Pornography

Research Advances and Policy Considerations

Dolf Zillmann, Jennings Bryant

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781136461286
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

"...provides good coverage of the empirical literature."
—Journal of Communication

"...well written and presents a wide diversity of approaches to pornography."
—CHOICE

I
Content, Uses, and Functions of Pornography

1
The Manifest Content of Pornography

Dan Brown
East Tennessee State University
Jennings Bryant
University of Alabama

Kinsey, Pomeroy, and Martin (1948) have noted that human sexuality has received more thought and discussion than any other aspect of human behavior. From the earliest primitive etchings through modern media presentations, people from all civilizations have recorded their sexual activities and their ideas about sex (Kinsey et al., 1948, p. 21).

Venus of Willendorf, a statue of a female with enlarged sexual organs, dates to about 30,000 BC (Webb, 1982). Human sexual intercourse was portrayed in a sandstone engraving as early as 7000 BC. Art from Peruvian ceramic funerary pots dating to about 1500 BC included portrayals of explicit sexual behavior, and “anal coitus is one of the most common behaviors depicted” (Brewer, 1982, p. 318). Phallic imagery was prominent on Grecian urns and cups, which were decorated with explicit scenes of both hetero- and homosexual activity.

Ancient written works such as the Indian Kama Sutra provided sexual instruction, and other explicit works were often “published openly and legally, including Poggio’s Facetiarum Liber in 1470 and Cynthio degli Fabritii’s Origine delle Volgari Proverbi in 1526” (Malamuth & Donnerstein, 1984, p. 2). Chinese novels dating from about 1610 under the Ming Dynasty depicted explicit scenes of sexuality. For example, Su Wo P’len or The Lady of the Moon, “has a thin story line that provides the framework for introducing illustrations of 43 positions for sexual intercourse” (Brewer, 1982, p. 319). Most such works were destroyed when the Emperor ordered the country rid of “incestuous and other immoral works” (Brewer, 1982, p. 319).

Nearly every important Japanese artist from 1600-1900 produced a type of art known as Shunga, which “celebrates the vitality of growing things, as well as the matings of humans and animals” (Brewer, 1982, p. 320). In Shunga, the characters frequently display exaggerated genitalia, and the materials were often used to aid sexual instruction and to enhance sexual arousal.

In every modern language the amount of deliberately pornographic material that has been produced is beyond ready calculation. Some thousands of such documents have been printed in European languages alone, and the literature of the orient and other parts of the world is replete with such material. Similarly, there is an unlimited amount of pornographic drawing and printing which has been produced by artists of some ability in every part of the world, and there is no end to the amateur portrayals of sexual action. (Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, & Gebhard, 1953, p. 672)

Despite having no end to its representations, trends and patterns in the content of sexually explicit materials can be discerned. This chapter describes relatively current media content that seems to be generally recognized as pornographic. Considerable room for disagreement exists in selecting which media content to include. Under some definitions of pornography, anything that serves to arouse sexual feelings qualifies as pornographic. Such interpretation could include broadcast, cable, and satellite-delivered television. For lack of space, we have chosen not to> include analyses of sexually explicit materials distributed via these types of media.

Other forms of explicit sexual depictions tend to be circulated to relatively specific audiences. For example, pornographic magazines frequently contain advertisements for sexually explicit tabloids and photo sets. These specialized media lack extensive scholarly study, and we have chosen not to include them either. Instead, our considerations include the content of pornographic magazines, novels, films and videos, Dial-A-Porn, and computer fare.

Pornography in Print

Open display of pornographic wares was practically unheard of in American society during the 1950s, and purchases were often made through a friend of a friend. Sales of such materials reached stores through distributors working from their cars in “trunk sales.” Stores that sold pornographic literature appeared from the street to be mere newsstands, with the pornographic materials hidden from view.

Explicit paperback books (i.e., sex pulps) strictly avoided the use of vulgar terms to describe sex acts, genitalia, excretion, or other sexually related activity. These sex pulps typically portrayed a series of sexual escapades tied together by minimal plots. Sexual foreplay received detailed descriptions, unlike the mechanics of sex acts. Reader imagination had to supply the detail.

