The Link between Pornography and Rape
Pornography could be defined as form of media showing “sexual activity or nudity that is explicit and has sexual arousal as its main purpose” (Ferguson & Hartely, 2009, p. 324). Behavioral deviations of the sexual nature resulting into sexual assaults are frequently discussed in relationship to person’s exposure to pornography. Nowadays, these discussions become more frequent due to the expansion of pornography viewing, which brings forward growth of adult entertainment industry overall.
This growth, apart from revenues, means the diversification of pornography content to more violent one including dehumanizing behavior (Foubert et al., 2011). Another anticipated threat which discussed in relation to pornography is its broad access over Internet, which in particular could have negative effects on adolescents who adore spending free time online. Foubert et al. (2011) also argued that pornography viewing is more typical for men than women. He referred to several studies constructing typical profile, concluding that pornography viewers are aged between 18-25, with 76 to 87% of male college students viewing it annually and 48% weekly, while only one third of female students watch it annually.The explicit relationship in academic field on the subject is still not uniformly confirmed. Foubert et al. (2011), for instance, claim that viewing pornography has strong relationship to the likelihood of committing sexual assault based on the survey of 62% of the fraternity population at a Midwestern public university. Authors also admitted that while watching sadomasochistic and rape content, the danger to female significantly increases. Foubert et al. (2011) argued that with increased exposure to pornography, men become more concentrated over instant gratification rather than an intercourse which involves intimacy.
Consequently, they concluded that women’s desires are not important for men exposed to pornography, causing them to breach their unwillingness for sexual contacts which results in rapes and other forms of sexual assault.Ferguson & Hartley (2009) debated contrasting opinion, while analyzing victimization rates for rape in United States and among other nations concluding that they have inverse relationships with pornography consumption. This was explained through the data collected on hardcore pornography titles and rape rates between 1998 and 2005, the former dramatically increased and the latter decreased. Ferguson & Harley (2009) offered alternative explanations of why pornography is considered influential on rape risks. These are three contemporary theories, which are social learning theory, feminist theory and evolutionary theory. Social learning theorists are confident that rape is an imitation learned as a product of socialization.
In other words, social learning theorists claim that rape is a process of modeling behavior of a pornographic actor. Feminist theorists concentrate their arguments around social and cultural traditions of the society where males dominate over females, thus arguing that pornography portrays males as dominant, causing them to realize their potential through committing rapes.
Finally, evolutionary theorists state that rape is “the result of the pressure between the male versus female reproductive approaches” connected with the need for genetic reproduction …
