Running head: LITERATURE REVIE 1

Literature Review

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Introduction

There have been studies done over a considerable time now by various researchers and

medical professionals who strive to analyze and comprehend the effects of pornography on an

individual’s sexual conduct. Only a little clarity has been realized in the published scientific

literature materials, there has been no conclusive direction for the scientific findings that are

essential to comprehend and manage behaviors that provoke sexual aggressiveness and

obsession in pornography (Carroll, et al., 2008). Results from various studies have shown that

about 67% of young men and 49% of young women admit that watching pornography is

tolerable, whereas about 87% young men and 31% of young women testified to have used

pornographic materials (Carroll, et al., 2008). This means that more men than women consume

pornographic materials. This paper intends to review various pertinent research works

regarding the relationship between pornography and sexual misconduct (Malamuth, et al.,

2000). A closing segment of this paper focuses on the convergence of paraphilia inclination

factors and pornography as matters necessitating medical decision in the lessening sexual

aggression and paraphilic compulsion (Edwards, 2017).

Ulrich Beck Risk Theorizing and the Concept of Pornography

The work by Ulrich Beck attempts to know the noteworthy revolution in societal attitudes

and fears, and the effort to scrutinize the interstitial factors at play amongst technology, science,

social and political institutions, and the risk outcomes of these both for an individual and

society in general (Jarvis, n.d). Ulrich Beck’s elements that undermine modernization and

modernity are:

 Globalization

 Individualization

 Gender revolution
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 Underemployment

 Global risks

Having a common definition of pornography has been very elusive as no two studies have

used the same meaning. There is no consensus on among the policy-makers or even lay-people

as many people admit to only knowing if a material is pornographic after seeing it (Malamuth

et al., 2000). However, it is understood that sexually explicit materials vary in content as they

may be consensual or forceful and media may be in form of text and video and ability to

provoke sexual stimulation (Fisher, et al., 2013). Directed by the supposition that the sexually

overt media may be an influence on excitement to particular sexual actions, various studies

have focused on distinguishing the sexually explicit resources based on their content (Fisher,

et al., 2013). However, pornography can be defined in terms of the media which depicts nudity

and portrayals of sexual behaviors which are intended to cause sexual arousal to an individual

(Carroll, et al., 2008).

The Risks of Pornography

Globalisation and the Risk of Ruined Relationships

Beck opines that a clear achievement of industrialized modernism has been its wide

spatial distribution and its ability to transcend borders and penetrate cultures. However,

globalization is not a wholly benign development (Jarvis, nd). It has come with miseries too as

people are unable to create a warm interaction which is only possible after careful application

of the requisite time and energy which contains expenses and openness. Due to this failure, a

commonly ease way to avoid that is through the consumption of pornographic materials so as

to get a brief blast of similar pleasures that affection breeds (Malamuth et al., 2000). The issue

becomes that the cravings that are harbored in a romantic bond are substituted for pornography.
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It makes intimacy become an egotistic pursuit of pleasurable sections from pornographic

materials.

A mutually intimate relationship is degraded when connection stops to be the desire of

individuals (Malamuth et al., 2000). Consumption of these materials make couples to part

ways, mainly because as most of the watching secretly done. In 2003, a poll of 350 advocates

specifying in divorce at the American Academy of Matrimony Lawyers (AAML) revealed that

many divorce cases involved one person having compulsive consumption of porn. In addition,

among samples of sex offenders, observational study on non-criminals has shown no indication

for strong relations between the use of violent and non-violent sexually overt materials and the

inclination to violence against women (Fisher, et al., 2013). However, it poses complications

to determine how to take such findings because parallel study has failed to establish that self-

indulgence into pornography is associated to negative or adverse outlooks toward women.

Ironically, such findings has even established that the use of sexually overt materials is

concomitant with more constructive attitudes toward women and also with egalitarianism of

gender (Fisher, et al., 2013). Other approaches to evaluating the association of sexually explicit

materials with anti-woman approaches and acts has been to do a research on the circumstances

in which liberalization of the law has allowed unobstructed reach to various kinds of sexually

explicit materials. Further studies done by Kutchinsky in Denmark, West Germany and the

United States of America, exposed that from around 1960s to 1980s, reported rape cases did

not escalate more than those of incidents of non-sexually violent crimes (Fisher, et al., 2013).

Although there is no fully consensus-based point of separation between minor and major

physical violence, the term violence is used to refer to the extreme physical aggression that has

a noteworthy risk to the victims (Anderson et al., 2003).

Individualism and the risk of Sexually Objectification of Women

Beck further observes the dynamic role of the welfare state and how it has changed the

social associations by granting individuals with more freedom which shield them from the

personal danger. Beck claims that individuals have become increasingly individualistic (Jarvis,

n,d). This echoes true because the individuals seek access to sexually explicit resources which

result to anti-woman actions as it has been recounted in several independent researches.

