[acb-hsp] Porn and Sexual Violence

[peter altschul]

Does Sexual Fare Cause Sexual Violence?
  7/28/2011 Steve Chapman
  In the 1980's, conservatives and feminists joined to fight a 
common nemesis: the spread of pornography.  Unlike past campaigns 
to stamp out smut, this one was based not just on morality but 
also on public safety.  They argued that hard-core erotica was 
intolerable because it promoted sexual violence against women.
  "Pornography is the theory -- rape is the practice," wrote 
feminist author Robin Morgan.  In 1986, a federal commission 
concurred.  Some kinds of pornography, it concluded, are bound to 
lead to "increased sexual violence." Indianapolis passed a law 
allowing women to sue producers for sexual assaults caused by 
material depicting women in "positions of servility or submission 
or display."
  The campaign fizzled when the courts said the ordinance was an 
unconstitutional form of "thought control." Though the Bush 
administration put new emphasis on prosecuting obscenity, on the 
grounds that it fosters violence against women, pornography is 
more available now than ever.
  That's due in substantial part to the rise of the Internet, 
where the United States alone has a staggering 244 million web 
pages featuring erotic fare.  One Nielsen survey found that one 
out of every four users says they visited adult sites in the past 
month.
  So in the past two decades, we have essentially conducted a 
vast experiment on the social consequences of such material.  If 
the supporters of censorship were right, we should be seeing an 
unparalleled epidemic of sexual assault.  But all the evidence 
indicates they were wrong.  As raunch has waxed, rape has waned.
  This is part of a broad decrease in criminal mayhem.  Since 
1993, violent crime in America has dropped by 58 percent.  But 
the progress in this one realm has been especially dramatic.  
Rape is down 72 percent and other sexual assaults have fallen by 
68 percent.  Even in the past two years, when the FBI reported 
upticks in violent crime, the number of rapes continued to fall.
  Nor can the decline be dismissed as the result of 
underreporting.  Many sexual assaults do go unreported, but there 
is no reason to think there is less reporting today than in the 
past.  In fact, given everything that has been done to educate 
people about the problem, and to prosecute offenders, victims are 
probably more willing to come forward than they used to be.
  No one would say the current level of violence against women is 
acceptable.  But the enormous progress in recent years is one of 
the most gratifying successes imaginable.
  How can it be explained? Perhaps the most surprising and 
controversial account comes from Clemson University economist 
Todd Kendall, who suggests that adult fare on the Internet may 
essentially inoculate against sexual assaults.
  In a paper presented at Stanford Law School in 2006, he 
reported that, after adjusting for other differences, states 
where Internet access expanded the fastest saw rape decline the 
most.  A 10 percent increase in Internet access, Kendall found, 
typically meant a 7.3 percent reduction in the number of reported 
rapes.
  For other types of crime, by contrast, he found no correlation 
with Web use.  What this research suggests is that sexual urges 
play a big role in the incidence of rape -- and that pornographic 
websites provide a harmless way for potential predators to 
satisfy those desires.
  That, of course, is only a theory, and the evidence he cites is 
not conclusive.  States that were quicker to adopt the Internet 
may be different in ways that also serve to prevent rape.  It's 
not hard to think of other explanations for why sexual assaults 
have diminished so rapidly -- such as DNA analysis, which has 
been an invaluable tool in catching and convicting offenders.
  Changing social attitudes doubtless have also played a role.  
Both young men and young women are more aware today of the 
boundaries between consensual and coercive sex.  Kim Gandy, 
president of the National Organization for Women, thinks the 
credit for progress against rape should go to federal funding 
under the Violence Against Women Act and to education efforts 
stressing that "no means no."
  But if expanding the availability of hard-core fare doesn't 
actually prevent rapes, we can be confident from the experience 
of recent years that it certainly doesn't cause such crimes.  
Whether you think porn is a constitutionally protected form of 
expression or a vile blight that should be eradicated, this 
discovery should come as very good news.
  Steve Chapman is a columnist and editorial writer for the 
Chicago Tribune.