Archives of Sexual Behavior, VoL 2Z No.

4, 1993

Violence and Sexual Violence in Pornography: Is

It Really Increasing?
Joseph E. Scott, Ph.D., a and Steven J. Cuvelier, Ph.D. 2

Literature and research on the question of the increasingly violent nature of

pornography is reviewed. In addition, the paper reports the findings of a content
analysis of all cartoons and pictures in Hustler Magazine from 1974 through
1987. Results indicate that sexually violent cartoons and/or pictoriats constitute
a relatively small proportion of the total cartoons and pictorials. Moreover, no
monotonic increase was found in such depictions over the 14-year period
examined. In fact, a relatively small and constant proportion of violent and~or
sexually violent depictions over this period is reported. These findings are
examined in relation to previous research and societal concern about alleged
increases in violent pornography as an explanation for increases in rape rates.
KEY WORDS: pornography; violent pornography; sexually violent pornography; content analy-
sis of pornography; pornography and rape; pornography and sexual aggression.

INTRODUCTION

The topic of "pornography" has become a contumacious issue in re-

cent years. The primary focus of the 1970 President's Commission on Ob-
scenity and Pornography was the potential for explicit sexual materials to
corrupt the morals of the populace. The Commission's report concluded:
Exposure to erotic stimuli appears to have little or no effect on already established
attitudinal commitments regarding either sexuality or sexual morality . . . . In sum,
empirical research designed to clarify the question has found no evidence to date
that exposure to explicit sexual material plays a significant role in the causation of
delinquent or criminal behavior among youth or adults.

1Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210.

2Criminal Justice Center, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas 77341.

357
0004-0002/93/0800-0357507.00/0 © 1993 PlenumPublishingCorporation
358 Scott and Cuvelier

Feminists' Opposition to Pornography

Today's renewed concern with the effects of pornography originated

with the "conservative feminist ''3 contention that sexually explicit depictions
are degrading to women and responsible for increases in sexual assaults.
While earlier fundamentalists4 based their objections of sexual portrayals
on moral grounds, the conservative feminists focused on the violent and
sexually violent messages conveyed by pornography 5 (Brownmiller, 1975;
Chesler, 1980; Dworkin, 1981). They argue that the increase in such de-
pictions promotes aggression against women. Moreover, they maintain that
pornography constitutes "hate literature" directed against women, and fa-
cilitates aggression by encouraging males to view them as legitimate sex
objects. They contend that these materials reinforce the notion that women
desire and enjoy sexual assaults.
Feminist allegations as to the violent nature of sexual material have
been embraced by the general population as factual. Such assertions have
become entrenched despite the lack of scientific support (Fisher and
Barak, 1991). These claims as to the content of sexual material directly
conflict with the findings of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornogra-
phy (1970). However, the Commission's inquiry may not have adequately
distinguished between materials depicting explicit sexual conduct and
those containing violent and/or sexually violent scenes (Malamuth and
Spinner, 1980).
Conditions associated with sexual assaults against women are a major
societal concern. A considerable amount of research has examined the pos-
sible relationship between exposure to violent erotic material and proclivi-
ties to rape. There has been a considerable vocal denunciation of portrayals
of violence against women. Portrayals of aggression against men have tra-
ditionally been considered socially acceptable. Apparently, male-directed
violence is so prevalent that society is desensitized by such portrayals
(Christensen, 1986, pp. 174-179; 1988, pp. 25-29).

