PORNOGRAPHY (Josh McDowell research 2005 and prior) “JUST HARMLESS FUN? UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF PORNOGRAPHY” “1. Advertising It has been said that the most disingenuous argument in the pornography debate is that porn doesn’t influence people. If images don’t influence attitudes and behavior, how do we explain the existence of the advertising industry?” “Of course, none of us likes to admit we are influenced by advertising. Few proud car owners would say: ‘I bought my Volvo because their advertisements create an image of a thinking person’s car, and that appeals to my ego.’ We value our self-image as rational beings and, as a result, most of us are in denial about the influence of advertising.” “Those in the advertising business, however, know that images have impact. In 1997, America’s top ten advertisers alone spent a total of $5.2 billion helping consumers part with their hard-earned cash. It might be nice to think that investments like Nike’s Michael Jordan campaign are made out of blind hope, but market research predicts and confirms the impact of advertising. ‘The enormous advertising and marketing industries are built on the premise that the media do influence a wide range of behaviors.’” “To believe pornography does not impact attitudes and behavior is to believe we are not affected by what we see. Our collective state of denial of the impact of advertising illustrates that people can believe they are not affected. But the evidence illustrates how improbable that would be!” “To argue that advertising has no impact (as opposed to merely being blind to it) requires impressive faith that we invariably intercept and rationally defuse the power of suggesting in advertising images. Oftentimes we do. But communications experts note that advertising works precisely because it appeals to human emotion rather than to rational considerations:” “‘TV commercials do not use propositions to persuade; they use visual images…and only rarely…verifiable assertions. Therefore, commercials are not susceptible to logical analysis [and] are not refutable…It is not facts that are offered to the consumers but idols, to which both adults and children can attach themselves with equal devotion and without the burden of logic or verification.’” “The messages of pornography” “The Hugh Hefners of the world sometimes describe their product as simply ‘the joys of consensual sexuality.’ The reality is much less elevated and considerably more one-sided. Studies indicate that individuals use pornography to inform and teach themselves about sexual behavior. So what does pornography teach?” Pornography – Research 2005 and prior
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“About sexuality: Scholars not that human sexuality in pornography is never more than physical, since ‘depictions of other basic aspects of human sexuality – such as communication between sexual partners, expressions of affection or emotion (except fear and lust)…and concerns about…the consequences of sexual activities – are minimized.’” “Pornography advertises sex without relationships, without commitment, and especially, without consequences. How many porn videos include the resulting teenage pregnancy with the child-mother dropping out of school? Or catching human papilloma virus (HPV), leading to infertility or cervical cancer, or even catching AIDS?” “About Women: In the words of one academic study: ‘The characteristic portrayal of women in pornography [is] as socially nondiscriminating, as hysterically euphoric in response to just about any sexual or pseudosexual stimulation, and as eager to accommodate seemingly any and every sexual request.’ Another study notes that women are depicted as ‘malleable, obsessed with sex, and willing to engage in any sexual act with any sexual partner.’” “Pornography presents women in stereotype, as insatiable sex machines to accommodate every possible sexual request. Women, it tells us, are here to please men, and if they say ‘no’ it is just token resistance. In pornography, the typical women is always ready, available, and eager to please, unlike a real woman who might have inconvenient expectations of her own.” “About men: In pornography, men are apparently here to have sex with as many women as possible. Marriage is either a hindrance to their purpose, or irrelevant because fidelity is abnormal and possibly unnatural. In pornography, men certainly don’t value women for their minds, since they don’t appear to have discovered that women have such a thing.” “2. Impact of Sexually Oriented Businesses” “The curiously toxic nature of pornography is also illustrated by the consistently negative impact that sex businesses have upon the areas in which they are located. This impact of sexually oriented businesses (SOBs) has been clearly demonstrated through land use studies.” “U.S. courts allow restrictive zoning of SOBs because such businesses have significant negative impacts on their surrounding communities. These impacts are called ‘secondary harmful effects’ (as distinct from the primary harmful effects on the mind of the porn-user, which are not a constitutional basis for zoning ordinances).” “Such secondary harmful effects in neighborhoods with SOBs include a significant increase in property crimes and sexual crimes (including voyeurism, exhibitionism, and assault), and an overall decrease in property values. In the words of columnist George Will: ‘One doesn’t Pornography – Research 2005 and prior
