Violence in porn: the shocking result of the abuse of women
Author Dr. Gail Dines claims that 88% of adult videos contain violence against women. Moreover, similar opinions exist in other sources. If he”s right, then about 9 out of 10 videos contain violence. Is it true that this figure is very high? Never. Don”t believe these platitudes. You can go to porn sites yourself and see that in most videos both partners are happy and their behavior is consistent.
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Differences of opinion
But where did these staggering numbers come from? The data comes from a study published in an article entitled “Violence against Women.” The authors of this study did not fully understand the concept of “violence” itself and attributed it to scenes with notes of sadomasochism or male dominance. The problem is that Gail Dines only listened to the results of this study and did not dig deeper. Controversy and misunderstandings arose on this basis. The actual number of scenes with violence (according to the planned scenario) does not exceed 5%. In addition, Data from many pornographic sites varies greatly.
What is violence?
Note that the results of different studies can have very different implications. This is because people define the concept of “violence” differently. Surprisingly, it turns out that defining this concept is not so easy. So do people recognize violence when they see it? Not always. Consider the following scenario: one person sharply hits another between the shoulder blades. Most people would call this violence—hits, attacks. However, if the two people are colleagues and both are smiling, the hit is a pat on the back for a job well done. It”s not violence, it”s congratulations. In other words, violence should be judged not by behavior alone, but by actions in light of the partner”s intentions. Five of the six recent studies did not consider consensual BDSM. But to no avail. After all, sadomasochism is not intended to cause harm; many people want to. And, as you know, no one can or wants to be cruel for its own sake. I have no objection to BDSM. Not only does each participant in the scene want it for themselves, but their partner also submits or dominates. BDSM is about desire, not coercion. Few people take this into account. Therefore, five other studies showed slightly inflated results regarding the identification of violent scenes.
BDSM in real life and imagination
According to American scientists, between 5 and 10 million Americans practice BDSM. This is enough to establish special clubs for thrill-seekers. As for the mental health of these people, it is completely normal. Besides the fact that they enjoy rough sex, many Americans who don”t engage in BDSM have fantasies related to erotic dominance and/or submission. Consider literature or one of its genres—the novel. Few people read it, but tens of millions of women are avid fans of such books. Novels vary greatly, but they follow a standard formula. Naive women are attracted to strong, aggressive men.
Read also: More porn—less violence! Experience from various countries proves this some activists claim that pornographic films lead to an increase in rapes. They beat their chests and proved this.
As the story progresses, the man frequently threatens the protagonist with violence, but is eventually tamed by her irresistible erotic charisma and becomes the man of her dreams, a caring and devoted lover, husband and father. These books are very romantic. According to Publishers Weekly, such literature accounts for 23% of sales. This is an honorable second place (after general fiction) among all other genres. Now let”s look at the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy. This is a classic consensual pattern, possibly involving scenes of physical violence. However, this is not necessary or even documented. The author describes many spicy, sometimes harsh scenes, but both partners like it. So why?
Violence and harassment: what are girls and women in Kyrgyzstan silent about?
Porn critics condemn books that contain even a small amount of coercion and submission (even consensual), but, strangely enough, do not condemn novels for the way male characters dominate and bully female ones. Why? Because novels are written to evoke the erotic fantasies of women. Women understand that this is imagination. Critics of pornography don”t seem to acknowledge that pornography is also fantasy. They mistakenly believe that she is a real sexual threat and coercion to men.
More porn, less rape
Many anti-pornography activists argue that pornography encourages violence by becoming a cult. They are wrong. The reasons for this are as follows. Before the Internet became widespread (before 1997), pornography was not widely available. But thanks to the Internet, all this entertainment is now available in HD quality with just one click. If critics are right and sex scenes encourage rape, then violence against women should have increased since 1997. And what is the result? Sexual assaults have dropped more than 40 percent since 1995, according to the Justice Department”s National Crime Survey, which social scientists consider more reliable than police reports.
More hard facts to defend pornography
Another example is the collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe. From 1948 to 1989, the rulers of what was then Czechoslovakia created a state in which viewing explicit videos and photographs was considered a crime. However, when communism collapsed and the Czech Republic became independent in 1989, pornography was legalized, and Czech men became avid consumers. What happened to the risk of violence? It dropped by 38%. These examples are not typical psychologists” interviews with hundreds of students. They represent what actually happened in the real world, on a massive scale. Based on this data, one can conclude that increased access to pornography is accompanied by a decrease in acts of sexual violence. Erotic films do not promote rape; they suppress it. Violence, porn, shocking, result, abuse
