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The Powerful Effects of Pornography[/font] [font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] As mentioned earlier, experimentalists and feminists took strong objection to the Johnson and Williams Commissions findings of limited pornography effects. As such, they set out to prove that powerful causal and ideological effects did exist, and that such results should not be ignored. This section will outline research in the following claimed powerful effects of pornography: (1. sexual arousal, (2. aggression, (3. desensitization, (4. attitudes towards women, (5. decline in family values, (6. causal model of rape, (7. feminist ideological effects, and (8. catharsis.[/size][/font]
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Sexual Arousal[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] A simple, yet consistently found powerful effect of both visual and literary pornography is its ability to sexually arouse males and females. This effect has been shown both mentally and physically.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Early research into arousal was conducted by Kinsey (1948) who found that males and females reported sexual arousal from material portraying nudity or sexual acts. Levitt (1969) attempted to take Kinsey's findings one step further by creating a scale of sexual arousal for men and women.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] This self report data has been backed up by physiological research which shows that penile tumescence measures, urinary acid phosphate, vaginal vasocongestion, blood pressure, and genital temperature are all related to pornography exposure (Zuckerman, 1971; Kelley and Byrne, 1983).[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Further studies have shown that arousal is caused by a combination of cognitive and imaginative processing (Geer and Fuhr, 1976; Przbyla and Byrne, 1984), and that arousal can result from self-generated erotic and non-erotic fantasies (Henson and Rubin, 1971).[/size][/font]
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Aggression[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Related to the idea of arousal is the idea that exposure to pornography leads men to greater levels of aggression towards women. Bandura (1973) hypothesized that emotional arousal would intensify aggressive behavior. A number of experimental studies have tested this hypothesis.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Malamuth (1978) conducted a study using three male experimental conditions. One group would read aggressive pornography (depicting a rape), one nonaggressive pornography (loving interaction between a man and woman), and the third neutral stimuli (National Geographic articles). After exposure, all subjects were insulted by a female and were then put in a situation where they could aggress against this woman via the ostensible delivery of electric shocks. Half of the group was told it was permissible to be as aggressive as they wished (disinhibitory communication), while the other half were given a message to make them self conscious about aggression (inhibitory communication).[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] No results were found in the inhibitory group, but in the disinhibitory group the highest levels of aggression were recorded for those who had been exposed to the aggressive pornography.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Similar studies using the Buss paradigm (1961) where electrical shock against an experimental instigator is the operational definition of aggression, have been conducted by Donnerstein. For example Donnerstein and Berkowitz (1981) conducted an experiment placing males into one of four experimental film viewing conditions: aggressive pornography with positive outcome (depiction of a rape where the woman enjoyed the encounter), aggressive pornography with negative outcome (rape where the woman reacted negatively), nonagressive pornography (willing sexual intercourse), and a neutral stimuli. Before watching the film, participants were either angered or treated neutral by a female.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Results found that nonangered males who viewed the positive-aggressive film increased their aggression against the female. Among angered males, both the aggressive-positive and aggressive-negative films produced an increase in aggression towards the female instigator. From this, Donnerstein and Berkowitz conclude "that aggressive pornography can directly influence aggression against women (cited in Malamuth and Donnerstein, 1984)."[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Using a similar design, Donnerstein attempted to gauge the effect of aggressive pornography relative to non-pornographic aggressive material. Male subjects were first angered or treated neutral by a female accomplice, and were then assigned to watch one of three films; aggressive pornography (similar in content to those used in previous studies), aggressive non-pornography (woman is tied up but no nudity or sex), and finally a consensual sex film.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Results found that the combination of angered subject and aggressive pornography produced the highest aggression levels. Significantly, the study also found that the aggressive non pornographic film produced higher levels of aggression than did the purely sexual film. This leads Donnerstein to again conclude that violent pornography is related to aggression against women, but that this may be a factor of the violence in the film, not its sexual content: "Again we see that aggressive pornography is a strong contributor to violence against women. The main factors in this aggressive facilitation, however, seems to be the aggressive nature of the film (Malamuth and Donnerstein, 1984: pp. 74-77)."[/size][/font]