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need a moral micrometer to gauge the fact that the sex industry turned Times Square into a slum.’” “Other examples of the negative impact of the sex industry include: ♦ Austin, TX – 1986 – in four study areas with SOBs, sexually related crimes were 177% to 482% higher than the city’s average.” “♦ Indianapolis, IN – 1984-1986 – Between 1978-1982, crime in study areas was 46% higher than for the city as a whole. Sex related crimes were four times greater when SOBs were located near residential areas vs. commercial areas.” “♦ Garden Grove, CA – 1981-1990 – On Garden Grove Blvd., seven adult businesses accounted for 36% of all crime in the area. In one case, a bar opened within 500 feet of an SOB and serious crime within 1000 feet of that business rose 300% during the next year.” “♦ Phoenix, AZ – 1978 – Sex offenses, including indecent exposure, were 506% greater in neighborhoods with SOBs. Even excluding indecent exposure, the sex offenses were sill 132% greater in those neighborhoods.” “♦ Whittier, CA – In comparison studies of two residential areas conducted between 1970-1973 before SOBs, and 1974-1977 after SOBs, malicious mischief increased 700%, assault increased 387%, prostitution increased 300%, and all theft increased 120%.” “Virtually all SOBs, regardless of the city in which they are located, have similar negative effects upon their surrounding neighborhoods. The Indianapolis study concluded that: ‘Even a relatively passive use such as an adult book store [has] a serious negative effect on [its] immediate environs.’ It is difficult to miss the implication that these harmful secondary effects simply reflect something harmful in the nature of the material.” “♦ A review study in 1994, based on 81 original peer-reviewed research studies (35 using aggressive stimuli and 46 using non-aggressive stimuli), concluded that ‘the empirical research on the effects of aggressive pornography shows, with fairly impressive consistency, that exposure to these materials has a negative effect on attitudes toward women and the perceived likelihood to rape.’ The study also noted that 70 percent of the 46 non-aggressive studies reported clear evidence of negative effects of exposure.” “♦ A meta-analysis in 1995, using the results of 24 original experimental studies, found that ‘violence within the pornography is not necessary to increase the acceptance of rape myths’ (i.e. the myth that women secretly desire to be raped). The study noted that the link between acceptance of rape myths and exposure to pornography stems from a simple premise – ‘that most pornography commodifies sex, that women become objects used for male pleasure, and that as objects of desire, they are to be acted on.’ The study also noted that such attitudinal change are of concern because ‘several recent meta-analyses demonstrate a high correlation (about r = .80) between attitude and behavior.’” Pornography – Research 2005 and prior
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“♦ A separate meta-analysis in 1995, using a set of 33 studies, found that ‘violent content, although possibly magnifying the impact of the pornography, is unnecessary to producing aggressive behavior.’” “♦ A study in 1989 for the Canadian Department of Justice found that ‘high-frequency pornography consumers who were exposed to the nonviolent, dehumanizing pornography (relative to those in the no-exposure condition) were particularly likely to report that they might rape, were more sexually callous, and reported engaging in more acts of sexual aggression. These effects were not apparent for men who reported a very low frequency of habitual pornography consumption.’ The authors noted that ‘the effects of exposure were strongest and most pervasive in the case of exposure to nonviolent dehumanizing pornography, the type of material that may in fact be most prevalent in mainstream commercial entertainment videos.’” “The study found that more than twice as many men indicated at least some likelihood of raping after exposure to this material – 20.4 percent versus 9.4 percent. Detailed analysis revealed that these effects occurred primarily for high P (psychotism) subjects – those who are inclined to be rather solitary and hostile, lack empathy, disregard danger and prefer impersonal, non-caring sex (although not meeting clinical criteria as psychotics).” “♦ A 1989 review of a series of studies of ‘common pornography found that its consumption led to insensitivity towards victims of sexual violence, trivialization of rape as a criminal offense, trivialization of sexual child abuse as a criminal offense, increased belief that lack of sexual activity leads to health risks and