Typical pornographic still photography depicted fetchingly posed, scantily dressed women in grainy black and white photographs that hid the pubic area. This avoidance of genitalia, according to the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography (U.S. Department of Justice, 1986), enhanced the popularity of magazines featuring unposed photographs taken in nudist colony settings.

By the 1960s, public displays of pornographic materials had become common. The quality of magazine printing improved to fourcolor publishing. Simulated sex acts with no exposed genitalia “… constituted the majority of sexually explicit materials …” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1986, p. 1356). At that time, the display of genitalia was generally interpreted as violation of laws prohibiting distribution of obscene materials. This view predominated despite a 1958 reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court of an obscenity conviction involving nudist magazines that contained photographs of the genitalia of men, women, and children.

Nudist magazines soon portrayed photographic integration by gender, portraying male and female nudists playing and working together. Written articles focused on the advantages of nudism. Most magazines, nudist and others, avoided photographic portrayals of sexual activity. Body contact was typically shown only in nonsexual connotations (e.g., the ubiquitous volleyball game).

By the mid-1960s, a group of pseudonudist magazines began to feature more attractive models than those who appeared in traditional nudist magazines. These new magazines also emphasized implied erotic activity, and “legitimate” nudist magazines that focused on candid photographs of camp activity “passed nearly into oblivion” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1986, p. 1357).

By 1967 or 1968, another group of magazines emerged that featured little, if any, text and a kind of photograph known in the pornography industry as “spreader” or “split beaver” shots, designed to emphasize the female genitalia. Also in the late 1960s, a group of magazines began to cater to male homosexuals by emphasizing the flaccid genitalia of posed nude males. Most shots were of single models, although group shots were not rare. Little physical contact between models was portrayed, and sexual activity was “generally not even implied” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1986, p. 1358). The era also saw the growth of a small number of fetish books and magazines that portrayed rubber and leather wear, lingerie, high heel boots, and a variety of specialized products. Sadomasochistic materials in the late 1960s portrayed bondage, spanking, “domination” by clubs, whips, and other such tools. These sadomasochistic materials tended to be less sexually explicit than were magazines that emphasized female nude models. While many titles were produced in the sadomasochistic genre, the category was not yet a major factor in the pornography market (Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, 1970).

By the early 1970s, sexually explicit magazines had adopted few innovations, although some began to use more female models, and some depicted males and females together. Implied sexual activity was a common photographic theme, but actual sexual acts were “seldom depicted” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1986, p. 1358). Magazines targeting male homosexuals began to photographically portray implied sexual activity, but the content in these publications remained less graphic than in magazines focusing on female models.

With the liberalized Supreme Court attitude toward published obscenity, secondary publishers in the late 1960s and early 1970s began releasing new editions of almost all books that had been previously considered to be obscene. Also common were pseudo-medical, alleged case study books focusing on sexual matters. A practice that had predominated throughout the 1950s and into the late 1960s, that of using euphemisms rather than vulgar slang terms for sexual acts and anatomy, disappeared by the late 1960s, as did all restraints on description. Many such books portrayed nothing other than sexual activity. By 1970, publishers were apparently positive that nothing that was wholly textual could be ruled to be obscene. Consequently, extremely explicit “adults only” paperback books were distributed in the United States, books which the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography reported to have reached the limits of explicit descriptions of sexual behavior and use of explicit language. The content of most of these books was apparently designed to appeal to heterosexual males, but about 10% portrayed material attractive to male homosexuals, about 5% focused on fare catering to fetish enthusiasts, and almost none were intended to appeal to females.

During 1968—1970, a few publishers began to include photographs, usually female spreader shots, in paperback books. Illustrated marriage manuals and pseudoserious studies of pornography and censorship emerged. All of these types included text with photographs, presumably for legal protection against obscenity prosecutions. The Danish type of publication containing nothing other than photographs of sexual activity was not yet published or sold openly in the United States.

Some writers (e.g., Falwell, 1980) classify as pornographic any material that is designed to elicit sexual arousal among consumers. Hence, under such definitions, numerous types of printed materials qualify as “pornography.” Accordingly, researchers have examined in detail sexually explicit materials in crime publications, romance novels, mass circulation magazines, paperback books, over-the-counter men’s magazines, adult bookstore merchandise, and detective magazines.