3This term is used to differentiate feminists favoring censorship of adult sexual material from
other feminists. The issue of censorship of adult sexual material is a major area of dissension
among feminists as reflected by the schisms in the National Organization of Women (NOW).
For .an excellent analysis of the diverse factions in NOW, see, Levine and Currie (1987).
4When referencing "fundamentalist" we are referring to the moralists who have objected to
the availability of sexual material because of its alleged negative impact on the family and
American way of life.
5Feminists' opposition to pornography refers only to those feminists who are opposed to erotic
material's availability. Not all women or even all feminists are opposed to the availability of
such material as evidenced by such groups as the Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce of the
Women's Legal Defense Fund.
Violence and Sexual Violence in Pornography 359

Effects Of Violent And Sexually Violent Erotic Material

Feminist challenges concerning the Commission on Obscenity and

Pornography's (1970) conclusions have some social science research sup-
port (Cline, 1974, 1976; Dienstbier, 1977; Donnerstein and Hallam, 1978;
Donnerstein, 1980; Court, 1976; Malamuth, 1981b, 1983). Malamuth and
Spinner (1980) posit two major concerns for mass exposure to sexual ma-
terial. Exposure may have modeling and disinhibitive effects on viewers
(Burt, 1980; Check and Malamuth, 1983; Donnerstein and Hallam, 1978;
Loye et al., 1977). Moreover, coupling sex with violence might condition
observers to associate violent acts with sexual pleasures. Given these con-
ditions, the assumption is that males would be more inclined to view fe-
males as masochistic and desirous of male domination (Freud, 1938). This
corresponds with feminist arguments that males are encouraged to believe
that females will eventually succumb to their sexual advances if the males
persist. Some males may believe that it is permissible and even desirable
for them to pursue reluctant females even if it entails the use of force.
This premise is supported by some recent social psychology research.
Several researchers link possible proclivities to sexual assaults and rapes
with exposure to sexual and/or sexually violent materials (Malamuth, 1981a,
1983; Mueller and Donnerstein, 1983; Weaver, 1987; Zillman, 1984; Zill-
man and Bryant, 1986). However, most of these experiments did not use
X-rated, sexually explicit material, but rather general release movies (Don-
nerstein et aL, 1987). 6 In addition, attempts to replicate many of these ex-
periments reached different results (Fisher, 1987; Fisher and Barak, 1991).
Moreover, most attempts to differentiate the effects of violent from sexually
violent material find that the violent depictions are the cause of the pre-
dilection to sexual aggression (Donnerstein and Linz, 1986, pp. 58-59).
Field research has generally not found a positive relationship between
the availability and consumption of explicit sexual material and aggression.
Kutchinsky (1991) studied reported rape rates for 1964-1984 in the United
States, Denmark, Sweden, and West Germany. He found that rape rates
did not increase more than nonsexual violent crimes during this period.
Nevertheless, the availability and consumption of explicit sexual material
increased dramatically in each of these countries during this 20-year time
period (p. 61). Kutchinsky maintains that these findings refute the belief
that explicit sexual material is somehow related to rape. Kutchinsky claims

6Throughout their book The Question of Pornography, the authors review studies designed to
evaluate the effects of violent pornographic material. However, many of the studies include
general release videos in the material designated as violent pornography. Inasmuch as many
of the studies reviewed did not use exclusively X-rated explicit sexual material, the
implications and conclusions may often be misinterpreted.
360 Scott and Cuve|ier

that the availability and consumption of sexually explicit material is totally

unrelated to a country's rape rates (p. 62).
Scott (1985; Scott and Schwalm, 1988a), in studying rape rates for
each state in the United States, found that states with the greatest number
of adult theaters and adult bookstores per capita had lower rape rates than
states with fewer adult outlets. This relationship remained significant even
when controlling for numerous demographic conditions associated with
rape.
Baron and Straus (1984) and Scott and Schwalm (1988b), examined
the relationship between consumption of male sophisticate magazines and
rape rates for each state in the United States. Both studies found that states
with the highest consumption ratio of male sophisticate magazines also had
the highest rape rates. However, in subsequent research, Gentry (1991)
found that there is no relationship between adult magazine consumption
and rape rates. (Gentry used Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, in-
stead of states, as her unit of analysis. Her findings indicate that when
males' age is controlled there is no relationship between magazine con-
sumption and rape rates.)

