Critical Studies in Mass Communication

1987

DOI: 10.1080/15295038709360135

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The study of aggressive pornography: The vicissitudes of relevance

Augustine Brannigan

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Sheldon Goldenberg

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Cited by 17 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…This research considered the sexual messages conveyed through body pose and level of nudity (Bogaert, Turkovich, & Hafer, 1993), the level of violence in pornographic images (Barron & Kimmel, 2000;Smith, 1976), and the long-term impact of viewing these images (Brannigan & Goldenberg, 1987;Fisher & Grenier, 1994;Linz, 1989;Mayerson & Taylor, 1987). While pornographic magazines tend to display less sexual violence than other forms of pornography, one study concluded that the frequency of violence is on the rise ( Barron and Kimmel, 2000).…”

Section: Editorial Researchmentioning

confidence: 96%

“Master your Johnson”: Sexual rhetoric in Maxim and Stuff magazines

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2003

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P e g g y Wesselink Potsdam College SUNY This article reports the results of a content analysis of sexual rhetoric in editorial photographs (N = 994) in 2001 issues of Maxim and Stuff magazines.Goffman's (1979) classifications of gender in advertisements were used to examine how this new generation of "'lad" magazines uses images to provide readers with cues about sexuality and sexual practice. The findings reveal that both magazines construct sexuality in similar ways. However, as expected, the overall message about sexuality in the photos is different for men than for women. Women are more likely than men to be portrayed as sex objects, such as the common practice of photographing them in contorting or demeaning positions. Both magazines also depict white people as sexier than other races and assume heterosexuality. Sexuality, sexual attractiveness, and sexual practice are often defined by the mass media. T h e m e d i a prescribe h o w we should look, with w h o m we should have sex, and how important sex should be in our lives. In popular magazines, these messages are c o m m unicated in a variety o f ways: through the stories told in the articles, through the photos, and through the advertisements. In the last 30 98

“…This research considered the sexual messages conveyed through body pose and level of nudity (Bogaert, Turkovich, & Hafer, 1993), the level of violence in pornographic images (Barron & Kimmel, 2000;Smith, 1976), and the long-term impact of viewing these images (Brannigan & Goldenberg, 1987;Fisher & Grenier, 1994;Linz, 1989;Mayerson & Taylor, 1987). While pornographic magazines tend to display less sexual violence than other forms of pornography, one study concluded that the frequency of violence is on the rise ( Barron and Kimmel, 2000).…”

Section: Editorial Researchmentioning

confidence: 96%

“Master your Johnson”: Sexual rhetoric in Maxim and Stuff magazines

¹

,

²

,

³

2003

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P e g g y Wesselink Potsdam College SUNY This article reports the results of a content analysis of sexual rhetoric in editorial photographs (N = 994) in 2001 issues of Maxim and Stuff magazines.Goffman's (1979) classifications of gender in advertisements were used to examine how this new generation of "'lad" magazines uses images to provide readers with cues about sexuality and sexual practice. The findings reveal that both magazines construct sexuality in similar ways. However, as expected, the overall message about sexuality in the photos is different for men than for women. Women are more likely than men to be portrayed as sex objects, such as the common practice of photographing them in contorting or demeaning positions. Both magazines also depict white people as sexier than other races and assume heterosexuality. Sexuality, sexual attractiveness, and sexual practice are often defined by the mass media. T h e m e d i a prescribe h o w we should look, with w h o m we should have sex, and how important sex should be in our lives. In popular magazines, these messages are c o m m unicated in a variety o f ways: through the stories told in the articles, through the photos, and through the advertisements. In the last 30 98

“…It may be the case, for example, that the students at Indiana University where Zillmann and Bryant conducted their original 1982 study had a lower level of sexual experience and thus were more susceptible to the ideas portrayed about women in pornography than more experienced subjects. However, a study conducted by Intons-Peterson et al (3) with subjects from Indiana University suggests that the differences between these subject populations may not be large as we suspect. In this study one group of subjects was exposed to an R-rated "slasher" film and another to an X-rated nonviolent pornographic film.…”

mentioning

confidence: 66%

The Methods and Merits of Pornography Research

1988

Journal of Communication

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We read with dismay the recent exchange between Christensen and Zillmann and Bryant on the effects of pornography (Journal of Communication, Winter 1987, pp. 186-188). First, we are disturbed by the tone of the exchange. We find it disrespectful to both parties and to ourselves. Second, we are disturbed that the debate appears to have ended with the findings of a single study conducted in our laboratory assuming paramount importance in answering the question of whether or not prolonged consumption of pornography that is not overtly violent results in antisocial effects. To leave the debate at this point ignores the fact that an individual research finding is most representative of ''truth'' to the extent that it is replicable. Unfortunately, our original finding is not-at least not so far.As Zillmann and Bryant correctly note, we presented the findings of a pilot study at the Symposium on Media Violence and Pornography sponsored by the Media Action Group in Toronto in 1984 (11). We also report this Ending in our recently published book The Question of Pornography Research Findings and Policy Implications (2, p. 176). As we report there, and as we reported at the conference, prolonged exposure to R-rated "slasher" films, X-rated violent pornography, and X-rated pornography that was not overtly violent but that may be demeaning or degrading to women resulted in subjects judging a victim later portrayed in the videotaped reenactment of a rape trial as less physically and emotionally injured compared to control subjects who viewed no films. In that study we did not find that subjects exposed to all three types of material were less sympathetic toward the rape victim portrayed in the trial or showed less empathy for rape victims in general.We reported the findings of the first study at the Toronto meeting because we thought they were interesting and because we naively assumed that we were being invited to a scientific conference where tentative findings could be reported and appropriate caveats could be made. This was obviously not the case.Had we had the opportunity at the conference, we would have called for more research before coming to any firm conclusion about the effects of exposure to pornography. Indeed, in a second experiment that we conducted after the symposium we found that subject empathy and sympathy were affected by exposure to "slasher" films that combine sex and violence but not by prolonged exposure to pornographic films. We also failed to find significant effects on scales designed to measure endorsement of force in sexual relations, belief in conservative sex roles, and the tendency to view women as sexual objects. We also found no evidence for assignment of greater responsibility to the rape trial victim, no sign of subjects' willingness to excuse 180

“…It was also due to the research programs' programmatic efforts to examine effects of exposure in laboratory as well as naturalistic settings; examine differential effects of varying content cues (for example, whether the female victim was shown reacting with pain and disgust to being raped versus "enjoying" it); investigate effects of exposure on attitudes and laboratory measures of behavior; correlate laboratory behavioral measures with self-reports of sexually aggressive behavior; utilize physiological measures of arousal, which tended to show better reliability and predictive validity than self-reports; and analyze relationships between various dependent measures (see reviews in 27,28). The various experimental studies on pornography were not without critics, however (see 6,13).…”

Section: Population Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

The British, Canadian, and U.S. Pornography Commissions and Their Use of Social Science Research

¹

1988

Journal of Communication

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A reyfew of the tbree commissions in terms of tbeir &?itions ofpomgraplry, tbeirpos2tions on ttspotenEiclr eflkcts, and tbeir r e c -' sbows&studal uar&z&m in sociopolitical i-Wm and regard for socidscienceeuidence.

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