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Desensitization[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Two studies conducted by Donnerstein and Linz have found that prolonged exposure to so called "slasher films" desensitizes viewers to violence against women. Such films are not necessarily pornographic (indeed many are R rated) and usually portray extreme violence juxtaposed with mildly sexual arousing scenes.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] In one study, Donnerstein and Linz (1985) showed 10 hours of R-rated slasher films, X-rated violent pornography, and X-rated nonviolent pornography to male subjects over the course of 5 days. The study found that the R-rated slasher films produced the greatest desensitization:[/size][/font]
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[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]Initially, after the first day of viewing, the men rated themselves as significantly above the norm for depression, anxiety, and annoyance on a mood adjective checklist. After each subsequent day of viewing, these scores dropped until, on the fourth day of viewing, the males' levels of anxiety, depression, and annoyance were indistinguishable from baseline norms. (p. 34F).[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]Subjects were also found to believe the films less debasing and degrading to women and more enjoyable.[/size][/font] [font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] A similar study by Linz et al. (1988) exposed male groups to 8 hours of unedited feature length films. Groups saw slasher films, nonviolent comedies, sexually explicit nonviolent movies, or a no exposure control group. The study concluded that:[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]Sexually violent slasher films that were originally anxiety provoking and depressing became less so with repeated exposure. Men exposed to the slasher films also reported seeing less violence with continued exposure, and films found to be degrading to women were judged to be less so after prolonged exposure. (Krafka et al., 1997: p. 154)[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]It is important to note that in these studies, desensitization effects were strongest among R-rated slasher films which while containing sexual scenes, were not pornographic.[/size][/font] [font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]
Attitudes Towards Women[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Closely related to the desensitization studies, are experiments attempting to see if exposure to pornography leads to antisocial attitudes about women. These studies can be classified into two types, those looking at nonviolent pornography and those looking at violent pornography.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] In a widely cited experiment, Zillmann and Bryant (1982) explored "the consequences of continued exposure to pornography on beliefs about sexuality in general and on dispositions towards women (p. 13)." In this experiment, 80 male and 80 female participants were randomly selected into one of four conditions. In the massive exposure group, participants watched 36 erotic films (roughly 5 hours of film) over a six week period. In the intermediate exposure group, participants saw 18 erotic films and 18 non-erotic films. The no exposure group saw 36 non-erotic films, and finally there was a control. All pornographic films shown were deemed nonviolent. After exposure, participants were introduced to a rape case and asked to recommend a prison sentence for the offense. Participants were also asked to indicate their support for the female liberation movement on a 0 (no support) to 100 (maximum support) scale.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] The massive exposure group was found to have recommended significantly shorter prison terms for the rape case than all other groups. This was the case among both men and women. From this, Zillmann and Bryant conclude that "such exposure, it seems, made rape appear a trivial offense (p. 16)." The massive exposure group was also found to be significantly less supportive of the women's liberation movement.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] In the Donnerstein and Linz (1985) desensitization study mentioned earlier, participants attitudes towards rape were also measured. After exposure, participants saw a documentary reenactment of a real rape trial, and were then asked to asses the female victim. Participants who had seen the R-rated slasher films found the victim to be more responsible for being raped, more worthless, and her injury less severe. Results were largely the same for participants who had seem the X-rated violent films. However, unlike Zillmann and Bryant's finding, participants exposed to nonviolent pornography showed no effects.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Two other studies done by Malamuth and Check (1980 and 1985) explored the relationship between pornographic rape stories and attitudes about rape in general. In both studies, male participants were randomly assigned to listen to short stories about a victim aroused by being raped, a victim abhorred by the rape, and a mutually desired sex story. In the first study, results showed that those men exposed to the aroused rape story believed that the woman had experienced less trauma than those in the other conditions. In the second study, results found that men who heard the aroused rape story were significantly more likely to believe that women enjoy rape.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] These studies generally point to a link between violent pornographic material and antisocial views about women and rape (although it is unclear how much of this is due to violence alone). As we will discuss later, other than the Zillmann and Bryant study, little support is found for a similar link for nonviolent pornography.[/size][/font]
