EFFECTS OF PORNOGRAPHY ON SEXUALITY & VIOLENCE

THE EFFECTS OF PORNOGRAPHY ON SEXUALITY

"I know all about you bitches, you're no different,

you're like all of them. I seen it in all the movies.

You love being beaten. (He then began punching the

victim violently). I just seen it again in that flick.

He beat the shit out of her while he raped her and she

told him she loved it; you know you love it, tell me

you love it" (Silbert & Pines, 1984).

This excerpt was taken from an interview with a woman who was recalling the comments of the violent assailant who raped her. This kind of comment, implying the prior use of pornography, is commonly reported in rape cases. Nevertheless, a 1970 report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography found that "empirical investigation provided no evidence that exposure to or use of explicit sexual materials plays a significant role in the causation of social or individual harm . . . there is no evidence of a relationship between exposure to erotic presentations and subsequent aggression, particularly sexual crimes" (Barnes, 1970). The conclusions of this report portray the widespread belief that pornography is not damaging to its viewers in any way, a view still held by many people today. However, recent criticism has come from those who argue that by depicting women in subordinate sex roles and as sexual objects, pornography, especially the violent kind, may affect people's attitudes toward women in a way that promotes a sexist ide

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ousal has been a matter of interest to several researchers in recent years. One study found that subjects exposed to violence were subsequently more aggressive toward an antagonist, even if they had been told the violence was unjustified (Green, 1981). The study, however, includes only normal television violence. The question of interest must therefore be whether or not pornographic violence causes the same result. A more recent study by Luis Garcia (1986) attempted to answer this question. The subjects were given three questionnaires to determine their experience with sexual materials and their attitudes on various issues pertaining to the study. The resulting correlations revealed that subjects with a greater degree of exposure to violent sexual materials tended to believe that: (a) women are responsible for preventing their own rape, (b) rapists should not be severely punished, and (c) women should not resist a rape attack. Although a correlational study cannot offer direct support for the hypothesis that pornographic materials affect aggression toward women, Garcia's results are informative and important. There is growing evidence to indicate that exposure to violent pornography and similar images in mainstream film

Category: Psychology - E