Attitudes and use of pornography in the Norwegian population 2002.

Since the 1970s, changes have taken place in the pornography market in Sweden and Finland. The consumption of pornography has increased in terms of supply, variability, and accessibility (Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 1995; Lewin, 1997). Pornography and pornographic material for a variety of tastes can be obtained in convenience stores, (sex) shops, mail order, cable TV, videos, and on the Internet. This applies to the Norwegian context as well. However, no research has been carried out in Norway to find out what kind of pornographic materials are used, by whom, and how often. We also have little knowledge about attitudes toward pornography in the Norwegian population. The goal of the present study was to investigate these questions.

Sexual culture in the Nordic countries is different from that of the majority of other Western industrialized countries, including the U.S. (Lewin, 1991; Traeen, 1993). The social acceptance of adolescent and female sexuality is significantly greater in the Nordic countries than in most other Western cultures. Another central feature of the Nordic sexual culture is fewer restrictions against nudity, but more restrictions against touching of the body. In Finland, attitudes toward pornography are shown to be positively associated with attitudes towards nudity (Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 1995).

Literature searches in scientific databases do not reveal many studies on the use of pornography in representative population samples worldwide, although some studies have been conducted in Sweden. Furthermore, the similarities between the Nordic countries make Sweden and Finland reasonable countries to compare to Norway. In 1996, 68% of Swedish women and 94% of the men reported ever having read a pornographic magazine, and 67% of the women and 89% of the men reported having seen a pornographic film (Lewin, 1997). Thirty percent of Swedish women and 57% of the men claimed they had seen a pornographic film during the past 12 months.

The Nordic sexual culture is characterized by an ideology of gender equality (Lewin, 1979). In spite of this, gender differences in sexual matters are common research findings. Swedish and Finnish data indicate gender differences in attitudes toward use of pornographic material (Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 1995; Lewin, 1997). Also, a population survey among 18- to 49-year-olds in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, found gender differences in attitudes toward pornography (Traeen, 1998). Women indicated more often than men that pornography should be forbidden, whereas more men than women indicated that pornography can be sexually stimulating. However, compared to 18- to 74-year-old Swedes, men and women in Oslo expressed more positive attitudes toward pornography (Lewin, Fugl-Meyer, Helmius, Lalos, & Mansson, 1997).

Expressions of sexuality must be considered in the context of time, culture, and society. As with any other expression of sexuality, this also applies to pornography. The term pornography is often used to label products that one finds unacceptable, is often tied to censorship, and is likely to be shameful to many who reveal personal use of pornography. Like many other larger cities, Oslo is divided economically, socially, and culturally. This division is most often coded as "east versus west." The division mirrors reality in that the western parts of the city score higher on markers like social status and health. Thirty years ago, shops selling pornographic material were situated in back streets of eastern Oslo. Today, however, several such shops are found in Oslo's central and western parts. As a result of long-term policies encouraging equality, the dominating social class in contemporary Norway is a widely based middle-class. Because of this, prevailing attitudes and norms related to pornography can be perceived as expressing middle-class values. When porn shops exist in the heart of Oslo's urban landscape, this can be regarded as an indication of what the Norwegian middle class finds socially acceptable. Nevertheless, the discussion of censorship continues, although public debate focuses primarily on (a) the degradation of women, (b) pornography that involves individuals who are incapable of consent, and (c) pornography involving individuals who are or appear to be coerced. Despite the public debate, the sale of sex toys continues to increase in the Norwegian market, and women have entered the editorial chairs of several pornographic magazines. This may serve as a legitimization of pornography for the public opinion, in the sense that it undermines the argument that pornography degrades women.

The purpose of this paper is to describe attitudes toward pornography and the use of pornography in various subgroups of the Norwegian population. We also examine the relationship between social background factors, attitudes toward pornography, and use of pornography.

METHODS

The data presented in this study come from a representative sample of the adult Norwegian population. Our study was part of a larger omnibus survey in which the respondents were asked questions about several other topics in addition to the questions on pornography. Data collection was carried out in October 2002 by standardized questionnaires administered via personal telephone interviews. Trained interviewers from the poll organization Markeds- & Media Instituttet A/S (MMI) conducted the survey. Participants included 1,004 persons between 15 and 91 years of age (mean age 43.6 years).

