It started by way of messengers and scribes, evolved through the presentation of newspapers and radio, brought us together with television, and now serves us world- wide via the ever-popular Internet. It is the mass media, and even from the earliest days of its existence, it has contributed greatly in ways that both enlighten and enrich society, and ways that deteriorate and perplex it. It is not a surprise to learn, then, that the mass media is the most powerful source of information we have, and nothing else in today’s world influences public perception quite as heavily.

Unfortunately, however, most of what is broadcast or transmitted in the news today is with reference to the chaotic condition of our planet, or something else that society as a whole sees as detrimental or damaging. But the news on television is not the only type of media taking the criticism of society. Other forms of mass media, specifically movies and television programs containing pornography and violence have been heavily criticized. The underlining concept to be debated here is that society is negatively influenced, specifically, by these images of pornography and the result is increased violence gainst women.

This assumption, and it is indeed only an assumption, is completely fallacious, however, as no concrete and completely conclusive evidence has ever been formulated in support of the theory. The key premise here is that the mass media does not cause undesirable social behaviour and in actuality, the media people should not be dubbed as the bad guys. They simply use their power in the most constructive ways possible in order to promote their ratings and popularity. One way to do that is to concentrate on what sells: sex, violence and disaster.

Having said this, why is it then, that many in society still elieve otherwise; why do they continue to believe that pornography is evil and is a major cause for violence against women, specifically rape? There are many reasons for this misinterpretation and through the following few points, an attempt will be made to show that pornography has very little to almost no correlation with violence against women (of course nothing is absolute in society). In order to demonstrate this, it must be made evident that pornography is not evil and does not cause undesirable social behaviour by displaying nude women in sexually explicit circumstances.

Thus, it is important to indicate that women are not treated only as sexual objects through the media. This is done in an attempt to quash any traces of evil in pornography. Subsequently, a second point, that some may consider to be completely bizarre, can be addressed; that pornography actually reduces the amount of violence against women. For thousands of years, sex itself has been considered evil and revolting. This is exactly why the concealment of the sex organs and teaching feelings of shame toward human sexuality is so common worldwide.

These same feelings of shame are the chief easons that sex is considered a personal and private matter. Contrary to the beliefs of many, the mass media did not create these settings; society creates this image. In some societies, women have no reservations with regard to living their entire live completely naked, while in other societies, females cover themselves from head to toe, only revealing their eyes. The media has been bombarded with criticism, overwhelmingly from the female community, relative to the amount of sexually explicit material that is published in magazines and that appears on television and in the cinemas.

A common argument against pornography is that the media portrays women as being nothing more than sexual playthings and objects to satisfy male sexual desires. As before, the media once again, is not to be held responsible for creating this image; these views are products of society. It would be absurded to assume that women in this society are treated as sexual objects only because the media releases or broadcasts pornographic material. A magazine associated with make-up and skin care, for example, will quite obviously not be concentrating on much else.

Such a magazine would not display ictures of women who mountain-climb or women who water-ski; only images of make-up and text referring to skin care would be relevant. Clearly, society does not consider women to be beings who’s only purpose in life is to worry about make-up and skin care; but why are the complaints only directed towards pornographic media then? The answer to this question may be more complicated, however, what remains obvious is that the media does not portray women as only being able to fill male sexual desires. To say that pictures featuring nudity, etc, are making objects out of women is foolish.

One should onsider females who pin-up posters of male rock stars or children who collect hockey or baseball cards. Society, however, does not say that objects are being made out of these rock stars and sports heroes; pictures of clothed people are no less objects than pictures of naked people. Many complaints are also made to the effect that pornography only offers a one- dimensional view to life; that women are seen as nymphomaniacs who are hysterically addicted to sex. It should be pointed out that events such as hockey games, boxing matches, horse races and operas all offer a one-dimensional view of life.

One does not attend an opera hoping to see a horse race. The underlying problem here is that the above mentioned events are socially acceptable; media displaying pornography is not. It is also said that the media reduces women to a collection of body parts through pornography. But why then are their no complaints of advertisements in magazines displaying only ears, for example, or a nose, or feet? The reason is a simple one; society considers certain body parts to be shameful or disgusting and once again, the media can be let off the hook.

