Youth, Pornography, and the Internet (2002) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
6. The Research Base on the Impact of Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material: What Theory and Empirical Studies Offer
6. The Research Base on the Impact of Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material: What Theory and Empirical Studies Offer
Pages 143-160
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 143... ...
6.1 THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS A number of psychological theories suggest some of the impact that media exposure might have on young people. These theories sometimes conflict, and so theoretical predictions regarding the developmental impact of exposure to sexually explicit material are not always consistent with one another.
|
From page 144... ...
Senate Commerce Committee, Washington, D.C., May 4, 1999. Available online at |
From page 145... ...
These theories are considered in light of sexually explicit material, though they are by no means limited to this type of content alone. 3Huston et al., 1998, Measuring the Effects of Sexual Content in the Media: A Report to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
|
From page 146... ...
An adaptation of arousal theory has been used to understand the possible implications of repeated exposure to sexually explicit material. One possibility is that, in a similar fashion to desensitization to violent material, a viewer continually exposed to sexually explicit material will habituate to that type of content and become desensitized to it as well.
|
From page 147... ...
Therefore, in contrast to cognitive approaches, social learning theory is based on reinforcement and traditional learning theory approaches. For example, for a person to imitate a sexual behavior or to have a sexual behavior disinhibited, there must be situational contingencies and reinforcements to support the behavior that has been observed.
|
From page 148... ...
As a result, sexual content in the media may have a greater impact on individuals who do not have real sexual experiences. Media that depict sexuality that is safe and positive may help to develop healthy sexual schemes, while content that is permissive of sexual violence or other negative sexual encounters could help to construct sexual schemes that are not beneficial for or may even be harmful to the young person.l2 Theories on schemes and scripts for sexual interactions suggest that any understanding of how the media shape this type of development must include a careful analysis of the messages conveyed by the circumstances of sexual activity, as well as of the types of communication, negotiation, and decision making that occur before, during, and after depictions of sexuality.
|
From page 149... ...
However, researchers have been able to conduct empirical studies using media content other than sexually explicit material research on violent material is one such example. This is because our society has more permissive attitudes about allowing young people to view violent material than about allowing them to see sexually explicit material.
|
From page 150... ...
With repeated exposure, the child may cease to have these emotional responses.l7 Research has shown that desensitization to media violence can result in reduced arousal and emotional disturbance while witnessing actual violence, greater hesitancy to call an adult to intervene in a witnessed physical altercation, and less sympathy for victims of abuse and assault. Emotional expressions of hostility, fear, and anxiety are also measured within arousal theory.
|
From page 151... ...
For instance, a study in Israeli middle schools after the introduction of the World Wrestling Federation to Israeli television documented the widespread imitation of acts demonstrated on this show that resulted in numerous playground injuries,23 and a juvenile was recently tried and convicted for homicide against a small girl in what the juvenile claimed was an imitation of professional wrestling moves.24 It is unknown if responses to media violence are cumulative (e.g., attitudinal changes resulting from repeat exposure) or instantaneous (e.g., fear responses due to seeing the "wrong" movie at the "wrong" developmental moment)
|
From page 152... ...
Penrod, 1988, "Effects of LongTerm Exposure to Violent and Sexually Degrading Depictions of Women," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55~5~: 758-768. 28Huston et al., 1998, Measuring the Effects of Sexual Content in the Media: A Report to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
|
From page 153... ...
to be more callous toward gender relationships, more likely to overestimate the prevalence of certain kinds of non-mainstream sexual behavior such as sadomasochism and bestiality, less likely to be offended by sexually explicit material, less likely to support restrictions on the distribution of sexually explicit materials, and more likely to support lighter sentences for convicted rapists.32 Many media messages suggest to adolescents that they should be thinking about sexual activity, and engaging in it early. Frequent televi29J.
|
From page 154... ...
,,, Journal of Homosexuality 21~1/2~: 93-llg. 37srown and Newcomer, 1991, ''Television viewing and Adolescents, Sexual Behavior,,; strouse et aL, 1995, '~Gender and Family as Moderators of the Relationship Between Music Video Exposure and Adolescent Sexual Permissiveness.,
|
From page 155... ...
It is not clear to what extent this generalization is appropriate because younger individuals have very different developmental needs and experiences than do college-age students. Some research has suggested that college-age students viewing sexually explicit material may develop more callous attitudes toward women and female sexuality, but it has not been clear to what extent these attitudes are lasting.40 38Sarah Keller, 2000, "How Do Early Adolescent Girls use Media to Shape Their Romantic Identities?
|
From page 156... ...
Those who seek or obtain clinical treatment for criminal sexual behavior, for example, are hardly a representative sample of the population that may or may not have been affected by the viewing of sexually explicit material in their youth. · Empirical studies examining the impact of exposure to other media content (e.g., studies of the impact of viewing violence)
|
From page 157... ...
(The desensitization of a teenager who has been viewing sexually explicit behavior on an adult Web site can be regarded as undesirable, if one believes that such depictions should be shocking and socially unacceptable, or as desirable, if one believes that a desensitized individual will simply ignore such images in the future.) Moreover, "impact" may not be confined to the direct results of exposure to sexually explicit material (for example, impact may also include the punishment that a teenager might receive for viewing such material)
|
From page 158... ...
For example, some studies suggest that girls use the media to gain insight about interpersonal relationships in one study girls who viewed a video about teen ure~nancv reflected more about the content than boys.42 In the context of viewing sexually explicit material (especially images) , the overwhelming majority of such material is oriented toward male consumers, with females being the object of sexual activity, and boys tend to be more interested in visual depictions of sexual images than are girls.43 Put another way, preadolescent and adolescent males are 1 to .J 42M.
|
From page 159... ...
A third dimension of exposure is the context in which it occurs. In particular, parental involvement in adolescent television viewing and dialog about the meanings conveyed in depictions of sexual activity can influence the relationship between viewing and sexual behavior.
|
From page 160... ...
6.3.6 The Type of Sexually Explicit Material There is a very wide range of material that different people regard as sexually explicit, including photos of models in bathing suits, couples having intercourse, group sex scenes, sadomasochism, gay and lesbian sex, and erotic texts of the Kama Sutra or The Joy of Sex, as well as scholarly works such as those of Masters and Tohnson.47 As noted above, the impact of images depicting sexual violence is likely to be different from the impact of images depicting non-violent and consensual sex; presentation of the material is also likely to affect the nature of the impact (e.g., the difference in portrayal of sexuality in Playboy compared to that in Our Bodies, Ourselves)
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.