How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

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Dana Sheets
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by Dana Sheets »

Since this is the tough issues forum after all...:0

How Are Pornography and Violence Related?
Dalia Denha

Much of the credit towards the connection between rape and pornography goes towards the best-seller, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, by Susan Brownmiller's. This book contains chapters of the history and culture of rape. In the final chapter, "Women fight back," "Brownmiller discussed many of the goals raised by feminists in the struggle: eliminating testimony in rape trials about the victim's past sexual life, getting across the idea that it is rape trials about the victim's past sexual life, getting across the idea that it is rape unless women "consent" to sexual intercourse, getting rid of the red herring of false accusation, getting legislation passed to ban martial rape, gathering better statistics, mandating more expeditious and sensitive court proceedings, convincing police departments to hire more women police officers and so on." (Leonore Tiefer pg.118) In this book about women, Brownmiller argued that a "new approach to the law and to law enforcement could take us only part of the way:" (Leonore Tiefer pg. 118)

"The idealogy of rape is aided more than a system of lenient laws that serve to protect offenders...The theory of aggressive male domination over women as a natural right is so deeply imbedded in our cultural value system that all recent attempts to expose it-in movies, television commercials or even in children's textbooks-have barely managed to scratch the surface. As I see it, the problem is not that polarized role playing (man as doer; woman as bystander) and exaggerated portrayals of the female body as passive sex object are simply "demeaning" to women's dignity and self-conception, or that such portrayals fail to provide positive role models for young girls, but that cultural sexism is a conscious form of female degradation designed to boost the male ego by offering "proof" of his native superiority (and of female inferiority) everywhere he looks....The case against pornography [is] central to the fight against rape...Once we accept as basic truth that rape is not a crime of irrational, impulsive, uncontrollable lust, but is a deliberate, hostile, violent act of degradation and possession on the part of a would-be conqueror, designed to intimidate and inspire fear, we must look toward those elements in our culture that promote and propagandize these attitudes, which offer men, and in particular, impressionable, adolescent males, who form the potential raping population, the idealogy and psychologic encouragement to commit their acts of aggression without awareness, for the most part, that they have committed a punishable crime, let alone a moral wrong." (Brownmiller, 1975, pp. 389-391, emphasis in original) An interesting idea that Brownmiller raised also having to do with issue of pornography and violence was, "that the same liberals who recognized the propagandistic power of Hitler's Nazi machines, or who saw through the anti black messages of the shuffling servants in Hollywood productions, defended pornography as a valid extension of freedom of speech and denied that it was powerful anti-female propaganda."(Susan Brownmiller, 1975)

<hr>
Pornography -- An Epidemic?
by
Doug Drogorub

The subtopic being examined in this segment of pornography as a whole, is that of violent pornography. In order to understand what is going to be discussed and the examples that will be cited, one must understand the context of violent pornography in relation to Pornography as a whole. But as this section will conclude, it is actually the widespread viewing of pornography as represented through the media, which leads to violent actions.

To begin with, the words violence and pornography must be separated and distinguished between. When these words are used together, one can get the impression that only þhard-coreþ pornography is the issue at hand. But there is a greater evil, and hard-core is only the finishing element in a long chain of reactions. The following discussion will attempt to prove the relation between pornography and the violent reaction it instills in its victims.

One of the most important examples, which will be discussed at great length, is that of convicted murderer Ted Bundy, who was electrocuted in February 1989 for the known murders of at least 23 young women. Some figures estimate that number to be as many as 100. Not much was known about the personal life of the man who was 42 when he was put to death, but in a one hour interview that was given by James Dobson, President of Focus on the Family, 16 hours before Bundyþs execution, Bundy revealed, among other things, his obsession with pornographic magazines. This obsession began in the early teen years, and as Bundy turned his attention from magazines to the T.V., he became obsessed with more and more violent, hard-core materials. Eventually, Bundy came to a point where only killing would give him that high.

According to Bundy, "There are loose in the towns and their communities people like me, whose dangerous impulses are being fueled day in and day out by violence in the media, particularly sexual violence."

