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Watching Pornography : Gender Differences, Violence and Victimization. An Exploratory Study in Italy Patrizia Romito and Lucia Beltramini Violence Against Women 2011 17: 1313 originally published online 13 October 2011 DOI: 10.1177/1077801211424555 The online version of this article can be found at: http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/17/10/1313 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com

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Watching Pornography: Gender Differences, Violence and Victimization. An Exploratory Study in Italy

Violence Against Women 17(10) 1313–1326 © The Author(s) 2011 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1077801211424555 http://vaw.sagepub.com

Patrizia Romito1 and Lucia Beltramini1

Abstract The aims of this article are to analyze exposure to pornography, its content, and the associations between victimization and pornography in a sample of 303 students (49.2% female). The questionnaire included questions on pornography exposure, psychological and physical family violence, and sexual violence. Almost all male students and 67% of female students had ever watched pornography; 42% and 32%, respectively, had watched violence against women. Female students exposed to family psychological violence and to sexual violence were significantly more likely to watch pornography, especially violent pornography than those who had not been exposed. No such association was found among male students. Keywords adolescents, pornography, violence against women

Childhood and adolescence are key periods in relation to pornography exposure. Curiosity about sex, peer pressure, and rule-breaking behavior may all come together to drive young people to watch pornographic material. In Northern Europe, almost all boys and between 60% and 80% of girls have ever been exposed to pornographic material (Hammaren & Johansson, 2007; Mossige, Ainsaar, & Svedin, 2007). In the United States, 42% of young Internet users (10-17 years old) had viewed online pornography (Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2007). Children and adolescents also view much sexual material in daytime 1

University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Corresponding Author: Patrizia Romito, Department of Psychology, University of Trieste, Via S.Anastasio 12, 34134, Trieste, Italy Email: [email protected]


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Violence Against Women 17(10)

soap operas and music videos (American Psychological Association [APA], 2007). While systematic data are lacking, there are indications that much of this material, especially that available on the Internet, contains extreme forms of degradation and violence against women (Gosset & Byrne, 2002; Poulin, 2009; Sarracino & Scott, 2008). There are several links between pornography and violence. Although there is some disagreement in the literature, the most rigorous reviews in experimental psychology have concluded that there are reliable associations between exposure to violent pornography and both men’s attitudes about rape and their aggressive behavior. These associations are stronger when considering men who possess other risk factors for sexual aggression (APA, 2007; Malamuth, Addison, & Koss, 2000; Malamuth & Huppin, 2005). A recent metaanalysis of nonexperimental studies also found a significant positive association between pornography use and attitudes supporting violence against women (Hald, Malamuth, & Yuen, 2010). Women and children who have been sexually abused often report that the perpetrators used violent pornography to normalize particularly humiliating and violent practices and to “teach” them what to do (Itzin, 2000; Russell, 1990; Simmons, Lehmann, & Collier-Tenison, 2008). Some feminist scholars argue that pornography, overtly violent or not, represents in itself a form of discrimination and violence against women (Dworkin & McKinnon, 1998; Russell, 1993). Moreover, even if it is difficult to prove any causal link between pornography and violent behavior, according to cultivation theory (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1994), exposure to consistent themes over time leads viewers to adopt a particular perspective of the world; this may happen to young people watching pornographic material (APA, 2007; Poulin, 2009). Because of its omnipresence and its possible negative consequences, violent pornography can be considered a serious social and public health problem (David-Ferdon & Hertz, 2007); from a public health perspective, it is crucial to identify young people most at risk of watching pornography. Besides gender—men watch pornography more often and view it more favorably compared to women (Hammaren & Johansson, 2007; Mossige et al., 2007)—information on who are the most exposed youth is scanty. Studies from the United States suggest that adolescents who watch pornography are more likely to score high on rule-breaking and depression scales and to have been victims of bullying than those who do not watch it (Wolak et al., 2007); in a laboratory setting, young men who prefer violent pornography show high aggressive/antisocial tendencies (Bogaert, 2001). A study from Hong Kong found an association between watching pornography and being out of school, lacking social support, reporting family conflicts, having more sexual partners and, among men, using prostitutes (Janghorbani, Lam, & The Youth Sexuality Study Task Force, 2003). Among adolescents in Sweden, Svedin and Priebe (2007) found an association between selling sex and watching pornography; selling sex was also associated with a history of sexual abuse. Although these latter data suggest a possible link between watching pornography and a history of sexual abuse, this link has never been thoroughly explored. Moreover, while there is at least some information on the amount of violence against women in


Romito and Beltramini

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pornographic media, there are almost no data concerning what young people are actually watching. The current study was designed to fill this gap, analyzing the victimization experiences of a sample of young people and exploring the role of pornography. Aims of this article are 1. To describe pornography use, and more especially the content of pornography watched; 2. To analyze the links between having experienced psychological and physical family violence and/or sexual violence and pornography use.

