pornography
PORNOGRAPHY AND VIOLENCE
Introduction
The Meese Report
What is a harm? We do not wish in referring repeatedly to
"harm" to burden ourselves with an unduly narrow
conception of harm… And we certainly reject the view
that the only noticeable harm is one that causes physical
or financial harm to identifiable individuals. An
environment -physical, cultural, moral, or aesthetic-can
be harmed, and so can a community, organization, or
group be harmed independent of identifiable harms to
members of that community…
The Meese Report
The Meese Report
When clinical and experimental research has focused
particularly on sexually violent material, the conclusions
have been virtually unanimous. In both clinical and
experimental settings, exposure to sexually violent
materials has indicated an increase in the likelihood of
aggression. More specifically, the research, which is
described in much detail later in this Report, shows a
causal relationship between exposure to material of this
type and aggressive behavior towards women.
The Meese Report
The assumption that increased aggressive behavior towards
women is causally related, for an aggregate population, to
increased sexual violence is significantly supported by the
clinical evidence, as well as by much of the less scientific
evidence. They are also to all of us assumptions that are
plainly justified by our own common sense. This is not to say
that all people with heightened levels of aggression will
commit acts of sexual violence. But it is to say that over a
sufficiently large number of cases we are confident in
asserting that an increase in aggressive behavior directed at
women will cause an increase in the level of sexual violence
directed at women.
The Meese Report
The Sexual Violence Argument
At least some forms of pornography harm women by
causing an increase in sexual violence.
2. If (1), then it is prima facie permissible for the
government to censor some forms of pornography.
3. [So] It is prima facie permissible for the government to
censor some forms of pornography.
1.
The Harm Principle
 The Harm Principle (NC Version): Sociopolitical coercion
is permissible only if it prevents harm to others.
 The Harm Principle (NSC Version): Sociopolitcial coercion
is permissible if and only if it prevents harm to others.
 The Harm Principle (NPFO Version): Sociopolitical
coercion is permissable only if it is prevents harm to
others and is prima facie obligatory if it prevents harm to
others.
The Sexual Violence Argument
At least some forms of pornography harm women by
causing an increase in sexual violence.
2. If (1), then it is prima facie permissible for the
government to censor some forms of pornography.
3. [So] It is prima facie permissible for the government to
censor some forms of pornography.
1.
The Harm Principle
 The Harm Principle (Narrow Version): Sociopolitical
coercion is permissible only if it prevents the coerced
subject from harming others.
 The Harm Principle (Wide Version): Sociopolitical
coercion is permissible only if it prevents harm to others
in some way or other.
The Sexual Violence Argument
At least some forms of pornography harm women by
causing an increase in sexual violence.
2. If (1), then it is prima facie permissible for the
government to censor some forms of pornography.
3. [So] It is prima facie permissible for the government to
censor some forms of pornography.
1.
Social Experiments
…undertook a 50-state correlational analysis of reported
rape rates and the circulation rates of eight pornography
magazines: Chic, Club, Forum, Gallery, Genesis, Hustler,
Oui, and Playboy. A highly significant correlation (+0.64)
was found between reported rape rates and circulation
rates.
Larry Baron and Murray Straus (1989)
Four Theories of Rape in American Society
Social Experiments
Queensland, [at that time] the most conservative state, has
maintained the strictest controls on pornography and has
a comparatively low rate of rape reports. By contrast,
South Australia, the [then] most liberal state in relation to
pornography, has seen escalating reports of rape in the
early 1970s... By 1985, South Australia had five times the
rape rate of Queensland.
Spencer Gear (1990)
“The Power of Pornography”
Criminal Interviews
…that 56% of the rapists and 42% of the child molesters
implicated pornography in the commission of their
offenses.
Gene Abel, Mary Mittleman, and Judith Becker (1985)
“Pornography and Sexual Violence”
…30% of rapists had encountered “hard” pornography as
presdolescents vs. 2% of non-rapists.
Michael Goldstein and Harold Kant (1973)
Pornography and Sexual Deviance
Lab Tests
This study examined the relatively long-term effects of repeated exposure to
violent and nonviolent pornography on males' laboratory aggression
against women… Subjects were randomly assigned to the sexually violent,
sexually nonviolent, or control exposure conditions. Those assigned to the
sexually violent or sexually nonviolent conditions were exposed over a
four-week period to ten stimuli including feature-length films and written
and pictorial depictions, whereas control subjects were not exposed to
any stimuli. About a week following the end of the exposure phase,
subjects participated in what they believed to be a totally unrelated
experiment in which aggression was assessed within a Buss paradigm.
Exposure to the violent or nonviolent pornographic stimuli was found to
affect laboratory aggression… Likelihood of raping ratings was found to
predict laboratory aggression.
Neil M. Malamuth and Joseph Ceniti
“Repeated Exposure to Violent and Non-Violent Pornography”