April 08, 2021 |
Op-Ed: British Journal of Criminology Study on 'Violence' in Porn |
SAN FRANCISCOâIf you only read headlines about a new study from the British Journal of Criminology you might think that large quantities of criminal videos of sexual violence on tube sites are warping most childrenâs minds, turning them into sexual violators. But this isnât even close to true. The coverage of the study is misleading and exaggerated. But the study itself is extremely flawed. First, the researchers included everything from âstepmomâ to "ploughedâ in the category of âsexual violence.â Defined that broadly, itâs shocking the study found only one in eight videos depicted sexual violence. The study also posits, without much evidence, that porn influences sexual desires while totally ignoring how sexual fantasies likely influence porn consumption. The authors also conflate sexual fantasies and sexual behaviors, despite ample evidence that most people never act out most of their sexual fantasies. Most distressingly, the authors fundamentally misconstrue the impacts of stigma and criminalization on consensual sexual behavior, helping to lay the groundwork for terrible policy. The Studyâs Claims The study joins an existing body of research investigating whether and how porn influences sexual norms. âOne in eight titles shown to first-time users on the first page of mainstream porn sites describe sexual activity that constitutes sexual violence,â the authors write. âTaken together, we argue that our study provides clear evidence that sexual violence is a normative sexual script in mainstream online pornography.â But by defining âsexual violenceâ overbroadly, ignoring consent and excluding too many non-violent titles the authors vastly overstate the percentage of mainstream pornography that depicts actual sexual violence. Limitations of the Study What the study actually found is that thereâs a lot of porn that depicts taboo behavior, power differentials and voyeurism. The main problem with this study is that it defines âsexual violenceâ so broadly as to make the distinction meaningless. If everything is sexual violence, nothing is sexual violence. The authors labeled four broad categories of content as sexual violence: 1. Sexual activity between family members2. Aggression and assault3. Image-based sexual abuse4. Coercive and exploitative sexual activity The study exaggerates the frequency of violence in video titles by excluding titles with only the name of the performer or studio. More worryingly, the study includes videos that donât depict any actual violence. For example, the most frequent form of âsexual violenceâ in the data was incest/step-cest. While certainly taboo, itâs a stretch to claim that every âstepmomâ video depicts âsexual violence.â Incest-light (or "taboo relations") porn is an incredibly popular porn category. In the âaggression and assaultâ category, the authors included titles like âtricked into dick ridingâ and keywords including âslap,â âthroatfucked,â "plow" and âpound.â Plowing and pounding are common euphemisms for vanilla, consensual sex. Neither are necessarily, or even generally, violent acts. Throatfucking implies some intensity but not violence per se. Under the âcoercive and exploitative sexual activityâ category, researchers included every keyword that would indicate any power differential, including âvery young,â âschoolgirl,â âneeds the cash,â âadvantage,â âblackmail,â âbribe,â âexploit,â âdrunkâ and âwoke up.â Aggression and assault category keywords included âforce,â âgropeâ and âmolest.â Image-based sexual abuse focused on voyeurism including ârevenge porn,â âupskirt,â âhidden,â âspy camsâ and âsecretly.â âI used âschoolgirlâ markers in my sex work until I was like 30,â sex worker and author Juniper Fitzgerald wrote of the study. âPeople who donât know our industry constantly use keyword analysis in research and itâs unethical.â The authors even admit the vast majority of these videos were consensually produced and distributed. The authors excluded videos with âBDSMâ in the title, but included videos that included consensual power play without explicit BDSM keywords. Itâs astonishing that a study of sexual violence would completely ignore the role of consent. âImagine if we did this for literally any other fictional media,â Fitzgerald said. âApply this methodology to the horror genre.â Misunderstanding Cause and Effect The authors heavily reference sexual script theory, which holds that social environments influence peopleâs understanding of sexuality, if not their desires and behavior. While this is undoubtedly true, thereâs very little evidence that porn heavily influences the average personâs sexual desires and behavior. In reality, thereâs pretty strong evidence from Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller and others that taboo sex, power differentials and voyeurism are among Americansâ most common sexual fantasies. Why wouldnât a lot of porn depict them? Not only that, but the evidence Lehmiller presents in his book Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It Can Help You Improve Your Sex Life shows sexual fantasies donât correlate with real-world behavior. The average person who fantasizes about âstepmomâ or âspyingâ is no more likely to actually engage in incest or non-consensual voyerism than the average person who doesnât. For most people, most of the time, fantasies are just that. Most troublingly, the authors approve of âstigmatizing and criminalizing some sexual behavioursâ to âset out where the boundaries may lie between appropriate and inappropriate sexual conduct.â U.S. legislators are looking for ways to censor large amounts of adult content and deplatform vast numbers of sex workers. âOur findings raise serious questions about the extent of criminal material easily and freely available on mainstream pornography websites and the efficacy of current regulatory mechanisms,â the authors write. The evidence, again from Dr. Lehmiller, shows that stigmatizing and criminalizing consensual sexual behavior is totally ineffective at reducing it, and can actually make people more likely to focus on these urges through the âwhite elephant effect.â The authors also fail to acknowledge that providing comprehensive, medically accurate sex education actually works to reduce rates of sexual violence, while providing other benefits. The study is actually somewhat reassuring, showing that a very small percentage of videos on tube sites depict actual sexual violence. Unfortunately, the authors redefine sexual violence to suit their purposes, and then push for solutions that evidence shows are likely to create more sexual violence rather than less. Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
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