Realistically, the only way to prevent women from being seen s sex objects is for them to be seen as other things as well; but to say that women are not sexual beings would be misleading because both men and women are very much sexual. Similarly, to say that women are singled out in the media is fallacious due to the many examples of media where men are seen catering to the needs of women; something known as chivralic sexism. Take, for instance, a recent television ad portraying young men groveling at the feet of supermodel Cindy Crawford, almost begging to be the one to cater to her needs.

There were no lineups of men aching to announce heir displeasure with the sexist ad; and this is precisely why male stereotyping in the media often goes unnoticed. Similarly, it is pornography in the media that is noticed and shunned by anti- pornographic and censorship organizations because it seemingly singles out females for their bodies. It should be well noted, however, that paperback romance novels, which make up an incredible 40% of total paperback sales, depicts males as sexual objects, performing what is called Sweet Savagery (rape), just as pornography depicts females as sexual objects. But once again, this goes unnoticed.

It started by way of messages and evolved through the presentation of newspapers and radio, brought humanity together with television, and now serves worldwide via the ever-popular Internet. It is the mass media, and even from the earliest days of its existence, it has contributed greatly in ways that both enlighten and enrich society, and ways that deteriorate and perplex it. It is not a surprise to learn, then, that the mass media are the most powerful source of information society has, and nothing else in today’s world influences public perception quite as heavily.

Unfortunately, however, most of what is broadcast or transmitted in the news today is with reference to the chaotic condition of the planet, or something else that society as a whole sees as detrimental or damaging. But the news on television is not the only type of media taking the criticism of society. Other forms of mass media, specifically movies and television programs containing pornographic materials and violence have been heavily criticized.

The underlining concept to be debated here is that society is negatively influenced, specifically, by these images of pornography and the result is increased violence against women. This assumption, and it is indeed only an assumption, is completely fallacious, however, as no concrete and completely conclusive evidence has ever been formulated in support of the theory. The key premise here and the intent of this research paper is to prove that mass media do not cause undesirable social behavior and in actuality, the media people should not be dubbed as the “bad guys”.

They simply use their power in the most constructive ways possible in order to promote their ratings and popularity. One way to do that is to concentrate on what sells: sex, violence and disaster. What is pornography? The American Heritage Dictionary defines pornography as “written, graphic, or other forms of communication intended to excite lascivious feelings. ” Having said this, why is it then, that many in society still believe otherwise; why do they continue to believe that pornography is “evil” and is a major cause for violence against women, specifically rape?

There are many reasons for this misinterpretation and through the following few points, and this research paper will attempt to show that pornography has very little to almost no correlation with violence (such as rape) against women. In order to demonstrate this, it must be made evident that pornography is not “evil” and does not cause undesirable social behavior by displaying nude women in sexually explicit circumstances. Thus, it is the intent of this paper to indicate that women are not treated only as sexual objects through the media. This is done in an attempt to nullify any traces of “evil” in pornography.

Subsequently, some may consider being completely bizarre, that pornography actually reduces the amount of violence against women. For thousands of years, sex itself has been considered “evil” and revolting. “This is exactly why the concealment of the sex organs and teaching feelings of shame toward human sexuality is so common worldwide. ” (Christensen, 4) These same feelings of shame are the chief reasons that sex is considered a personal and private matter. Contrary to the beliefs of many, the mass media did not create these settings; society creates this image.

In some societies, women have no reservations with regard to living their entire lives completely naked, while in other societies, females cover themselves from head to toe, only revealing their eyes. The media have been bombarded with criticism, overwhelmingly from the female community, relative to the amount of sexually explicit material that is published in magazines and that appears on television and in the cinemas. A common argument against pornography is that the media portrays women as being nothing more than sexual playthings and objects to satisfy male sexual desires.

As before, the media once again, is not to be held responsible for creating this image; these views are products of society. It would be downright absurd to assume that women in this society are treated as sexual objects only because the media releases or broadcasts pornographic material. A magazine associated with make-up and skin care, for example, will quite obviously not be concentrating on much else. Such a magazine would not display pictures of women who mountain-climb or women who water-ski; only images of make-up and text referring to skin care would be relevant.

