PART 4: CHAPTER 3

Social and Behavioral Science Research Analysis

Introduction

The Commission has examined social and behavioral science research in recognition of the role it plays in determining legal standards and social policy. This role, while notable, is not, nor should it be, the sole basis for developing standards or policy. The lack of funding and the inability under the mandate of the Charter to conduct original research has resulted in the need to rely on existing information. The amount of research conducted in the last fifteen years provides a reasonably sufficient base to reevaluate answers to old questions. Some might argue that given the controversy and heated debate that inevitably surrounds any discussion about pornography, in some ways, we might be better off relying on studies initiated, funded, and presented outside the context of such a milieu.

The major question which frames this research review is: what are the effects of exposure to pornography and under what conditions and in what kinds of individuals are these effects manifested? We also have structured this review with the following considerations in mind: (1) that it provides some input into the policy-making process; (2) that it provides social science information for public consumption and understanding; and (3) that it provides the research community with further questions for investigation.

While the nature of effects is the focus of this section, we have also examined public opinion on pornography to systematically describe the nature of public perceptions of and experiences with such material as well as policy preferences. In terms of effects, correlational as well as experimental studies on sexual offenders as well as on nonoffender populations were examined. For background purposes, we have also presented brief summaries of what some predecessor Commissions have concluded about the social science evidence before them.

Some observations on terminology and on the character of social science evidence are appropriate at this point as guidelines to reading through the rest of this chapter.

We will simply avoid the usual definitional morass by using the term "pornography" to refer to the range of sexually explicit materials used in the various studies reviewed here. In a number of studies, these materials have included sex education materials. In describing specific studies, we also will use the researcher's terminology of choice, but making sure that the stimulus materials are adequately described for the reader.

We also are sensitive to the limitations and strengths of specific research approaches and we have taken special efforts to review these briefly in each major section of this Chapter, if only to underscore the fact that our evaluation of the research recognizes these limitations and indeed proceeds from the assumption that any conclusions must be drawn on the basis of complementary or convergent data.

Overview of the 1970 Commission Research Conclusions

The period prior to the creation of the 1970 Commission on Obscenity and Pornography was marked by a paucity of research on the effects of exposure to pornography (Cairns, Paul and Wishner, 1962). A Commission-sponsored review of the literature in 1970 later concluded that "we still have precious little information from studies of humans on the questions of primary import to the law ... the data stop short of the 'critical point'". (Cairns, et al, 1970). Much of the Commission-sponsored studies thus constituted some of the earliest investigations on the issue of pornography.

The 1970 Commission funded over eighty studies to examine various aspects of pornography. Surveys included a national in-person survey of public attitudes toward and experiences with pornography (Abelson, et. al., 1970). A number of correlational studies examined social indicators of crime rates (Thornberry and Silverman, 1970; Kupperstein and Wilson, 1970; Ben-Veniste, 1970) while another cluster of studies investigated sex offenders and their previous experiences with erotica, patterns of exposure and self-reported arousal. Finally, another group of studies was commissioned (laboratory experiments) to examine causal links between exposure to pornography and effects (see Technical Reports of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, vols. 1, 6, 7, and 8, 1970).

The national survey findings (Abelson, et. al., 1970) showed that between two-fifths to three-fifths of the respondents believed then that sexually-explicit materials provided information about sex, were a form of entertainment, led to moral breakdown, improved sexual relationships of married couples, led people to commit rape, produced boredom with sexually-explicit materials, encouraged innovation in marital sexual technique and led people to lose respect for women (see comparison between 1970 survey findings and 1985 Gallup poll results below).

Experimental findings showed brief increases in sexual activities and fantasies after exposure to sexually-explicit materials but no significant alterations of established sexual behavioral patterns. The Commission further determined that there was no detectable relationship between availability of pornography and crime rates in the United States but suggested that removal of restrictions on pornographic material was correlated with lower sexual crime rates, as determined from Danish data prior to and after the removal of restrictions on pornography (Ben-Veniste, 1970; Kutchinsky, 1970, 1973).

The 1970 Commission concluded:

... In sum, empirical research designed to clarify the question has found no evidence to date that exposure to explicit sexual materials plays a significant role in the causation of delinquent or criminal behavior among youth or adults. The Commission cannot conclude that exposure to erotic materials is a factor in the causation of sex crimes or sex delinquency (p. 223).

The Commission's conclusions were challenged and a number of methodological issues were raised (Cline, 1974; Eysenck and Nias, 1980). At the very least, these conclusions were described as "premature" (see Liebert, 1976). Researchers who have done studies subsequent to the 1970 Report have also consistently identified a major flaw in the 1970 studies: the absence of any investigation of the effects of violent pornography.

On balance, however, the impetus for further research on the effects of exposure provided by the 1970 Commission cannot be overlooked. As the Effects Panel noted in its report,

One of the contributions of the work of the Panel has been to place the dimensions of human sexual behavior on the agenda for continuing inquiry. By providing resources in terms of funds and technical guidelines, the Panel has helped to legitimate systematic inquiry into an area that heretofore has either been ignored or feared.

It is difficult to quarrel with this observation.

Since the 1970 Commission report, in fact, numerous research studies have been done exploring various aspects of the effects of pornography. Since 1970 the quantity and quality of the research has been impressive. While much remains to be explored, not only has the volume of studies conducted steadily increased, but the programmatic nature of the research conducted by various individuals and research teams has provided a better insight into understanding the various conditions under which certain effects may or may not occur.

Studies done for the 1970 Commission were hampered by time constraints. As the research director for the 1970 Commission pointed out, "most of the researchers had less than nine months in which to establish a research team, arrange a research setting, develop measuring instruments, secure subjects, collect the data, reduce the data, and write a report." (General Preface to Technical Reports, Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, 1970, p. vii)

Methodological advances in measurement procedures have also enhanced the reliability and validity of research instruments and findings. For example, measures of sexual arousal in some of the 1970 studies were based almost entirely on self-reports (e.g., Cook and Fosen, 1970; Goldstein, et. al., 1970; Davis and Braught, 1970). Since then, the poor correlation between self-reports of sexual arousal to sexually explicit stimuli and physiological measures of arousal has been well documented (Abel, Barlow, Blanchard and Guild, 1977; Blader and Marshall, 1984).

More recent studies have used instruments such as the penile plethysmograph (Malamuth and Check, 1980a), thermography procedures (e.g., Abramson, et. al., 1981) or the vaginal photoplethysmograph (see Sintchack and Geer, 1975; Hatch, 1979) to evaluate arousal (see also Geer, 1975; Heiman, 1977), or have combined physiological measures (e.g., blood pressure readings) with paper-and-pencil tests. Researchers have also attempted to validate paper-and-pencil measures, a critical methodological requirement (see, for example, Burt, 1980; Malamuth, In Press). Finally, more sophisticated statistical techniques have allowed for better data analysis, control, and interpretation. Multiple regression techniques, for instance, have allowed researchers to specify how much each explanatory variable contributes to changes in the variable being measured. Various other statistical techniques have also helped in deciding whether correlational data give any credence at all to the possibility of causal linkages.

A final observation might be made with regard to stimulus differences between the 1970 studies and more recent ones. Stimulus materials used in the 1970 studies were obtained primarily from sex research institutes (the Institutes of Sex Research at Hamburg University in West Germany and at Indiana University) and the Bureau of Customs confiscated contraband collection. One researcher (Tannenbaum, 1970) resorted to producing his own film which he described as showing a young lady "going through the motions of disrobing in a fairly sensuous manner in apparent preparation for the arrival of a lover." These materials were also presented primarily in the form of slides, magazine pictorials, mimeographed passages and film.