increased acceptance of pre and extra-marital sexuality The study noted that ‘habitual male consumers of common pornography appear to be at greater risk of becoming sexually callous’ towards female sexuality and concerns.” “♦ A review of the literature and research in 1994 discusses the ‘sexual callousness’ effect associated with standard-fare pornography, noting that: ‘Enhanced perceptual and behavioral callousness toward women is most apparent following consumption of materials that unambiguously portray women as sexually promiscuous and indiscriminating – a depiction that dominates modern pornography.’” “Experience In Other Countries” “One area where porn advocates are happy to talk about correlational studies is in relation to Denmark, where the government lifted pornography restrictions in 1969. Studies in the early 1970s by Berl Kutchinsky of the University of Copenhagen suggested that the easy availability of pornography had caused sex crimes to decrease by acting as a ‘safety-valve’ for potential offenders.” “Although this study is still quoted today, subsequent reviewers identified serious flaws in the conclusions. In particular, two factors distorted the results: (1) at the same time that pornography was legalized, a number of other sex crimes were decriminalized, including voyeurism (peeping), ‘indecency towards women,’ and certain categories of incest; and (2) Kutchinsky grouped rape along with other lesser categories of sex crime. Pornography – Research 2005 and prior
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The study thus obscured the fact that the most serious types of sex crimes such as rape actually increased in number and rate following the legalization of pornography in Denmark.” “Porn advocates are usually quieter about results of studies of Sweden, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia, where ‘as the constraints on the availability of pornography were lifted…the rates of rape in those countries increased.’ For example, ‘in two Australian states between 1964 and 1977, when South Australia liberalized it’s laws on pornography and Queensland maintained its conservative policy…over the thirteenyear period, the number of rapes in Queensland remained at the same low level while South Australia’s’ showed a sixfold increase.’” “Other clinical psychologists who have published their work include: ♦ Dr. Gary Brooks, who describes five principal symptoms of a ‘pervasive disorder’ linked to consumption of even soft-core pornography like Playboy:” “• Voyeurism – An obsession with visual stimulation trivializing all other mature features of a healthy psychological relationship.” “• Objectification – An attitude where women are rated by size, shape and harmony of body parts.” “• Validation – Where men who never come close to sex with their dream woman feel cheated or unmanly.” “• Trophyism – Where women become the property of the man as a symbol of accomplishment and worthiness.” “• Fear of true intimacy – A preoccupation with sexuality, handicapping the capacity for emotional or non-sexual intimacy.” “♦ Dr. Victor Cline of the University of Utah, who identifies four stages of viewing pornography following the initial exposure:” “• Addiction – The desire and need to keep coming back for pornographic images.” “• Escalation – The need for more explicit, rougher, and more deviant images for the same sexual effect.” “•Desensitization – Material once viewed as shocking or taboo is seen as acceptable or commonplace.” “• Acting out – The tendency to perform the behaviors viewed, including exhibitionism, sadistic/masochistic sex, rape, or sex with minor children.
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Although not all men are equally vulnerable to habitual porn use, Dr. Cline concluded that for some men pornography ‘is the gateway drug to sexual addiction.’” “Dr. William Marshall and Dr. Gene Abel have published important research with child molesters, rapists and other sexual offenders. Abel’s research indicated that more than 50% of sex offenders used pornography, and that offenders who used it were less able to control their behavior than those who did not. Abel’s findings contradicted the ‘safety-valve’ or ‘catharsis’ theory (which has basically died from lack of supporting evidence in the last twenty years). Marshall found that, in a study of outpatient sex offenders treated over a six-year period, onethird reported they had used pornography immediately before at least one of their crimes.” (Bruce Watson and Shyla Rae Welch, “Just Harmless Fun? Understanding the Impact of Pornography,” Enough Is Enough, 2000) ______________________ “PORNOGRAPHY STATISTICS” “Pornography Industry Statistics” “• Size of the Industry $57.0 billion world-wide - $12.0 billion US” “ Adult Videos
$20.0 billion”
“ Escort Services
$11.0 billion”
“ Magazines
$7.5 billion”
“Sex Clubs
$5.0 billion”
“Phone Sex
$4.5 billion”
“Cable & Pay Per View
$2.5 billion”
“Internet
$2.5 billion”
“CD-Rom
$1.5 billion”
“Novelties
$1.0 billion”
“Other
$1.5 billion”
“• Porn revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises.”
