American Adult Pornography Consumers' Beliefs and Behaviors Related to Pornography Studios Mistreating Their Performers

Previous research provided limited information regarding pornography consumers' beliefs and behaviors related to pornography studios mistreating performers, as well as the relationships between these variables. Consumers' potential impact on studios makes this information important for researchers, as well as individuals and organizations seeking to reduce mistreatment. To address this gap in the literature, this project analyzed data provided by 476 American adult pornography consumers obtained via Amazon Mechanical Turk regarding: consumers' exposure to media accounts of how studios treat performers, consumers' beliefs about the prevalence of mistreatment, how often consumers thought about performers or looked for information about how studios treated performers, how consumers looked for this information, and what actions consumers took after determining studios mistreated their performers or being exposed to media accounts of mistreatment. Univariate analyses were conducted to provide a baseline of consumers' experiences, beliefs, and behaviors, and bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to ascertain if data supported anticipated connections between the variables. The results indicated most participants were unconcerned about mistreatment and did not pay attention to, or seek out, information about how studios treat performers, though the majority of participants who learned about mistreatment took at least one type of action. In addition, nearly every anticipated relationship was significant and in the expected direction. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed after the presentation of conclusions and implications derived from the analyses.