It is perhaps as much a function of availability and changing technology that more recent studies have used as stimulus materials films, audiotapes, videos, and material from various "adult men's" magazines, all easily available from outlets as diverse as the neighborhood video store, the corner newsstand, or the local adult bookstore.

Other Pornography Commissions and Social Science Research

Other organizations which have studied pornography such as the Williams Committee in England and the Fraser Commission on Pornography and Prostitution in Canada have also examined social science research evidence on the effects of viewing pornography. (Report of the Committee on Obscenity and Film Censorship, 1979; Report of the Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution, 1985).

The Williams Committee, working between 1977 and 1979, commissioned two reviews of the existing literature. One review examined the effects of viewing pornography (Yaffe and Nelson, 1979) and the other examined the effects of exposure to media violence (Brody, 1977). Both reviews highlighted the difficulties of studying human behavior and of understanding human motivations. The review of the effects of viewing sexually-explicit materials concluded that "there is no consensus of opinion by the general public, or by professional workers in the area of human conduct, about the probable effects of sexual material." The review on the effect of exposure to media violence similarly maintained that "social research has not been able unambiguously to offer any firm assurance that the mass media in general, and films and television in particular, either exercise a socially harmful effect, or that they do not."

The long track record of media violence research and antisocial behavior makes the latter conclusion somewhat surprising, particularly since an opposite conclusion was arrived at by a similar commission working under the direction of the United States Surgeon General in 1972, which had examined the effects of exposure to media violence (Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior, 1972).

The conclusions of the Williams Committee on the effects of viewing pornography may not be as surprising since much of the experimental work was published after 1978. It is not clear, however, how much value these studies would have had for the Williams Committee since its call for more research was predicated on the importance of studying "the human personality as a whole, rather than to specific questions about violent or sexual materials and their supposed effects" (p. 4). The Committee further appeared to give greater attention to correlational studies as it examined in considerable detail studies by Court (1977) and Kutchinsky (1973). The Committee was highly critical of Court's methodology but also pointed out that the Danish data did not lead to the conclusion that the availability of pornography resulted in a decrease in sexual offenses.

The Canadian Fraser Commission similarly sponsored a research review (McKay and Dolff, 1985) and concluded that "the research is so inadequate and chaotic that no consistent body of information has been established. We know very well that individual studies demonstrate harmful or positive results from the use of pornography. However, overall, the results of the research are contradictory or inconclusive." (Report of the Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution, v. 1, p. 99).

The commissioned review was exceedingly critical of the research, maintaining that the studies in every aspect exhibited "conceptually cloudy thinking," that they were characterized by "blatant silliness" and had no integrating framework, that "the literature is rife with speculation and unwarranted assumptions." The low regard for behavioral science methods is evident throughout the review, with major criticisms focusing on the uselessness of the experimental paradigm (p. 86-87), and the inability to draw conclusions from correlational research. Despite this assessment, the Commission proceeded to recommend criminal sanctions for sexually violent material and child pornography and limits on public display for nonviolent pornography. These recommendations were based on the Commission's observations that these materials were contrary to Canadian values of equality and human dignity.

It is obvious that the contribution of social science findings to policy considerations can vary, from being the sole or primary basis for policy recommendations, as was the case for the 1970 Commission, to being close to irrelevant to such considerations, as seemed to be the case with the Canadian pornography commission.

Public Attitudes Toward Pornography

How does the public view pornography and have there been any changes in public opinion in the last fifteen years?

Survey data from a national public opinion poll on the issue of pornography were made available to the Commission by Newsweek magazine. The poll was conducted for Newsweek by the Gallup organization in March, 1985, and involved a sample size of 1020 respondents interviewed by telephone.^[1119]

Comparisons between the Gallup data, where appropriate, will be made with the 1970 Commission survey (see Abelson, et. al., 1970) to examine any observable change.

The 1970 Commission survey used face-to-face interviews from February through April of 1970 with a random sample of 2,486 adults and 769 persons ages fifteen to twenty (Abelson, et. al., 1970). For purposes of comparison with the 1985 sample, only the data from the adult sample for 1970 will be used. The Newsweek-Gallup poll was a telephone survey of 1,020 adults conducted in March, 1985.

The 1970 survey was a far more wide-ranging survey covering a host of areas (including opinions on the effects of sexually-explicit material for which some directly comparable poll data are available from the Newsweek poll), the respondents' experiences with sexually explicit materials, opinions on different categories of sexual explicitness, attitudes toward legal and other forms of control, and attitudes toward different categories of sexual explicitness.

In contrast, the Newsweek-Gallup poll was much more limited, consisting of eight questions. For purposes of additional comparison, a 1977 national Gallup poll provides another trend point which allows comparisons with a 1985 question on the applicability of national versus local standards.

Any comparisons between the 1970 and 1985 findings should be made with caution, given the independence of both surveys and the fact that only a few questions were exactly alike. In those areas where questions were examining similar issues but were not worded the same, only the questions which were more narrowly defined for the 1985 survey were included and any resulting error would be on the side of conservatism. The distinctions between direct and indirect comparisons are carefully noted. A major objective is to note whether patterns observed in 1970 continue in 1985. Comparisons will be made in the three areas: (1) public exposure to sexually explicit materials; (2) perceptions of the effects of pornography; and (3) opinions on the regulation of pornography.

1. Public Exposure to Sexually Explicit Materials

The data from 1970 and 1985 are comparable only in a limited way because of differences in the materials mentioned and changes in technology (e.g., the widespread use of cable and home videos). In 1970, for instance, the respondents were asked if they had "ever seen stag movies or skin flicks." In 1985, respondents were asked whether they had gone to an X-rated movie or bought/rented an X-rated video cassette in the last year. The 1985 respondents were asked if they had "ever read" magazines like Playboy or Penthouse, while 1970 respondents were asked if they had seen or read a magazine "which you regarded as pornographic." Again, we note that this is a loose comparison, only afforded by the fact that the 1985 question is more specific in nature and, therefore, a more conservative estimate.

In response to the question whether they had seen or read a magazine "which you regarded as pornographic," one in five in 1970 said "yes," with twenty-eight percent of the men and fourteen percent of the women responding in the affirmative. However, half of the men and a third of the women in this group were unable to recall the title. Of those titles mentioned, it was clear that the term 'pornographic' embraced a wide variety of material including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping and Ladies Home journal (Abelson, et. al., p. 23).

In contrast, two thirds of the 1985 respondents had read Playboy or Penthouse at some time. Over a third said they "sometimes buy or read magazines like Playboy" (37%) while thirteen percent said they "sometimes buy or read magazines like Hustler."

In 1970, fifteen percent of respondents said they had seen a movie they regarded as 'pornographic' in the past year. Again the range of titles mentioned included such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Graduate, Easy Rider, and Bonnie and Clyde, in addition to titles that could more likely fall in the "adult" movie category. On the other hand, less than ten percent (7%) of the 1985 respondents had been to an X-rated movie in the past year while close to one in ten (9%) had purchased or rented an X-rated video cassette. The marked difference between the questions asked at both time points precludes any conclusion about any increase or decrease in film viewing in the last fifteen years although the media for purveying adult films certainly has increased.

In 1970 as in 1985, men, younger individuals, and those with more education were more likely to have been exposed to sexually explicit material than women, older respondents, and those less educated (Tables 1 and 2). The differences in exposure between men and women are fairly large both in 1970 and in 1985 but are particularly striking in 1970.

At what age is the average person first exposed to sexually explicit materials? Abelson, et. al. (1970) found that about one in five males and about one in ten females had their first exposure by age twelve. By age seventeen, over half of the males (54%) and a third of the females had been exposed (p. 8). Those exposed earlier also tend to differ from those exposed at a later age. "Young adults, college-educated people, those with relatively liberal attitudes toward sex, and people who have experienced the most erotica recently are all disproportionately more likely than others to have had their first experiences with erotica at a young age" (p. 9).