Method Procedure and Sample The study was carried out in a Northeastern Italian municipality and involved all 12th-grade students in the local high schools. Youth 18 to 25 years old enrolled in vocational training were also included. Questionnaires were administered during classes. The research assistant presented the study, explaining that the questionnaires were anonymous and self-administered; privacy was guaranteed, and the right not to participate was underlined. A letter explaining the aims of the study and listing resources for youth and for victims of violence in the region were given to all students. At the time of the study, there was no ethics committee for the protection of human subjects either at Trieste University or at the Regional School Bureau. Data collection was conducted from October to November 2007.

The Questionnaire Pornography Exposure After obtaining basic sociodemographic information, the questionnaire focused on pornography use, with questions presented separately on watching pornography “for the first time” and “currently.” About the first time watching pornography, we asked for the following: the age of first exposure; the reasons for watching; types of media watched. Then students were asked whether they currently watch pornography, the reasons for watching, type of media watched, and the contents of the material watched, with a list of possible contents. From this list, we constructed the variable “violence against women,” including watching any of the following: the woman is tortured, mutilated, raped, gang raped, humiliated (the man/ men urinate or defecate on her), killed, or subjected to other violent sex. To explore whether respondents watched autonomously or were encouraged or pressured to watch by another person, we included in the list of the reasons for watching several items indicating that someone had asked the respondent to watch. We recoded the answers into two main categories: a grown-up asked me or my boyfriend/girlfriend asked me. In another question, we asked specifically if the respondent had watched or was currently watching because they were encouraged or pressured by another person.


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Victimization: Family Psychological and Physical Violence, and Sexual Violence Questions on victimization were based on questions used in a previous Italian study (Romito & Grassi, 2007). Respondents were asked three different questions about whether they had ever experienced: psychological violence, such as being insulted, denigrated, threatened, repetitively controlled; physical violence, such as being slapped or kicked repetitively, being beaten up, hit with an object, burned, or other serious physical aggressions; and sexual violence, such as being fondled without consent or being forced to touch another person, attempted rape, or rape. For each type of violence, a list of possible perpetrators was provided, including family members, and other known or unknown people. Possible answers were “no,” “once or twice,” “more often.” For family violence, to avoid defining as “violence” occasional occurrences of parental corporal punishment, we chose a conservative approach, including in the categories “psychological violence“ or “physical violence” only those subjects who reported violence more often than once or twice for a single perpetrator, or who reported violence by at least two family members if each was only once or twice. We included in the category “sexual violence” all subjects who experienced at least one occurrence of sexual violence by any perpetrator.

Analytic Strategy After describing the characteristics of pornography exposure, we performed bivariate analyses of the links between the three types of violence and pornography exposure. We then performed multivariate analyses of the links between violence and pornography exposure, controlling for relevant demographic and social factors, including age, father’s education, and type of school. All analyses were performed separately by gender. Analyses were conducted using SPSS software, Version 15.

Results Characteristics of the Sample Among the 311 youths invited to participate in the study, three refused. Five questionnaires were returned blank or incomplete, and were discarded. The response rate was thus 98.4%. Analyses were performed on data from 303 participants; 49.2% of respondents were girls. Boys were significantly older and more likely to be attending vocational training. Girls were significantly more likely to report psychological family violence and sexual violence by any perpetrator; there were no gender differences in physical family violence. Perpetrators of sexual violence were peers (7 cases reported by male students and 18 by female students), family members (1 and 4 cases, respectively), and other adults (3 and 14 cases, respectively); some respondents reported more than one perpetrator. Almost all male students and more than 60% of female students answered that they had ever watched pornography; 88.3% and 61.1%, respectively, said they watched it currently (Table 1).


