Introduction
Today, the pornography industry is a multibillion-dollar global industry, and it has been normalized in many aspects of popular culture (McNair 2013; Philaretou, Mahfouz, and Allen 2005: 150; Sarikakis and Shaukat 2008; Smith 2010). Pornography use and exposure are increasingly becoming common and widespread, particularly with the rapid growth and spread of the Internet, smartphones and social media (Day 2014; Freeman-Longo 2000; Hald and Malamuth 2008; McKee 2010). In many countries around the world pornography is widely available, easily accessible, and consumed by large segments of the general population (Braun-Courville and Rojas 2009; Day 2014; Horvath, Alys, Massey, Pina, Scally, and Adler 2013; Lawrence and Herold 1988; Rosser, Grey, and Wilkerson 2012).
While many studies have been conducted on the use and impacts of pornography, exploring the topic within various contexts around the world, only a small number of studies have investigated the topic in relation to Africa (Cheney, Kamusiime, and Yimer 2017: 81; Day 2014; Peter and Valkenburg 2016). To date, no research has been conducted on the topic in Eritrea. Using in-depth, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, as well as a survey of undergraduate students (N = 317), the present study explores exposure to pornography among young Eritreans, identifies related factors and also investigates the possible impact of viewing pornography on general attitudes toward women. Significantly, the study helps establish a baseline of exposure to and consumption of pornography in the country, helps reveal linked factors and identify possible influences and ultimately contributes to and supplements existing literature.
The outline of the paper is as follows: The next section reviews the literature while the one following outlines the methods. Subsequently, the results and discussion are presented. The final section concludes.