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Decline in Family Values[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Zillmann and Bryant (1989) conducted an experiment to test nonviolent pornography's effect on traditional values about marriage and family. They randomly assigned participants into porn viewing and control groups, and exposed them to this material during hourly sessions over a six week period. After one week, participants were asked to complete a family values survey. Results found that endorsement of marriage as an important institution fell from 60 percent in the control group to 39 percent in the treatment group. The treatment group also wanted fewer children.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] This and other similar studies have led Zillmann and Bryant to conclude that "those massively exposed to pornography will become distrusting of their partners in extended relationships . . . Another likely consequence is a growing dissatisfaction with sexual reality (cited in McNair, 1996: p. 77)." Similarly, Linz and Malamuth (1993) comment that exposure to pornography "fosters a lack of respect for social institutions such as the family and traditional sex roles for women (p. 17)."[/size][/font]
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Causal Model of Rape[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Prominent feminist Diana Russell goes beyond the experimental evidence about pornography and aggression and attitudes towards women, and argues for a multivariate causal relationship between pornography and rape.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] She begins her model by citing research which seems to indicate that a substantial portion of men have a propensity towards rape. For example, Briere and Malamuth (1983) found that of 356 male respondents, 60 percent indicated that under the right conditions, there was some likelihood that they would rape or use force against a woman. Similarly, Goodchilds and Zellman (1984) found that 50 percent of high school males interviewed believed it acceptable "for a guy to hold down and force her to have sexual intercourse in instances such as when 'she gets him sexually excited' or 'she says she's going to have sex with him and then changes her mind."[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] From this premise, Russell argues that pornography predisposes some males to want to rape women by:[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]1. Pairing sexually arousing stimuli with rape.
2. Increasing males self-generated rape fantasies.
3. Sexualizing dominance and submission.
4. Creating an appetite for increasingly stronger material.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]She also finds that pornography undermines males internal inhibitions to act out rape fantasies, and that it undermines potential victims ability to avoid or resist rape (Russell, 1993). Supporting these elements of her causal model she borrows heavily from the experimental research on aggression, desensitization, and attitudes towards women cited above. [/size][/font] [font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Oddly enough, Russell concludes her causal model for pornography and rape by citing correlational evidence. For example, she points to a study done by Baron and Straus (1984) which found a significant correlation (+0.64) between state rape rates and the circulation rate of pornographic magazines in those states. The use of this evidence is rather queer, as any good statistician will note that correlation does not imply causation.[/size][/font]
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Ideological Effects[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Operating largely outside of experimental, survey, and correlational analyses, feminist scholars have developed an ideological view of pornography as more than a simple causal effect, but as a self sustaining reality. This view grows out of the traditional feminist critique of patriarchy, which finds that the oppression of women is an institutionalized and socially constructed tool which men use to maintain the status-quo. As Itzin (1992) summarizes:[/size][/font]
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[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]In Western societies, women are oppressed on the basis of race and class and sexuality and disability. Within this system of sexism, male power -- or male supremacy -- is institutionalized so that men as a group have access to economic, social, sexual and political power that women do not have.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] From this perspective, it is but a short jump to find that pornography is a major tool used by the male hierarchy to keep women in their place. Thus, Dworkin (1988) finds that "Pornography is the material means of sexualizing inequality; and that is why pornography is a central practice in the subordination of women." In a similar fashion, Smith argues that pornography is just another aspect of a capitalist male hegemony: "Pornography solidifies white, male, heterosexual fantasies, and then commoditizes them (1988: p. 179)."[/size][/font] [font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Key within these conceptualizations is the idea that pornography shows women to enjoy violence, subordination, and degradation, in other words the methods by which hierarchy punishes and maintains its power. Thus pornography teaches women that they are mere objects for male pleasure and domination. Therefore, women are socialized to this view, and pornography achieves its hegemonic ends. As Dworkin (1988) concludes: [/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]Pornography is the institution of male dominance that sexualizes hierarchy, objectification, submission, and violence. As such, pornography creates inequality, not as an artifact but as a system of social reality; it creates the necessity for the actual behaviors that constitute sex inequality.