No comparable age-of-first-exposure question was asked in the 1985 Newsweek-Gallup Poll. A few other studies have similarly examined these questions and the results may identify any changes which have occurred since 1970.

Gebhard (1980) compared data collected by the Kinsey Institute between 1938 and 1960 (using only the data from white males and females with at least some college education-a total of 4,388 respondents) to a much smaller nonprobability sample of undergraduate males and females in one university in 1975. By comparing responses to questions on age and source of first knowledge of such topics as coitus, pregnancy, fertilization, menstruation, and venereal disease. Gebhard concluded that "children and young people are learning the basic facts about sex at considerably younger ages than did their parents and grandparents" (p. 168).

For example, over half of each sex in the 1975 sample knew of coitus by age ten whereas only a third of the earlier sample's females and half of the males had this same knowledge at that age. By age eight, thirty-one percent of the males in the Kinsey sample knew of pregnancy compared to sixty-three percent in the 1975 sample; for females, it was thirty-one percent versus seventy-six percent, respectively.

A second finding of this study was that sources of early sex information appeared to have shifted slightly in relative importance. Same-sex peers remained the major source in both samples but to a lesser degree for the more recent sample, with mothers and the mass media becoming more significant (ranked second and third, respectively). These results, however, are simply suggestive because of the difficulty of generalizing beyond these particular groups of respondents and the limited size of the 1975 sample. These data also gave little indication of whether "mass media" includes pornography.

Another more recent set of data based on a national probability sample of 1071 respondents is available from Canada (Check, 1985). The Canadian results show that adolescents, ages twelve to seventeen, report most frequent exposure of sexually explicit fare. As Table 3 shows, two in five twelve to seventeen year olds view such material in movie theaters at least once a month; over a third (37%) see similar material on home videos with the same frequency.

These results should be viewed with caution because of the small numbers in this age group. The 1970 survey data demonstrated a similar pattern. Respondents in the 1970 sample were asked how many times during the past two years they had seen photographs, snapshots, cartoons or movies of a list of sexually explicit items. Adolescents reported more frequent exposure than adults, with three in ten of the adolescents saying they had seen such material six or more times in the last two years compared to one in four adult males and one in seven adult females.

In comparing his results to the 1985 American Newsweek-Gallup data discussed above for comparable questions, Check found parallel results at least for sexually violent material. Results on nonviolent fare could not be compared because of the differences in question wording. This consistency and the fact that over eighty percent of the sexually explicit material in Canada is from the United States (Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution, 1985, p. 161) might suggest that the Canadian results may not be dissimilar from what might be found in the United States.

Public Standards of Acceptability

The 1970 Commission survey examined standards of acceptance for various categories of explicitness in two types of media: movies and print. Table 4 shows that there was slightly greater tolerance for sexual explicitness in the print media than in movies (if one compares the percentages of persons advocating total bans on various categories). The print category presents a problem since it does not distinguish between textual and visual or photographic material, which might be found more often in books and magazines, respectively. Restrictiveness also progressively increases the more the behavior departs from what respondents might consider normative. A re-analysis of the 1970 survey data does confirm this observation of acceptability based on perceived normativeness and, in addition, shows that judgments were also related to community size and medium (Glass-man, 1978).

In 1985, slightly different distinctions appear to be made (Table 5). Greater tolerance is shown for film (both theater and video tape cassettes) than for print, with the public more likely to suggest no restrictions for the former. While the survey does not use the wider range of distinctions of sexual activities provided 1970 respondents (a limitation imposed no doubt because of the telephone procedure), the three categories used-nudity, sexual relations, and sexual violence-provide a sufficiently diverse range of themes. The data clearly show greater tolerance for nudity, with a majority maintaining that restrictions should only apply to public display. There was least tolerance for sexual violence, with a majority advocating banning such material. What has been called the "VCR morality" is also very much in evidence here with more than a quarter of the respondents opting for no restrictions on X-rated video tape cassettes. Nearly one in four respondents did not object to the sale or rental of video cassettes featuring sexual violence as long as there is no public display.

These differences are clarified further when one takes into account the respondent's age and gender (Table 6). The young are clearly less opposed than the old, and men more than women, these patterns appearing with fairly high consistency.

There also appears to be some interaction between these demographic characteristics. Greater numbers of older men tend to be more permissive than older women, with about twice as many men over fifty suggesting no restrictions on materials across the board. The gap between men and women narrows significantly among younger respondents (those between eighteen and twenty-nine), with women just as likely as men to favor no restrictions on all materials except magazines with nudity and the sale or rental of videocassettes. Men were more likely to favor no restrictions on these materials than women.

Has there been an increase in permissiveness in the last fifteen years? Again, while some of the categories between 1970 and 1985 are not directly comparable, a reasonable comparison can be made for the category describing depictions of sexual intercourse. For the 1970 sample, only four percent advocated no restrictions on depicting intercourse in books and magazines and the same percentage advocated no restrictions for movies as well. In 1985, twelve percent advocated no restrictions on "magazines that show adults having sexual relations." Twenty percent favored no restrictions on "theater showings of X-rated movies." The assumption we make here, of course, is that most respondents associate X-rated movies with depictions of sexual intercourse but these comparisons are made with this caveat in mind. With the exception of sexual violence in magazines, the percentages opting for no restrictions on various categories of materials are also higher in 1985 than in 1970.

Finally, the 1985 sample was asked whether there should be a single nationwide standard or whether local community standards should be applied. Comparable data collected by the Gallup poll in 1977 provides another data point. As Table 7 shows, respondents in 1985 were almost evenly divided on whether a national or community standard should be used (forty-seven percent versus forty-three percent). The numbers who prefer to see local community standards applied have remained about even in 1977 and 1985-about four in ten respondents. There were as many who indicated standards should be stricter in 1977 as in 1985-fortyfive percent versus forty-three percent. Additional analysis shows that those who indicated standards should be stricter were more likely than those who said standards should be less strict to favor application of a national standard (55% to 41%). Six in ten women were also likely to favor a stricter standard compared to four in ten men.

In the last year, this gap between men and women appears to have increased even more on the issue of restrictiveness. A Washington Post-ABC News survey in February, 1986^[1120] asked the question: "Do you think laws against pornography in this country are too strict, not strict enough, or just about right?" Among men, ten percent said they were about right, forty-one percent said they were not strict enough, and forty-seven percent said they were about right. Among women, on the other hand, only two percent said the laws were too strict, while seventy-two percent-seven in ten women-maintained they were not strict enough. Almost a quarter (23%) said they were just about right.

Perceptions of Pornography's Effects

Respondents are just as likely in 1985 as in 1970 to perceive both positive and negative effects from exposure to or use of sexually explicit materials (Table 8). However, there is a significant increase in the numbers who perceive negative effects from 1970 to 1985. 1970 and 1985 data in this case were directly comparable since the same categories of effects were used.

The most significant changes were in the areas of violence toward women, with the number of respondents indicating these materials could lead some people to lose respect for women increasing from forty-three percent to seventy-six percent and those believing they lead some people to commit rape or sexual violence increasing from forty-nine percent to seventy-three percent in 1985. Whether this reflects greater sensitivity toward women or greater consciousness of sexually violent material available or both is unclear. A slightly greater number in 1985 than in 1970 were also likely to think that sexually explicit materials provide a safe "outlet for people with sexual problems" (34% to 27%) while the number of people who agreed that these could help improve the sex lives of some married couples remained the same (47%).

Public Perception of Pornography as a Social Problem

1970 respondents were asked to name "what you think are the two or three most serious problems facing the country today?" At the height of the Vietnam War, not surprisingly, more than half named this event the most important issue, followed by racial conflict and civil rights, and thirdly, by the economy (36% and 32%). Only two percent said they were concerned about erotic materials. The 1985 Gallup survey asked the question of perceived importance in a different way: by evaluating the problem relative to other social problems and asking the respondent to judge whether progress was being made to solve these problems (see Table 9).

