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Pornography and violence to women
Pornography and violence to women
How pornography impacts violence against women and child sexual abuse
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Introduction
The area that I am interested in is the effects of violent pornography on men. There is a correlation between the amount of pornography consumed and attitudes that support violence against women. There is also an association between the type of pornography consumed (violent or non-violent) and their attitudes that support violence against women. Pornography contributes to the rape culture seen in today’s society. Men who watch more pornography and pornography that depicts non-consensual sexual activities are more likely to have attitudes that support violence and non-consensual sex with women.
In the study “Pornography, Individual Differences in Risk and Men’s Acceptance of Violence Against Women in a Representative Sample,” conducted by Malamuth, N. M., Hald, G., and Koss, M, the association between amount of pornography consumed and attitudes supporting violence against women is supported.
We want to know how type of pornography effects men’s aggression towards women. This experiment attempts to answer this question.
Hypothesis: In the sample, there will be an association between type of pornography used, violent and non-violent, and aggressive attitudes towards women.
Method
Participants:
All participants are students, undergraduate and graduate, at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. The participants consisted of 120 men whose ages ranged from 18 to 69 (M=23±3.14 years). The sample was acquired through advertisements in the university newspaper as well as the subject pool for sexual research at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
Sampling Procedure:
Before the experiment, all 120 participants will be given informed consent forms that fully go over the experiment’s procedure, goal, as ...
... middle of paper ...
...gressive and 4 of those who were in the HLR moved to the LLR. Those who were exposed to the violent and non-consensual pornographic material were more aggressive and 8 of those who were in the LLR moved to the HLR.
This means that there is an association between violent pornography and aggression. Pornography could be a main contributor to the rape culture that is seen today. Rape culture is when women are blamed for when they are raped or the thought that women enjoy rape. This can add to science because we can be more mindful of the type of pornography that we watch and instill in the public that pornography is purely fictional.
References
Malamuth, N. M., Hald, G., & Koss, M. (2012). Pornography, individual differences in risk and men’s acceptance of violence against women in a representative sample. Sex Roles, 66(7-8), 427-439. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-0082-6
Men watch 2 hours of porn average. 34 percent of youth online receive unwanted pornographic exposure. 93 percent of boys are exposed to internet porn. 68 percent of young men use pornography weekly and 21 percent of young men use pornograph daily. Pornography is sex education for most people. Only 22 states require public schools to teach sex education. Porn causes men to get addicted and this causes social isolation. 83 percent of boys have seen group sex online. 33 percent of boys have seen bondage online. 18 percent of boys have seen rape online. Boys have a strong sexual impulse. Exposure to pornography increases sexual aggression by 22 percent and increases the acceptance of rape myths (that women desire sexual violence) by 31 percent. American culture are producing rapists. Every 9 seconds a woman is beaten or assaulted. 35 percent of male college students indicated some likelihood of raping if they knew they could get away with it. 1 in 5 female college students is the victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault. Parents raise boys to become men and to reject feminine. This leads men to disrespecting women because they do not see them as a human. According to Geoffrey Canada, “The music industry presents overtly sexual messages that denigrate women and portray them as sex toys. Video games offer violent messages, and even the sports video games include taunting and teasing. Movies portray
Eron, L.D., Huesmann, L.R., Lefkowitz, M.M. & Walder, L.O. (1972). Does television violence cause aggression? American Psychologist, 27, 253-263.
Today, pornography has different targeted audiences based on various categories of pornography. There are pornographies made that are targeted toward women in which are slow and focused more on the people’s language rather than solely genitally focused. Most pornographies, however, are made specifically for men. These videos contain a large focus on the genitals, the men are portrayed as dominant, and the women please the men taking any measures necessary. According to a study, pornography that was intended for men and women aroused the men who were being studied. Women on the other hand, activated negative affects after watching the pornography intended for men and positive after watching the pornography intended for women (Mosher, 1994). In general, men are the main target of pornographies and women as well as feminists believe that pornography should not characterize women as objects. Also when making this study, it was difficult to find pornography that was made by women, majority of the videos are made by men and produced for
Kristol’s article writes that pornography and the pornographic industry has always been dominated by men (491). Throughout the history of the United States, men have taken precedence over women in many aspects. Men were considered the workers of the family while women stayed home and acted as housewives or catered to the men. The idea of feminism and women’s equality, however, is growing throughout the nation. With feminism and women’s equality at large, society must progress toward eliminating male domination and allowing the extension for women's opportunities; therefore, pornography and the male-dominated industry should be limited by the government. Aside from men and the power statuses they hold in pornography, Gail Dines in her article “Facts and Figures” discloses information about the male tendencies after watching pornography. Men have been reported to support female rape, have aggressive behavior toward women, have a decreased sex drive toward wives or girlfriends, and desire forced sexual acts after viewing pornography (1). Despite America’s best effort to protect all citizens, in reality, females are typically victims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, and pornography is a cause of such violence. Although it is a key factor that plays a role in causing violence and aggressive behavior toward women, Americans are able to easily access videos or films instantly because of modern technology and the lack of pornography censoring. Because of the tendency to cause abuse in the real world, pornography must be censored in order to ensure that women are granted equal amounts of safety and
Studies have been conducted to find if violent movies influence a person’s judgement and violent behavior. Psychologists have said that brutal imagery in films, games, and other media sow aggression in society by rendering viewers insensitive to acts of these type. The long term effects of exposure to these movies depicting murder, rape, robberies, and so on is pernicious. Another study concluded that the crime rate would actually decrease during the showings of these movies because for 2 hours during the movie any violence prone persons that wished to see the movie would be in the theater which meant they wouldn’t be on the streets committing crime. Dr. Michael Rich of Children's Hospital of Boston testified that the correlation between violent media and aggressive behavior is stronger than that of calcium intake and bone mass, lead ingestion and lower IQ, condom non-use and sexually acquired HIV, and environmental tobacco smoke and lung cancer, all associations that clinicians accept as fact, and on which pr...