Clearly, society does not consider women to be beings whose only purpose in life is to worry about make-up and skin care; but why are the complaints only directed towards pornographic media then? The answer to this question may be more complicated, however, what remains obvious is that the media does not portray women as only being able to fill male sexual desires. To say that pictures featuring nudity are making objects out of women is foolish. One should consider females who pin-up posters of male rock stars or children who collect hockey or baseball cards.

Society, however, does not say that objects are being made out of these rock stars and sports heroes; pictures of clothed people are no less objects than pictures of naked people. Many complaints are also made to the effect that pornography only offers a one-dimensional view to life; that women are seen as nymphomaniacs who are hysterically addicted to sex. It should be pointed out those events such as hockey games, boxing matches, horse races and operas all offer a one-dimensional view of life. One does not attend an opera hoping to see a horse race.

The underling problem here is that the above-mentioned events are socially acceptable; media-displaying pornography is not. It is also said “the media reduces women to a collection of body parts through pornography. ” (Christensen, 74) But why then are their no complaints of advertisements in magazines displaying only ears, for example, or a nose, or feet? The reason is a simple one; society considers certain body parts to be “shameful” or disgusting and once again, the media can be “let off the hook”.

Realistically, the only way to prevent women from being seen as sex objects is for them to be seen as other things as well; but to say that “women are not sexual beings would be misleading because both men and women are very much sexual. ” (Hawkins, 42) Similarly, to say that women are “singled out in the media is misleading due to the many examples of media where men are seen catering to the needs of women; something known as chivalric sexism. ” (Howitt, 73) Take, for instance, a recent television advertisement portraying young men groveling at the feet of supermodel Tyra Banks, almost begging to be the “one” to cater to her needs.

There were no lineups of men aching to announce their displeasure with the sexist ad; and this is precisely why male stereotyping in the media often goes unnoticed. Similarly, it is pornography in the media that is noticed and shunned by anti-pornographic and censorship organizations because it seemingly singles out females for their bodies. It should be well noted, however, that paperback romance novels, which make up an incredible 40% of total paperback sales (Malamuth, 15), depicts males as sexual objects, performing what is called “Sweet Savagery” (rape), just as pornography depicts females as sexual objects.

But once again, this goes unnoticed. It is fundamentally important to realize that “the media does not deliberately create images of hate or disagreement. ” (Howitt, 80) They just influence the more appealing things in society (thus directly increasing their ratings). Although it is obvious that pornography is largely a male interest, a noted increase in female interest would certainly cause an “increase in the amount of pornographic material geared for women; this relates to the laws of the business world. ” (Donnerstein, 50)

Having discussed the untruthfulness of the claims against pornography and showing that pornography is not “evil”, it is now possible to consider the violence issue. Are men who are exposed to pornography likely to commit violent acts, such as rape against women, more so than men who are not exposed to pornography? It is tempting to believe that media influences males and over stimulates them through pornography to the point that they become aggressive towards females. However, this is completely baseless; just as pornography arouses or stimulates, it also satisfies.

The American Commission on Obscenity and Pornography performed a study in which several college students were asked to spend one and a half hours in an isolated room with a large volume of pornographic media, as well as a large volume of non-explicit media such as Reader’s Digest (Howitt, 80). The study was conducted over a three-week period over which time it was discovered that the males involved in the experiment began to lose interest, or become desensitized to the erotic media nearing the end of the experiment, even if new material was added.

To address the argument that males are pushed over the “brink” into committing rape because of pornography, one may point to the evidence above; to cover the female body would theoretically only increase male sexual desires. Four more separate experiments were conducted of which the above was one. Three other experiments came to the conclusions that “pornography does not cause violence against women and reported that the number of sex offenders that had been exposed to pornographic material were smaller in number than the amount of sex-offenders that had not been exposed to pornography. Harmon, 28-30)

These results can be offered as evidence against the claim that males become over stimulated and thus dangerous when exposed to pornography. Other experiments conducted in the early 1980s by the Williams Committee in England, reported that “as the availability and abundance of sexually explicit material increased, the number of violent sex crimes such as rape did not increase, but in fact decreased in many areas. ” (Malamuth, 128-129)

Given the intense debate about whether or not pornography plays a casual role in rape, it is surprising that so few of those engaged in it ever state what they mean by “cause. ” A definition of the concept simple causation is “an event that precedes and results in the occurrence of another event. Whether the first event (the cause) occurs, the second event (the effect) necessarily or inevitably follows. Moreover, in simple causations the second event does not occur unless the first event has occurred.