Participants

The sample was drawn according to stratum, with county as criterion variable, on the basis of MMI's central register over permanent phones in Norway. Nearly all Norwegian households have a permanent phone. Within each of Norway's 19 counties the sample to be interviewed was randomly drawn, and all residences with permanent phones had equal likelihood of being selected for participation. Within each residence, the person 15 years of age or older who had his or her birthday most recently (counted from the day of the interview) was selected for interview. In addition, another sample was drawn on the basis of mobile phone numbers. The interviews over mobile phones were made to account for the systematic bias that would occur in the data if groups of the population who only use mobile phones were totally excluded from survey participation. In a population sample based on 1,000 interviews, MMI typically interviews 800 persons over permanent phone and 200 over mobile phone.

The response rate of the omnibus survey was 33%. To mirror the Norwegian population, we weighted the net sample in terms of county, age, gender, and telephone status. With the low response rate, non-weighted data would disturb the generalizability of the data, so all analyses in this study were carried out on weighted data.

Measures

No definition of the term pornography was offered to the respondents prior to answering the questions. The dependent variables were as follows.

Frequency of reading pornographic magazines, watching pornographic films, and viewing pornography on the Internet. The variables were constructed based on responses to the following sets of questions:

1. Which of the following types of pornography have you ever seen or read? Pornographic magazines; pornographic films; pornography on the internet.

2. How often do you read pornographic magazines; watch pornographic films; watch pornography on the internet?

The response categories for the first set of questions were "no" and "yes," and those for the second set of questions were 1 = daily, 2 = a few times a week, 3 = a few times a month, 4 = once or twice every 6 months, 5 = once or twice a year, 6 = more seldom than that, and 7 = don't know. The categories 6 and 7 were recoded to both represent category 6, and the numbering of the categories was reversed so that 6 = daily and 1 = more seldom than a few times every 12 months. Those who had never been exposed to any kind of pornography based on the first question were coded 0, resulting in new variables coded from 0 = never to 6 = daily.

Gender. We coded men 1 and women 2.

Level of education. Seven or fewer years of schooling were coded 1, 8 to 9 years were coded 2, 10 to 12 years were coded 3, and 13 years or more were coded 4.

Attitudes toward pornography. Attitudes were measured by 10 questions under the subheading "Do you completely agree, partly agree, partly disagree or completely disagree with the following statements about pornography?", and by 5 questions under the subheading "To describe your relationship to pornography, do you think the following descriptions are very agreeable, fairly agreeable, somewhat agreeable or not at all agreeable?" Those who responded "don't know" to the items were excluded from the analysis. The 15 subquestions and the accompanying response categories are shown in Tables 2 and 3. For the purpose of factor analysis and multivariate analysis, we recoded all attitude variables so that the value 1 indicated most restrictive attitudes and 4 indicated the most accepting attitudes.

Statistical Analysis

All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS PC version 10. We used factor analysis to study the dimensionality of attitudes toward pornography (Kim & Mueller, 1978). To study the relationship between social background factors, attitudes toward pornography, and user frequency of pornographic material, we constructed a path model (see Figure 1). Attitudes were included in the path model as intermediate variables between age, gender, and level of education and the dependent variable. To estimate the effect of one variable upon the other, we applied multiple linear regression analysis (Duncan, 1975). The relative importance of the included independent variables upon the dependent variable is reported in terms of standardized regression coefficients ([beta]).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

RESULTS

A total of 89.9% of interviewees claimed they had ever been exposed to pornography. Among those exposed, 76.1% reported having seen a pornographic magazine (87.9% of the men and 62.9% of the women), 66.7% reported having watched a pornographic film (77.2% of the men and 55.0% of the women), and 23.5% reported having watched pornography on the Internet (36.6% of the men and 8.9% of the women).

Table 1 shows the frequency of self-reported use of pornographic material by gender. The gender differences in these frequencies were significant in all three media, and particularly for use of Internet. The percentages of both men and women who reported frequent use of pornography was rather small. To some extent, people may be reluctant to report activities they may perceive as being socially stigmatized.

