The Social Costs of Pornography: A Collection of Papers Read online

  As scripts for sexual intimacy with a real life partner, these nearly always fall short. Sometimes a partner is too tired or too ill to desire sex. Sometimes the comforts of a routine sexual encounter are precisely what one desires. Sometimes we feel unattractive. And sometimes, although one hates to admit it, we prefer hurried sex, before the kids’ Saturday morning cartoon finishes. Furthermore, real life requires the capacity to switch mental gears so that we desire sex despite last night’s argument over hanging up wet towels and having seen one another pass gas. Unlike a movie, these awkward moments are not edited out of life. They are the very fabric that creates intimacy. It is not surprising, then, that learning about gender roles through pornography’s unrealistic portrayals leads to reduced sexual and relational satisfaction.11

  But this is not pornography’s most disturbing script. A recent content analysis of fifty best-selling adult videos revealed a grim “reality” characterized by inequality and violence.12 Nearly half of the 304 scenes analyzed contained verbal aggression, while over 88% showed physical aggression. Seventy percent of aggressive acts were perpetrated by men, and 87% of the acts were committed against women. By far the victims’ most common responses were pleasure or neutrality. Fewer than 5% of the aggressive acts provoked a negative response from the victim, including flinching and requests to stop. This pornographic “reality” was further highlighted by the relative infrequency of more positive behaviors, such as verbal compliments, embracing, kissing, or laughter.

  The importance of the sexual scripts usually seen in pornography may explain why women are more likely to respond negatively to “conventional” pornography compared with men.13 Women consumers are likely to react negatively to the scripts just described. If this is the case, pornography that better adheres to women’s romantic and sexual scripts ought to be better-received, and “femme pornography” (made by women for women) should produce greater sexual arousal and more positive effect in women, since it focuses less on the genitals and male pleasure, and more on slower, more sensual sexual pleasures and relationships.

  One study found that men liked both types and that both increased their post-viewing sexual activity (both solitary and otherwise), while women were more disgusted by conventional pornography but more aroused and less negative about femme pornography.14 They engaged in higher levels of sexual intercourse, though not of masturbation, following exposure to femme videos.

  These two models also have implications for policy. If they help explain how pornography exerts its effects on users, efforts should be aimed at limiting production and consumption of pornographic materials that reward aggression and violence against others. Sexually explicit materials that promote egalitarian depictions of erotic encounters would be preferred.

  TWO OTHER MODELS

  Two other cognitive models of pornography’s effects on users, both drawn from the alcohol and substance abuse literature,15 merit discussion. Cognitive models focus on internal thoughts and beliefs or interpretations of stimuli that then drive behavior. They explain why the same event can have very different meanings for different people—why, for example, one woman may encourage her partner’s pornography use while another is completely devastated.16

  Permission-giving beliefs model. The first of these models refers to thoughts that rationalize behavior.17 Pornography users may tell themselves that the women clearly enjoy what they are doing and are not harmed by it (many pornographic DVDs include bloopers and deleted scenes that reinforce this belief ), or that using pornography is much better than seeking out women for affairs.

  Interestingly, my own research suggests that female partners of male pornography users utilize similar permission-giving beliefs. For example, many women report thinking that their partner’s behavior is preferable to his having a real-life affair, that all men view pornography, and that it is a relief at times that her partner does not turn solely to her to fulfill his frequent sexual demands.18

  Perceptions of social norms model. This model describes how the heavy use of pornography skews the users’ perception of what is normal (that is, what the average person does), so that they are unable to recognize just how uncommon their own behavior is. Heavy use normalizes this perception and leads to overestimation of how frequently certain sexual activities are actually practiced. Adolescent boys with higher consumption rates of pornography are more likely than others to engage in anal and group sex and to report “hook-ups” (having sexual relations with a friend who is not a romantic partner).19

  In using cognitive models to decide policy, the downside is that they place the problem, and therefore its solution, firmly inside the individual. Although community-wide campaigns with corrective educational information may attempt to change social norms, the proposed mechanism of change remains at the level of the individual’s thoughts.20

  COLD AND HOT STATES

  One important implication of the cognitive models is that each relies on the rational choice of the consumer: The viewer chooses to behave in a way that has been previously modeled and reinforced by adult films, or provides permission-giving thoughts that serve to neutralize other thoughts that may turn him away from pornography. The user may be following a scripted cognitive map of how to behave in sexual situations, or rationally be considering how normative his behavior may be. Treatment relies on appeals to a more rational mind: one that asks the pornography user to weigh carefully his values and possible long-term consequences for behavior, and then make a choice.