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] This conclusion -- that pornography is more than a simple effect, but is rather a totalizing force of discrimination -- led Dworkin and MacKinnon to lobby the city of Minneapolis to pass an anti-pornography censorship bill. They essentially argued that pornography constituted a form of discrimination against women, not unlike Jim Crow laws used against blacks. As a result, women, as a group, should receive civil rights protections against pornography. As the Minneapolis Ordinance states (and also provides an excellent summation of the feminist ideological view of pornography):[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]Pornography is central in creating and maintaining the civil inequality of the sexes. Pornography is a systematic practice of exploitation and subordination based on sex which differentially harms women. The bigotry and contempt it promotes, with the acts of aggression it fosters, harm women's opportunities for equality of rights in employment, education, property rights, public accommodations and public services; create public harassment and private denigration; promote injury and degradation such as rape, battery and prostitution and inhibit just enforcement of laws against these acts; contribute significantly to restricting women from full exercise of citizenship and participation in public life, including in neighborhoods; damage relations between the sexes; and undermine women's equal exercise of rights to speech and action guaranteed to all citizens under the constitutions and laws of the United States and the State of Minnesota. (cited in Ferguson, 1995: p. 677)[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]The ordinance was passed by the city council in 1983 but was vetoed by the mayor. However, a revised version of the law was passed and signed into law by the city of Indianapolis in 1984. The following year, in the case of
American Booksellers v. Hudnut (1986) the ordinance was struck down as and unconstitutionally vague restriction on protected speech.[/size][/font] [font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]
Catharsis[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] At first, it may seem odd to place catharsis under the heading of "powerful effects." After all catharsis studies generally show that pornography prevents harmful effects like rape and other sex crimes. From this, one might argue that catharsis proves the "limited effects" of pornography. A better way to think of catharsis is as a powerful "limiting effect" against sexually deviant behavior. Therefore, it is properly referred to as a powerful effect.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] A number of cathartic effects have been found for pornography, but perhaps the most widely cited is the so called "Danish experience." In the 1960's Denmark experienced a "porno wave", but rather than censoring this content, in 1967 the government lifted all restriction on pornography (save a 16 year old age limit for purchasing porn). Yet rather than experiencing a wave of sex crimes as some had predicted, sex crimes actually declined. For example, Kutchinsky (1970; 1985; 1987; 1991) found that from 1965 to 1982 sex crimes against children declined from 30 per 100,000 in '65 to about 5 per 100,000 in '82. Similar evidence is found for rape rates. Kutchinsky concludes that this is likely the effect of pornography providing potential sex offenders an alternate means of sexual satisfaction, most likely through masturbation.[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Another example of a nation with high amounts of pornography yet low sex crime rates is Japan. As Abramson and Hayashi (1984) have found, pornography in Japan is often featured in general interest newspapers and magazines, and can be seen on prime time television. Not only is porn widely available but much of its adult content depicts the bondage and rape of young women. "In fact, one of the best ways to ensure the success of a Japanese adult film is to include the bondage and rape of a young woman (Abramson and Hayashi, 1984: p. 178)." Despite this, Japan's rape rate is roughly 14 times lower than that of the U.S.'s (2.4 rapes per 100,000 in Japan compared to 34.5 in the U.S.). This discrepancy can not be explained by variance in laws, or Japanese women's reluctance to report rape. Instead, the [/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]Japanese view the availability of such stimuli as a cathartic valve. It is presumed to provide vicarious satisfaction of a socially unacceptable behavior. In a culture that endorses strict codes of behavior and highly defined roles, the depiction of rape also provides a context in which Japanese men can vicariously abandon all of the explicit signposts of good behavior. (p. 182).[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Continuing with international evidence, Faust (1982) studied countries with the most and least equality achieved between men and women. She found that in nations like the U.S. and the Scandinavian countries which highly value women's equality, pornography was widely available. In contrast, in countries repressive towards women, like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the former Soviet Union, little or no pornography was available.[/size][/font] [font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] Another cathartic effect for pornography is found in data about child sex offenders and rapists. Child sex offenders have been shown to have had very little, if any exposure to pornography (Byrne and Kelley, 1984; Faust, 1982). Evidence has also shown that a majority of rapists come from sexually repressive family backgrounds (Goldstein and Kant, 1973; Byrne and Kelley, 1984).[/size][/font]
[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1] In all of these cases, the cathartic effect of pornography is believed due to a substitution effect, by which potential sex offenders receive sexual gratification from pornographic content, rather than from criminal acts against individuals.[/size][/font]
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