Today’s Gazette publishes a letter from Enid Gorman of Amherst. She writes: I am a retired social worker who worked as a child sexual abuse prevention educator in public and private schools in New York City for several years, as well as providing therapy to sexually abused children. In regard to your article of Jan. […]
Continue reading Letter to Gazette: “Children need education to help deal with predators”
On his blog today, gender studies professor Hugo Schwyzer critiques the feminist credentials of the alt-porn website Suicide Girls and wonders whether porn can ever empower women. Hugo writes: The Suicide Girls site (I won’t link to it, but you can figure it out yourself–it is not “work safe”) is the pioneer “alt-porn” center on the […]
Continue reading Hugo Schwyzer: ‘Suicide Girls’, Empowering to Women?
Van F. White was the first person of color ever elected to the city council of Minneapolis. He writes about his evolving views of porn in “Pornography and Pride”, published in Men Confront Pornography (1990, p.290-292)… I’m 59 years old, and I’ve known something about pornography for many years. When I was young, I worked […]
The website Family Facts has gathered citations of numerous studies that find that porn consumption correlates with increased rates of infidelity, use of prostitutes, aggression and rape-supportive beliefs. We highlight a few of these studies here: In 1992, the Journal of Interpersonal Violence reported that “Childhood exposure to pornography is significantly related to rape fantasies […]
A federal judge has upheld the rights of Berlin, CT residents to protect themselves from the secondary effects of a topless bar near homes. Today’s Hartford Courant tells the story… BERLIN — In a key decision that upholds the town’s sexually oriented business ordinance, a federal judge has rejected a lawsuit from Gold Diggers LLC, […]
Continue reading Hartford Courant: Judge Backs Sex-Business Ordinance
The following story has been reported on CNN and elsewhere this week. This account is from the website of a Florida TV station: A 31-year-old Central Florida man accused of hanging a woman from a tree and videotaping her torture and rape was attempting to create a bondage-porn video for cash after recently declaring bankruptcy, […]
Continue reading Police: Woman Hung From Tree, Tortured For Bondage-Porn Video
Male attitudes about rape are not bred in the bone. They can be learned and unlearned. Edward Donnerstein and Daniel Linz report their findings in “Mass Media, Sexual Violence, and Male Viewers: Current Theory and Research”, published in Men Confront Pornography (1990, p.219-232)… Aggressive pornography, as used here, refers to X-rated images of sexual coercion […]
Continue reading Male Attitudes about Rape Can Be Learned…and Unlearned
New York Magazine considers the impact of I-porn in “Not Tonight, Honey. I’m Logging On”. [T]he mass consumption of cyberporn has slyly moved from the pathetic stereotypes (fugitive perverts, frustrated husbands) into the potent mainstream (young professionals, perhaps your boyfriend). Thanks to the advent of cable modems and DSL connections, it’s now easier than ever […]
When violent incidents like the Columbine shootings occur, some in the media rush to deny a link between media and violence. On the other hand, producers make millions from product placement in movies, on the premise that the mere appearance of a product in a movie will affect viewer behavior. ProtectKids.com elaborates (PDF)… Film critic […]
Continue reading Link of Media to Violence Accepted, But Porn Has No Effect?
One way to get a sense of the impact of porn in today’s America is to review the historical experience in other countries. ProtectKids.com (PDF) again weighs in with interesting things to say… One area where porn advocates are happy to talk about correlational studies is in relation to Denmark, where the government lifted pornography […]
Continue reading Porn and Sex Crimes in Other Countries: The Historical Experience