Thus the cause is both the SUFFICIENT CONDITION and the NECESSARY CONDITION for the occurrence of the effect. Malamuth, 126) By this definition, pornography clearly does not cause rape, as it seems safe to assume that some unknown percentage of pornography consumers do not rape women, and that many rapes are unrelated to pornography. However, the concept of multiple causation is more relevant to this question than simple causation. So what is it about pornography that women and anti-pornography organizations do not like? Violence! One of the greatest myths about pornography is that it contains an excess of violence against women inevitably resulting in real-life violence against women.

Anti-pornography groups release propaganda that the media approves of violence against women through pornography. In actuality, however, “the total amount of violence in sex-related movies was found to be approximately 6% in a study by T. Palys in the early 1980s in Vancouver, Canada. Even this material was almost entirely composed of verbal threats and spanking. ” (Christensen, 59) In addition to the above, studies in Ohio also found that the amount of violence in “G”-Rated movies was a staggering two times more than in “X”-Rated movies.

In fact, major films such as Die Hard: With A Vengeance and Terminator 2, contain extreme violence 85-90% of which is directed solely at men. There are, however, exceptions; the slasher genre of movies contain much more violence towards women, possibly due to the desensitization to violence in other genres of films. Because women are involved, violence against them could create a true sense of horror. On the other hand, this does not suggest that men should go into society and rape a woman any more than it suggests that men should go out and kill other men.

Horror movie fans choose to watch these movies because they enjoy portrayed violence. Needless to say, no sane individual would wish for this violence to become a real-life conception. Similarly, sex also excites people and because these two elements offer the most thrills in movies, they are often combined. It should be pointed out that women, and not just men, also enjoy these thrills based on numerous studies. When discussing pornography, it is scarcely noted that men are not the only ones who enjoy fantasizing about sex. Women also enjoy pondering sex; just not through pornography.

In fact, most of these fantasies involve some degree of violence or force and are largely driven by the romance novels discussed earlier (once again supporting the evidence that romance novels prove to be the female equivalent to male-geared pornography). Recent reports published by sociologist Nancy Friday, show that the number of female fantasies involving rape far outweigh the number of male fantasies involving rape. What comes as a surprise to many is that in male fantasies, the woman rapes the man and conversely, in female fantasies, the man rapes (“Sweet Savagery”), the woman!

Howitt, 66) Friday’s reports also provided some interesting reasoning for the female fantasies. Her reports find that females fantasize about rape to show that they are not acting in accordance with such “sinful” actions to show that sex is being “forced” upon them. Any other feelings towards the fantasized rape would prove to be “undesirable social behavior” and amazingly, the media is not even involved! Actual laboratory experiments (Hawkins, 103) have shown that when groups of women were shown erotic scenes involving rape, their reactions to the scenes were as or even more stimulating than less violent consensual lovemaking scenes.

This is not to say that all women want to be raped. This is to say that if women can fantasize about rape but not wish to experience it, then men, too, can fantasize about rape and not wish to commit it. On a brighter side, pornography can be socially beneficial. The liberal position also considers that pornography may be beneficial in allowing the individual to create a fantasy world built around sexual interests. There is the suggestion that pornographic materials provide a way of releasing strong sexual urges without causing harm to others.

Public opinion surveys conducted by the 1970 commission indicated that many people agreed with this assessment. The panel funded public opinion survey of American adults (aged 21 and up) and of young persons (aged 15 – 20) to determine whether Americans through the availability of erotic materials was a social problem. When asked about the effect of exposure to erotic materials on themselves, individuals were more likely to list effects the commission termed socially desirable than socially undesirable one.