Increases in Violent and Sexually Violent Material

There is consensus that the amount of sexually violent material has

increased dramatically in recent years (Newsweek, 1985; Smith, 1976;
Winick, 1977; Attorney General's Commission, 1986; Zillman and Bryant,
1986). In addition, the 1986 report of the Attorney General's Commission
on Pornography concluded that pornography had become substantially
more violent since the 1970s (p. 323). However, this conclusion is based
on anecdotal accounts rather than scientific research.
Allegations as to the violent nature of pornography are replete in
the literature. For example, Marshall and Barbaree (1984) stated that
"there have been dramatic increases in the amount of violent sex in both
soft core . . . and hard core p o r n o g r a p h y . . , available in Western socie-
ties" (p. 71). Barry (1979) stated, "The most prevalent theme in pornog-
raphy is one of utter contempt for w o m e n . . . (who) are raped, ejaculated
on, urinated on, anally penetrated, beaten, and, with the advent of snuff
films, murdered in an orgy of pleasure" (p. 46). Russell and Lederer
(1980) alleged that "pornography usually combines some sort of violence
with sex" (p. 26). Dworkin (1981) in describing pornography stated, "real
women are tied up, stretched, hanged, fucked, gang-banged, whipped,
beaten, and begging for more" (p. 201). Similarly, Griffin (1981) described
pornography as "usually a woman, sometimes a man, often a child, is ab-
Violence and Sexual Violence in Pornography 361

ducted by force, verbally abused, beaten, bound hand and foot and gagged,
often tortured, often hung, his or her body suspended, wounded, and then
murdered" (p. 46).
Although such claims as to increases in sexually violent material are
common, and seldom challenged, there is very little research on the topic.
However, available research indicates that pornography is not predomi-
nantly violent nor is the amount of violence in such depictions increasing.
One of the only pieces of original research conducted by the Attorney Gen-
eral's Commission on Pornography examined the imagery of the April 1986
issues of top-selling male sophisticate magazines. "Eliminated from the fi-
nal version of the Report was the full report of its findings: that only 0.6%
of the imagery was of 'force, violence, or weapons'" (American Civil Lib-
erties Union, 1986, pp. 41-42).
Previous research on the prevalence of violence in sexual material
found the occurrences of such incidences over time to be rather stable and
uncommon. Harsanyi analyzed 1333 sexual encounters in stag movies pro-
duced from 1915 to !.972 and found rape depicted "67 times, or 5 percent
of the total" (Slade, 1984, p. 155). Slade noted that general release movies
are much more likely to adopt violence themes than "hard-core" pornog-
raphy films. Slade (1980) reported that people who view sexually explicit
movies prefer sexual depictions of conventional intercourse, fellatio, and
anal intercourse. Themes involving violence and rape are least preferred
by viewers of sexually explicit material (p. 129).
In a more recent analysis of the contents of sexual material, Winick
(1985) found that each of the 430 sexually explicit magazines available for
sale at an adult bookstore in the New York Times Square area, 1.2% por-
trayed "sadomasochism" and 4.9% "bondage" (p. 207). Moreover, bondage
magazines portrayed men as the submissive partner approximately one-half
of the time. Soble (1986) also examined approximately 300 magazines from
an adult book store and found 16% contained sadomasochistic or bondage
depictions. He similarly found males more commonly portrayed as the sub-
missive partner (p. 19).
An examination of the amount of violence in various types of motion
pictures revealed that X-rated movies had fewer violent acts than the G-,
PG-, or R-rated movies. The average number of violent acts per movie
was 20.3 for the R-rated, 16.2 for the G-rated, 15.3 for the PG movies,
and 4.4 for the X-rated movies. When controlling for movie length, the
X-rated had fewer violent acts per hour than any of the other movies (R
= 14.1, G = 9.2, PG = 7.9, and X = 4.6). Similarly, when analyzing by
type of violence, X-rated movies had fewer violent acts, regardless of the
type of violence, than any of the other movies (Leyshon, 1981).
362 Scott and Cuveiier