Summary

There is greater overall public tolerance for sexually explicit materials. However, public opinion on restrictiveness clearly differentiates among different media, content depictions, and public access to such materials. There is a preference for no public display of materials featuring nudity and nonviolent sexual activities whereas a majority favor banning materials that depict sexual violence. There is also a greater willingness to impose restrictions on theater showing and magazine publication of sexual activities than on home videos.

The most frequent exposure to pornography is reported by adolescents between twelve to seventeen, a finding reported by the Canadian as well as the 1970 Commission survey. While sexual knowledge appears to be acquired at younger ages, it remains unclear what role pornography plays in this "sex education" process.

Finally, the public perceives both beneficial as well as harmful effects from exposure to sexually explicit materials. Some maintain these materials help improve sex lives of some people, that they provide information about sex, and also provide entertainment. A significant number also feel they lead to a loss of respect for women, a breakdown of morals, and the commission of sexual violence. The changes between 1970 and 1985 are most apparent in the increase in the numbers who perceive that exposure to these materials lead to loss of respect for, and the commission of sexual violence against, women.

Sex Offenders and Pornography

A common contention is that exposure to pornography leads to the commission of sex offenses. There are two ways one can examine this contention: (1) by looking at the relationship between sexual offenses statistics and the availability of pornography, and (2) by examining interview data from sex offenders, investigating the mechanics behind the onset of deviancy and the role of pornography in the commission of sex crimes.

The examination of aggregate social indicators of pornography availability and sexual offense statistics provides another view of the potential relationship between pornography and these offenses. It offers another way of validating results of the laboratory studies or from individual surveys. For example, if the results indicate a higher incidence of sexual aggression in the laboratory studies as a consequence of exposure to particular types of stimuli, and if surveys reveal that individuals who report higher levels of exposure to similar materials also tend to exhibit higher levels of sexual aggression, and if these findings are corroborated with a correlation between aggregate measures of availability and offenses, then we have reason to be more confident in an assertion that exposure to the class of materials in question has a substantial relationship to sexual aggression.

In the case of sex offenders, a comparison of their arousal patterns to those of nonoffender groups is vital, particularly as these patterns correlate with sexual aggression and attitudinal measures. It is reasonable to suggest that findings among nonoffender males who are aroused to coercive sexual themes and who also tend to be more sexually aggressive would be more meaningful if matched by similar patterns among those identified as sex offenders.

From the perspective of the offenders and society as well, understanding their behaviors is crucial because of the social costs in terms of victimization. While the number of sex offenses reported by incarcerated sex offenders appears to be small, results of clinical interviews, conducted with outpatient sex offenders (with great lengths taken to assure confidentiality) reveal that the number of crimes committed by the average sex offender is far greater than generally has been estimated (Abel, Mittelman, and Becker, 1985). Data from two psychiatric clinics obtained from 411 sex offenders revealed a staggering number of multiple victimizations per offender. These offenders attempted an average of 581 sex offenses and completed typically about 533 offenses each, with a mean number of 336 victims each. These attempted or completed offenses were over an average period of twelve years (Abel, Mittelman and Becker, 1985).

Aggregate Indicators: the Incidence of Sex Offenses and Pornography Availability:

One of the most frequently cited studies has been the analysis of sex crimes in Denmark before and after the legalization of pornography in the 1960s (see Kutchinsky, 1973; BenVeniste, 1970). Kutchinsky's data showed a drop in the number of reported sex crimes after legalization and he argued that the availability of pornography is cathartic as it siphons off potentially dangerous sex impulses-the "safety valve theory" (Kutchinsky, 1970, p. 288; Kutchinsky, 1973). Kutchinsky's work was lauded by the British pornography commission (Williams, 1979) for its thoroughness and the restraint with which he interpreted his findings. It singled out the dramatic reduction in offenses against children coinciding with the availability of pornography and, while the Commission did not endorse the "safety valve" hypothesis, agreed that Kutchinsky's interpretation was plausible, absent any other likely factor (p. 84).

On the other hand, Kutchinsky's study and conclusions did not go unchallenged. First, the weight of empirical evidence amassed in the last two decades by social psychologists, particularly in the area of media violence and aggressive behavior, hardly supports catharsis (see Weiss, 1969; Geen and Quanty, 1977; Bandura, 1973; Bramel, 1969; Comstock, In Press; NIMH, 1982).

Second, a number of problems have been raised with Kutchinsky's analysis and interpretations (see Cline, 1974; Bachy, 1976; Court, 1977; Baron, 1984; Malamuth and Billings, 1985). Some of these problems included the lumping together of sex offenses masked a stable, if not an increased, rape rate (Cline, 1974; Court, 1984). Also, such crimes as voyeurism were no longer recorded by police. Kutchinsky (1973) also noted that other activities such as homosexuality were simply tolerated more and certain social changes such as earlier sexual experiences for females meant reduced reports of intercourse with minors (Bachy, 1976).

The problem of using aggregate social indicators such as crime reports is well illustrated not just with reliability problems in reporting, but also in differential use of the data. For example, by Bachy's (1976) review of Copenhagen rape statistics between 1965 and 1974 which showed increases in rape and attempted rape as a proportion of total sex offenses. These offenses included intercourse with minors and indecent exposure, in addition to rape and attempted rape. Court's (1984) analysis of rape statistics for Copenhagen showed a similar upward trend while a fluctuating pattern was demonstrated by Kutchinsky's figures for the same crime in the same city between 1965 and 1970.

More recently, Kutchinsky (1985) has maintained that the increased availability of "hard-core" pornography in Denmark "may have been the direct cause of the real decrease in incidents of peeping and child molestation" (p. 313) and has proposed the "substitution" hypothesis as the most likely explanation. He further cites a similar pattern in West Germany with legalization of pornography in 1973 bringing about a decrease in sex offenses against children. This proposed causal link should be viewed with extreme caution, particularly since pornography availability statistics have not been presented.

Other data are available that allow further cross-cultural comparisons. Abramson and Hayashi (1984), in analyzing pornography in Japan, noted that while it was illegal to show pubic hair and adult genitals in sexually explicit stimuli, pornography appeared to be widely available in this country, including the prevalence of bondage and rape as recurring themes. In terms of rape statistics, however, they concluded that a low incidence of rape appears to be the case and suggested that certain socio-cultural mediating circumstances may be involved. Unfortunately, no data are provided by Abramson and Hayashi on availability or rape rates and at least one study indicates that these rates may actually be increasing. Goldstein and Ibaraki (1983) found that while crime rates have decreased or remained relatively stable among adults, juvenile crime increased from twenty-three percent of all crimes in 1976 to forty-two percent in 1980, occurring mainly in violent crime categories, including rape. The unique character of rape in Japan is also evident from these authors' findings that fifty-seven percent of the total reported rapes are groupinstigated and seventy-five percent are committed by juveniles. Finally, an informal survey reported in this study showed that ninety percent of the women interviewed said they would not report the rape to the police if they had been victimized (pp. 317-318).

Other cross-national data from areas as disparate as England, Australia, Singapore, and South Africa were analyzed by Court (1977, 1982, 1984). His studies compared rape rates in countries or areas where pornography is widely available, and those where restrictions exist. On the basis of his findings, Court advanced the propositions that (1) rape reports have increased where pornography laws have been liberalized, while the same steep rise is not in evidence where restrictions exist; (2) intermittent policy changes or changes in the law are temporarily related to changes in the rape rates; (3) the increase in rape reports does not parallel the increase in serious nonsexual offenses.