Level of education and age also influenced the frequency of using pornographic materials. More people with low (9 years or less) than with high (13 years or more) level of education reported they had never been exposed to pornography (14.9% vs. 6.6% respectively). The proportion of people who claimed they had never read a pornographic magazine or seen a film was highest in the group with low education (30.7% for magazines, 38.6% for film) and lowest in the group with medium (10-12 years) education (17.3% for magazines, 21.4% for film). The majority of respondents with high education reported they used pornographic magazines (65.2%) and films (55.1%) once or more every 12 months. Between 66% and 71% of the respondents across the education groups claimed they had never watched pornography on the Internet. Nearly 20% of people with high education compared to 9.5% of those with low education reported use of pornography on the Internet once or more every year. Five to seven percent across the education groups reported watching pornography on the Internet once or more monthly.

More people in the 60+ age group than in the 25-to-39 age group reported that they had never been exposed to pornography (26.7% vs. 3.2% respectively). Among those 60 years or older exposed to pornography, 41.7% reported use of magazines and 2.5% used the Internet yearly. In all age groups it was most common to report use of films and magazines not monthly but once or more every 12 months. Use of all three media was most common among those ages 15 to 24 years and 25 to 39 years (21.1% and 20.9%, respectively, for magazines, 20.9% and 19.0% for films, 10.3% and 8.5% for Internet).

Table 2 shows attitudes toward pornography in the total population by gender. The majority of respondents expressed at least some degree of positive attitude toward pornography. Men generally tended to express more positive attitudes that women did. More women than men described pornography as dull (42.1% vs. 24.0%), repulsive (24.2% vs. 9.0%), not entertaining (62.1% vs. 32.9%), and not exciting (49.4% vs. 31.7%).

The majority of participants indicated that they thought pornography leads to greater openness about sexuality, should not be forbidden, should be sold subject to some restrictions, leads to more sexualized violence in society, makes people's sex lives better, is not harmful to human sexuality, degrades women but not men, and is too easily available (Table 3). The majority of participants also indicated that censorship on TV is too strict. Looking at these results by gender, we see that a majority of men and a large minority of women express positive attitudes. In all items, women were more restrictive than were men.

We performed factor analysis of the 15 attitude items. Prior to performing the analysis, we recoded the attitude variables so that the value 1 indicated most restrictive and 4 indicted most accepting attitudes. The varimax rotated principal component analysis resulted in three factors accounting for 53.3% of the variance (see Table 4). The first factor was found to be based on eight items related to use of pornography as something to add flavor to people's sex lives. This factor was labeled "pornography as means of sexual enhancement." The second factor was based on six items dealing with moral issues related to pornography and was labeled "pornography as a moral issue." Only one item--"I can talk about pornography with my friends"--constituted the third factor. This factor was called "social climate." Scores on each of these factors were saved as new variables.

Table 5 shows the relationships between age, gender, and level of education and each of the three dimensions of attitudes toward pornography. Applying multiple regression analysis, the relative importance of the included variables in the model predicting pornography as means of sexual enhancement was gender ([beta] = -0.27), age ([beta] = -0.21), and level of education ([beta] = -0.12). Thus, men, younger persons, and persons with a low level of education tended to express more positive attitudes toward pornography as a means of sexual enhancement than did their respective counterparts. Only age was a significant predictor of the social climate attitude dimension ([beta] = -0.19). The relative importance of the included variables in the model predicting pornography as a moral issue was age ([beta] = -0.21), gender ([beta] = -0.18), and level of education ([beta] = 0.13). Thus, younger persons and persons with higher levels of education tended to express more positive attitudes toward pornography as a moral issue than did their respective counterparts.

It may be assumed that both social background factors and attitudes will influence use of pornography. Table 6 shows the relationships between these factors and use of pornographic magazines, films, and pornography on the Internet. The multiple regression analyses estimated that the included variables in the model explained 36.4% of the variance in frequency of watching pornographic films, 35.3% of the variance in frequency of reading pornographic magazines, and 21.1% of the variance in frequency of watching pornography on the Internet.