Crime Publications

Throughout the 1700s, crime pamphlets were popular in England. The National Police Gazette became in 1845 the first of several financially successful American crime publications, and was the best selling of weekly magazines for years (Smith & Smith, 1972). By 1924, “modern” detective magazines drew extensive criticism for both nonsexual and sexual violence, the levels of which exceeded that of all general circulation magazines in the 1960s (Otto, 1963). Dietz, Harry, and Hazel wood (1986) analyzed all National Police Gazette issues, reporting the presence of both violent and sexual content.

Dietz et al. (1986) found on the market about 20 such publications, four of which “had a combined monthly circulation of 996,000 in 1980” (p. 198). Analysis of the cover photographs of these magazines revealed the most frequent image to be that of a submissive woman, sometimes alone but usually being dominated by a man. Among the cover images, 38% featured bound women, 29% prominently displayed brassieres, 24% accentuated breasts, and 5% accentuated buttocks. Among 891 articles listed, 36% included domination, but no other category appeared in more than 4% of the articles. Advertisements in these crime publications included depictions of genitals as well as emphasized breasts and buttocks.

Dietz et al. (1986) studied a stratified, random sample of 38 articles from 19 issues. Less sexual imagery appeared in the articles than in the photographs on covers and with the articles. Sexual content in articles tended to focus on domination and submission, and 44 episodes of sexual violence occurred in the 38 articles. Male victims were sometimes killed but were practically never sexually molested. Female victims, however, were seldom free of sexual attacks before being killed (Dietz et al., 1986).

Romance Novels

Sonenschein (1970) found that in romance or “confession” magazines of the 1960s, “the most salient characteristic … is sex” (p. 400), and that “77% of story titles directly implied some sort of sexual activity as the main theme for the story” (p. 401). Sonenschein studied eight different “romance or confession” magazines from five different publishers containing a total of 73 fictional stories. Among the photographs accompanying stories, 15% featured erotic scenes and 37% displayed physical or sexual relationships. As in detective magazines, story content failed to deliver the degree of sexual emphasis suggested by the photographs. Among the sample stories, 63% included coitus, 60% kissing, and 18% petting. Other kinds of sexual behavior were rare, with homosexuality hinted once and oral-genital activity “never considered” (p. 402). Promiscuity appeared rarely and was swiftly punished when it did occur. These obviously dated findings need updating by current research.

Paperback Books

The 1970 Commission on Obscenity and Pornography reported that “adults only” paperback fiction represented “one of the largest areas of pornography production in the United States” (Massey, 1970). Smith (1976) studied such paperback books that were generally available to the public, excluding paperback books depicting sex behavior, or the specialty literature emphasizing sadism, masochism, bondage and homosexuality that were available only in adult book stores or only by mail or under-the-counter purchasing. Smith also excluded from analysis purportedly educational sex manuals. His sample emerged from selecting every fifth adults only paperback book from one store (newsstands and bookstores) in each of eight communities in five states. Smith examined 428 paperback books, representing “18 of the leading 30 largest publishers” of pornographic books. He acknowledged that the sample was not representative, but he considered it to be “one of the most comprehensive and inclusive” (p. 18) to date.

Smith detected annual increases during 1967-1970 in paperback space devoted to sexual episodes, from 29% to 64%, followed by a period of little change during 1970—1974. His index of proportion of space allocated to sexual activity in paperbacks exceeded by 3—15 times the proportion of space devoted to sexual escapades appearing in mass market sex novels, such as Fear of Flying and Couples. Smith reported a definite increase in the publication of pornography after the Miller decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973.

The principal charac...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• PART I CONTENT, USES, AND FUNCTIONS OF PORNOGRAPHY
• PART II ASOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF PORNOGRAPHY CONSUMPTION
• PART III CORRECTIVE INFORMATION AND THE ROLE OF SEX EDUCATION
• PART IV THE LEGAL DEBATE OVER PORNOGRAPHY REGULATION
• PART V RESEARCH EVIDENCE AND THE FORMATION OF REGULATORY POLICY
• Author Index
• Subject Index