While Court's data are intriguing, the case he presents is weakened by (a) the selective use of a small number of countries, and (b) the lack of direct correlational analyses between sexual offense statistics and pornography distribution/circulation figures. The Williams Committee in England (Williams, 1981), in fact, took exception with Court's data, pointing out that he did not take into account the rise of crime in general in England (p. 74) and that the rising trend in rape and sexual assaults started well before what Court determined was the date marking the availability of pornography (p. 76; see Court, 1980, 1985 for responses to the Williams Report). Cocrane (1978) has similarly disputed Court's analysis and interpretations.

Kupperstein and Wilson (1970) of the 1970 Commission staff examined the incidence of sex crimes in the United States and reported that the rise in adult sex crimes (using report and arrest data) was not greater than the rise for other offenses between 1960 and 1969, despite the heightened availability of sexually oriented materials. The two indicators used for the latter were the circulation of Playboy magazine and the number of complaints reported to the United States Post Office for unsolicited sexually oriented mail. The study employed fairly crude measures, simply examining the percentage increase for various sexual and nonsexual offenses.

On the whole, a number of methodological problems characterize some of these early studies: first, the availability of pornography was simply assumed to have increased or decreased following legal changes. Second, direct correlations between the volume of pornography and sexual offense rates were not investigated. Third, sexual offenses were combined, masking important differences between various categories of offenses. Finally, the mediating effects of other variables which could affect the relationship between the circulation of pornography and sexual offense rates were not systematically investigated.

More recently, correlational evidence using more detailed statistical analyses, presents some additional insight into the pornography-sex crimes relationship on the aggregate or societal level in the United States (Baron and Straus, 1985). A fifty-state correlational analysis of rape rates and circulation rates of adult magazines was conducted, using aggregate circulation rates (subscription and newsstand sales per 100,000 population), for eight magazines (Chic, Club, Gallery, Genesis, Hustler, Oui, Playboy, and Penthouse). A fairly strong correlation+.64-was found between these circulation rates and rape rates. This relationship was present even with controls for potential confounding variables such as police practices (measured by police expenditures per capita), propensity to report rape (measured by number of rape crisis centers per 100,000 females; NOW membership per 100,000 females; MS magazine circulation per 100,000 females; and number of battered women's shelters); "southernness" (based on the higher violent crime rates in the South), and "illegitimate opportunities" (referring to greater opportunities to commit crimes in warmer than colder periods; the indicator used was average temperature).

Baron and Straus further found that rape rates are negatively correlated with the status of women when other factors are controlled for. This status-of-women index was measured via economic, political and legal indicators such as women's median income as a percentage of men's; the percentage of female members in the state legislature; and existence of laws giving women the same property rights as men. The study concluded that in a male-dominant society, the lower status of women may be reflected in higher rape rates.

Since it is possible that rape rates also may be a function of the overall culture supporting legitimate violence (that is, the societal endorsement of the use of physical force for socially approved ends, such as crime control or order in schools), the relationship between this factor and rape rates was also examined. Using a twelve-measure index that included such figures as violent television viewing, hunting licenses issued, and use of corporal punishment, no significant association between legitimate violence and rape was found. It is still theoretically possible that rape rates may be influenced indirectly by the level of legitimate violence through the Tatter's inverse relationship with the status of women; that is, cultural support for violence may contribute to sexual inequality which, in turn, may increase the risk of rape.

Finally, the level of social disorganization was also found to be directly related with rape rates and to affect these rates indirectly through its association with the circulation of pornography and the status of women. Other factors found to correlate with rape rates were the extent of urbanization, economic inequality, and unemployment.

In comparing the relative influence of these various explanatory variables, it was found that the proliferation of sexually explicit magazines and the level of urbanization help explain more of the variation in rape rates than social disorganization. The latter is also "more influential" in predicting rape than are economic inequality, unemployment, or sexual inequality. Together, these six explanatory factors explain eighty-three percent of rape rate variations, certainly a considerable proportion of the variance.

A follow-up study by Jaffee and Straus (1986) examined the impact of a variable called "sexual liberalism" on the relationship between these sexually explicit magazines' circulation rates and rape rates. It was hypothesized that a more liberal sexual climate might explain the relationship between sexually explicit magazines' circulation rate and rape by encouraging men to purchase more of these magazines and also encourage more women to report rape to the police. An index based on twenty-two questions in a national survey measuring attitudes toward a variety of sexual issues was utilized as the measure for "sexual liberalism." Results showed that the original relationship between rape rates and circulation rates of sex magazines was non-spurious and that sexual liberalism played a minor role, accounting for only nine percent of the state-to-state rape rate variations. A problem with this study, however, is that it attempts to match individual level measures of attitudes with aggregate-level social indicators, using data from forty states for the former (effectively reducing the original sample size of fifty states by a fifth).

Using the Baron and Straus data set, Scott and Schwalm (1985) essentially confirmed the sex magazine-rape rate relationship although their additional analysis showed that when rape rates were correlated with specific magazines, these correlations were higher for Playboy, Penthouse, and Oui than they were for Hustler magazine. Their contention was that sexual content in Hustler magazine was more likely to be associated with rape since this magazine has more sexually violent material than the other three magazines. Since correlations with the other four magazines were not provided, it is difficult to judge the consistency of such a pattern. Furthermore, such a breakdown is again not very helpful since the level of analysis is aggregate rather than individual. Thus, on an individual level, it will be more meaningful to correlate an individual's scores on sexual aggression measures and that individual's readership of specific magazines; on an aggregate level, it is more appropriate to relate the aggregate offense rate with aggregate availability figures for the material in question. And even on the individual level, there may still be some question as to the actual separability of individual magazine readership. A readership survey conducted for Hustler magazine among its subscribers shows that on average, the typical subscriber reads 3.6 adult men's magazines (Readex, 1984).^[1121]

Scott and Schwalm (1985) also analyzed the effect of three additional variables not investigated by Baron and Straus: the effect of circulation rates on general circulation magazines (e.g., Time, Reader's Digest) and the effect of outdoor men's magazines (e.g., Field and Stream, American Rifleman), the latter using the presumption that an indicator of a "macho" environment could also account for rape rates. Alcohol consumption for each state was also examined. None of these variables was significantly related to rape rates.

Scott (1985) further examined the correlation between adult theaters and rape rates for 1982 and found no relationship to exist. It is quite possible that this finding may be an artifact of the decreasing number of adult theaters in this country as a result of the rise of home videos, as Scott himself pointed out (see also Newsweek, 1985; Knowledge Industries, 1985). He also correlated the number of adult bookstores in each state and rape rates and again, found no relationship. Scott's data may not necessarily be inconsistent with Baron and Straus.' It is quite conceivable that the number of stores may not correlate with rape rates but the actual circulation of the magazines in various outlets do. In any case, Scott's endorsement of the "safety valve" or catharsis hypothesis on the basis of his findings appears premature at the very least.

While Baron and Straus' work is impressive for its methodological care and thoroughness, their findings do not indicate that men are induced to rape as a result of exposure to these magazines. While this is certainly plausible, there are two caveats to their analysis. First, it is a macro-model that is being tested, examining the relationship of various socialcultural factors on rape. Second, given that this is a correlational study, there is always the possibility that there may be some third factor influencing the observed sex-magazine rape rate relationship.^[1122] The crucial causal evidence has to come from an examination of the relationship under controlled conditions, and these studies are discussed below under "Experimental Findings."