Scott and Davis (unpublished) analyzed a random stratified sample

of videos released during the first 6 months of 1985 'for prevalence and
types of violence. A total of 72 X-rated videos were analyzed along with
72 general release videos; 12 from each the following categories: G, PG,
PG-13, R, Rock, and Unrated. With the exception of rock videos, X-rated
videos had fewer violent scenes and less total violent time per video than
any of the other categories. The PG-13 videos had an average of 19.0 vio-
lent scenes per video, followed by R-rated with 18.6, Unrated with 17.8,
G-rated with 13.8, PG-rated with 13.8, X-rated with 5.2 and Rock videos
with 1.4 violent scenes. The average total violent time per video followed
the same pattern. PG-13 videos had the most violent time per video (11.6
rain average), followed by R-rated videos with 11.1, Unrated videos with
8.9, G-rated with 7.4, PG-rated with 6.1, X-rated with 1.0, and Rock videos
with 0.1 violent minutes.
Although violent sexual portrayals are rather infrequent in adult vid-
eos and magazines, there has been little research on whether such portray-
als are increasing. One of the first research efforts to address this question
was Harsanyi's analysis of the Kinsey Sex Institute's, Erotic Film Archives.
She identified moderate increases in the amount of violence in sexual ma-
terial from the 1920s through the 1960s. Her analysis concluded that of
the films produced in the 1920s, 6.0% had violent scenes; those from the
1930s, 12.0%; those from the 1940s, 10.7%; those from the 1950s, 11.6%;
and 17% of the films from the 1960s had violent scenes 7 (Slade, 1984, pp.
159-161). Slade conducted surveys three times a year from 1979 to 1984
in the 3 largest arcades in Times Square, examining approximately 300
loops or videotapes. The percentage of violence in those sexual films was
highest (11.5%) in 1981 (p. 162).
Palys's (1984) analysis o f general release videos and X-rated videos
in Canada found the X-rated videos contained less aggression (1986, p.
29), as well as less sexual aggression (1986, p. 30) than any of the other
categories of videos available. Moreover, he found that aggressive and sexu-
ally aggressive scenes were decreasing in X-rated videos when the year of
production was taken into account (1986, p. 31). 8

7The films in the Kinsey collection from the 1970s are not representative of films from that
period. The collection consists primarily of English films and are most likely
overrepresentative of violent depictions of that era. Moreover, the 1970s sample of films
represents a smaller percentage of the films produced during that decade than the samples
from any of the other periods.
Spalys's analysis of 150 X-rated video tapes was performed in the Vancouver area of Canada,
a location referred to as the "pornography capital" of Canada (Palys, 1986, p. 24). The year
of release was available for 126 of the t50 videos and spanned the period from 1961 to 1984,
Violence and Sexual Violence in Pornography 363

Malamuth and Spinner's (1980) analysis of Playboy and Penthouse

magazines from January 1973, through December 1977, is often cited in
support of claims as to the increase of violence and sexual violence in adult
material. They found that the amount of sexual violence increased consid-
erably over the 5-year period. (A careful reading of this article indicates
that Penthouse magazine was responsible for the majority of increased sex-
ual violence rather than both magazines.)
Scott and Cuvelier (1987a, 1987b) conducted a 30-year longitudinal
content-analysis of Playboy magazine. They found that the number of vio-
lent and sexually violent portrayals was minimal in comparison to the over-
all portrayals over this period. Moreover, there was no evidence of a linear
increase in violent and/or sexually violent portrayals. Rather, they found a
curvilinear relationship between violent and sexually violent depictions.
Furthermore, the number of violent and sexually violent cartoons and pic-
torials decreased in recent years.
The present research analyzes the depictions of violent and sexually
violent portrayals in Hustler magazine from 1974 through 1987. (The first
issue of Hustler magazine was published in July 1974.) This analysis exam-
ines the sexual portrayals in one of the most widely sold male sophisticate
magazines from its first publication through mid-1987. Such an analysis al-
lows one to determine whether the portrayals of violence in adult "male
sophisticate" magazines are changing. Although previous research found
no linear increase in violent or sexually violent portrayals in Playboy, Mala-
muth discounts these implications. 9