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Table 1. Sociodemographic Characteristics, Experiences of Violence and Pornography Use of the Sample Male students (N = 154) (N) Age (years) 18 (66) 19-21 (53) > 22 (35) Type of school High school (19) (literary) High school (48) (scientific) High school (18) (technical) Vocational (69) training Father’s education Only primary (15) education Secondary (57) education High school (76) or university Mother’s education Only primary (18) education Secondary (64) education High school (69) or university Psychological family violence No (142) Yes (11) Physical family violence No (143) Yes (10) Sexual violence No (142) Yes (9)

%

Female students (N = 149) (N)

%

42.9 34.4 22.7

(92) (40) (17)

61.7 26.8 11.4

12.3

(47)

31.5

31.2

(35)

23.5

11.7

(30)

20.1

44.8

(37)

24.8

10.1

(14)

9.6

38.5

(40)

27.4

51.4

(92)

63.0

11.9

(18)

12.2

42.4

(63)

42.6

45.7

(67)

45.3

92.8 7.2

(107) (39)

73.3 26.7

93.5 6.5

(133) (13)

91.1 8.9

94.0 6.0

(114) (31)

78.6 21.4

p = .002

p < .001

ns

ns

p < .001

ns

p < .001 (continued)


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Table 1. (continued) Male students (N = 154) (N) Ever watched pornography No (2) Yes (152) Currently watches pornography No (18) Yes (136)

Female students (N = 149)

%

(N)

%

1.3 98.7

(49) (100)

32.9 67.1

p < .001

11.7 88.3

(58) (91)

38.9 61.1

p < .001

Results from multivariate analysis show that, controlling for age, type of school, and father’s education, boys were 5 times more likely to currently watch pornography than were girls (Adjusted OR 5.09, CI 2.69-9.63, p < 0.001; data not shown).

Characteristics of Pornography Exposure Tables 2 and 3 display the characteristics of pornography use among those young people who ever watched or were watching at the time of the study. First exposure occurred earlier for boys than for girls; more girls than boys reacted with fear or disgust. Wanting to gain information about sex was indicated by 48.7% of the boys and 36% of the girls as a reason for watching the first time; 70.4% of boys and 82% of girls had watched because they were in the company of friends who also watched. Among those who admitted currently watching pornography, the most frequently cited reasons given by boys were “it is sexually exciting” (52.9%) and “I like it” (44.1%); girls more frequently cited curiosity (37.4%), and “it is sexually exciting” (29.7%). Overall, boys were more likely to have watched and to watch pornography alone, while girls answered more often that they were pressured by another person. Female adolescents were significantly more likely than male adolescents to have been asked to watch by a romantic partner, both in the past and currently. In contrast, only a minority of male adolescents (6 in the past and 3 currently) watched pornography because an adult had asked them to watch. There were gender differences in the type of media watched. For first exposure, boys cited pornographic magazines more often (57.9%), whereas girls cited videos (56%). For current exposure, boys cited videos more often (62.5%), and girls, cellular phones (44%). Pornographic web sites were currently watched by 37.5% of boys and 12.1% of girls (data not shown). Information on the content of pornographic material was asked only for “current exposure.” Among those young people watching pornography at the time of the interview, around half of them watched pornography depicting violence against women, and more than a third watched material in which the woman appeared to enjoy the violence inflicted on her. There were few significant gender differences in the content of the material watched (Table 3).


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Table 2. Pornography Exposure: Characteristics of First Exposure, Among Those Who Ever Watched Pornography

Age at first exposure (years) < 10 10-12 13-15 > 15 Was pressured by another person First reactions: fear or disgust Reasons to watch at first exposure: Friends were watching Zapping television, by chance Surfing Internet, by chance Curiosity Information about sex Sexually exciting A grown-up asked me My boyfriend asked me My girlfriend asked me

Male students (152)

Female students (100)

(N)

%

(N)

%

(10) (53) (65) (22) (24) (11)

6.7 35.3 43.3 14.7 15.9 7.2

(5) (30) (35) (30) (33) (22)

5.0 30.0 35.0 30.0 33.0 22.0

p = .03 p < .001 p = .001

(107) (48) (30) (128) (74) (80) (6) (1) (4)

70.4 31.6 19.7 84.2 48.7 52.6 4.0 0.7 2.6

(82) (56) (26) (76) (36) (24) 0 (9) 0

82.0 56.0 26.0 76.0 36.0 24.0

p = .02 p < .001 ns ns p = .03 p < .001

9.0

p = .001

Percentages of respondents watching problematic content were also calculated for the whole sample: 2% of male students, and no female student, watched sex with children; 5.2% and 2%, respectively, watched incest depictions (ns); 18% and 11%, respectively, watched sex with animals (p = .05). Moreover, 42% of male students and 32% of female students watched violence against women (p = .05); 33% and 26%, respectively, watched depictions of women who appeared to enjoy the violence (ns; data not shown).

