NCJ Number
127247
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1990) Pages: 143-156
Date Published
1990
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Ninety-eight female University of Calgary (Canada) undergraduates (ages 18-43) were randomly selected from the psychology department subject pool to test their reactions to three types of sexually explicit images: erotica (nonsexist and nonviolent sexual relations), nonviolent pornography (nonviolent but sexist), and violent pornography (violent and sexist).
Abstract
All subjects completed questionnaires that obtained information on previous exposure to pornography, past history of coercive sexual experiences, attitudes toward feminism, hostility toward men, adversarial sexual beliefs, and rape-myth acceptance. The women were randomly assigned to one of four groups, with three of the groups exposed to one of the three types of sexual images and the fourth group (control) exposed to nature scenes. Each group viewed 50 slides during each of two 30-minute sessions. The subjects completed a measure of mood disturbance and evaluated each slide. The erotica viewers generally evaluated the images positively, and the nonviolent and violent pornography was evaluated negatively, with the violent pornography producing the most negative reaction. Women with past coercive sexual experiences evaluated pornography more negatively and erotica more positively than women who had no such experience. 3 tables, 5 notes, and 33 references