METHOD

The data were gathered for a 14-year period, from July 1974, through
July 1987. This represents the first 14 years of Hustler's publication. (Hustler
is one of the most widely distributed male sophisticate magazines that has

9Malamuth claims Playboy's publisher, Hugh Hefner, contacted him about the implications of
sexually violent materials after becoming acquainted with Malamuth and Spinner's findings.
Apparently based on conversations with Malamuth, Hefner allegedly instructed his editors
to "be especially vigilant about violent imagery in Playboy" (Donnerstein et al., 1987, p. 89).
In other words, Malamuth attributes Scott and Cuvelier's finding of a decreasing number of
violent and sexually violent depictions in Playboy to earlier research findings communicated
to Playboy staff. Therefore, the need to content analyze another widely circulated sex
magazine for this period is essential. Hustler magazine is generally considered the most
"offensive" male sophisticate magazine. Its depictions are closer to those found in explicit
sexual magazines sold in adult bookstores than any of the other widely circulated "male
sophisticate" magazines.
 364 Scott and Cuve|ier

been published continuously since 1974.) This period follows the 1970
President's Commission Report and includes the more recent period in-
corporating the Attorney General's Commission Report on Obscenity and
Pornography. Some feminists contend that the theme of sexual depictions
changed dramatically during this period from a focus on sex to sexual vio-
lence.
Hustler magazine was analyzed for several reasons. First, it is generally
considered the most controversial nonexplicit sexual magazine. Second, it
has perhaps been involved in more litigation than any other male sophis-
ticate magazine. Moreover, it has a considerably high circulation rate. (The
Audit Bureau of Circulation audits the single sales and subscription rates
for hundreds of magazines nationally. Hustler has been widely sold.)
The procedures employed were comparable to those utilized by Mala-
muth and Spinner (1980) and Scott and Cuvelier (1987a, 1987b). Six un-
dergraduate students rated the magazines. 1° One female and one male
student rated each issue to control for possible differences in the perception
o f violent and/or sexually violent material by sex. Students examined the
issues for 1 year at a time. (This procedure was followed except for 1974
and 1987 where the student assigned those years had 6 magazines to evalu-
ate.) Students were randomly assigned to rate either early, middle, or later
years of Hustler first. The subsequent rating assignments were rotated to
avoid any "set" developments that might occur from saturation or tedious-
ness and to avoid potential bias.
The raters were not informed as to the nature of the hypothesis. All
of the students were given identical written and oral instructions concerning
coding and other procedures. They were instructed to keep a tally of the
number of cartoons and pictorials in each issue. Centerfolds and other pic-
torials that covered two or more pages were counted as one page. Multi-
ple-frame cartoons/stories on a single page were counted and analyzed as
a single item. For each pictorial and cartoon, students recorded first
whether there were depictions of violence, and if so, whether they were
sexual or nonsexual. Sexually violent depictions were described to the raters
as rape, sadomasochism, or exploitative/coercive sexual relations. (This defi-
nition was adopted from Malamuth and Spinner's instructions given to their
raters.) If the stimulus was ambiguous as to its violent and/or sexually vio-
lent nature, raters were instructed to be conservative and not rate it as
violent and/or sexually violent.