For example, virtually none of those surveyed reported that it led them to commit rape or made them “sexy crazy,” while 24% said it gave them information about sex, and 10% said that it improved their sexual relations. Even in situations where respondents believed that erotica had negative effects, they assumed these effects happened to other people, not themselves. More recent national surveys only broadly describe respondents’ concern about the pervasiveness of pornography in the U. S. society.

Studies of trends in public opinion on permissiveness toward pornography suggest a complex pattern of shifting levels of tolerance for these materials. Some investigators conclude that support for government regulation of pornography rose rapidly from 1975 to 1977 and then fell between 1977 to 1982. The sexual arousal studies conducted by the 1970 commission indicated that exposure to pornography tends to result in an only transitory increase in masturbation or coitus among those already habitually engaging in these activities.

On the whole, individuals became less excited and more bored with continued viewing of sexually explicit materials. A study by Donnerstein, Hawkins, Christensen, illustrates this effect. Men were first shown a sexually explicit film. During the following 3 weeks they were given the opportunity to view sexually explicit materials for 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week. In the 5th week, and again about 8 weeks after that, the men were shown the same sexually explicit film.

Results showed that with the passage of time the men were less physiologically responsive to sexual materials and showed less interest in the materials. In addition, the men became more liberal in their attitudes regarding pornography. Following massive exposure to sexual materials, they felt that pornography would not harm adults or stable adolescents and were less inclined to endorse controls on the sale and distribution of pornography. The investigators concluded that “exposure to pornography was a relatively innocuous stimulus without lasting or detrimental effect on the individual or his behavior. Hawkins, 97)

Experimental research done for the panel also demonstrated that exposure to erotica did not significantly change previously established sexual patterns. People who were sexually active before exposure remained so afterward, and those inactive before exposure remained so afterward. Studies have found no antisocial changes in sexual behavior after short-or long-term exposure to erotica, normal sexual activity increased temporarily (up to 24 hours after exposure), then returned to normal levels.

For people not currently involved in a sexual relationship, there was no evidence of increased heterosexual activity. There was increased masturbation in a minority of study participants who already had a history of frequent masturbation. Generally, any increase in heterosexual activity following exposure to pornography depended upon the presence of a consenting partner with whom the participant was already engaged in sexual activity. A few of the studies have also examined the influence of erotica on low-frequency sexual activity such as homosexuality, anal sex, group sex, and sadomasochism.

Both a short-term exposure study and a long-term study found no evidence of increases in sexual activity immediately or within 6 months after exposure to materials that included depictions of these activities. In addition to the many other accusations against pornography, many in society believe that there is definite connection between organized crime and pornography. Although this may be true, the idea is largely over-exaggerated. The reasoning behind this theory is very simple, yet very shallow.

Consider, that pornography is created by organizations and contains sexually explicit material that may be thought to be legally obscene in some areas. To make the connection, these anti-pornography organizations believe that the organizations that produce the legally obscene material are operating illegally. It is obvious why pornography is attractive to criminals; just as anything that is banned or is made illegal, there is always someone who will pay the high black-market price for it.

Having considered the issues at hand, it can be said that since there is no concrete evidence to support otherwise, pornography in the media does not cause undesirable social behavior. As mentioned before, sexually explicit movies and magazines do not just arouse, but also satisfy. It is an undisputed fact that feelings of love and happiness cancel out violent feelings and to say that pornography endorse violent feelings fails to make sense; if it did, why would men want to be exposed to it.

To suggest that pornography causes men to “go over the edge” and commit rape is as ludicrous as suggesting that pictures of food cause the hungry to steal more food. It has even been said by some women that rape is the fault of women who dress provocatively; “they ask for it”. According to this logic, in the event that pornography is banned, then an attempt should be made to force women to cover their skin and wear clothing that completely hides the shapes of their bodies so as not to provoke rape. This is absurd. Members of society recognize the power of the mass media. They understand that public perception can be easily persuaded.

But it should be clearly understood that pornography in the media alone could not persuade men to cause harm to women; it cannot cause men to do things that are socially unacceptable. As was mentioned earlier, pornography only causes feelings of excitement and satisfaction and these feelings overpower those feelings of violence. For these reasons, it can be said that until a positive link can be found between pornography in the media and violence against women, it will remain that sexual violence such as rape is the result of sexual frustration, and not of sexual arousal.