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“• US porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC (6.2 billion) “• Child pornography generates $3 billion annually” “Internet Porn Statistics” “• Pornographic website
4.2 million (12% of total websites)”
“• Pornographic pages
372 million”
“• Daily pornographic search 68 million (25% of total search engine requests requests)” “• Daily pornographic Emails”
2.5 billion (8% of total emails)
“• Average daily pornographic emails/user”
4.5 per Internet user”
“• Monthly Pornographic Downloads (Peer-to-peer)”
1.5 billion (35% of all downloads)
“• Daily Gnutella ‘child pornography’ requests”
116 thousand
“• Websites offering illegal Child pornography”
100 thousand
“• Sexual solicitations of youth made in chat rooms”
89%
“• Youths who received sexual Solicitation”
20%
“• Worldwide visitors to pornographic web sites”
72 million annually
“Children’s Exposure to Pornography” “• Average age of first Internet exposure to pornography “
11 years old
“• Largest consumer of Internet Pornography”
12-17 age group
“• 15-17 year olds having hard-core exposures”
80%
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“• 8-16 year olds having viewed porn online”
90% (most while doing homework)
“• 7-17 year olds who would 29% freely give out home address” “• 7-17 year olds who would 14% freely give out email address” “•Children’s characters linked 26 (including Pokeman and Action to thousands of porn links” Man)” “Adult Internet Porn Statistics “• Men admitting to accessing pornography at work” “• US adults who regularly visit internet pornography websites”
20%
40 million
“• Promise Keeper men who 53% viewed pornography in last week” “• Christians who said pornography is a major problem in the home”
47%
“• Adults admitting to Internet sexual addiction”
10%
“• Breakdown of male/females visitors to pornography sites”
72% male – 28% female
“Women and Pornography” “• 13% of Women admit to accessing pornography at work.” “• 70% of women keep their cyber activities secret.” “• 17% of all women struggle with pornography addiction.” “• Women, far more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs.” “• Women favor chat rooms 2X more than men.” Pornography – Research 2005 and prior
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“• 1 of 3 visitors to all adult web sites are women.” “• 9.4 million women access adult web sites each month.” (“Pornography Statistic,” Family Safe Media) ______________________ “STUDY: MORE KIDS SEEING WEB PORN” “Forty-two percent of Internet users aged 10 to 17 surveyed said the they had seen online pornography in a recent 12-month span. Of those, 66 percent said they did not want to view the images and had not sought them you, University of New Hampshire researchers found. Their conclusions appear in February’s Pediatrics, due out Monday. ‘It’s beyond the wild West out there. You’ve really taken away the age of innocence,’ said Dr. Michael Wasserman, a pediatrician with the Ochsner Clinic in Metairie, La., who was not involved in the study.” “In the survey, conducted between March and June 2005, most kids who reported unwanted exposure were aged 13 to 17. Still, sizable numbers of 10- and 11-year-olds also had unwanted exposure – 17 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls that age. More than one-third of 16- and 17-year-old boys surveyed said they had intentionally visited X-rated site in the past year. Among girls the same age, 8 percent had done so.” (Lindsey Tanner, “Study: More Kids Seeing Web Porn,” TIME, http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1585877,00.html) ______________________ “THE PORN FACTOR” “Experts say men who frequently view porn may develop unrealistic expectations of women’s appearance and sustaining relationships and feeling sexually satisfied.” “Fueled by a combination of access, anonymity and affordability, online porn has catapulted overall pornography consumption – bringing in new viewers, consumers from soft-core to harder-core material. Cyberporn is even giving rise to a new form of sexual compulsiveness. According to Alvin Cooper, who conducts seminars on cybersex addiction, 15% of online-porn habitués develop sexual behavior that disrupts their lives. ‘The internet is the crack cocaine of sexual addiction,’ says Jennifer Schneider, co-author of Cybersex Exposed: Simple Fantasy of Obsession?” “The question is, Can even recreational use be unhealthy? A 2003 online study by Texas Christian University found that the more pornography men watch, the more likely they are to describe women in sexualized terms and categorize women in traditional gender roles. Mark Schwartz, director of the Masters and Johnson clinic in St. Louis, Mo., says porn not only causes men to objectify women – seeing them as an assemblage of breasts, legs and buttocks – but also Pornography – Research 2005 and prior
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leads to a dependency on visual imagery for arousal. ‘Men become like computers, unable to be stimulated by the human being beside them,’ he says. ‘The image of a lonely, isolated man masturbating to his computer is the Willy Loman metaphor of our decade.’” “Sometimes pornography tears couples apart. At the 2003 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, two-thirds of the 350 divorce lawyers who attended said the Internet played a significant role in divorces in the past year, with excessive interest in online porn contributing to more than half of such cases. ‘This is clearly related to the Internet,’ says Richard Barry, president of the association. ‘Pornography had an almost non-existent role in divorce just seven or eight years ago.’” “A Whole Lot of Porn Going On” “▪ As a July 2003, there were 260 million pages of pornography online, an increase of 1800% since 1998. Porn amounts to about 7% of the 3.3 billion Web pages indexed by Google.” “▪Internet users who access adult websites spend an average of 73 min. per month there, but that doesn’t include time spent on amateur porn sites.” “▪Americans rent upwards of 800 million pornographic videos and DVDs a year, compared with 3.6 billion nonpornographic videos. Nearly 1 in 5 rentals is a porn