Predicting Bystander Efficacy and Willingness to Intervene in College Men and Women: The Role of Exposure to Varying Levels of Violence in Pornography

Students from two research universities completed items measuring the frequency of their using different kinds of pornography, and measures of their willingness and intent to intervene to help a bystander who might be experiencing sexual violence. Hierarchical logistic regressions showed that for men, violent/degrading pornography use, but not explicit but non-degrading pornography use, was significantly associated with reduced bystander willingness to intervene, but not associated with bystander efficacy. Women did not show the same impact of violent/degrading pornography use on the two bystander intervention variables. Results suggest violence/degrading pornography may contribute to a culture of acceptance of violence against women.