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Pornography and Body Image

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Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior

Synonyms

Body perception; Negative self-view

Definition

Body image is described as our own individual personal perception of our body, and pornography use can be understood as the prevalence through which one consumes pornographic media. Pornographic or sexually explicit media has “a variety of types, including print media, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, video games, applications for smart devices and virtual reality” (Brown University, n.d.).

Background

There is no doubt that our current society, due to media accessibility and influence, has detrimentally affected and distorted our perceptions of our bodies. Heavy influence from social media and particularly pornography have contributed to an increase in negative outcomes in an array of areas, ranging from mental health, to body image, to relationship satisfaction. To initiate, it is relevant to note that body image can be understood as our own personal perception of our body, and...

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Correspondence to Nicole M. Capezza .

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Riccitelli, B., Paul, L., Kripp, S., Capezza, N.M. (2023). Pornography and Body Image. In: Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1870-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1870-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-08956-5

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