On an individual level, some parallel is offered the Baron and Straus data by a recently completed large-scale study on sexual assault among the college student population (Koss, 1986). Correlates of sexual victimization and sexual aggression were examined among 6,000 college students from a probability sample of higher education institutions. This study established a relatively high incidence of sexual assault within this population (336 per 1,000 college women, a rate which includes rape, attempted rape, and forceful sexual contact). The portrait of college men who report behavior that meets legal definitions of rape shows individuals who are sexually experienced, come from homes where family violence was normative, who use alcohol fairly regularly (and reported becoming intoxicated one to three times per month), who regularly discuss with their peers "how a particular woman would be in bed," and who frequently read at least one of the widely available men's magazines.^[1123]

While these results offer correlational evidence, again, they do not support any causal link between readership of such magazines and sexually aggressive behavior. There are a variety of factors that correlate with sexual aggression as this study and the Baron and Strauss (1986) study demonstrate. Both also provide an important contribution towards our understanding of the types of factors, social, cultural, situational, and individual, which interact to explain sexually aggressive behavior as the theoretical thinking behind it.

In the case of causal relationships, the demonstration of a statistical relationship (that is, that the probability of the observed relationship being due to chance is minuscule) is a first requirement. A second requirement is that other competing or alternative explanations have been controlled in order to establish that X indeed causes Y.

In the case of rape rates and circulation rates of adult magazines, establishing a significant correlation between the two is a first step. That such a relationship may in fact be a spurious one due to the existence of some third factor is a second step in establishing the validity of the relationship. Unlike experimental situations, however, where most "alternative factors" are controlled for, by randomly assigning subjects to experimental conditions, one has to be able to identify every potentially significant "third factor" in correlational research and actually account for these in the analysis. Therefore, we find ourselves, at most, in the position of accepting an observed relationship as being plausible but yet cannot fully preclude the possibility of its being spurious.

Evidence from Sexual Offenders

There are three levels by which sex offenders' use of pornography can be evaluated:, first, what are the patterns of their early exposure to pornography? Second, what is the role of pornography in their fantasy and arousal behaviors? Third and most critical, is the question of the role of pornography in the commission of their sex offenses.

Methodological Considerations

A number of elements need to be considered in the study of sex offender populations.

1. Nature of the population evaluated

   The deviant populations most accessible to researchers in the past were incarcerated sex offenders. This category thus constituted the samples described in earlier studies, including the significant pioneering surveys done by Gebhard, et al. (1965) and Goldstein, et al. (1970). There is evidence, however, that data provided by incarcerated offenders tends to vary significantly from non-incarcerated groups (Abel, Becker and Skinner, 1985). The demographic profile of incarcerated offenders, for instance, appears to differ from nonincarcerated groups. For example, Goldstein, et al. (1970) found that while forty-two percent of his control sample has some college education, only twenty-six percent of the rapists, twenty percent and five percent of the male-object and female-object pedophiles, respectively, also had similar educational levels. Gebhard, et al. (1965) similarly found lower educational levels among his sexual offender sample compared to controls. Only thirteen percent of heterosexual child molesters, thirteen percent of homosexual child molesters, and twenty-one percent of rapists had a grade eleven or higher education compared to twenty-one percent of other criminal offenders and fifty-two percent of the control sample. Both these studies examined incarcerated samples.

   Abel (1985), on the other hand, found that among an outpatient sample of 192 child molesters, forty-six percent had at least one year of college, with a quarter of the total sample completing college or having an advanced degree. Marshall's (1985) comparison of eighty-nine outpatient sex offenders with twenty-four control adults showed little difference between the mean IQ's of this group and a comparison control. A mean IQ of 92, 93, 94 and 101 was measured for heterosexual and homosexual child molesters, incest offenders, and rapists, respectively, and 91 for the control sample. It has been estimated that incarceration rates for some sex offenders are low. Only thirteen to sixteen percent of rapists are actually incarcerated, for instance (Abel, Becker and Skinner, 1985; Dietz, 1978), making it likely that an outpatient sample of sex offenders/deviants would more closely resemble the population of deviant cases than an incarcerated one. The representativeness of such an outpatient group still is uncertain, given the fact that these are individuals who, either voluntarily or by court mandate, have sought treatment.

2. Measurement of Arousal.

   An important aspect of evaluating sexual deviance in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and projection of future behavior has been the assessment of arousal patterns. A major weakness in the early studies on sexual deviance was that measures of arousal consisted solely of self-reports. An extensive review of various assessment procedures (Zuckerman, 1971) concluded that the measurement of penis size (penile tumescence) in response to various stimuli provides the most valid indicator of sexual arousal. While the development of the penile transducer provided more accurate assessments of male arousal, problems still exist with this technology. The primary problem is that it is possible for the offender to control his erectile responses (by controlling his attention and sexual fantasies. See Quinsey and Bergersen, 1976; Laws and Holman, 1978; Abel, Becker and Skinner, 1985; Abel, Rouleau and Cunningham-Rathner, in press). However, it has been possible to identify such faked responses under planned treatment situations and to reduce their occurrence but not to eliminate them entirely (Abel, Mittelman and Becker, 1985).

3. Ethical Considerations.

   Clinical researchers are obviously unable to examine sex offenders in laboratory conditions to assess cause-andeffect relationships in the same way their social psychologist counterparts are able to do with non-deviant or "normal" populations. The risks are too great for a group with little or no control over their own behaviors. Furthermore, the notion of informed consent becomes a problem when physiological measures of arousal patterns may reveal interest patterns the patient may not even be aware of (see Able, Rouleau and CunninghamRathner, in press). Other ethical considerations further arise out of the occasional conflicting needs of the judicial system, the offender's needs and rights, therapeutic requirements, and even the public interest (see Bohmer, 1983; Abel, Rouleau and Cunningham-Rathner, in press, for an extended discussion).

A number of important advances have been made in the last fifteen years to elucidate the nature of sexual deviancy, particularly as they relate to the measurement of arousal patterns. On the whole, however, certain inherent limitations exist for this particular population that preclude gaining the fullest knowledge about the antecedents of their sexual behaviors. One of the earliest landmark studies based on interviews with sexual offenders was conducted by the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research (Gebhard, et al., 1965). The study was notable for its scope, including 1365 sex offenders, 888 other criminal offenders, and 477 controls, all white males. The study was conducted during two time periods: 1941 to 1945 and 1953-1955.

Interviews with sex offenders led the authors to conclude that no relation between pornography and sex crimes exists. The researchers, in fact, concluded that the inferior intelligence and education of the average sex offender precludes his deriving sufficient sexual arousal from pornography to lead to overt antisocial activity, a conclusion which has been contradicted by much subsequent data.

Some of the other earlier studies on this question were done for the 1970 Commission. On the basis of these early studies (see, for example, Cook and Fosen, 1970; Goldstein, et al., 1970; Walker, 1970; Davis and Braught, 1970), the Commission concluded that (1) sex offenders did not differ from adults in the general population in their reported immediate responses to reading or viewing erotic materials; (2) that sex offenders generally had less adolescent experience with erotica than the general adult population but did not differ from the latter in adult exposure patterns; and (3) erotica was an insignificant factor in the reported likelihood of engaging in sexual behavior during or after exposure.

Since these early studies, much more has been learned about sex offenders in terms of their arousal patterns and efficacies of various treatment approaches.

Early exposure

Do sex offenders differ from non-offenders in their patterns of early exposure to pornography? Goldstein, Kant, Judd, Rice and Green, (1970) found a high level of exposure to pornography during adolescence among sex offenders (categories in this study included rapists, pedophiles, transsexuals, and homosexuals) but these levels were not significantly different from a nonoffender comparison group. In comparing their samples on exposure to pornography during adolescence, Goldstein and his colleagues found that more rapists than controls had never been exposed to particular types of stimuli. Yet, the differences among the various groups were not statistically significant over the total range of stimuli. Significantly less exposure was reported among rapists to photos of partially and fully nude women and to books describing nudity and oral-genital relations. In fifteen other categories (different themes in different media), the differences were not significant. In their later book elaborating on their findings (Goldstein, Kant and Harman, 1973) Goldstein and his colleagues describe a significantly larger number of rapists as having had exposure to "hard-core" pornography than controls (30% versus 2%) during childhood or between six to ten years old. They also tended to report an earlier age of "peak experience" with pornography, that is, a sexual experience that stood out in their minds the most.

