Morality in Media Report Ties Violent Sex Crimes to Hardcore Pornography

3/24/2004

From: Patrick McGrath of Morality in Media, 212-870-3217, Web sites: http://www.moralityinmedia.org or http://www.obscenitycrimes.org

NEW YORK, March 24 -- Evidence of a "causal connection" between pornography and violent sex crimes has been compiled in an article just posted to http://www.obscenitycrimes.org, a Web site of Morality in Media. The article can be found at this URL: http://www.obscenitycrimes.org/news/Porn-Crime-Link-RWP.cfm

Robert Peters, president of MIM and author of the article, commented:

"At a time when some commentators in the media are saying that pornography is widely accepted and harmless, we need to remind ourselves that common sense, anecdotal evidence and social science research all point in the opposite direction.

"While some in the mainstream press can't seem to say enough about the financial success of hard-core pornographers, the truly important news can be found in the very dark underside of pornography as documented by law enforcement personnel, domestic abuse and rape crisis counselors, psychologists, victims, and others. The article looks at pornography from this perspective and, we hope, will prove useful as a reference and a guide for the public and media."

In the article, titled "The Link Between Pornography And Violent Sex Crimes," Peters says, "Defenders of pornography are misleading the public by saying either that pornography is harmless or by saying that we lack the necessary 'conclusive scientific data' that pornography causes sex crimes to justify suppressing pornography."

He cites this comment by Nadine Strossen, president of the ACLU (N.Y. Native 1/23/95): "The pro-censorship feminists claim that pornography causes direct harm to women is unsupported by the facts. In writing this book ('In Defense of Pornography') I searched the social science literature for evidence that exposure to sexually explicit pornographic material causes ... violence against women. But I discovered that a causal connection has never been established."

Peters writes that "Had Ms. Strossen been searching the social science literature 'for evidence' of a causal connection between pornography and sexual violence, she would have found it. ... But Ms. Strossen wanted more than evidence of a causal connection -- she wanted research that establishes a connection. Here's how the Supreme Court (Paris Adult Theatre I vs. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49) responded to a similar demand: 'But it is argued that there are no scientific data which conclusively demonstrate that exposure to obscene material adversely affects men or women or their society. ... We reject this argument. ... We do not demand of legislatures "scientifically certain criteria of legislation"'. ...

Peters adds: "The Paris Court went on to say: 'If we accept ... the well nigh universal belief that good books, plays and art lift the spirit, improve the mind, enrich the human personality, and develop character, can we then say that a legislature may not act on the corollary assumption that commerce in obscene books, or public exhibitions focused on obscene conduct, have a tendency to exert a corrupting and debasing impact leading to anti-social behavior? Many of these effects may be intangible and indistinct, but they are nonetheless real.'"

Peters cites articles and studies authored by, among others, Dr. Reo M. Christianson, professor of political science (retired), Miami University, Ohio; Dr. Victor B. Cline, clinical psychologist and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Utah; Dr. Mary Anne Layden, director of education, Center for Cognitive Therapy, at the University of Pennsylvania; Diana E. Russell, Ph.D., professor emerita of Sociology at Mills College; Janet Hinson Shope, associate professor at Goucher College; and Professor Claudio Violato of the University of Calgary.

Anecdotal evidence in the article is taken from interviews and testimony given by police officers and prosecutors in New York City, Michigan, Oklahoma, Australia and the United Kingdom, as well as from newspaper accounts of sex crimes and trials in 15 states during the last 20 years.

In the article, Peters notes that pornography defenders claim pornography "provides individuals prone to sexual violence with an outlet for their sexual desires. In other words, it has a cathartic effect on individuals who would otherwise commit sexual crimes." And then he punches holes in that theory:

"If the so-called cathartic effect were working, then the incidence of sexual abuse of children should be decreasing -- in proportion to the expansion of traffic in child pornography on the Internet. But experts are concerned that the opposite is happening. ...

"If the so-called cathartic effect were working, then the incidence of violent sexual crimes committed by children should be decreasing, because never before has hardcore pornography been so readily available to children. But there is evidence that the opposite is occurring. ...

"If the so-called cathartic effect were working, then women should feel safer than ever because never before in human history has so much hardcore pornography been so readily available to persons of all ages. When asked in a 2003 national survey what their 'top priorities' were, however, 92 percent of women 18 and older said reducing domestic violence and sexual assault. ...

"If the so-called cathartic effect were working, then the incidence of violent sexual crimes in general should be rapidly decreasing, because there has been an explosion of web sites featuring bondage, domination, gangbangs, rape, rough sex, and torture. But if Vernon Geberth (NYPD Lt. Cmdr. (retired) and author of Sex-Related Homicide and Death Investigation) is correct, there has also been an 'upsurge in sexual violence, stranger rapes, and stranger sex murders.' "

MORALITY IN MEDIA is a nonprofit national organization, with headquarters in New York City, which works to curb traffic in obscenity and to uphold standards of decency in the media. MIM operates the ObscenityCrimes.org Web site -- where citizens can report possible violations of federal Internet obscenity laws to Federal prosecutors -- and the National Obscenity Law Center, a unique legal resource for legislators, prosecutors and others.