Executive Summary
Guy Cumberbatch
The stimulus for
this review has come from concerns that films, which combine sex with
violence, may pose a particular potential harm
to viewers. Thus the scope is a little wider than sexual violence and
rape
and extends to such material as the ‘slasher’/horror genre where the
sexual
content may be quite discrete.
Research conclusions on the effects of sexual violence in the media have been offered for more than three decades. However, despite repeated claims that there is a ‘growing body of evidence’, there has always been a notable lack of consensus on what this evidence is. Indeed researchers have often used the same studies to suggest different findings.
Within the broader literature on pornography and censorship, the contribution of social science has become marginalized in the last decade. Anti- pornography campaigners and their anti-censorship counterparts often quote the same authors to argue opposite cases.
The academic literature which focuses on human aggression rarely considers the possible influence of film or pornography on sexual violence. Moreover, the pathology of most violent sexual offenders seems best understood more in terms of a background in serious delinquency and antisocial behaviour than specifically in terms of sex crimes.
Overall, the effect size from experiments on sexual violence in film is very small and considerably lower than for similar studies on television violence, the effects of which remain a matter of some controversy. Indeed, studies similar to those on sexual violence but using women’s magazine advertisements or rap music as stimuli have produced larger effects.
Research conclusions on the effects of sexual violence in the media have been offered for more than three decades. However, despite repeated claims that there is a ‘growing body of evidence’, there has always been a notable lack of consensus on what this evidence is. Indeed researchers have often used the same studies to suggest different findings.
Within the broader literature on pornography and censorship, the contribution of social science has become marginalized in the last decade. Anti- pornography campaigners and their anti-censorship counterparts often quote the same authors to argue opposite cases.
The academic literature which focuses on human aggression rarely considers the possible influence of film or pornography on sexual violence. Moreover, the pathology of most violent sexual offenders seems best understood more in terms of a background in serious delinquency and antisocial behaviour than specifically in terms of sex crimes.
Overall, the effect size from experiments on sexual violence in film is very small and considerably lower than for similar studies on television violence, the effects of which remain a matter of some controversy. Indeed, studies similar to those on sexual violence but using women’s magazine advertisements or rap music as stimuli have produced larger effects.
Despite the spirited defence by some of laboratory-based
investigations, where most participants are undergraduates in
psychology departments,
there must be considerable doubt about the ecological validity of such
research. This is especially true where the participants are part
of a culture where the majority opinion is that pornography causes
sexual
violence and most participants, as undergraduates, are likely to be
aware
of the researchers’ hypotheses. There is little indication that
such
psychological studies have been informed by the growing sophistication
of feminist or film and media studies and increasingly may appear
irrelevant
to contemporary concerns.
Ultimately, the question of whether a particular film showing graphic sexual violence could lead to a vulnerable person committing a sexually violent offence can have little meaning. It is important to know how rare or trivial are those other stimuli, which have been implicated in offending behaviours. Whether films with sexual violence contribute to a ‘culture of violence’ against women needs to be addressed by closer examination of how individual viewers ‘read’ particular films rather than testing audiences in the undifferentiated aggregate way characterized by so much research to date.
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