Cook and Fosen (1970) found that among their sample of incarcerated sex offenders and criminal offenders, the latter reported higher rates of exposure to pornography during preadolescence and adolescence. Johnson, et al., (1970), on the other hand, found slightly higher rates of early exposure among a sample of convicted sex offenders who were on probation and receiving therapy compared to the control sample consisting of the respondents in the Abelson, et al. (1970) national survey (44% versus 40%).

Walker (1970) interviewed two groups of male sex offenders, one from a maximum security ward of a state hospital and the second who were prisoners in a correctional facility. Two control groups incarcerated in both facilities for reasons other than sex offenses were utilized in addition to another comparison group of male college students and members of a number of men's service clubs. The latter were more closely matched to the sex offender sample in terms of age.

Data on age of first exposure revealed no overall difference between sex offenders and the combined student and men's club controls. However, portrayals of sexual activities for which the sex offenders had earlier exposure than the men's club control group appeared to be of the more unusual variety: bestiality, group sex, and "sex activities with whips, belts or ropes."

While the student and men's club members had significantly greater exposure to a wider range of sexually explicit depictions than the sex offenders, the latter also had collected pornography for a longer period of time than the men's club members.

Another study conducted for the 1970 commission (Davis and Braught, 1970) found that early exposure to pornography was related to greater involvement in deviant sexual practices among groups of criminal offenders and a comparison group of male students. This was particularly true for what they called "serious deviance," primarily rape. The age-of-exposure variable appears to be crucial as these authors found that exposure to pornography was a strong predictor of sexual deviance among the early age of exposure subjects. They also noted that "exposure to pornography in the 'early age of exposure' subgroup was related to a variety of precocious heterosexual and deviant sexual behaviors."

They found a slightly different pattern among those exposed to pornography at a later age, with the amount of exposure correlated with poor character scores and participation in criminal, deviant, and sexually active peer groups. This result suggests that among those later exposed, such exposure to pornography is part of a deviant and highly active sexual life style. Thus, two separate but related factors-pornography and peer pressure-seem to play some interacting role as sexual behavior patterns develop (Davis and Braught, 1973, p. 194). However, because we do not have age-of-commission data for the more deviant sexual behaviors, a hypothesis that gives a causal status to pornography exposure cannot be supported. Among 476 male reformatory inmates between sixteen to twenty-one years old, a similar association was found between early age of exposure to pornography as well as high exposure and sexual deviance.

Because more recent studies (Abel, Rouleau and Cunningham-Rathner, in press) suggest that over fifty percent of various categories of paraphiliacs had developed their deviant arousal patterns prior to age eighteen, it is clear that the age-of-first-exposure variable and the nature of that exposure needs to be examined more carefully. There is also evidence that the longer the duration of the paraphilia, the more significant the association with use of pornography (Abel, Mittelman and Becker, 1985). On the whole, the conclusion of the 1970 study that "both the extent and frequency of sex offenders' experience with erotic material is substantially less than that of non-sex (criminal) offenders and nonoffender adults during preadolescence and during adolescence" needs to be qualified. These data demonstrate relatively lower levels of exposure among sex offenders when the comparison group is criminal offenders. Compared to "normal" adults, however, the differences appear to be more qualitative than quantitative: sex offenders seem to have been exposed to sexually explicit materials for the first time at earlier ages, and there are some suggestions that the range of material they were exposed to was of the more unusual variety compared to the wider range of materials that control nonoffender groups was exposed to.

It is important to stress that these findings apply specifically to incarcerated samples, particularly groups that were considered serious offenders, given the maximum security facilities housing the Goldstein, et al. sample, the Walker sample and the Davis and Braught sample. A recent study (Carter, Prentky, Knight and Vanderveer, 1985) compared thirty-eight rapists and twenty-six child molesters incarcerated at a state treatment center. No differences were found between the groups in their exposure to pornography in the home (twenty-seven percent of the rapists and twenty-six percent of the child molesters said they had sex materials in their home while they were growing up) and during development (58% of the rapists and 54% of the child molesters had "seen or read sex materials as a teenager"). However, child molesters were found to use pornography more often than rapists in adulthood, were significantly more likely to use these materials prior to and during their offenses, and to employ pornography to relieve an impulse to commit an offense. Because of the absence of a control group of nonoffender adults, it is difficult to determine whether early exposure to pornography in this instance differs significantly from that of a nonoffender sample. The study also does not describe what types of sex materials were involved.

In retrospective interviews with eighty-nine sex offenders (all nonincarcerated and attending an outpatient clinic) and a control sample, Marshall (1985) found that greater numbers in all categories of offenders had been exposed to nonviolent pornography than the comparison group of non-offenders.

The term "pornography" in this case was limited to two categories of materials: "hardcore materials," or "those available only in specialized stores and depicting sexual acts with nothing left to the imagination" (p. 14), and materials depicting "forced sex." These were described to the subjects as those portraying "sexual relations between adult males and adult females where the female displayed a clear unwillingness to participate by both her verbal refusals and her physical attempts to prevent the attack, and the male in the depiction was said to recognize this refusal but ignored it by forcefully enacting his sexual wishes."

Marshall found that over a third of the rapists (35%), two in five homosexual child molesters (41%), a third of the heterosexual child molesters, and only a fifth of the control adults (21%) had been exposed to materials that did not depict forced sex. Only four percent of the rapists and eight percent of the controls were exposed to sexually aggressive portrayals (forced sex) during pubescence. Because of the terse description of "hardcore" sex materials used in this study, it is difficult to reconcile these findings with those of earlier ones suggesting early exposure to depictions of more deviant activities.

It is apparent that these studies cover a variety of comparison situations (no non-offender controls, comparison with nonsexual criminal offenders only), populations (incarcerated, non-incarcerated and in therapy) and a range of measures for early exposure. Certainly, the notion that sex offenders have significantly less exposure to sexually explicit materials than normal adults does not appear to hold for nonincarcerated groups (Marshall, 1985; Johnson, et al., 1970) and, for incarcerated groups, appears to be true when the comparison group is nonsexual criminal offenders. Compared to nonoffenders, rapists differ only on specific types of material (Goldstein, et al., 1970). Only one study (Marshall, 1985) shows somewhat higher levels of exposure than non-offender adults.

Fantasies and Arousal

Studies reviewed by and conducted for the 1970 Commission examined differences in arousal patterns for sex offenders and nonoffenders. These studies showed either that sex offenders were somewhat less responsive than other adults to erotic stimuli (e.g., Gebhard, P. H.,J. H. Gagnon, W. B. Pomeroy and C.V. Christenson, 1965) or that both groups did not differ in their responses to reading or viewing erotic material (Cook and Fosen, 1970; Walker, 1970; Johnson, W.T., L. Kupperstein, and J. Peters, 1970). The Commission concluded in summary that "the available research indicates that sex offenders do not differ significantly from other adults in their reported arousal or reported likelihood of engaging in sexual behavior during or following exposure to erotica." (p. 284)

Later studies have demonstrated that arousal patterns among sex offenders could in fact differ from non-offenders (Abel, Barlow, Blanchard and Guild, 1977; Barbaree, Marshall and Lanthier, 1979, Quinsey, Chapin and Varney, 1981). The 1970 conclusion can be attributed to a number of factors: first, self-report measures of arousal were used for the most part. The problems with reliance on self-reports as the sole arousal measure have already been discussed. Second, many of the studies used stimuli labeled "erotica" without attempting to discriminate among content cues (stimuli used, for instance, were primarily adult heterosexual activities). Finally, with the exception of the Goldstein, et al. (1970) study, differences among sex offenders categories were not examined.

