The concept of moral incongruence has been introduced in pornography problem discourse to specify perceived addiction that is due to one's moral disapproval of pornography use. Nonetheless, the research on moral incongruence has yet to answer the subjective process of the individuals who experienced it. This study aimed to investigate the experience of morally conflicted pornography use in a sexually conservative society. Five males and five females took part in a semi-structured interview regarding the experience of having moral incongruence in using pornography. We used reflective thematic analyses to generate themes for the source of moral disapproval and the effect it has on porn use. There are five major themes for moral sources against pornography use, those are clearly defined religious belief, undefined vague belief, societal norm, concern for one's health, and concern for one's partner. While all participants reported discomfort and feeling of worthlessness in their porn use due to their moral burden, there are two themes emerged on how they deal with those feelings. The first is justification, rationalizing some exceptions for their pre-existing moral value. The second one is redemption, performing self-enhancing actions aimed to balance the perceived negative effect of pornography. We reflected our result through previous ethnography studies on Indonesians' moral dualism in condemning as well as using pornography.

Authors:
Ahmad Naufalul Umam, Universitas Mercu Buana, Indonesia

About the Presenter(s)
Ahmad Naufalul Umam, B.A., M.Si. is a lecturer at Universitas Mercu Buana, Jakarta, Indonesia. Naufal has previously worked on ideology and radicalism and is currently working on the entanglement of ideology and sexual behaviors.

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