sexual experiences, sexual openness and higher valence ratings toward sexual stimuli than non-consumers (Emmers-Sommer etal., 2013; Kunaharan etal., 2017; Mattebo etal., 2016), which may explain the differences seen in this study between females with experiences with pornography and those without. In relation to the second research question, the findings suggest that several intrapersonal variables are associated with the affective perception of pornography. Sexual sensation seeking of physical sexual encounters, erotophilia, lack of self-control in sexuality-related behaviors, problematic pornography consumption and sexual disgust sensitivity Table 4 Differential analysis of affective ratings to mainstream and paraphilic pornography *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001 Mainstream Paraphilic Inferential statistic Effect size MSD Min Max MSD Min Max tdf p d Arousal 5.37 1.58 1 8.8 4.93 1.60 1 9 6.50 227 < .001*** 0.43 Valence 5.87 1.21 1.9 8.4 4.33 1.40 1 8.4 18.76 227 < .001*** 1.24 Disgust 2.23 1.33 1 7.3 3.14 1.73 1 9 − 10.67 230 < .001*** 0.70 Moral and ethical acceptance 7.85 1.39 2.7 9 6.38 1.71 2 9 18.04 230 < .001*** 1.12 Fig. 1 Comparison of affective ratings to A mainstream and B paraphilic pornography between females who have and those who have never consumed pornography. Note A mainstream pornography. B Paraphilic Pornography. 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