...pornography often objectify women and force them into submissive positions in movies and society. But pornography has a detrimental affect on men as well, in that it “hurts men’s capacity to relate to women” (189). Generally, men consider it is better to have power, and do not recognize the need for men and women to work together. Pornography is one of the largest obstacles that prevents men from seeing this truth, and the practice should be banned. Even according to MacKinnon’s definition of pornography, sexually explicit material could remain legal if it portrayed both sexes equally. However, this can not happen until men and women are equal in society. If this is accomplished, the male need to view pornography would drastically decrease. Women could become part of the power structure and world on their own terms. Gender equality would be a victory for both sexes.
In a research analysis of Media and Violence, studies show that “Although the typical effect size for exposure to violent media is relatively small ... this ‘small effect’ translates into significant consequences for society as a whole” (“Media and Violence: An Analysis of Current Research”, 2015). This states violent behaviors can come from the smallest variables, or clips from videos, which is why it is important for parents to control what their kids see, read, and watch, and limit the amount of violence exposure.
The next topic of the essay was how sexuality correlated with aggression. Several tests were given out to both men and women asking them whether they saw themselves as very passionate or not at all, but with the men's test they correlated being passionate with aggression, where as they didn't do that with the women. This test showed that men are more assertive than women in relationships. Men also initiate touching and other sexual things. Rape is considered the extreme link between aggression and sexuality. This being said, there are tendencies in men of showing the wrong kind of aggression in relationships that could lead to rape.
Pornography can be defined as printed or visual material displaying erotic descriptions or visuals of sexual body parts or sexual activity, and is largely aimed to appeal to a male audience through sexual scenarios which often dehumanize and exploit women and their bodies. Though largely, pornography is is designed to please a masculinized audience, there are some feminists, from multiple genders, who aim to “reclaim their right to enjoy sexual images without violence and negativity” (Klinger). Ideally, pornography would be a context in which there would be a conscious movement towards eliciting a healthy reclamation of sexually charged images from all genders- especially women. Those against pornography usually emphasize the specifics of porn as it occurs in modern culture. Oftentimes anti-pornography feminists point out the extremely male-oriented vision of sexuality, the sexism, and with descriptions such as: “women presented as dehumanized sexual objects, things, or commodities; shown as enjoying humiliation, pain, or sexual assault; tied up, mutilated, or physically hurt; depicted in postures or positions of sexual submission or servility; shown with body parts- including though not limited to vagina, breast, or buttocks- exhibited such that women are reduced to those parts; women penetrated by animals or objects; and women presented in scenarios of degradation, humiliation, or torture, shown as filthy or inferior, bleeding, bruised, or hurt in a context that makes these conditions sexual” (MacKinnon). As the pornography industry is now, it contributes to the ideals of rape culture by fetishizing femininity and female “fragility” and/or “innocence”. This obviously misogynistic practice also creates a reliance on understanding...
According to Kahlor and Morrison, studies have shown a positive correlation between men’s exposure to such depictions and their acceptance of violence against women (Kahlor & Morrison 2007)
The topic “Is pornography an inducement to rape?’ discusses that whether pornography can be considered as a consequence of rape. In other words, that is to indicate whether some behaviors such watching or reading pornography could encourage people, especially males, to commit sexual assault. This essay involves the discussion of the activity of pornography is positive or negative, necessary or unnecessary, harmful or harmless to those who watch pornography as a significant encouragement of rape or not. Furthermore, especially on the questions whether any link exists between pornography and sexual assault and what the link might be.
The media has changed significantly over the past decades. Technology has modified our abilities to expand our communication network, and it allows companies to spread their commercials over many different continents. Research done by Roberts (1993) shows that adolescent and children are often very influenced by media that involves sexual or violent conduct. This research is based on media involving children and adolescents, however this does not eliminate the effect media has on adults (Singer & Singer, 2001, p. 269).
... between exposure to pornography and commission of violence, but this research was conducted in 1993 which is now outdated. Another point, which she emphasized, was that a greater availability of sexually explicit material seems to correlate with higher indices of gender equality. But when the sexually explicit material shows the subordination of women or women presented as sexual object who enjoy pain or humiliation, how can they be equal as men when the men are shown as the gender that enjoys subordinating women. (Strossen,550). Feminist author Diana Russell notes in her book Rape and Marriage the correlation between deviant behavior (including abuse) and pornography. She also found that pornography leads men and women to experience conflict, suffering, and sexual dissatisfaction.
Sprankel E. and End Christian, . "The Effects of Censored and Uncensored Sexually Explicit Music on Sexual Attitudes and Perceptions of Sexual Activity." Deepdyve. Zavier University, n.d. Web. April 2011. .
Stark, Cynthia A. "Is Pornography An Action: The Causal vs. The Conceptual View of Pornography's Harm" Social Theory and Practice. v.23 p. 277-306, 1997