The most significant predictors of reading pornographic magazines were attitudes toward pornography as means of sexual enhancement ([beta] = 0.33), gender ([beta] = -0.23), attitudes toward pornography as a moral issue ([beta] = 0.23) and age ([beta] = -0.17). Men, younger persons, and persons with positive attitudes tended to read pornography more frequently than did their respective counterparts. Frequency of watching pornographic films was mostly influenced by positive attitudes toward pornography as means of sexual enhancement ([beta] = 0.38), as a moral issue ([beta] = 0.24), and as social climate ([beta] = 0.19). The most important predictors of frequency of watching pornography on the Internet were gender ([beta] = -0.25), age ([beta] = -0.23), and attitudes toward pornography as a means of sexual enhancement ([beta] = 0.18).

To illustrate the processes resulting in use of pornographic materials, we constructed a path model (see Figure 1). We included attitudes toward pornography as intermediating variables between the social background factors (age, gender, and level of education) and use of pornographic material. The direct effects of the variables upon each other are estimated by multiple linear regression analysis as presented in Tables 5 and 6 and methodologically described by Duncan (1975). An indirect effect is the product of the effect of the social background factor upon the attitude variable, multiplied by the effect of the attitude variable upon the dependent variable. This kind of analysis should not be understood as an empirical test of the model. It is meant as a way of organizing the empirical analysis.

Attitudes toward pornography as means of sexual enhancement and as a moral issue, age, and gender influenced the frequency of reading pornographic magazines in four different direct processes. Both attitude variables served as mediating variables between age, gender, and level of education and reading pornography in indirect processes. The most important paths leading to increased frequency of reading pornographic magazines were a direct effect of gender and an indirect effect of gender mediated by attitudes toward pornography as means of sexual enhancement. This indicates that being male increases the likelihood of reading pornography more frequently, and because men tend to express more positive attitudes toward pornography as means of sexual enhancement, some of the gender effect is also mediated by attitudes.

The direct effects of the included social background variables upon frequency of watching pornographic films were weak. On the other hand, there was a moderate to strong effect of attitudes upon use of films. The most important paths leading to increased frequency of watching pornographic films were a direct effect of gender and an indirect effect of gender mediated by attitudes toward pornography as means of sexual enhancement. There was also an indirect effect of age on frequency of watching films mediated by the attitude dimension of social climate.

The goodness of fit of the model was poorer for frequency of watching pornography on the Internet than for the two other dependent variables. Gender, age, and attitudes related to pornography as means of sexual enhancement influenced frequency of watching pornography on the Internet in three direct processes. The most important paths leading to increased frequency of watching pornography on the Internet were a direct effect of gender and an indirect effect of gender mediated by attitudes toward pornography as a means of sexual enhancement.

DISCUSSION

The results from this study showed that about 90% of the Norwegian population reported having been exposed to pornographic material. Among these, however, only a low percentage reported having used pornography on a monthly or more frequent basis. As regards the choice of medium, women seemed to show the same pattern as men, but with much lower percentages. Men and younger persons generally expressed more positive attitudes toward pornography than women and older persons did.

How do these results correspond to the findings from comparable studies? It seems that Norway and Sweden are fairly similar with regard to reading of magazines, but more Swedes than Norwegians report watching films (Lewin, 1997). It should be noted that there is a gap of 6 years between Lewin's (1997) study and ours. Furthermore, user frequency was measured differently in the two studies, and these factors make comparison uncertain. It seems, however, that Norwegians in 2002 reported reading magazines more frequently than Swedes reported in 1996, whereas the Swedes reported watching films more often than the Norwegians. How these prevalence figures fit into user patterns in other countries in Europe and in the U.S. is difficult to say, as little research has been conducted in this area.

In spite of the prevailing ideology about equality, our data, as the Swedish data, indicate gender differences in both attitudes toward and use of pornographic magazines. In both surveys it must be concluded that pornography still is mainly a male consumption product (Lewin, 1997). Why are men so much more pornography-oriented than women are?

