Intimate Partner Violence

Today’s pornography portrays women as insatiable sex objects who crave bondage, anal sex, multiple penetration, and outright abuse. Violent sex has become routine in pornography. Many videos document gang rape and present it as consensual sex. The images are not classified as violent for pornography

Foubert, Brosi, and Bannon conducted an experiment, using fraternity men, which showed the effects of viewing pornography (212+). Pornography viewing is becoming more prevalent in our society due to the advancement of technology (Foubert, Brosi, and Bannon 212+). Foubert, Brosi, and Bannon reviewed that an estimated eighty-seven percent of college men, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, partake in the viewing of pornography each year (212+). The most popular pornography videos contain violence toward women; therefore, the viewers’ actions are likely going to result in violence and sexual assault (Foubert, Brosi, and Bannon 212+). Foubert, Brosi, and Bannon observed that one hundred percent of sexual assaulters began by viewing pornography

However, no explanation is given for how the connection between pornographic representations and beliefs or physical actions is made. As Demare, Lips and Briere note in their study of the relationship between pornography and violence, as much as we may want it to, correlation does not prove a causal relationship. While MPW demonstrates the prevalence of sexual abuse within pornographic material and within society, the only explanation as to how the consumption of pornography is directly related to violence against women amounts to little more than an extended, poetic variation of “monkey see, monkey do”. Dworkin’s information on pornography-based violence, as she states in the introduction of her book, is partially based on one-step-removed accounts of pornography by “only a few of the thousands” of women who she says to have known personally, all of which blame porn as the catalyst of their sexual assault. Other sources include novels, pornographic fiction, excerpts from the biographies of Marquis de Sade and Marilyn Monroe, and excerpts from ‘scientific’ works by Alfred Kinsey and his co-workers - none of which contain a sex-positive perspective on female sexuality. Dworkin’s sources, listed in the ‘Notes’ section of her book, are many, and paint a heart-wrenching image of pornography and female heterosexuality at the time of the book’s publication. One cannot deny the extent to which women endured family sexual abuse, rape, battery, and coercion during the

In today’s culture, sex is worshipped. From the television shows we watch to the billboards we pass on the freeway, sexually explicit material permeates itself into our world whether it is conscious or not. Research shows that this type of material has the greatest effect on women, children, and marriages. Women and children are the most obvious choice among those assuming the affect this material has on our society, but what many forget is the affect it has on marriage. The women shown in commercials, ads, and movies are far from an ordinary woman. They are perfect. What men, and women, see is an unrealistic expectation of what women today should look like. Another harmful product of today’s sexually acceptable material is pornography. Men and women alike find completely unrealistic sexual scenarios in which they let deeply affect their sexuality. When conducting research, school psychologist and Master of Education Julienne Colbow concludes that this type of material may or may not bother women or “change their attitudes”. She even goes to state that the data is “inconclusive” as to whether or not women really care about the affect this material has on them. Regardless of the way women feel about this type of material in general, I plan to argue the point that this material is detrimental to women, children, and marriages. Sexually explicit material and

In the study “Pornography, Individual Differences in Risk and Men’s Acceptance of Violence Against Women in a Representative

The connection between pornography and rape has always been a contentious one. Some feminists like Catharine Mackinnon have long argued that pornography directly leads to the rape; that pornography by its very nature is an expression of and endorsement of sexual violence that effectively deprives women of their rights. Others such as Wendy McElroy and J.S. Mill have argued just as forcefully that the importance of free speech takes precedence in any debate about this issue and even, in McElroy’s case, that pornography is actually socially beneficial in a number of ways. The authors of the scientific study excerpted in the case study “Pornography and Rape” seek to evaluate this supposed link in an empirical manner, and the findings of their study lead them to the conclusion that the evidence “would seem sufficient to discard the hypothesis that pornography causes rape.”

From a woman’s perspective, there is a significant amount of dispute surrounding the porn industry. “The anti-pornography feminists were interested in making the streets safe for women by means of punitive and far reaching legislation against pornography” (Schwartz & Rutter p.181). In other words, these women felt that pornography reveals negative signals, and makes it easier for a man to take advantage and control women sexually. To the conservative woman, pornography is seen as painful and a

Due to pornography’s mainstreaming within society, pornification challenges theories of normalisation, sexuality and the role of the illicit (Mulholland, 2011) and in turn evokes concerns in relation to the development of identities, commoditisation of sexual desire, sexualisation of women and young girls, gender inequality, and violence against women with the inclusion of rape culture (Kosut, 2012). As for example; through pornification in its readily available raw form, pornography, it is implied that women in general should be valued only for their bodies due to enjoying all sexual acts. This in turn sexualises male supremacy which is believed to desensitise men and lead to the view of women being passive sexual objects and therefore the sexualisation of women and young girls as well gender inequality (Boyle, 2012). Other examples may include those that couple sexual acts with violence. Therefore, it can be said that pornification and more specifically pornography provide a fantasy situation in which violence against women and rape culture become permissible and encouraged (Boyle, 2012),

