Slate
That, my friends, is a link to an article that posits that internet p*rn reduces rape.
I simply do not know where to start. I first wondered whether I was missing some kind of "Colbert Report"-style sarcasm, but alas I'm thinking not. Take a read and tell me what you think. His "data" seems questionable; or rather, his conclusions based on the data seem questionable. That's problematic. What is an outrage, however, is his seemingly clueless notions about what rape actually is. His contention seems to be that horny boys will use internet p0rn instead of date rape for enjoyment, but that would imply that a state of horniness causes rape, rather than a desire (however subconscious) to overpower, control and dehumanize another person.
For god's sake, if male horniness were all it took to cause rape, there wouldn't be a name for rape. It would just...be. I have plenty of male friends. I'm certain they, like most 15-19 year-olds, spent a good part of their young lives (and let's not discuss their current lives!) horny. I'm also certain they would never commit rape. Why? Because the two don't have a simple cause/effect correlation. It's what MAKES you horny that makes the difference. I'm certain that the average guy would not find it at all arousing to have sex with a woman who was not enjoying it, or worse, actively trying to make the sex stop. My guy friends seem quite unanimous on the fact that they will have a good time if the woman is having (and being seen to be having) a good time. For heaven's sake, it's the entire reason faking an orgasm was invented, because the average guy, however horny, doesn't want to have sex with someone who doesn't want to have sex with him. So to say that some 16 year-old horny guy will not rape someone as long as he has access to internet p0rn is a shockingly unfair indictment of 16 year-old boys.
The data I'd like to see is a study of convicted rapists, before and after internet p0rn usage, to determine whether they lost the urge to rape. THAT would be statistics worth seeing. Until then, let's not defame the good name of horniness by attaching it to rape, when we all know that the kind of men who'd use "but I was horny" as an excuse for hurting a woman are doing just that: defending the indefensible.
1 comment:
Wow, the whole idea is just ridiculous! Especially when you consider the way porn effects SOME of it's viewers. I knew a guy who admitted (while he was drunk, obv.) that his excessive viewing led to him fantasizing about rape. The nature of porn in the hands of certain people is that they progressively need more and more (and more deviant) to get off. Thus sayeth Ted Bundy at least.
I'm not saying porn CAUSES rape (or serial murder), just that it encourages it in the hands of the "right" person.
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