Pornography's influence on men's sexual desires is killing women

Given its explicit nature, and the fact that this content is being used primarily by men, has led researchers to conclude that mainstream pornography is responsible for the wholesale normalisation and eroticisation of sexual violence, writes Ruth Breslin

The way in which content is presented to consumers on pornography websites — showing users the ‘most viewed’ or most popular videos (often numbering in the millions), constantly making new video recommendations that "up the stakes" in terms of their edginess, and allowing users to comment on videos — functions to normalise and rationalise the content, even as it becomes more violent or extreme. File picture

This may seem strange to some, but pornography was what immediately came to mind when details began emerging in the case of an Irishman held on suspicion of the murder of Mackenzie Michalski in Budapest.

The young woman, known affectionately to her family and friends as ‘Kenzie’, had been visiting the city from the US when she had the fatal misfortune of meeting Lorcan Murphy on a night out in November 2024.

Kenzie returned with Lorcan to his rented apartment in the city, where he tied her up with a belt, bit her, punched her in the face with increasing force and then strangled her for two to three minutes until she died. Lorcan lay beside Kenzie’s dead body for several hours, made recordings of her while she was lifeless and still restrained, and then dumped her body in a wooded area 150km away.

Our work in The SERP Institute leads us to pay close attention to cases involving strangulation — a sexual practice that has increased five-fold in a single decade, driven in no small part by its popularity in mainstream pornography. It was therefore no surprise to us that, following his conviction for Kenzie’s murder, it was revealed that Lorcan Murphy has a "deep interest" in pornography, watching it on a daily basis.

It is unlikely that we will ever fully understand what led Lorcan Murphy to commit these sexually-motivated crimes. But in an attempt to comprehend his actions, it is essential that we also try to understand what fuelled his sexual desires. 

Mainstream, free-to-view, one-click-away pornography is saturated with sexual violence, including many of the acts that Kenzie endured. The SERP Institute’s own content analysis of the (largely unprintable) video titles featured on Ireland’s most popular pornography website clearly demonstrates this.

This analysis, undertaken just days before Lorcan was convicted, focused on what is currently the 21st most popular website in Ireland, and found that:

• Almost two-thirds of video titles (65%) indicate content of concern, mainly relating to sexual violence and extreme misogyny against women and girls
• More than one in four titles (26%) directly reference physical aggression — in particular the ‘pounding’ of women’s bodies during sex, while the video thumbnails feature women being restrained, strangled, suffocated, urinated on and penetrated by multiple men at the same time
• Almost one in four titles (24%) mimic or portray child sexual abuse by featuring very young teens, typically shown in sexual encounters with much older adults
• More than one in 10 titles (13%) portray incest — sexual interactions between blood or step relatives.

It is critical to note that the women featured in these videos are usually required to respond neutrally or with pleasure to all of the above acts. Given its explicit nature, and the fact that this content is being used by men primarily for masturbation, has led researchers to conclude that mainstream pornography is responsible for the wholesale normalisation and eroticisation of sexual violence.

Indeed, the international evidence demonstrates that amongst those who use it for masturbation, pornography is an especially potent "learning context", accompanied as it is by the "reward" of sexual arousal and orgasm. This explains why some pornography consumers’ sexual behaviours are being distorted in harmful ways as they begin to become aroused by the violent content they consume, which is then played out in their real world sexual encounters.

It has also been established that pornography users often become desensitised to material that previously gave them sexual pleasure, and with habitual use tend to seek out more novel or extreme material in order to achieve the same level of arousal. 

The pornography trade, bent on maximising its profits, takes full advantage of this tendency by using its extensive and carefully designed algorithms to push consumers towards precisely such content.

Meanwhile, the way in which content is presented to consumers on pornography websites — showing users the ‘most viewed’ or most popular videos (often numbering in the millions), constantly making new video recommendations that "up the stakes" in terms of their edginess, and allowing users to comment on videos — functions to normalise and rationalise the content, even as it becomes more violent or extreme. Any discomfort consumers may feel about watching sexual violence is easily dismissed with the thought that "everyone is doing it".

The dehumanisation of women

We have long argued that in no other place, on no other platform, are women more dehumanised or objectified than in the sex trade — in prostitution and pornography. 

As a prolific porn consumer, so many of Lorcan Murphy’s actions reflect this — his earlier secret filming of women and young girls on the streets of Dublin using a ‘spy pen’, his list of "hot bitches" he planned to approach for sex, his despicable treatment of Kenzie’s body before, during and after he murdered her, his attempts to smear Kenzie’s name in court by claiming she asked for this violence — all paint a picture of a man who is no longer able to see women as fully human, but as objects, as playthings to be sexually used and abused. 

It is easier to hurt or even to kill someone when you have dehumanised them to such an egregious extent. We have no choice now but to accept that porn has become the author of some men’s sexual desires and the architect of many women’s dehumanisation. 

Add to this the prevalence of its consumption by the majority of men in their 20s and 30s, and perhaps we do not have to look much further than pornography to find one of the significant reasons our daily newsfeeds are filled with horrific stories of domestic and sexual violence against women and children.

This may seem strange to some, but pornography was what immediately came to mind when details began emerging in the case of an Irishman held on suspicion of the murder of Mackenzie Michalski (pictured) in Budapest.

In their grief, Kenzie’s devastated family have also been trying to celebrate their daughter’s short but full life, saying that despite the nationality of her killer “it is very important to us that she is remembered and honoured in Ireland too”. 

Just days after Lorcan’s conviction, minister for justice Jim O’Callaghan secured Cabinet approval to create offences relating to the possession, production or distribution of extreme or violent pornography, tellingly in response to the growing recognition that porn is now “one of the most influential, accessible, and commercially powerful forces negatively shaping sexual development and behaviour.” 

It is very sadly too late for Kenzie, but this legislation cannot come soon enough for the rest of us.

• Ruth Breslin is the director of The Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute