Sexuality:
The way an individual expresses him/herself as a sexual being
Media-dictated sexuality: of sexuality
Pornography
Greek
• Porne = Prostitute
• Grafe = Writing
Material that features explicit sexual behavior and nudity h t ll t h i l psychological dominance over another
Often also contains explicit violence
Erotic media
Greek
• Eros = Love
Material that features explicit
sexual content without violence and overt power dynamics , p pornography
Obscenity
Legal term
Obscene materials do not have First Amendment protection
Government can restrict circulation or ban obscene matereials
Justice Byron White's Definition : "no erect penises, no intercourse, no oral or anal sodomy. For White, no erections and no insertions equaled no obscenity."
Justice William Brennan's Definition, The Limp Dick
Test : "no erections. He was willing to accept penetration as long as the pictures passed what his clerks referred there was no erection."
Justice Stewart Potter's Definition : " ... I know it
[obscenity/pornography] when I see it."
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The Commission on Obscenity and Pornography
1967 – created by Congress at the request of LBJ
Examined how pornography affects crime and juvenile delinquency
• Pornography = sexually explicit (not violent)
Major finding: there were no known harms caused by pornography
Commission Report's Aftermath
Trigger Hypothesis vs. Safety Valve Theory
Exposure to sexually explicit materials will provoke people to commit sex crime or...
people from their desire to commit a sex crime
Research Following the Commission Report
James Weaver (1980)
How the content affects the viewer's perceptions and behaviors
Examined contents from three categories:
> erotic (sexual fantasy) themes
> coercive/violent themes
Donnerstein (1980) found that brief exposure to violent forms of pornography can lead to anti-social attitudes and behavior
Male viewers tend to be more aggressive towards women, less responsive to pain and suffering of rape victims, and more willing to accept various myths about rape (i.e., acceptance of rape myth)
Common rape myths:
“Everyone knows that when a woman says ‘no,’ she really means ‘yes.’ ”
“The way she was dressed, she was asking for it!”
“If a woman agrees to go into a man’s apartment, she is consenting to have sex.”
“A woman has to be forced to enjoy sex.”
“If a woman doesn’t want to get raped, she shouldn’t drink.”
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Behavioral Impact
Stanley Milgram’s electric shock paradigm measure obedience to authority
Behavioral Impact
Kenneth Leonard & Stuart Taylor’s electric shock tested the effects of sexually explicit material
Undergraduates viewed either neutral or erotic slides in the presence of a female
Female gave different reaction in of the 3 sessions:
“No cues” – no reaction
“Non-permissive cues” – disapproving comments
“Permissive cues” – variety of positive comments
Rationale:
Women tolerated inappropriate shock levels as she has tolerated the sexually explicit material on the slides
Calloused perception + tolerance portrayed
Ecological Validity used to describe how the results
(pattern of behavior) found in the experiment can be applied to the outside world.
Mundane Realism if the details from the experiment do not match up with reality.
Experimental Realism the emphasis on the meaning
Rape Myth Acceptance & The Accused
> 90% of males in the study reported that she was
“somewhat” responsible for her rape
> 66% of males in the study reported that she was
“entirely” responsible for her rape
> 54% of females in the study reported that she was
“somewhat” responsible for her rape
> 23% of females in the study reported that she was
“entirely” responsible for her rape
Social correlates
Participants in the study reported:
> Heavy exposure to television (84%)
> Heavy exposure to rap music (79%)
> Moderate exposure to heavy metal music (39%) pornography (42%)
> Heavy exposure to video games (81%)
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Effects of sexually explicit content:
> Belief that rape is not a serious crime.
> High prevalence of sexual practices.
> Low satisfaction in their own sexual relationships
> Lost of trust in partners
The Meese Commission Report on Pornography
Ed Meese , 1986
Rejected by scientific community
Interviews were conducted in an unscientific way conclusion of correlation between pornography and sex offenses
Effects of TV and sex
Television’s conceptualization of sexuality is not that different from evolutionary psychologists’ conceptualization of men’s and women’s sexuality
Psychologists just say it differently:
Men want beautiful women and women want men
Effects include
> physiological arousal (elevated heart rate and blood pressure, dilated eyes and sweaty hands
> sexual arousal (specific to the sex organs)
Our exposure comes largely from television
The Committee on Public Education reported that adolescents spend more time in front of the television than they do in school or with their parents
By the time the average 18 year-old graduates from high school, s/he will have spent the days a week – of his/her life watching television
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60% of adolescents report that their primary source of information about birth control comes from watching television
70% of adolescents report that watching television teaches them what “real” relationships are supposed to be like watch to be only “mildly” sexual in nature
This is a major indice of TV’s desensitizing effect
Teen sexual activity correlates to TV viewing
Longitudinal study assessed whether exposure to sexual content in 4 mass media (television, music, movies & magazines) used by early adolescents predicts sexual behavior in the middle adolescents
Measured adolescents’ Sexual Media Diet (SMD)
Findings:
White adolescents in the top 20% of the SMD when 12 to 14 years old were 2.2 times more likely to have sexual intercourse when 14 to 16 years old
African-American adolescents in the top 20% of the
SMD when 12 to 14 years old were 1.2 times more likely
Online pornography addiction is the third most cited reason in marital dissolution
Fastest growing demographic affected by online pornography addiction?
Males aged 12-16
Effects of pornography
> A direct link between exposure to violent pornography and acted out behavior has been continuously demonstrated
> 77% of child molesters report having modeled their deviant behavior after pornography they had
> States that have no restrictions pm where pornographic magazines are sold also have the highest rape rates
> Approximately 70% of all pornographic materials purchased end up in the hands of minors
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Music videos
Considered the most salacious content on mainstream television – representative of soft core pornography
Women in music videos wear, on average, 1/10 the amount of clothing as men i id th th t l i l content, send “sexual messages” to viewers
Let’s look at some examples
The Thong Song (Sisqo)
Cream (Prince)
A Fuck is a Fuck (2 Live Crew)
Making Good Love (Avant)
The first line of the song, “Got your legs spread all over the bed, hands clinging to the sheet, hair wild as hell I know, the only thing on your mind is sexing me.”
Lose Control (Missy Elliott)
One chorus reads,
“Let me lick I ain't scared
Girl, dat thang taste like peaches
Let me lick it
Let me lick it
Let me lick it li k it
Let me lick I ain't scared
Girl, dat thang taste like peaches
Let me lick it
Let me lick it
Let me lick it
Let me lick it”
Video games
Video games regularly objectify female characters, making them look more like adult film stars
A study of video games found that the few female characters (heroines) in games are often highly sexualized unrealistically large breasts and distorted small waists
Effects:
> Video games use images of women and female sexuality and associate it with exchanging sex for money, and sex with violence
> Video game play desensitize 18-year-old males at the same rate as viewing pornography
Magazines
In advertising, women’s bodies are used sexually to sell products more often than men’s
White women in roughly 62% of ads were “scantily clad”
(e.g., bikinis, lingerie) while the same was true for 53% of black women
(typically without shirt)
Women were also represented in stances of powerlessness
Black women were likely to be featured in animal prints, in predatory poses http://www.dove.us/#/features/videos/default.aspx[cpdocumentid=7049578]
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Context variables on the effects of sexual content:
Prevailing Tone
Seriousness or triviality
Artistic value or intent
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