  However, in a clever study, behavioral economists at MIT demonstrated that these “cold,” rational choices are different from those we may make while in a “hot” or aroused state.21 College men were asked to answer questions about sexual interests and behaviors while in a “cold” state of mind (simply reading the questions) or in a “hot” state of mind (while masturbating to pornographic pictures). They were asked about risky sexual behavior; sexual arousal, including whether they found elderly women, young girls, or shoes sexually arousing; sexual behavior, including their interest in slapping someone during sex, bondage, or in engaging in anal sex or bestiality; and sexual violence, including their willingness to coerce someone in order to have sex.

  During the aroused state, they were significantly more likely to report behaviors, people, and objects as sexually arousing and increased willingness to both engage in the behaviors and to use coercive methods to obtain sex. The only two items arousal did not affect were their willingness to have sex with other men and their interest in having sex with the lights on.

  This study points to an important consideration when planning interventions for pornography users: what is wholeheartedly and earnestly promised in a cold state will not readily translate into real behavior change while in an aroused state. It may be preferable to have people practice behaviors in the same physiological state that they will be experiencing when expected to perform them.

  A MORE COMPREHENSIVE MODEL

  Cultural climate model. A more comprehensive model for understanding the effects of pornography on interpersonal relationships considers larger contextual and societal factors rather than the way individuals interact with pornographic media. The cultural climate model states that pornography contributes to an environment in which violence toward women becomes acceptable, but that the broader environment itself contains what can be called “pornography norms.”22 These effects are seen not only in men’s perceptions of women, but in women’s own perceptions of themselves.

  Theoretically, for women exposure to pornography results in reduced selfesteem and body-image satisfaction, increased sense of vulnerability to violence, and an increased sense of defenselessness; for men it results in reward for displays of hyper-masculinity and trivializing or excusing violence against women. Partial support for this has been found in the psychological literature,23 but pornographic norms for gender relationships and sexuality infuse many other forms of media, such as music videos, reality television shows, even children’s toys. Thus, it become
s difficult to distinguish pornography’s specific effects from those of the general climate of gender inequality in a pornified culture.24

  Interestingly, some research suggests that whatever relationship may appear to exist between consumption of pornography and violence against women is better thought of as a relationship that is supported by general social acceptability of violence as a whole, with sexual violence being but one of many types. One study of circulation rates of pornographic magazines and incidents of sexual assault found that an initial positive relationship was made nonsignificant with the inclusion of a measure of approval of violence in general.25 Such findings support the cultural climate theory.

  The American Psychological Association has already spoken of the negative effects of a more sexualized culture on girls.26 Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that higher exposure to sexualized imagery and pornography is associated with earlier initiation of sexual activity, increased sexual risk-taking behavior, and increasingly tolerant attitudes toward sexual promiscuity.27 Similarly, more frequent viewing of pornographic videos is associated with higher engagement in anal sex, group sex, and hook-ups.28

  Third person effects. An important consideration when speaking with the public about the effects of pornography is the empirical finding that people are significantly more likely to perceive others as being susceptible to media influences while simultaneously believing that they are immune.29 Thus, public education must include both information about how pornography exerts its effects and information about this perceptual bias so that people are not so quick to dismiss the educational message.

  This model is akin to the radical feminist sociopolitical position: It advocates for widespread cultural change in how sexuality is constructed. A simple ban on certain materials would be insufficient, since pornography norms are infused throughout the culture. Instead, new models of healthy sex and gender relationships are required, models that do not view sex appeal as narrowly defined by physical looks, where a person’s worth is determined by more than just sexual behavior, where sexuality is expressed between consenting beings. In these new models of healthy sex, people are not reduced to sexual objects, valued only insofar as they can sexually service one another.

  THE INTERPERSONAL EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE

  Having described the theoretical models that help explain how pornography affects interpersonal relationships, I now turn to the research that helps us understand pornography’s effects on interpersonal relationships. Among the effects of the use of pornography are an increased negative attitude toward women, decreased empathy for victims of sexual violence, a blunted affect, and an increase in dominating and sexually imposing behavior.

  Pornography increases negative attitudes toward women. Media depicting women as objects existing for male sexual pleasure and as subordinates negatively affect the users’ attitudes and behaviors toward women. Studies have examined the impact of pornography on attitudes of gender roles. One study of male college students found that their use of erotic material (sexually explicit materials that were non-violent and non-degrading) did not affect their attitudes toward women.30 However, their use of pornographic materials (sexually explicit materials that included coercion or violence) was (though the effect was small) positively correlated with beliefs that women should occupy more gender-defined, traditional roles, should be less independent than men, drink and swear less, exhibit less interest in sexual behaviors, and maintain more traditional roles in marriages.

  The results have direct implications for romantic relationships. Men who consume pornography may expect their partners to occupy traditional female roles and be less assertive. This restriction could lead to increased dissatisfaction among their partners.