Ferguson and Hartley studied the association between the number of sexually explicit film

issues and sexual assault harassment rates in the US from between 1988 and 2005 (Fisher &

Hartley, 2009). The results disclosed a sharp rise in the number of sexually explicit film issues

during this time accompanied by a sharp decrease in rates of sexual assault victimization. In

similar technique, Diamond and Uchiyama have stated that the increased obtainability of

sexually explicit resources in Japan, was supplemented by a drop in the number of reported

rape concerning both adult and youth offenders (Fisher, et al., 2013). Further studies in

countries of Croatia and Shanghai also show a decrease in rate of reported rape as pornography

became progressively available to individuals. Investigational conclusions regarding the

influence of sexually violent materials on anti-woman attitudes and anti-woman actions exhibit

negative effects of such resources, but they may be creations of contrived experimental

situations, their generalization has been challenged, and there are critical failures to duplicate

these conclusions. Research on sexual criminals and non-offenders have weakly pointed to

pornography as a considerable lead to violence (Grabe & Hyde, 2009). Numerous researches

on the general population seem to express no effect of increased obtainability of varied sexually

explicit materials on rates of sexual attack or even diminished sex misconduct in the

perspective of access to pornographic materials. Even though researches showing a direct link

between the indulgence in sexually objectifying materials and women’s outlook of themselves

as objects whose worth is grounded on looks have been insufficient, other experimental studies
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have revealed that sexually objectifying media lead to higher rates of women’s self-

objectification (Grabe & Hyde, 2009).

Gender Revolution and the New Perspectives on Sexual Behaviors and Paraphilia

Majority of those who have indulged in pornographic materials confess of how difficult

it is to stop the habit (Cooper et al., 2000). No matter their deep longing to drop the habit, it

sticks in the mind and affects their lives in a negatively while they struggle to stop (Owens et

al., 2012). Many of them may even give up on trying to stop and they end up as slaves to the

obsession. Researches scrutinizing the influence of pornography consumption in the brains of

healthy youthful respondents are scanty (Maas & Dewey, 2018). Nevertheless, neuroscience

study has advanced a number of findings in the works on adolescents who are frequently

exposed to sexually explicit content, and who could be at risk for irregular development. Some

of the standpoints on adolescent’s susceptibility to pornography indulgence are drawn from the

findings of researchers in medicine sectors, and also from neuroscientists who study

developmental psychology (Casey, 1990). Their standpoints can offer a foundation for

hypothesis generation and opportunities for further research in future on the area of adolescent

consumption of pornographic materials (Owens et al., 2012). Addiction to pornography is a

condition that is characterized by insistent unusual and problematic interests in sexual matters.

Paraphilia is a recurrent, extreme sexually arousing imaginations, sexual impulses and

the general behaviors involving non-human entities leading to suffering or degradation of

oneself or one’s own partner (Fisher, et al., 2013). Paraphilia can also be directed to children

or other non-consenting individuals and occurs over a period of at least 6 months and which

have substantial distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other significant areas of

operations of an individual. Arousal to, and performing of sexual assault and child sexual abuse

may thus be theorized as potential indicators of paraphilia. However, it is also fairly possible
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for acts of sexual assault or child sexual abuse to be caused by non-paraphilic inclinations

(American Psychiatrist Association, 2000). The likelihood that sexually overt materials may

encourage the acquisition of the sexual behaviors depicted in such material, particularly

sexually violent behaviors and child-oriented sexual behaviors, has inspired considerable

number of researches. There are specific apprehension concerning the use of child pornography

and the growth of paraphilic inclination to children. Those concerns start with the recognition

that the making of such material involves child sexual abuse and extends to the possibility that

child pornography may contribute to the growth of paraphilic child sexual inclinations and

increased cases of child sexual offences (Fisher, et al., 2013).

Critique and Gaps

This paper has come to a number of conclusions in relation to pornography, sexual

waywardness and paraphilia and also ruined relationships. The first critique is that even as

experimental study shows that contact with violent sexual materials may negatively impact on

an individual’s conduct, generality of results beyond the limitations of artificial experimental

circumstances poses a problem. In addition to this, observational researches steadily show few

population level adverse effects of obtainability of pornography on sexual aggression or,

although with incomplete evidence, on child sexual exploitation. Again, a convergence model

about the combined effects of an array of selfish tendencies and exposure to pornography on

sexual violence or child sexual abuse is conceivable, but helpful data are scanty and have been

vehemently critiqued by individuals with interest, and the correlational use of the findings do

not let us conclude whether there is a justified causal direction of pornography effects. On how

to manage sexually aggressive inclinations and paraphilic indulgences is an issue of careful

scientific conclusion on individual circumstances with careful concern shown to both

inclination factors and consumption of sexually overt material.

The proof apparently specify that consumption of pornographic materials in the context

of particular predisposing factors among them aggressive masculinity, ostensibly indifferent

opinions about sex, or previous encounter with sexual crimes may permit heightened concern

on the probability of future sexual aggression directed to weaker individuals. What is

paramount to clarify is that my critique about these findings on the impacts of pornography

ought not to be misunderstood as encouragement of the use of such material, and it should be

highlighted that dealing in child pornography is both illegal and detrimental to society in

general.
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References

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Anderson, C. A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L. R., Johnson, J. D., Linz, D.,

Malamuth, N. M. & Wartella, E. (2003). The Influence of Media Violence on Youth.

Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Vol. 4, NO. 3.

Carroll, J. S., Padilla-Walker, L. M., Nelson, L. J., Olson, C. D., Barry, C. M., & Madsen, S.

D. (2008). Generation XXX: Pornography acceptance and use among young adults.

Journal of Adolescent Research, 23, 6-30. DOI: 10.1177/0743558407306348

Casey, B. J. (1990). n.t. Department of Psychology; Yale University.

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