Victimization and Pornography Exposure For female adolescents, there were strong relationships between family psychological violence and sexual violence and pornography use, both in bivariate and in multivariate analyses (Table 4). Controlling for age, father’s education, and type of school, female students who had experienced family psychological violence were 5.8 times more likely to have ever watched pornography (CI [1.97, 17.12]); they were also 2.25 times more likely to be watching at the time of the interview (CI [0.95, 5.33]), although these results did not reach statistical significance. Female victims of sexual violence were 4.24 times more likely to have ever watched pornography (CI [1.41, 12.72]), and 3.27 times more likely to watch currently (CI [1.22, 8.74]). Moreover, among girls watching pornography


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Table 3. Pornography Exposure: Characteristics of Current Exposure, Among Those Who Watch Pornography Male students (136) (N) Reasons to watch currently I like it Curiosity Information about sex It is sexually exciting A grown-up asks me My boyfriend asks me My girlfriend asks me Is pressured by another person Pornography watched contains “Normal” sex (not violent) Partner swapping Group sex “Girl to girl” (Lesbian sex) Male homosexual sex Sadomasochism Sex with animals Violence against the womana The woman appears to enjoy the violence The woman appears to be in pain because of the violence The woman tortures the man Incest Sex with children

Female students (91)

%

(N)

%

(60) (56) (31) (72) (3) 0 (2) (2)

44.1 41.2 22.8 52.9 2.2

24.2 37.4 13.2 29.7

p = .002 ns p = .05 p < .001

12.1

p < .001

1.5 1.5

(22) (34) (12) (27) 0 (11) 0 (6)

6.6

p < .001

(119) (59) (94) (99) (5) (22) (28) (62) (49) (12)

87.5 43.4 69.1 72.8 3.7 16.2 20.6 45.6 36.3 8.8

(84) (36) (60) (58) (26) (16) (15) (44) (35) (4)

92.3 39.6 65.9 63.7 28.6 17.6 16.5 50.2 38.9 4.4

ns ns ns ns p < .001 ns ns ns ns ns

(14) (8) (3)

10.3 5.9 2.2

(11) (3) 0

12.1 3.3

ns ns

a. Including any of the following: the woman is tortured/mutilated/raped or gang raped/humiliated (the man/men urinate or defecate on her)/killed/other violent sex.

at the time of the interview, those who experienced family psychological violence were more likely than those without family psychological violence to watch material that included violence against the woman (57.1% vs. 31.0%, p = .02); and girls who experienced sexual victimization were more likely than those not sexually victimized to watch pornography that included violence against women (58.3% vs. 30.2%, p = .02; data not shown). There was no significant relationship between physical family violence and pornography use. For male students, analyses were performed only on current pornography use. No significant relationships were found between the experiences of victimization and current use of pornography.


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Romito and Beltramini Table 4. Victimization and past and current pornography exposure Female students Ever watched %

(N)

OR Adj* (CI 95%)

Family violence, psychological No 59.8 (64) 1 Yes 87.2 (34) 5.80 (1.97-17.12) p = .001 p =.001 Family violence, physical No 65.4 (87) 1 Yes 84.6 (11) 3.75 (0.74-19.10) ns ns Sexual violence No 62.3 (71) 1 Yes 83.9 (26) 4.24 (1.41-12.72) p = .02 p =.01

Male students Watches currently

Watches currently

%

(N)

OR Adj* (CI 95%)

%

(N)

OR Adj* (CI 95%)

57.0 71.8

(61) (28) p = .07

1 2.25 (0.95-5.33) p = .07

88.7 81.8 ns

(126) (9) ns

1 2.70 (0.46-15.85)

61.7 53.8 ns

(82) (7) ns

1 0.82 (0.24-2.77)

88.8 80.0 ns

(127) (8) ns

1 1.58 (0.28-8.84)

57.9 77.4 p = .05

(66) (24) p = .02

1 3.27 (1.22-8.74)

88.0 88.9 ns

(125) (8) ns

1 1.16 (0.12-11.49)

*OR adjusted by age, type of school and father’s education

To explore whether watching pornography represented an aspect of an experience of sexual victimization, we crossed the sexual violence variable with the variables indicating that the adolescent had been or was pressured by another person—an adult or a boyfriend/ girlfriend—to watch pornographic material. There was no association, neither for boys nor for girls, between being pressured to watch and a previous experience of sexual violence (data not shown).

