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Pornography, Patriarchy and Rape Supportive Attitudes

B. Keith Crew, Elizabeth Chivers and Jessica Winkleman, University of Northern Iowa

 

             What is the relationship between pornography and violence against women?  Some critical and feminist authors (e.g., Dines, Jensen and Russo 1998; Russell, 2000) assume that there is a causal connection, with exposure to pornography causing, inspiring, justifying, or privileging sexual violence against women.  As Morgan (1980) puts it, “pornography is the theory and rape is the practice.”  One suggested causal link between pornography and sexual violence is attitudinal. That is, pornography reinforces and reproduces attitudes and beliefs that justify sexual assault.  In the present study, we used a survey of college students to test whether viewing pornography is associated with attitudes supportive of rape. We stipulate that attitudes that approve of rape are socially harmful regardless of whether they directly lead to actual sexual violence. Our findings suggest that there is a relationship between pornography viewing and endorsement of violence against women.  However, it is not a simple cause-and-effect relationship.  Rather, we suggest that (some) pornography consumption and rape supportive attitudes are part of the cluster of social practices and identity work labeled hegemonic masculinity (Connell 1987). 

Previous Research

             The literature on the harmful effects of pornography is fairly extensive.  Many studies conducted since the early 1970s employed experimental designs. Typically, subjects are exposed to pornographic pictures or movies, some other experimental stimulus, and then tested for short term attitudinal and behavioral variations.  Several studies have shown that portrayals of women enjoying rape and other kinds of sexual violence can lead to increased acceptance of rape myths by men and women (e.g., Briere and Malamuth 1983).  In a review of experimental studies Linz (1989) found one consistency in the reported findings: pornographic material that included violence resulted in subjects being less sensitive to rape victims. 

             Few studies have addressed the long term effects of exposure to pornography outside of the laboratory.  In one study, Zillman and Bryant (1982) reported that long term exposure to pnography 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