Apparently, Ted Bundy felt it necessary and important to reveal the chief cause behind his maniac behavior in the 1970's (alcohol also contributed), for if no other reason than to warn other people of the dangers of pornographic material. It is true that teens are more susceptible to pornographic material and can be influenced perhaps easier to imitate what they see, but this doesn't exclude adults. Quite the contrary, a magazine such as Hustler tends to depict "raunchy" images of oral and anal sex by men and women, women being viewed as "playtoys", and cartoons that are indecent in nature. And that's just putting it mildly. In a recent edition of Hustler, an image of a woman being fed into a meat grinder was depicted, while in the December 1984 edition of Penthouse, nude oriental women were tightly bound like dressed up turkeys.

Many rock videos portray, at the very least, near naked women strutting their stuff and submitting to sexually aroused men. In several recent trips to the video store, it was observed how easy it can be for teenagers to slipþ into the adult section, which was conveniently located at the back of the store, out of plain sight. Even in popular theaters, movies like Showgirls, rated NC17, continuously draw much attention and appear as the lead story on shows like Entertainment Tonight. And now, the newest form of pornography in the media has been found on the World Wide Web.

With the ease of which one can obtain or absorb pornographic material through the media, the question becomes: How is the erotica portrayed in the media responsible for violent reactions? Usually, the viewing of one movie or the buying of one raunchy magazine will not turn an individual violent. But what it does is it plants images in the mind, which in turn can make the viewer crave more, until eventually it can lead to the need for more hard- core images. And like the case of Ted Bundy, what happens when hard-core no longer is satisfying enough? The only other avenue is to act out these urges, or hard-core fantasies, which can result in rape, incest, abuse, and even murder.

The following are a few examples and statistics which illustrate the deadly influence pornography and sexual mis- interpretations can have. The statistics are a bit outdated, but given the current technological advances of society, the numbers have remained fairly constant -- if not risen -- since the book was published.

* The torture and murder of a ten year old girl was tape recorded by two men. The men were found to have sadistic literature in their possession.

* A 14 year old girl was brutally raped by three teenage boys, who also kicked and urinated on her, while three older men watched and then joined in. Pornographic photographs were found at one of the boys houses.

* The average American child will have witnessed more than 11,000 murders on T.V. by the age of 14.

* 94% of cartoons on T.V. contain some kind of violence.

Once again, it is important to note that these statistics are out of date, but the general idea has been stressed. And in a technologically advancing world, pornography is becoming easier to gain access to all the time.

A popular belief in society is that rape victims will eventually forget whatever happened, but although they may not talk or think about it, the incident will scar their memories forever. There are individuals in the world who can endlessly view pornographic materials and never be affected negatively by them; yet there are others who can't resist the temptation to experiment with what they see, and it's those people that become a threat to society -- stalkers, date rapists, and serial killers.

Our country tends to put the First Amendment to the fullest use, but is it always right?

In conclusion, the question of whether pornography is an epidemic or not is rhetoric. It's obvious that it became an epidemic decades ago -- it has simply become entrenched in society. As has been shown in medical professions, the only way to deal with an epidemic is to find a cure which will obliterate the cancer. This situation is no different. Pornography leading to violence in society is a cancer which is growing larger every day. Perhaps without the influence of pornography, society would be just a little less violent.

[This message has been edited by Dana Sheets (edited May 24, 2002).]
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Deep Sea
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by Deep Sea »

Dana,

Déjà Vu in timing if you didn’t read the report in World Net Daily entitled Pornography forms French children's views on sex that contains in its first paragraph “…children's attitude to sex is being warped by early exposure to hardcore pornography…”

To read the report, go to the very top of page 2 of the informative and timely http://www.worldnetdaily.com


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SeiserL
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by SeiserL »

How is porn and violence related?

IMHO, the first is the physiological response of adrenaline. The second is that becasue the aggression response is progressive it can be secretly reinforced through private pornography and a growing sense of shame.

