Guest
In 1978 when this program aired on TV attitudes towards violent pornography and pornography in general were in a state of flux and undergoing considerable scrutiny. The late 1970s were marked by significant feminist activism against pornography, particularly violent pornography. The primary concern was the potential harm it might cause to women and society at large. Some prominent feminists like Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon argued that violent or degrading varieties perpetuated misogyny and contributed to violence against women. They believed that such material normalized and eroticized male dominance and female submission. They contended that violent pornography not only influenced the behavior of some men towards violence but also shaped societal attitudes about women's place and rights. There was significant debate within legal and academic circles about the right to free speech versus the potential harms caused by violent pornography. The U.S. Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, which reported in 1970, found no substantial link between exposure to explicit material and social harm or criminal behavior. However, this report was controversial and received criticism from various groups, including some feminists and conservatives. The empirical evidence was mixed on whether exposure to violent pornography directly causes violent behavior. Some studies suggested a potential correlation between the consumption of violent pornography and aggressive behavior or attitudes, while others found no such link. It's worth noting that demonstrating causality in such cases is challenging, and correlations don't necessarily imply direct causation. Not everyone responds to violent pornography in the same way. Individual differences, such as pre-existing attitudes towards women, personal history, mental health, and other factors, can mediate the relationship between violent porn consumption and aggressive behavior. While there was no unanimous consensus in 1978 on the impact of violent pornography, there was heightened awareness and significant debate among professionals and activists. Concerns centered around the potential for violent pornography to perpetuate and normalize violence against women and reinforce sexist stereotypes. As with many social issues, views were varied and influenced by political, ideological, and disciplinary backgrounds. One of the most significant studies is the work of Dr. Edward Donnerstein (the man in this video) at the University of Wisconsin. Donnerstein and his colleagues found that male subjects exposed to violent pornography (depicting rape, for instance) displayed increased aggression towards females in subsequent interactions, compared to those exposed to non-violent pornography or neutral content. The research suggested that repeated exposure to violent sexual content could lead to desensitization, making individuals less empathetic to real-world victims of violence. Some of their experiments also showed that when violence in pornography was portrayed as causing pain or harm and was not justified or rewarded, viewers had a negative response. However, when the violence was portrayed as pleasurable to the woman, it led to increased aggressive tendencies in male viewers. Susan Stanford Friedman (also in this video) is a scholar in the fields of modernist studies, women's studies, and feminist theory. She has written extensively about women writers, postcolonial theory, and narrative theory. Other studies have shown that male participants exposed to violent pornography may demonstrate increased aggressive behavior in a controlled setting immediately following exposure. Such studies measure participants' willingness to administer electric shocks to women after viewing such material. However these studies have been criticized for not necessarily reflecting real-world behavior outside the lab setting. Other research suggests that exposure to violent sexual content might desensitize individuals to real-world sexual violence or foster attitudes that are more accepting of violence against women. This doesn't necessarily mean that viewers will act on these attitudes, but a shift in perception may indirectly contribute to a culture that tolerates violence against women. It's possible that individuals already prone to aggression are more likely to seek out and consume violent content, rather than the content causing the aggression. Demonstrating a direct link between long-term consumption of violent pornography and real-world violent acts, such as rape, is challenging. Many factors contribute to aggressive behavior, and isolating pornography as a sole or primary cause oversimplifies the issue. Please consider supporting my efforts to present more videos like this one. You can click the Thanks button below the video screen or become a patron of my work at Thank you.