1°The three male and three female students were matched on a number of criteria to avoid
possible bias. They were matched as to year at the university, major, and age. Moreover, the
debriefing indicated that their political ideologies were similar.
Violence and Sexual Violence in Pornography 365

RESULTS

Cronbach's alpha was calculated for the number of pages per year
that contained nonsexually violent and sexually violent depictions for the
two groups of raters (male and female). This is a conservative approach
to check for interrater reliability given that the majority of pictorials and
cartoons in the magazines were of a nonviolent nature. Inasmuch as the
research focuses on trends over a 14-year period, computing reliability co-
efficients on an issue-by-issue basis or even on a page-by-page basis is not
germane to the major focus of the research. The alpha for the two groups
of raters on the number of pages containing nonsexually violent and sexu-
ally violent depictions was .601 and .660, respectively.
The alpha between male and female raters is moderate; however,
there was no statistical difference in the number of violent or sexually
violent depictions identified by the two groups. The male raters did iden-
tify more violent cartoons and pictorials over the 14-year period than did
the female raters, t(26) = 0.29, p > 0.05, however the differences are not
statistically significant. Male raters identified an average of 26.07 violent
cartoons and pictorials per year compared with 23.93 for the female raters.
Females identified more sexually violent pictorials and cartoons than did
male raters, t(26) = -1.35, p > 0.05, but again the differences are not
significant. Male raters identified an average of 11.64 such cartoons and
pictorials per year as compared to female raters who identified 17.50.
The total number of pages per issue of Hustler differed from 1974 to
1987. In 1974, the average issue contained 106 pages, whereas in 1987, the
average was 122 pages. In 1984, the average issue contained 161 pages, the
largest average of the 14-year period. Similarly, the number of cartoons
and pictorials in Hustler per issue differed considerably during this period.
In 1974, the average number of cartoons per issue was 7.83 compared with
23.33 in 1987. The average number of pictorials per issue was 28.50 during
1974 and increased to 52.17 per issue by 1987 (Table I).
Given the length of each issue of Hustler, the number of depictions
of violence and sexual violence in both cartoons and pictorials is diminu-
tive. The average number of violent cartoons per issue varies by year from
0.46 per issue in 1983 to a high of 3.58 in 1977. The average number of
violent cartoons per year, for the entire t4-year interval is 17.64, or an
average of 1.47 per issue during this period. The average number of sexu-
ally violent cartoons per year for the entire period is 5.77, or an average
of 0.48 per issue over this 14-year period. The average number of violent
and sexually violent pictorials per year varies from a low of 7.50 for 1975
and 1982 to a high of 43.00 in 1977. Over the entire t4-year period, the
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Violence and Sexual Violence in Pornography 367

average number of violent cartoons and pictorials per year was 23.41 or
1.95, per issue and 15.69 or 1.31 per issue for sexually violent cartoons
and pictorials.
The amount of violence in cartoons and pictorials is evidenced by
the ratio of violent to nonviolent pictorials and cartoons. It is apparent
that sexually violent and violent cartoons and/or pictorials in Hustler are
infrequent. In fact, the ratio of violent and sexually violent cartoons to
all cartoons is 8.16 for violent and 3.13 per hundred for sexually violent.
The ratio of violent and sexually violent cartoons to total pages is 1.48
such depictions per hundred pages. The ratio of violent and sexually vio-
lent pictorials to total pages is 1.21 per hundred. The ratio of violent
and sexually violent pictorials to all pictorials is 2.79 per hundred depic-
tions.
Although the number and ratio of violent and sexually violent car-
toons and pictorials in Hustler over the 14-year period is small, that does
not address whether the number is increasing. To address this question,
the average number of violent and sexually violent cartoons and pictorials
per year was calculated for each of the 14 years and plotted (Fig. 1). Rather
than a linear increase, one notes no statistically significant relationship for
either violent cartoons or violent pictorials. The linear relation for violent
cartoons is R = .039, adjusted R 2 = -.082 (F = 0.178, SE = 24.326, p >
0.896) and for sexually violent cartoons is R = .199, adjusted R 2 = -.040
(F = 0.497, SE = 6.864, p > 0.494). The violent and sexually violent pic-
torials follow the same .~attern. The linear relationship for violent pictorials
is R = .316, adjusted R = .025 (F = 1.339, SE = 12.777, and p > 0.270~
and the relationship for sexually violent pictorials is R = .268, adjusted R
= -.005 (F = 0.932, p > 0.353).
This analysis indicates that there has not been a monotonic increase
in either violent or sexually violent cartoons or pictorials in Hustler maga-
zine from 1974 through 1987. This finding was unexpected given the in-
crease in the average number of cartoons and pictorials in each issue.
Without controlling for the number of pages or the number of cartoons
and pictorials per issue, this analysis reveals a decrease in the number of
violent depictions in Hustler. Whether the decrease in violent depictions
found in Hustler is characteristic of other adult (male sophisticate) maga-
zines cannot be addressed from these data. Previous research, revealing
a decline in the number of sexually violent depictions in adult magazines
(Scott and Cuvelier, 1987a, 1987b), in conjunction with findings from this
research, refutes the alleged increase in sexually violent portrayals. It is
this allegation that is often cited to account for sexual assaults against
women.
368 Scott and Cuveiier

