Shut-up Stupid Sunday: Porn and Violence

This is a myth I thought had gone the way of the Moon being made out of Green Cheese. But I've been running across it again recently, even from people who should know better. So I thought I'd comment on it.

THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC STUDY SHOWING ANY LINK BETWEEN PORN AND VIOLENCE!

I really don't know how to make that anymore clear. But I still hear people claiming that some scientific study shows there is. When pressed they either can't find it, or make some vague statement about the Presidential Commission's Study.

There have been two Presidential Commissions that studied the effects of Porn on Society.

The first, President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography in 1970 found:

1. That there was "no evidence to date that exposure to explicit sexual materials plays a significant role in the causation of delinquent or criminal behavior among youths or adults."
2. That "a majority of American adults believe that adults should be allowed to read or see any sexual materials they wish."
3. That "there is no reason to suppose that elimination of governmental prohibitions upon the sexual materials which may be made available to adults would adversely affect the availability to the public of other books, magazines, or films."
4. That there was no "evidence that exposure to explicit sexual materials adversely affects character or moral attitudes regarding sex and sexual conduct."
5. That "Federal, State, and Local legislation prohibiting the sale, exhibition, or distribution of sexual materials to consenting adults should be repealed."

The second, The Meese Report came out in 1986 which was very anti-porn, however two little details were buried in it.

This little nugget:
"There are no scientific studies that show that exposure to nonviolent sexual material causes a person to commit a sexual crime or become more sexually aggressive."

And its statement that it is not in anyway a scientific study.

So the “Scientific Study” that people point to is not a scientific study and states that no link has been found between porn and violence.

Some will point out that absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence, and in this case they would be correct.

Try and think of a way to study any link between porn and violence. You could go to the emergency room find women who come in repeatedly with black eyes and bruises. Give half their spouses unlimited access to porn and make sure the other half don't have any porn. Then see which ones show up more often in the emergency room. You would have to do your studies from your jail cell as you would be withholding evidence of a crime.

You could look after the fact and find that 1% of heavy porn watchers are violent, slightly less than the general population. You could look at areas where porn viewing is high and compare the rape stats to where porn viewing is low, and find that in places with heavy porn viewing there are fewer rapes.

So there is a correlation between Porn and decreased violence towards women, but correlation does not mean causation. So you need to break it down farther.

The underlying premises of the link between porn and violence are that, men who watch porn are hornier making them “think with their dicks” and it makes men look at women as sex objects. These can be tested.

Studies have found that watching porn decreases men's libido. They become less horny in daily life.

This is common sense, back when I was in college it was tough to view porn, VCR's cost more than TVs and even I wasn't bold enough to pop a tape into the one in the lounge and start wacking off. So when I met a girl and she wouldn't go back to my room. As I kissed her goodnight I was usually thinking, “Please, at least let me make out with you until I jizz in my pants.” (oddly that line does work.)

Today, Guys have access to all the porn they want. They can pull out phone and watch whatever turns them on. So kiss goodnight is more like, 'If she doesn't put out, I'll just have to go watch the 16 girl lesbian orgy on my phone, and maybe...' Well see you later. They run back to their room leaving the girl frustrated.

Porn is a poor substitute for the real thing, but it is a substitute. So a normal male will be less aggressive.

Do men look at women as sex objects after watching porn. A duh! The real question is do men look at women as sex objects without watching porn? Yes they do.

However porn desensitizes guys to sex.

I grew up where we had 5 months of winter. I mean real winter months where it didn't get above 0 F. Needless to say in those months seeing flesh wasn't common. As cocky as I am, in the spring it became hard to talk to girls as my mind would go, “That is a really good point and... cleavage... Sorry what were you saying?”

By fall I was able to admire the cleavage without losing my train of thought.

Being exposed to porn desensitizes men's sexual urges so a flash of skin doesn't destroy their thought process. So men can really talk to women while the thoughts of sex take lower priority. It is multi tasking we can look at women as both sex objects and human beings at the same time.

Basically the assumptions that make people think porn could lead to violence are wrong.

So to everyone who says there is a link between porn and violence, I say, “Shut-up Stupid. There are no scientific studies that show that. Every study about porn points the opposite way, that porn makes men less sexually aggressive and less violent.”

By Darrell B. Nelson author of I KILLED THE MAN THAT WASN'T THERE