Effects of attitudes toward pornography upon male judgments of female attractiveness

Male subjects differing in attitudes toward pornography rated the attractiveness of female models obtained from sources ranging from fashion magazines to Penthouse. The pictures were either presented intact (Study 1) or with obliterated faces (Study 2). Neutral and pro-pornography subjects used very similar rules to judge intact pictures. Both preferred nude or seminude models to clothed models, and both were more positive in their ratings than anti-pornography subjects, whose ratings for the three categories of models were essentially the same. Obliterating nude models' faces had no effect upon the pro-pornography subjects but lowered the attractiveness ratings of the other subjects. Consequently, the facial obliteration separated the pro-pornography subjects from neutrals. Anti- and pro-pornography subjects thus both differ from neutrals, but for different reasons: Anti-pornography subjects tend to respond differently from neutrals to female models in general, but pro-pornography subjects respond differently from neutrals only when judging erotic stimuli lacking facial features.