Exploring a potential link between personality traits, sexual assault attitudes and the propensity to create deepfake pornography

Abstract

Deepfake pornography represents a rapidly expanding form of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), yet little is known about the psychological factors that predict individuals’ willingness to create such material. This study examined whether rape myth acceptance (RMA) and Dark Tetrad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism) predicted heterosexual men’s proclivity to create deepfake pornography. Using an online self-report survey of 213 heterosexual men recruited from an Australian university and the surrounding community, participants completed measures of RMA, dark personality traits, and hypothetical scenarios assessing the likelihood of creating deepfake pornography. Hierarchical regression models showed that RMA attitudes that minimise or excuse harm significantly predicted proclivity to create deepfake pornography, whereas victim-blaming attitudes and dark personality traits did not. A Friedman test demonstrated that participants were significantly more willing to create deepfake pornography when the target was a celebrity rather than a personally known individual. These findings highlight the central role of harm-minimising and excusal attitudes in enabling engagement with technologically manipulated sexual abuse, underscoring the need for prevention and intervention strategies targeting attitudinal change. PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT: This study highlights the need for prevention and intervention programmes to address beliefs that minimise or excuse harm in deepfake pornography. Effective strategies should challenge myths that downplay the seriousness of digitally manipulated sexual abuse and emphasise the real psychological and social harms experienced by victims.