Discussion This study provides one of the very few sources of information concerning the violent content of the pornography actually watched by young people and adds unique data on the relationships between watching pornography and experiences of victimization. The study has both limitations and strengths. The sample is small, precluding the possibility of doing more thorough analyses, and is not representative of all Italian youth. Yet, it included all the 12th-grade students in a municipality as well as school dropouts enrolled in vocational training of corresponding age, with an excellent response rate. The frequencies of victimization and of pornography use found in this sample are similar to those found in the international literature. The frequency of sexual violence among the young people in this study (6% for boys and 21.4% for girls) fell into the range indicated by recent metaanalyses (Bolen, 2001; Pered, Guilera, Forns, Gomez-Benito, 2009); also the lack of gender differences in parental physical violence and the excess of psychological violence reported by girls correspond to that found in the literature (May-Chahal, 2006). The frequency of watching pornography in this sample corresponds closely to that found in studies from Northern Europe (Hammaren & Johansson, 2007; Mossige et al., 2007).


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In this sample, almost all male adolescents and two thirds of female adolescents have ever watched pornography. More disturbingly, at the time of the interview, 42% and 32%, respectively, were watching violence against women, including extreme degradation, rape, torture, and murder; 33% of male adolescents and 26% of female adolescents watched depictions of women seeming to enjoy the violence inflicted on them. In addition, a significant minority watched pornography containing sex with animals, sadomasochism, and women torturing men. These results are highly worrying. Even if laboratory research cannot prove without controversy that watching violent pornography causes aggressive behavior, according to cultivation theory (Gerbner et al., 1994) exposure to pornographic material over time may lead viewers to adopt its perspective on sexuality and gender relationships (APA, 2007; Poulin, 2009). This may be even truer in adolescence. In the study, among the “viewers,” 48.7% of the boys and 36% of the girls said they watched pornography to gain “information about sex,” a trend also found by others (Lavoie, Robitaille, & Hébert, 2000; Tydén & Rogala, 2003); almost 53% of boys and 30% of girls answered they watched because this material is sexually exciting. Exposure to sexually violent material in this developmental phase can act as a norm setter, normalizing deviant sex and sexual violence and making them more acceptable and may provide scripts that will guide sexual behavior in the future (Gagnon & Simon, 2005). Studies showing that perpetrators of sexual violence are consumers of violent pornography indirectly support this hypothesis (Simmons et al., 2008; Simons, Wurtele, & Durham, 2008). As very few studies have examined the content of pornography that young people actually watch, it is difficult to ascertain if the proportion of deviant or violent pornography watched in this Italian sample was similar to that in other countries. In a Swedish sample, around 12% of boys and 4% of girls admitted to watching violent sex (Svedin & Priebe, 2007). The higher level of violence reported by the Italian youth could be explained by the study methods, as our measure of “violence against women” resulted from 7 detailed questions in the questionnaire, while in the Swedish study there was only one question on “Sex with violence and force.” At the same time, the proportion of young people watching sex with children was very low and similar in the two studies. Similarly to others (Hammaren & Johansson, 2007; Mossige et al., 2007), we found large gender differences in most aspects of pornography use: male adolescents were 5 times more likely to currently watch pornography than were female adolescents; they started earlier and more frequently on their own initiative, found pornography more sexually exciting, and reacted less often with fear or disgust. Moreover, and in contrast to female adolescents, there are no associations between a history of victimization and pornography use among boys. These data suggest that, for boys, watching pornography is a socially accepted element in the construction of their masculinity (Connell, 1995). On the other hand, among those who watch pornography, there were almost no gender differences concerning the more problematic content: boys and girls watched to the same extent violence against women or men, and women appearing to enjoy the violence inflicted on them. It seems that when female adolescents step into the traditionally male world of pornography, gender differences become blurred; yet, it should be remembered that these