  DECREASED EMPATHY, BLUNTED AFFECT

  Pornography decreases empathy for victims of sexual violence. Another study of college men found that after repeated exposure to one of three film types (graphically violent sexual films, degrading but non-violent pornographic films, or degrading but nonviolent and nonsexual films), those who had seen the violent sexual film showed significantly less sympathy for a rape victim during a mock trial than did the others.31 Interestingly, those who saw the nonsexual but degrading film generally did not differ significantly from control subjects (who had not seen any film) in their empathy for the victim. The authors concluded that the combination of degradation and sexually explicit material seems particularly detrimental.

  In a similar study of college women the subjects were assigned to view sexually explicit but non-violent films, sexually explicit and violent films, or mildly explicit but graphically violent films for four consecutive days. On the fifth day, they were told the last film had not arrived and were invited to participate in an experiment on jury selection for a rape trial through the university’s law school. Women who had seen the graphically violent films showed reduced empathy for the victim and a decreased sense of personal vulnerability to crimes compared with the other two groups. However, they did not change in their level of endorsement of the rape myth.

  A review of studies of attitudes toward rape found that six of the seven studies of people who had viewed pornography for less than one hour found that exposure to violent pornography had significant negative effects (reduced sympathy for victims, increased sense of the woman’s responsibility for the rape, and decreased punishments for the perpetrator).32 Of the seven studies of people who had viewed sexually explicit films for more than one hour, five found negative effects (more lenient sentences for the rapist, less empathy for the victim, less support for women’s equality, and greater endorsement of their own likelihood of raping were they assured they would not be caught). The two studies that did not find such effects had shown only non-violent erotica.

  Attitudes such as these can affect romantic relationships, both directly and indirectly. Directly, legitimizing violence in male-female interactions may put more women at risk (this will be discussed in greater detail later on). Indirectly, a relationship in which the man holds such demeaning attitudes is likely to result in diminished relationship satisfaction.

  Pornography leads to blunted affect. Anxiety-provoking stimuli lose their ability to evoke strong reactions with repeated exposure.33 Researchers have argued that this occurs with violent and degrading pornographic material.34

  A study of college men demonstrated that repeated exposure to violent, sexually suggestive material leads to declines in the negative emotions they feel when viewing such material.35 Participants were repeatedly exposed to overtly violent, mildly sexually explicit films (“slasher” films), sexually explicit, non-violent but degrading films, or nonsexual but degrading films. The first group became habituated to the slasher films, so that by the last day they reported significantly less anxiety and depression than they had at the beginning of the study. The feelings of the other two groups did not change. Each group, however, perceived the materials to be less violent, negative, and degrading on the last day than they had on the first.

  This blunting of strong affect is not limited to men.36 In the study of college women described above, women who had watched violent films responded to these disturbing films with less anger, anxiety, or upset on the last day of viewing than they did initially. Those women who had watched sexually explicit but non-violent films over the course of the experiment responded to a subsequent violent film with more distress than those who had been exposed to multiple violent films. This desensitization to the degradation and violence of women has negative implications for interpersonal violence in romantic relationships. Unlike the male subjects in the previous study, the women did not change from the first to the last day their perceptions of how violent or degrading the films were. While women still recognized violence after repeated exposure to these films, they demonstrated less of a strong, negative emotional response to the violence.

  DOMINANCE AND IMPOSITION

  Pornography increases dominating behaviors. Exposure to pornography also results in more dominating, degra
ding, and sexualizing behaviors in men. In one study using male and female college students, the males were told that they were participating in a study of the perceptions of media communications and randomly assigned to one of three films: erotica, nonsexual news coverage of war, or pornography.37 Following the films, they were invited to attend a short, ostensibly separate experiment in which each was paired with a female participant in a problem-solving task. They were filmed while completing the task, and trained raters coded the videotapes to determine behaviors for each participant, including eye gaze, interruptions, touch, unwanted sexual remarks, and disregard of a partner’s suggestions. The men who viewed the sexually explicit films (both erotica and pornography) showed more dominant behaviors, touched their female partners for longer periods of time, and ignored their partner’s contributions more often than males who viewed the news clips. Furthermore, men who had watched the pornography interrupted their partners more and showed more anxious behaviors than those in the other two groups.

  The authors were interested in seeing whether the women’s behaviors varied as a function of the film their partner had watched. The women did not know that their partners had watched these movies, but their behavior correlated highly with their male partner’s. Women whose partners had viewed sexually explicit materials showed similar levels of anxiety, physical proximity, partner touch, and gazing at their partners. This behavioral matching, argue the researchers, suggests that women can be negatively affected by a partner’s use of sexually explicit material, even when they are unaware of such use.