A close examination of the intricate relationships between: gender, sexuality, social hierarchy, ideology, power and objectification is necessary to prove that the pervasiveness of pornography in today’s society serves as a means for the construction of women’s oppression. It becomes clear that pornography is the grease that relegates women to a second-class status when its effects are fully actualized. On the other hand, some argue that pornography is empowering and benefits sexuality. An exploration into the positive effects of pornography will be provided. The merit of pornography will be disproven and it will become obvious that the perpetrator of inequality is pornography.

The high levels of sexual violence against women is of great concern to a large chunk of today 's society. The article published in Violence and Victims investigates the extent to which pornography and harsh parenting can cause sexual coercion and victimization. The following two hypotheses were formulated: (1) The interaction of exposure to harsh corporal punishment and consumption of pornography will be associated to the reports of men who have engaged in coercive sexual behaviors towards female partners, and (2) the interactions of exposure to paternal hostility and consumption of pornography will be associated to the reports of women who have been victims of sexually coercive behaviors from male partners. These hypotheses were formed on the basis that there is a link between sexual coercion and the two aspects of parental demeanor and pornography. Both theses correlations tie greatly to the effects of exposure to sexually explicit/pornographic material.

The Meese Report is a legal document that was released July 9th, 1986. It was intended to promote a higher level of restriction towards obscenity laws and to expand on definitions of obscenity (“The Meese Commission on Pornography”) in order to “encourage the abolition of sexually explicit materials” (“The Meese Commission on Pornography”). Even that document acknowledged several areas where the uses of sexually explicit materials have been put towards positive purposes (Strossen 163). For example, “the treatment of sexual dysfunctions and the diagnosis and treatment of some paraphilias”, or in other words, the addiction of strange sex practices (Strossen 163). Furthermore, many experts, namely doctors, have strong faith in the notion that it can “improve the sex lives of many couples” (Strossen 163). Evidence of this is through Patti Britton, Ph.D., a board-certified clinical sexologist who states “[…] it is common knowledge in my field that sexually explicit films and videos are often recommended as a mode of treatment for couples or individuals with clinical sexual problems” (Strossen 163). Not to mention that even individuals with no significant sexual problems can easily benefit from pornography to also “spice up” their sex lives. As a result, many doctors have stated that explicit materials add strength to many relationships, consequently solidifying them (Strossen 164). As

Gail Dines asked the question to her readers in Pornland; How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality, “what are the consequences of porn of culture, sexuality, gender, identity, and relationship”(xi). With the competition of the pornography industry and the consumer desensitization of porn has driven the porn industry to create more hard core porn to satisfy the consumers and raise profits. In the beginning of the book, Dines’ depicts the history of pornography and the growing number of competition porn has for consumers. Later she describes, the impact porn has on our culture, the effects on both men and women, and our relationships

MacKinnon asserts that pornography is ‘more act-like than thought-like’. In other words, it is an illocutionary act, in which the act of expression itself constitutes the intended action of silencing and subordinating women. It silences women by privileging the male perspective to such an extent that the female perspective disappears; it subordinates women by placing them in the role of a mere object to be used for the sexual satisfaction of men, thus enabling men to exert power over women. The dehumanising aspect of pornography functions by eroticising the removal of social values that are accepted as essential to human dignity. It is only to the extent that self-respect and the avoidance of pain are accepted as part of being human, that

Levine (2010) defines an addict and their behaviors when “they are sometimes expensive in economic, psychologic, and social terms. They may persist despite negative consequences. The patient may not be able to stop the behavior when he or she states that goal.” The introduction of the internet has opened a whole new world to many sex addicts. In the online world, a person can find easy access to pornography including specific types that are tailored to individual interests (Levine, 2010; Weir, 2014). Studies have shown that pornography is viewed often. Weir (2014) cites several studies showing that more than 50% of all men and more than 30% of women view it on a regular basis. The debate is whether or not pornography causes harm to those who view it.

Pornography is defined as the representation in books, magazines, photographs, films, and other media of scenes of sexual behaviour that are erotic or lewd and are designed to arouse sexual interest (Legal Dictionary, 2014). In 2002, the adult film industry accumulated an average 3.9 billion dollar profit, and this figure has almost tripled since (Forbes Magazine, 2002). Pornography is misconceived within society as a violent and demoralising form of adult entertainment, and can be perceived as a negative pot-stirrer for relationships. Whether or not it destroys relationships is an opinionated question. Regardless, the porn industry does have a proven negative impact on relationship commitment, of bedroom expectations and body image, and