Feminists argue that pornography encourages men to deprive women of their sexuality, since pornography portrays the act of satisfying the man as the only motive of female sexuality. This may lead to sexual alienation among women (Erikson & Rydgren, 1994). In patriarchal societies, expressions of sexuality are the product of the patriarchy. Most radical feminists believe that male sexuality is heavily influenced by aggression and the desire to control women. According to the radical feminists, pornography reflects the patriarchy and solidifies it, as it is produced and consumed by and for men, and by the way it portrays men and women. Therefore, pornography works as a manual on how to obtain male superiority, and pornography is violence against women's self-concepts, bodies, sexuality, and social situation (Erikson & Rydgren, 1994). In the light of this reasoning, it is understandable that women express more negative attitudes toward pornography than men do. However, in Norwegian terms, recognizing the fact that a large proportion of women in our study actually reported use of pornography and positive attitudes, this line of reasoning must be somewhat modified.

Significant macrosociological changes have taken place in post-war Norway. Education can be seen as a prerequisite for social mobility (Ramsoy, 1977). During the 1960s in Norway, the sons of the working class and the daughters of the middle class entered the universities. As a consequence of this social mobility, the percentage of the population belonging to the middle class grew, and women became more independent of men economically and culturally. It is likely that such a macrosocial change will in turn have consequences in the area of sexuality. This is reflected in the fact that men and women have become more similar in sexual behavior and attitudes during the past decades (Lewin, 1997; Traeen & Stigum, 1998). It is likely that the pornography industry has caught up with changes in the market due to women's increased social influence economically and culturally, and has adjusted to these changes. Women are likely to be regarded by the industry as a new income group. The pornography industry is adjustable to the market and assisted by trends in fashion that promote clothing with icons traditionally associated with taboo and shame. Such icons may include see-through clothing and "S&M"-type trappings such as black leather, as well as short t-shirts with the inscription "porn star" that expose the bare waistline, which have recently become popular particularly among young girls.

Fashion and trends are usually associated with youth and being or feeling young. In this study, persons younger than 25 years reported higher use of pornography, and persons ages 25 to 40 years reported more positive attitudes toward pornography, compared to persons in other age groups. For some adolescents and young adults, pornography may serve as a type of sex education and may thus also become an agent of sexual socialization (Trostle, 2003; Zillman, 2000). That the young use more pornography than the older may be related to having or not having a permanent partner. It is known from a study in Sweden that men without a steady partner use pornography mainly alone, whereas women in a steady relationship use pornography together with the partner as part of the sexual game (Lewin, 1997). That age (and gender) is so important when it comes to use of pornography on the Internet may reflect that in Norway it is particularly young adult men who use the Internet. According to the Norwegian media barometer 2002, 49% of 16- to 24-year-old men and 55% of 25- to 44-year-old men used the Internet daily, compared to 42% and 40% of women in the same age groups (Statistics Norway, 2003). However, it is also known that for some immigrant and ethnic teenage boys and girls, the chat channels on the Internet serve as an important arena for arranging sexual meetings (Zaman, 2002). It is claimed that many of these immigrant girls use the chat channels because they are not allowed by their families to enter social arenas where adolescents otherwise meet their partners. Norwegians probably also use the Internet as an arena to meet potential new sex partners.

The three dimensions of attitudes toward pornography were important as intermediating variables between age and gender and use of pornographic materials. Use of pornography on the Internet, however, was more related to being young and male than to attitudes. Men and younger individuals scored higher on the attitude dimensions of pornography as a means of sexual enhancement and pornography as a moral issue than did women and older respondents. The attitude dimension of social climate mediated an effect of age in an indirect process and had a direct effect upon the frequency of film watching. Young people may have integrated pornography as a legitimate topic of conversation, and in turn this may facilitate film watching. When an effect of social climate is not found for use of the other two media, this may be explained by the fact that film as a medium has a different, and perhaps less private or even less "dirty," status than does pornography presented in magazines and on the Internet. Watching a film, possibly together with a group of friends, may be perceived as a nonsexual act in that it can be easily masked as detached and not arousing. Reading a magazine or watching sex on the Internet, on the other hand, may not be as easily shared with others. It is something you do on your own, and may therefore be perceived as a more explicit and thus more intimate or even shameful act.