Depictions per Year

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87
Year
1 Violent ~ Sexually Violent

Fig. I. Violent and sexually violent depictions in Hustler Magazine by year.

DISCUSSION

These data question the alleged link between increased sexual vio-
lence in adult magazines and rape rates. Various fundamentalist and femi-
nist groups have argued that increases in depictions of sexual violence in
adult publications are the primary cause for any increase in rape rates.
Previous research reported that violent and sexually violent depictions
in Playboy are not only uncommon but decreasing in recent years (Scott
and Cuvelier, 1987a, 1987b). If depictions of violence and/or sexual violence
were prevalent and increasing, one might infer and argue that violence in
"adult" magazines is causally related to rape. However, it appears that not
only sexual violence but violence in general is no more prevalent in adult
publications today than it has been in the past. Only 5% of the stag movies
produced from 1915 to 1972 contained rape scenes. The number of such
stag films containing violence varied from 6 to 17% during this 50-year
period. Similarly, explicit magazines available in New York Times Square
adult bookstores in the 1980s were primarily nonviolent (Winick, 1985).
Moreover, the men were as likely to be victimized as the women in these
publications. Recent analyses of X-rated movies and X-rated videos have
consistently found less violence in such material than in general release
movies. Researchers have not found an increase in the amount of violence
in these materials.
This analysis of violent and sexually violent depictions in Hustler
magazine found that they were neither prevalent nor increasing. For the
Violence and Sexual Violence in Pornography 369

entire 14- year period examined, violent or sexually violent depictions were
identified on 16.7 and 9.7 of every 1000 pages of the magazine. Violent
cartoons accounted for 10.9 of every 1000 cartoons while only 3.6 per 1000
cartoons were sexually violent. The violent pictorials accounted for 5.7 of
every 1000 pictorials, while 6.1 per 1000 pictorials were sexually violent.
The Attorney General's Commission's contention that pornography is be-
coming more violent and therefore dangerous to society is simply not a
viable position to maintain.
Given the enormous increase in X-rated video rentals in our country
in recent years, if such materials were related to rape, one would expect
dramatic increases in rape rates. This has not occurred in the United States
nor in other countries that have experienced an increase in the dissemina-
tion of sexually explicit material (Kutchinsky, 1991). In fact, while the dis-
semination of sexually explicit material has increased substantially in recent
years, the United States rape rate has remained relatively constant or even
decreased slightly (1.0 per 1000 persons in 1974 compared to 0.8 in 1987)
(Criminal Victimization 1988, 1989).

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American Civil Liberties Union, Washington, DC.
Attorney General's Commission an Pornography. (1986). Final Report, U.S. Department of
Justice, Washington, DC.
Baron, L., and Straus, M. (1984). Sexual stratification, pornography, and rape in the United
States. In Malamuth, N. M., and Donnerstein, E. (eds.), Pornography and Sexual
Aggression, Academic Press, Orlando, FL.
Barry, K. (1979). Female Sexual Slaver); Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
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