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female adolescents have behind them a different story—including more violence—than their male counterparts. Among female adolescents, having experienced family psychological violence or sexual violence was linked to pornography use. Girls exposed to family psychological violence had an Adjusted OR of 5.8 of having ever watched pornography compared to those not exposed; those with an experience of sexual violence, an Adjusted OR of 4.24 compared to those not victimized. The Adjusted ORs for watching pornography at the time of the interview were smaller, but still substantial. Moreover, among girls who watched pornography, those exposed to family psychological violence or to sexual violence were more likely to watch material that included violence against women than those not exposed. No such effect was found among boys, confirming that, for them, watching pornography may be a normative behavior, not necessarily linked to serious personal or social difficulties. How can these associations between victimization and pornography exposure among female adolescents be explained? As our data are correlational and we lack information on the timing of victimization, we can only formulate some hypotheses. Violence—be it psychological, physical, or sexual—against girls is associated with harmful consequences for victims’ sexual life: a too-early sexual debut, multiple sexual partners, and a heightened risk of further sexual victimization, intimate partner violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and elective abortions (Fergusson, Horwood, & Lynskey, 1997; Romito & Grassi, 2007; Romito, Saurel-Cubizolles, & Crisma, 2001). Pornography could be an element in this complex pattern. Following the model of Browne and Finkelhor (1986) of the traumagenic impact of sexual violence, pornography use may be the result of heightened interest in or preoccupation with sex following the abuse. In addition, these young women may seek in the pornographic material some insight that makes it possible to understand or “normalize” what had happened; or they may try to relive the violence experienced in an attempt to control it. Other studies have shown that perpetrators of sexual violence often expose children or adolescents to pornography as a means to groom them and teach them what to do (see Itzin, 2000). While we cannot discard this hypothesis, our data show no associations between sexual violence and any of the variables concerning the agency of watching pornography: While these female adolescents were often pressured to look at pornography, it does not appear that this occurred in the context of sexual victimization. More generally, family violence, sexual violence, and pornography exposure may all be elements of a situation characterized by parental neglect, absence of dialogue concerning sexuality, and lack of supervision. As there are no other studies looking precisely at these issues from a gender perspective, we cannot compare our results to those of others. The few available data show that young males using pornography tend to be more aggressive and antisocial, and more likely to use prostitutes than those who do not use it; both genders tend to be more involved in sexual activities, including selling sex, and to experience more conflicts with family and peers (Bogaert, 2001; Janghorbani et al., 2003; Svedin & Priebe, 2007; Wolak et al., 2007). These results suggest that youth using pornography may have more personal and relational problems than other youth, a result at least compatible with the victimization histories of our female respondents.


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Data from this small study indicate that the issue of pornography is central to any discussion of masculinity, femininity, and violence (Sarracino & Scott, 2008). More research is needed on pornography use, with larger samples of young people, to understand both the motives leading male and female adolescents to watch pornography, and its consequences for their visions of sexuality and gender relationships. It would also be interesting to look more thoroughly at the role of pornography in the relationship between having experienced early psychological family violence or sexual violence, and further victimization among women. Analyzing the effects of media violence on children, some authors have concluded that we are in the presence of an “emerging public health problem” (David-Ferdon & Hertz, 2007). The same could be said of pornography. Pornography use among youth should become a focus of concern for sexual education, for programs aiming to prevent violence against women, and for intervention with young people who have been victims of violence.

Acknowledgement The authors wish to thank the young people who participated in the study; Graziella Puccia for assistance in preparing the questionnaire; Alessia Mazzolini Polonia for data collection; the participants in the Seminar on ˙$B!H˙(BWays of Implementing the EU Directives on Violence against Women, Children and Youth˙$B!I˙(B (Ljubljana, March, 2009) and the anonymous reviewers for their encouragement and the useful suggestions they provided; and Karen Messing for helping with the English.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Bios Patrizia Romito, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of Trieste, Italy. She has extensive research experience in women’s mental health and violence against women. She is the author of A deafening silence: Hidden violence against women and children (2008). Lucia Beltramini, MA, is a psychologist and PhD student in the Department of Psychology, University of Trieste, Italy. She is currently conducting a qualitative study on men’s experiences, perceptions, and denial of violence.