All respondents who expressed positive attitudes were more likely to use pornography, particularly those who scored high on the pornography as a means of sexual enhancement dimension. It is not clear, however, that attitudes are the cause of behavior. Instead, the opposite mechanism may be operative, namely that people adopt a behavior and subsequently change their attitudes to correspond to that behavior in order to restore or maintain belief in themselves as socially competent individuals (Bem, 1970). Research has indicated that people exposed to pornography may become more liberal toward sexual acts and conventions. They express, for instance, higher acceptance of extramarital sexual relations and less emphasis on marriage and having children (Zillman & Bryant, 1982).

Controlled for gender and age, education level had relatively little impact on attitudes and behavior in this study. Still, respondents with higher levels of education scored highest on the pornography as a moral issue dimension, and persons with low education scored highest on the pornography as a means of sexual enhancement dimension. Within any society or culture, sexuality is known to vary among different social classes (Kutchinsky, 1988; Schmidt, 1989), and social class is often closely related to level of education. The results from this study are somewhat surprising, as upper-class people traditionally have cultivated the erotic while people of the working class have been too exhausted after long, hard working hours to grant sexuality the same position in their lives. The role of sexuality among the working class has been more closely related to reproduction than to the middle-class idea of sexuality as a means of mutual exchange of security, intimacy, and pleasure. In contemporary society, our results indicate that those with higher levels of education regard pornography as something morally accepted but not as something to be used to enhance sexual pleasure. This could be an indication of pornography being intellectualized and made a topic of discussion, but not accepted enough to implement in one's own sex life.

In conclusion, pornography appears to be fairly acceptable in large segments of the Norwegian population. The majority of the population has also been exposed to some form of pornographic material. Further research in this area should be encouraged, among other reasons to monitor the development of attitudes toward pornography. It would also be interesting to see results from surveys in other countries so that cross-cultural comparisons can be made.

Table 1. Frequency of Using Pornography in the Norwegian
Population, by Gender (percentages)

                                    Pornographic magazines

                                       Men    Women   All

N                                      485     513    998

Never exposed to pornography           3.3    16.9    10.2
Never exposed to this medium          11.7    31.2    21.6
< once every 12 months                38.8    38.2    38.5
Couple of times every 12 months       15.4     8.7    12.0
Couple of times every 6 months         9.5     3.0     6.2
Monthly                               11.8     1.5     6.6
Weekly                                 9.1     0.6     4.8
Daily                                  0.4     0.0     0.2

                                       Pornographic films

                                       Men    Women    All

N                                      484     514     998

Never exposed to pornography           3.3    16.8    10.2
Never exposed to this medium          22.2    37.7    30.1
< once every 12 months                36.4    34.5    35.4
Couple of times every 12 months        9.7     6.1     7.8
Couple of times every 6 months         9.1     2.4     5.7
Monthly                               14.8     2.3     8.4
Weekly                                 4.0     0.1     2.0
Daily                                  0.6     0.0     0.3

                                       Internet pornography

                                       Men    Women    All

N                                      486     517     1003

Never exposed to pornography           3.3    16.7     10.1
Never exposed to this medium          61.4    75.9     68.8
< once every 12 months                13.9     5.4      9.6
Couple of times every 12 months        7.0     0.9      3.9
Couple of times every 6 months         4.0     0.6      2.3
Monthly                                5.3     0.3      2.8
Weekly                                 4.5     0.2      2.3
Daily                                  0.6     0.0      0.3

Note. Data are weighted. All differences between the categories were
tested by means of Chi-square and are statistically significant
(p < 0.001).

Table 2. Attitudes Toward Pornography Among Adult Norwegians by
Gender (Percentages)

                        I think pornographic   I think pornographic
                        magazines and films     magazines and films
                        can be entertaining       are rather dull

                        Men    Women    All     Men    Women    All

N                      (436)   (353)   (789)   (429)   (327)   (756)

Very agreeable         11.4     6.1     9.1    24.0    42.1    31.5
Fairly agreeable       21.8    11.4    17.3    27.2    21.0    24.7
Somewhat agreeable     33.9    20.5    28.1    29.6    20.6    25.8
Not agreeable          32.9    62.1    45.4    19.2    16.3    18.0