Until agin,

Lynn
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CANDANeh
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by CANDANeh »

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> There are individuals in the world who can endlessly view pornographic materials and never be
affected negatively by them; yet there are others who can't resist the temptation to
experiment with what they see, and it's those people that become a threat to society --
stalkers, date rapists, and serial killers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I think it is a simple case of "which came first,the chicken or the egg". Yes, pornography of the worst kind is found in possision of violent individuals after the fact but how many others are in possision and will never so much as begin to head down the road of the likes of Ted Bundy? Throughout history we have had likely the same amount or maybe more serial killers, we simply never had the society able to identify or expose the occurrences esp. when women were regarded as lower class and foul play was often swept under the rug. How many more "Jack the Rippers" existed before porn mags or TV ?
Eliminating the "cancers" of violent porn or violence on i.e. TV will in my opinion not change matters one little bit, just one more excuss for not taking responsibility for ones actions will be gone.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>yet there are others who can't resist the temptation to
experiment with what they see<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> If the experiment is violence then I am certain if the visual material was lacking, they would resort to their own imagination with much the same results.
Ian
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by Ian »

Few thoughts:

"A 14 year old girl was brutally raped by three teenage boys, who also kicked and urinated on her, while three older men watched and then joined in. Pornographic photographs were found at one of the boys houses."

So 1/6th of them had porn? I'd be shocked if only 1/6 men in the USA had used porn. I bet 1/6 of the men had marshmallows at home too. And what explains the 5 other people?

On the First Amendment, even assuming the eradication of porn eliminates rape, what do we lose in the process?

What is rape? Most agree, an effort by men to retaliate against women who are moving toward equality in a society that often devalues them, a move that makes some of the men who view themselves as superior, feel threatened.

Won't this situation exist without porn?

How do we explain the low rates of murder in Japan, where people read a variety of violent and often sexually violent cartoons?

Is there sexual violence and control of women without porn? The point was already made about sexual violence before porn, but, there are sexist cultures today without porn.

I'm not saying porn never plays a role, but how are we to say if people become animals by reading it, or seek it out because they're already animals?
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by CANDANeh »

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> What is rape? Most agree, an effort by men to retaliate against women who are moving
toward equality in a society that often devalues them, a move that makes some of the
men who view themselves as superior, feel threatened.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I agree with most of your post Ian, but rape has existed well before the move to female equality, it may simply be a cowardly act dating back at least to the "spoils of war" in order to spread the conquerors gene pool into the conquered population. Apparrently it was an expected price to be paid for losing battles. ( my High school teacher received much neg. flac for sharing this side of human behaviour) However , at least he was brave enough to present his veiw whether it be accurate or not. In our society anyone who commits acts such as rape and justify it with fear for losing thier perceived position in society etc.. are just trying to pull the wool over our eyes..they are simply demented cowards period (their gene pool need not spread any farther). Terrible act commited with knowledge of stepping over known acceptable behaviour = harsh punishment needed, no excuss exceptable or required.


[This message has been edited by CANDANeh (edited June 04, 2002).]
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by ecalavia »

I am sorry if this is already mentioned above...but...off the top of my head here is my reaction.
Pornography, no matter if it be of a woman, young girl or boy, an old and ugly woman, even a grown man, does one basic thing necessary to develop a mind set allowing for violence and harm to occur.
Specifically it dehumanizes and objectifies the subject. They are no longer your sister or loved one. No longer your dear aunt or friends mom, your nephew, or best friends sister... They are an anonymous object of pleasure and perhaps ridicule. For example, I once saw a British mag. "Over 50 Shaved" sort of a pathetic side show of what looked like old addicts and prostitutes, sad unfortunate people.
The military does a similar thing in getting troops to think of the, "Enemy".
Pornography reduces another human to a level where they become a vessel of carnal pleasure for the observer. What ever perverse ideas may arise from this stimulation, whether fantasy or acted upon, are based upon the ignoring of the objects humanity.
A facination with this material is evidence of an unhealthy view of ones fellow man. Or to be blunt, a sick mind.
Without wanting to cast aspersions upon all the good people of Japan...What about the Phillipines, or Manchuria, or Nanking. or Korea..just to point out all is not so pure underneath without societies constraint...The answer to Ians final postulation is "C", both of the above.




