Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography

Vera-Gray, Fiona; McGlynn, Clare; Kureshi, Ibad; Butterby, Kate

doi:10.1093/bjc/azab035

Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography

Vera-Gray, Fiona; McGlynn, Clare; Kureshi, Ibad; Butterby, Kate

Authors

Fiona Vera-Gray

Professor Clare McGlynn clare.mcglynn@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Ibad Kureshi

Dr Kate Butterby kate.butterby@durham.ac.uk
Post Doctoral Research Associate

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which mainstream pornography positions sexual violence as a normative sexual script by analysing the video titles found on the landing pages of the three most popular pornography websites in the United Kingdom. The study draws on the largest research sample of online pornographic content to date and is unique in its focus on the content immediately advertised to a new user. We found that one in eight titles shown to first-time users on the first page of mainstream porn sites describe sexual activity that constitutes sexual violence. Our findings raise serious questions about the extent of criminal material easily and freely available on mainstream pornography websites and the efficacy of current regulatory mechanisms.

Citation

Vera-Gray, F., McGlynn, C., Kureshi, I., & Butterby, K. (2021). Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography. The British Journal of Criminology: An International Review of Crime and Society, 61(5), 1243-1260. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab035

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 15, 2021
Online Publication Date	Apr 4, 2021
Publication Date	2021-09
Deposit Date	Mar 17, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Apr 7, 2021
Journal	British Journal of Criminology
Print ISSN	0007-0955
Electronic ISSN	1464-3529
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	61
Issue	5
Pages	1243-1260
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab035

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Copyright Statement
Advance online version © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.