                       I think pornographic       I can talk about
                       magazines and films        pornography with
                      are directly repulsive      all my friends

                        Men    Women    All      Men    Women    All

N                      (434)   (342)   (776)    (443)   (353)   (796)

Very agreeable          9.0    24.2    15.4     44.0    37.0    41.0
Fairly agreeable        7.3    20.5    12.9     26.7    25.5    26.2
Somewhat agreeable     19.0    23.8    21.0     15.9    16.7    16.2
Not agreeable          64.8    31.5    50.7     13.4    20.8    16.6

                        Pornography makes
                        the sex life more
                          more exiting

                        Men    Women    All

N                      (423)   (330)   (753)

Very agreeable         16.3     7.3     12.5
Fairly agreeable       23.0    14.6     19.5
Somewhat agreeable     29.0    28.8     28.9
Not agreeable          31.7    49.4     39.1

Note. Data are weighted. All group differences are statistically
significant (Chi-square tests, p < 0.001).

Table 3. Attitudes Toward Pornography Among Adult Norwegians by
Gender (Percentages)

                        Pornography leads        Pornography
                       to greater openness        should be
                         about sexuality          forbidden

                       Men    Women   All      Men    Women    All

N                     (469)   (476)   (945)   (481)   (487)   (968)

Completely agree       31.8   16.4    24.2     12.6    27.8    20.2
Partly agree           43.0   30.0    36.6      7.1    16.4    11.7
Partly disagree        12.4   16.2    14.3     16.0    21.2    18.6
Completely disagree    12.8   33.2    23.1     64.4    34.6    49.5

                        Pornography             Pornography does not
                       should be sold         lead to more sexualized
                      without restrictions      violence in society

                       Men    Women    All     Men    Women    All

N                     (476)   (501)   (977)   (454)   (467)   (921)

Completely agree      26.3     8.7    17.4     14.9    13.3    14.1
Partly agree          22.2    10.2    16.1     24.4    15.5    20.0
Partly disagree       16.0    15.9    16.0     29.6    26.3    27.9
Completely disagree   35.5     6.5    50.5     31.1    44.9    38.0

                         Pornography             Pornography is
                       makes people's              harmful to
                       sex lives better          human sexuality

                      Men    Women    All      Men    Women     All

N                    (447)   (452)   (899)    (462)   (468)    (930)

Completely agree      17.9     6.9    12.5     6.2     16.0    11.1
Partly agree          44.7    36.0    40.4    19.5     23.4    21.4
Partly disagree       20.3    18.1    19.2    18.4     25.0    21.6
Completely disagree   17.1    38.9    27.9    55.9     35.6    45.8

                         Pornography             Pornography
                           degrades                degrades
                             women                    men

                      Men     Women    All     Men    Women     All

N                     (469)   (498)   (967)   (465)   (462)    (927)

Completely agree      24.0     44.7    34.5    13.3    20.1    16.6
Partly agree          34.6     29.1    31.8    15.7    20.4    18.0
Partly disagree       15.0     13.8    14.4    16.9    17.1    17.0
Completely disagree   26.4     12.4    19.3    54.1    42.4    48.3

                       Pornography on TV           Pornography
                       is subject to too          is too easily
                       strict censorship            available

                       Men    Women    All     Men    Women    All

N                     (462)   (483)   (945)   (463)   (461)   (924)

Completely agree       32.9    13.1    22.9    29.5    55.7    42.5
Partly agree           21.5    11.2    16.3    25.5    22.7    24.1
Partly disagree        14.1    12.7    13.4    19.7    11.1    15.4
Completely disagree    31.5    63.1    47.5    25.2    10.5    18.0

Note. Data are weighted. All group differences are statistically
significant (Chi-square tests, p < 0.001).