[This message has been edited by ecalavia (edited June 10, 2002).]
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by Ian »

I agree that one of the effects of porn can be objectification of the person. However porn is neither necessary nor sufficient for this to happen. I'm not a proponent of turning people into meat, and I just believe that thinking outlawing porn will rid us of sexual assault is a lot like the thinking that outlawing guns will make crime go away. It's not that simple. The problem is embedded in the culture. It IS the culture, not just one of its facets. More importantly, if we stop porn we've set a precedent that the government will censor the media for what's appropriate for general consumption. At that's a one way ticket to hell, even if the rules are established by popular vote. As Larry Flynt put it, that'd be like getting 11 wolves and a sheep together to decide on what to have for dinner.



[This message has been edited by Ian (edited June 14, 2002).]
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CANDANeh
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by CANDANeh »

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I agree that one of the effects of porn can be objectification of the person. However
porn is neither necessary nor sufficient for this to happen. I'm not a proponent of turning
people into meat, and I just believe that thinking outlawing porn will rid us of sexual
assault is a lot like the thinking that outlawing guns will make crime go away.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Very well said, censership of porn would stop where? Images do not create evil anymore than a gun creates a murderer.
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How Are Pornography and Violence Related?

Post by Kallisti »

Obviously it is over-simplistic to say porn directly causes violence hence banning one would decrease the other. I seem to recall when all porn was briefly legalised in Denmark sexual violence decreased.

I think sexual violence and porn, especially hard core (although maybe softcore is more insidious as it contains the same assumptions but seems less offensive - the same assumptions present right across the board in our society, especially obvious in advertising I think...) have the afore mentioned objectification in common. The subject's humanity and needs are not recognised or needed.

How are porn and sexual violence related? I would say they are both manifestations of a cultural paradigm that sees women’s function as being to please men above and beyond pleasing themselves. Much as I detest the polarised views of gender presented by theorists like Kate Millet and Andrea Dworkin, I have to agree that porn (in American hardcore this often equals violent sex) and sexual violence are supremely complementary and reinforce the same world view. How people react or express this in reality is an individual thing, as has also been pointed out above.

I really think that modern porn and sexual violence are symptoms of a single dis-ease i.e. people profoundly cut off from themselves and each other. I think it can have a role in a healthy pschye in theory, however, considering the dysfunctional personalities often involved in its production, it's hard not to be stained by exposure to other people's misery. However, this probably goes for virtually all forms of consumption in our society in the cases where low quality items are mass produced by alienated and exploited workers (i.e. most all food, computers and clothing these days). It cuts across the whole of society and while sexual violence is a particularly emotive form of exploitation, it is a mistake to see it in isolation, as Camile (spelling?) Paglia (who I also detest) argues.

Rather than banning porn, I think more people should produce sex-positive porn. I don't know anyone who has really succeeded in this (see Candide Royal's Femme Productions), but it is a very worthy goal! And lots of fun.

Another solution is adequate sex education. There is a common cultural assumption in Western Christian societies that sex is bad/dirty and that equates woman with the earth, with dark, dirt, the irrational/right brain and unknown - the “other” opposed to the mythical rational/left brain, natural, “normal” male ideal. This cultural style is commonly referred to as patriarchy. This is not men doing it to women – we are all perpetuating this paradigm to a greater or lesser extent as it is as pervasive as the air we breathe. Hence education. I’m tempted to espouse solutions but it’s such a huge area. Some groups I respect who tackle this area are Network for a New Culture, Human Awareness Institute or Body Electric School. Come to think of it, doing what we are doing now is a big contribution to this education. So often subjects like sexuality, porn and sexual violence are only discussed in terms of ridicule, ignorance and stereotypes. A courageous topic Dana!

Brownmiller says pornography is anti female propaganda. I think it is a way of externalising and objectifying feelings in a culture where people are not generally valued or taught to deal with and realize their feelings. I think it is a poor substitute for love. A way of suppressing and sublimating feelings by projecting them onto the canvas of women’s bodies. I agree it is anti –female on the surface. However in the sense that women become a metaphor for a humanity that is being denied in these emotionally one sided exchanges, in a deeper sense it is anti-humanity and devalues both men and women, the viewer and the subject, much as sexual violence is degrading to both offender and victim.

Kallisti


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