flick.” “▪ Hollywood produces 400 feature films a year. The porn industry churns out 11,000.” “▪ One in 4 American adults surveyed in 2002 admitted to seeing an X-rated movie in the past year.” “Porn doesn’t just give men bad ideas; it can give kids the wrong idea at a formative age. Whereas children used to supplement sex education by tearing through National Geographic in search of naked aboriginals and leafing through the occasional Penthouse they stumbled across in the garage, today many are confronted by pornographic images on a daily basis.” “In a 2001 poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 70% of 15- to 17-year-olds said they had accidentally come across pornography online. Older teens may be aware of the effects of such images: 59% of 15-to24-year-olds told the pollsters they believe seeing porn on the Internet encourages young people to have sex before they are read; 49% said it promotes bad attitudes toward women and encourages viewer to think unprotected sex is O.K. ‘Pornography is affecting people at an increasingly young age,’ says sociologist Diana Russell, who has written several books on the subject. ‘And unfortunately for many kids growing up today, pornography is the only sex education they’ll get.’” (Pamela Paul, “The Porn Factor,” Time, January 2004) ______________________ “THE PORNOGRAPHY INDUSTRY”
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“Growth in adult video rentals” “1985 75 million units” “1992 445 million units” “2000 721 million units” “Growth in porn industry revenue including pay-per-view, phone sex, in-room hotel movies, sex toys, magazines” “1972 7 million” “1996 8 billion” “2000 12 billion” “Number of days for video stores renting tapes to make back the cost of tapes purchased:” “Mainstream Hollywood releases: 20” “Adult releases: 5” “Adult pay web sites on the Internet in 2000: 70,000” (Renaissance newsletter: from Adult Video News; Alexander & Associates; Playboy Enterprises, Television Division; The New York Times; U.S. News & World Report) (Moody, March/April 2003, p20) ______________________ “THE TESTIMONY OF DR. MARY ANNE LAYDEN” “Co-Director, Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program, Center of Cognitive Therapy University of Pennsylvania” “The consequences of all these distorted beliefs are varied. For the viewer, pornography increases the likelihood of sexual addiction and they respond in ways similar to other addicts. Sexual addicts develop tolerance and will need more and harder kinds of pornographic material. They have escalating compulsive sexual behavior becoming more out of control and also experience withdrawal symptoms if they stop the use of the sexual material. The executive who goes to his office and logs on to the Internet porn sites at 9:00 AM and logs off at 5:00 PM is out of control and risks a great deal. Research indicates and my clinical experience supports that 40% sex addicts will lose their spouse, 58% will suffer sever financial losses, and 27-40% will lose their job or profession. Those whose marriages don’t end, may find themselves increasing dissatisfied with their spouses appearance and sexual behavior and increasingly sexually acting Pornography – Research 2005 and prior
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out which leads to an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. Research indicates that even nonsex addicts will show brain reactions on PET scans while viewing pornography similar to cocaine addicts looking at images of people taking cocaine. This material is potent, addictive and permanently implanted in the brain.” “Those who use pornography have also been shown to be more likely to engage in illegal behavior as well. Research indicates and my clinical experience supports that those who use pornography are more likely to go to prostitutes, engage in domestic violence, stranger rape, date rape, and incest. These behaviors should not be surprising since pornographic videos containing all of these themes are readily available and the permission-giving beliefs of these pornographic videos reinforced by the orgasm say that all these behaviors are normal, acceptable, common and don’t hurt anyone.” “I have also seen in my clinical experience that pornography damages the sexual performance of the viewers. Pornography viewers tend to have problems with premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. Having spent so much time in unnatural sexual experiences with paper, celluloid and cyberspace, they seem to find it difficult to have sex with a real human being. Pornography is raising their expectation and demand for types and amounts of sexual experiences at the same time it is reducing their ability to experience sex.” “The terrible work life of the pornography performer is often followed by an equally terrible home life. They have an increased risk of sexually transmitted disease including HIV, domestic violence and have about a 25 % chance of making a marriage that lasts as long as 3 years.” “The viewers and the performers of pornography are the most direct victims. However, the children and the partners are also damaged by this industry. My clinical experience indicates that the spouses of porn viewers are often depressed, and are more likely to have eating disorders, body image disorders and low self-esteem. These wives can’t function in the fake sexual world in which their husbands live. The wives may try to please their spouse by engaging in sexual behaviors that they find degrading. The wife may think that they can increase the sexual energy in the relationship and satisfy her husband if the views the pornography with him. My clinical experience is that these wives often get a short-lived boost in sexual activity but soon she notices that when her husband is having sex with her, he is turning around to watch the porn on the TV screen. She then realizes that he isn’t having sex with her at all. He’s masturbating inside her body while he is having sex with the women on the screen.” (“The testimony of Dr. Mary Anne Layden,” U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, November 2004) ______________________
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