Table 4. Dimensions of Attitudes Toward Pornography, Factor
Analysis (N = 552)

                                                    Factor 1
                                              Pornography as means
Attitude statement                            of sexual enhancement

Pornography makes the sex life more exiting           .736
I think pornographic magazines and
  films can be entertaining                           .679
Pornography makes people's sex
  life better                                         .677
I think pornographic magazines and
  films are rather dull                               .668
Pornography leads to greater
  openness about sexuality                            .639
Pornography on TV is subject
  to too strict censorship                            .525
Pornography should be sold
  without restrictions                                .429
Pornography does not lead to more
  sexualized violence in society                      .428
Pornography degrades men                              .135
Pornography should be forbidden                       .262
Pornography is harmful to human sexuality             .263
Pornography degrades women                            .291
I think pornographic magazines and
  films are directly repulsive                        .421
Pornography is too easily available                   .197
I can talk about pornography
  with my friends                                     .010

Eigenvalue                                           5.8
Percent of variance (total = 46.6%)                 38.9%

                                                    Factor 2
                                                Pornography as a
Attitude statement                                moral issue

Pornography makes the sex life more exiting           .215
I think pornographic magazines and
  films can be entertaining                           .332
Pornography makes people's sex
  life better                                         .283
I think pornographic magazines and
  films are rather dull                               .008
Pornography leads to greater
  openness about sexuality                            .241
Pornography on TV is subject
  to too strict censorship                            .308
Pornography should be sold
  without restrictions                                .404
Pornography does not lead to more
  sexualized violence in society                      .217
Pornography degrades men                              .745
Pornography should be forbidden                       .744
Pornography is harmful to human sexuality             .706
Pornography degrades women                            .669
I think pornographic magazines and
  films are directly repulsive                        .592
Pornography is too easily available                   .590
I can talk about pornography
  with my friends                                     .006

Eigenvalue                                           1.2
Percent of variance (total = 46.6%)                  7.7%

                                                    Factor 3
                                                     Social
Attitude statement                                   climate

Pornography makes the sex life more exiting           .274
I think pornographic magazines and
  films can be entertaining                           .162
Pornography makes people's sex
  life better                                         .008
I think pornographic magazines and
  films are rather dull                              -.269
Pornography leads to greater
  openness about sexuality                            .121
Pornography on TV is subject
  to too strict censorship                            .169
Pornography should be sold
  without restrictions                                .332
Pornography does not lead to more
  sexualized violence in society                     -.005
Pornography degrades men                             -.007
Pornography should be forbidden                       .008
Pornography is harmful to human sexuality             .002
Pornography degrades women                            .010
I think pornographic magazines and
  films are directly repulsive                        .008
Pornography is too easily available                   .169
I can talk about pornography
  with my friends                                     .906

Eigenvalue                                           1.0
Percent of variance (total = 46.6%)                  6.7%

Note. Data are weighted.

Table 5. Relationships Between Dimensions of Attitudes
Toward Pornography and Age, Gender, and Level of
Education (standardized regression coefficients, [beta])

                          Dimensions of attitudes
                             toward pornography

                         Sexual      Social     Moral
                       enhancement   climate    issue

Age                      -0.21        -0.19     -0.21
Gender                   -0.27        -0.09     -0.18
Level of education       -0.12        -0.03      0.13
[R.sup.2]                13.1%         4.2%      8.4%

Table 6. Relationship Between Use of Pornographic Material
and Dimensions of Attitudes Toward Pornography, Age, Gender,
and Level of Education (standardized regression coefficients, [beta])

                        Pornographic   Pornographic   Internet
                         magazines        films        issue

Age                        -0.17          -0.12        -0.23
Gender                     -0.23          -0.13        -0.25
Level of education          0.01          -0.09        -0.01
Sexual enhancement          0.33           0.38         0.18
Social climate              0.08           0.19        -0.01
Moral issue                 0.23           0.24         0.11

[R.sup.2]                  35.3%          36.4%        21.1%

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Manuscript accepted September 24, 2003

The newspaper Dagbladet financed this research. The authors wish to thank Hakon Kavli at MMI for assistance. Professor David Silvera at the University of Tromso is thanked for his help in correcting the English. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for valuable help in a previous version of the paper.

Address correspondence to Bente Traeen, Department of Psychology, University of Tromso, N-9037 Tromso, Norway; e-mail: [e-mail].

Bente Traeen and Kristin Spitznogle

University of Tromso, Norway

Alexandra Beverfjord

Magasinet, Dagbladet, Norway