pornography resulted in increased negative thoughts about women.   Moreover, few studies have been conducted recently enough to take into account the increasing availability of pornography through newer media such as the World Wide Web.  Further, almost no studies of the effects of pornography have addressed the feminist assertion that pornography reproduces patriarchal ideology and practice. The present study is a modest attempt to address these concerns. 

Data and Methods

             Questionnaires were completed by N=451 students at the University of Northern Iowa (228 men and 223 women).  Students are mostly from Iowa, and tend to be fairly conservative in their politics.  The questionnaires contained a series of items measuring attitudes toward gender roles and expectations, partner violence, rape, homosexuals, and pornography.  A nine item series asked about the respondent’s exposure to pornography in the preceding six months.   In addition, a single item measure of feminist identity was used.  The variables are described briefly below.

             The dependent variable used in this study is Rape Supportive Attitudes (RSA).  This scale is comprised of sixteen items, most of which are adapted from Burt’s (1980) rape myth acceptance scale and Ward’s (1995) Attitudes Toward Rape Victims scale.  Participants indicated on a seven-point Likert response scale whether they agreed or disagreed with statements such as “It is okay for a guy to hold a woman down and force her to have sex if she has led him on by allowing sexual touching.”  Scale scores range from 16 to 91, with higher scores indicating more approval of rape, acceptance of rape myths, and victim-blaming. 

             PORNEXP measures voluntary exposure to pornography in the past six months.  High scores indicate more frequent viewing of nine forms of pornography. 

The variable PATRIARCHY is a scale comprised of fourteen items referring to attitudes toward women, adversarial beliefs about male-female relations, and endorsement of traditional gender roles.  Higher scores represent more patriarchal attitudes and beliefs. Identifying as a feminist (FEMINIST) was measured with a single Likert-type item.  Participants responded to the statement “You would describe yourself as a feminist” using a seven-point Likert response scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.  Higher scores represent greater feminist identification.

             The data were analyzed separately for men and women.  Our focus here is on the responses of the men, since it is primarily men who are hypothesized to commit sexual assault, or at least develop attitudinal predispositions to assault, as a result of exposure to pornography.  Findings for women are presented as a point of comparison.  Bivariate correlations and ordinary least squares regression models were calculated and are reported below. 

Findings

             The simple bivariate correlations between the variables are displayed in Table 1.  For men, all of the associations are statistically significant in the expected direction.  Rape supportive attitudes are positively associated with pornography exposure.  In other words, men who view porn more frequently tend to have more pro-rape attitudes.  Acceptance of patriarchal ideology is even more strongly correlated with rape attitudes, however.  Men who have more patriarchal attitudes tend to have more rape supportive attitudes.  Men who identify themselves as feminist, on the other hand, are less likely to endorse rape supportive attitudes.