Subsequent studies have shown the importance of discriminating among various categories of sex offenders, content cues, and utilizing physiological measures of sexual arousal.

While other physiological measures have been used as correlates of sexual arousal (e.g., respiration, galvanic skin response, heart rate), these have been viewed as less desirable than direct erection calibration (Zuckerman, 1971) since increases in these variables have also been recorded for other emotional states not related to sexual arousal.

A key study that attempted to distinguish rapists from nonrapists on the basis of erections was conducted by Abel, Barlow, Blanchard and Guild (1977). This study was also important in its attempt to discriminate responses according to consenting and non-consenting stimuli. The development of a "rape index" was another important element in this study. The index was the quotient of the mean percent erection to rape cues to the mean percent erection to mutually consenting intercourse, a measure which was found to have predictive validity in this study and subsequent ones (see Abel, et. al., 1976; Quinsey and Chaplin, 1982; Quinsey, Chaplin and Varney, 1981; Barbaree, Marshall and Lanthier, 1979). The results showed that rapists respond to both rape and mutually enjoyable intercourse cues while nonrapists exhibited arousal only to the latter.

Other studies have similiarly found that rapists show sexual arousal to rape cues as well as to depictions of consenting sexual activity compared to nonrapists who are usually more aroused to the latter (Abel, Becker, Blanchard and Djenderedjian, 1978; Barbaree, Marshall and Lanthier, 1979; Quinsey, Chaplin and Varney, 1981). The nature of sexual cues was further elaborated by Quinsey and Chaplin (1984) who found that rapists did not discriminate among the various sexually explicit narratives used while nonrapists responded most to the consenting sex narratives, less when the sexual partner did not consent, and least when the victim was shown to experience pain.

In comparing these findings to males in the general population, sexual arousal responses have also been found to be indicative of a proclivity to rape but only in combination with other factors will such a tendency be manifested in overtly aggressive behavior (Malamuth, Check and Briere, 1985, Malamuth, In Press).

Child molesters also have demonstrated significantly different arousal patterns with penile circumference measures than a comparison group of non-sex offender patients (Quinsey, Steinman, Bergersen and Holmes, 1975). Twenty male child molesters confined in a maximum security psychiatric institution exhibited significantly higher penile circumference measures when presented with slides featuring children compared to eleven nonsex-offender patients from the same institution and ten control adults from the community.

Marshall (1985) reported that among his sample of eighty-nine sex offenders, two in five of the heterosexual child molesters, two out of three of the homosexual child molesters, and one in two rapists said they used deviant fantasies "usually" or "always" during masturbation. None of the control adults indicated they had these deviant fantasies "usually" or "always" although forty-six percent said they did so "occasionally" or "rarely."

Seven out of eighteen rapists indicated that "consenting pornography" provided a cue to elicit fantasies of forced sex. Similarly, ten of the eighteen who currently used "consenting sex" stimuli used it to elicit rape fantasies.

Abel, (1985) reported that erotica use increased self-reported arousal (i.e., erotica "increased their deviant sexual arousal") more frequently among rapists than among child molesters, with fifty-six percent of the rapists indicating erotica use increased their arousal compared to forty-two percent of the child molesters. Since there were only sixteen rapists compared to 112 child molesters in this report, these findings have to be viewed with caution. In addition, a number of questions can be raised about these data. First, it is unclear what "erotica use" refers to. It could refer to usage for masturbation, for arousal prior to committing an offense, or, perhaps for child molesters, use during the commission of an offense (e.g., to lower the victim's inhibitions). It is also far from clear whether these arousal changes refer to changes in the offender's arousal patterns or whether these are simply their reported reactions to sexually explicit materials. Current evidence suggests a high correlation between deviant fantasies and deviant behaviors (Marshall, 1984; Abel, Rouleau and CunninghamRathner, 1985). Some treatment methods are also predicated on the link between fantasies and behavior by attempting to alter fantasy patterns in order to change the deviant behaviors (Davison, 1968; Marquis, 1970; Marshall, 1973). What is unclear, however, is the use of pornographic stimuli as a precondition for the generation of such fantasies.

Commission of Sex Crimes

Goldstein, et al.'s 1970 data on offenders' and a control group's reaction to a "peak experience" with erotica is reproduced below. "Peak experience" in this instance refers to the most memorable depiction of a stimulus, one "which really stood out in your mind the most" (p. 81). Again, keeping in mind that this sample was an incarcerated sample, the results show that as teenagers, deviants did not differ much from controls in terms of trying to enact the behaviors they had seen. As adults, a quarter of the female-object pedophiles did try the behavior depicted shortly thereafter compared to thirteen percent of the controls, fifteen percent of the rapists, six and seven percent of the homosexuals and transsexuals, respectively.

In Marshall's (1985) sample of eighty-nine sex offenders, slightly more than one-third of the child molesters and rapists reported at least occasionally being incited to commit an offense by exposure to forced or consenting pornography. Pornography as an instigator was not deliberately sought out by every offender in this category to arouse them to offend. For some, pornography as an instigator was simply fortuitous. Fifty-three percent of those child molesters who reported being incited to offend by pornography said their use was deliberate in their preparation for committing an offense, as was the case for thirty-three percent of the rapists. Finally, six of the eight rapists who reported being incited to offend by pornography reported occasional use of "consenting" pornography to elicit rape fantasies which in turn led to the commission of a crime. It is unclear whether the use of this type of material was by choice or because it was the only material available.

Finally, Abel, Mittelman and Becker (1985) evaluated the use of erotica/pornography by 256 paraphiliacs undergoing outpatient assessment-treatment. Regardless of paraphiliac activity, those targeting adults were somewhat more likely to use erotica (60%) than those targeting adolescents (43%) or children (46%).

Categorized according to their primary predispositioning, fifty-six percent of their rapists and forty-two percent of their child molesters implicated pornography in the commission of their offenses.

Again, these comparisons have to be viewed with caution. The disparities in the data can, in part, be accounted for by the questions posed to the respondent and the differences in the samples. In terms of the population differences, Abel's and Marshall's samples are non-incarcerated while Goldstein's sample consisted of incarcerated sex offenders in a maximum security prison. The Goldstein sample was questioned about trying the behavior depicted in the stimulus to which the respondent had recently been exposed, a stimulus "which really stood out in your mind the most" (p. 81). This very specific question regarding the imitation of the most memorable depiction (the "peak experience") likely accounts for the lower figures relative to those obtained in the other studies. The other two studies, on the other hand, used more general questions pertaining to the use of such materials in commission of offenses.

While these figures are suggestive of the implication of pornography in the commission of sex crimes among some rapists and child molesters, the question still remains: is there a difference in the rates of offenses among those who use pornography versus those who don't? The only data available that directly address this issue suggest that these offenses occur regardless of the use of pornography by the offender (Abel, et al., 1985).

Those offenders who did not use pornography did not differ significantly from those who did in frequency of sex crimes committed, number of victims, ability to control deviant urges, and degree of violence used during commission of the sex crime. The longer the duration of paraphiliac arousal, however, the greater the use of pornography.

Based on these data, the authors suggest that sexual deviants appear to come from socially deprived environments which stunt their social and other coping skills. The longer the duration of the paraphilia, or the earlier the onset, the more likely the paraphiliac was to have used erotica. It is difficult to say, however, to what extent this early exposure contributed to the onset of the deviance.

A number of questions are not addressed in the discussion of these data. First, it is not entirely clear what "erotica use" means. Does it mean the offender enjoys viewing the material on a regular basis? Does it mean use for arousal and masturbation? Does it mean use as incitement prio