Definition
Pornography is conventionally defined as imagery specifically designed to generate sexual arousal, although a related definition is imagery of sex acts themselves. Short-term mating relates to brief sexual encounters such as one-night stands, as opposed to stable long-term mating (pair bonding, either monogamous or polyandrous).
Introduction
It is a widely held misconception that the main function of pornography is to facilitate masturbation. In fact, the main function of pornography is to activate the pleasure circuitry of the brain that is naturally stimulated by sexual interactions in the real world. This may or may not involve masturbation in any instance of porn usage. Examples of non-masturbatory usage are couples using it as part of their normal sexual activities and individuals viewing it in the same way that they watch non-porn content.
In making the benign suggestion that pornography has evolved, this could be meant in two senses. It could mean how pornography has...
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Barnett, V. (2019). Pornography and Women’s Short-Term Mating. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3660-1
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