Pornography's connection to sexually deviant behavior: A sociological analysis

Pornography: A Growing Problem Behind Sexual Deviance

Pornography: A Growing Problem

Behind Sexual Deviance

In today's technologically savvy world, pornography is as easy to access as it has ever been. With pornographic and obscene materials easily available for view by men, women, and children, it is reasonable to assume that there may be some link between the viewing of such materials and deviant behavior after seeing said materials. In looking to understand the role of pornography as a social phenomena, one must look into several factors including: the problem itself and how pornography affects the individuals who view it, including men, women, and children. In order to gauge the issue accurately from a sociological background, one must also look at the three major theoretical perspectives in sociology: structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism, in order to apply each theory to better understand the issue fully. In reviewing the research behind the issue, one can see that pornography and its instant availability to the public is often a factor in deviant behavior by individuals.

Pornography: A Growing Problem

Behind Sexual Deviance

Introduction

Once a taboo entity, only found in seedy movie theaters and sold behind closed doors, pornography has now become increasingly more visible and accessible to the public. Today, the access of pornography is as simple as a few clicks of a computer mouse, and those clicks afford the viewer a vast collection of sites and images that would otherwise be unavailable without technology or the media. With this accessibility comes a new issue: is pornography at all to blame for sexually deviant behavior? It seems as though sexually deviant crime is taking place at unheard of rates, and the link to pornography has been cited before. However, the question of whether these crimes are on the rise or just hyped by the media remains to be seen. One factor that has played a part in the debate is the issue of pornography, and the link between the two seems to hold valid evidence to prove some sort of connection.

In order to gauge this connection, the social phenomena of pornography must be explained fully in terms of its inception and growth within society, and its effect on men, women, and children. Further, the issue can be addressed from a sociological standpoint, in which certain major theories are called into play to gauge any relationship between the viewing of pornography and sexually deviant behavior.

How Does Pornography Affect Us?

Pornography undeniable affects each person who views it in some way. Whether these individuals find the content stimulating, exciting, or disturbing is subjective, but research has shown that men, women and children have the tendency to act in a certain manner when studied in groups rather than on an individual level.

Children may be the most affected group when it comes to viewing pornography, and have the tendency to shape their future actions on what they have seen. According to Dr. Catharina Welin (2006), "because of the widespread availability of pornography in the media, youths are exposed to violent or bizarre sexual activities long before they have had any personal sexual experience" (p. 293). In this case, children with little to no knowledge of sexual activity, having viewed such material, begin to associate sex in their own personal lives as relatable to sex in these videos or images. This can play a significant part in how this child will grow to view sex as an act, their own sexuality, and the stigmas they associate with different genders. A child who has viewed pornography, maturing into an adult who engages in his or her own sexual experience will no doubt have a different view of the act than an individual who did not view such material in childhood.

Women who view pornography as adults tend to have a distaste for what they are seeing and for the porn industry in general. For most women, sexuality is considered a private matter, especially in terms of their own sexual encounters. Women prove to be more emotional about sex rather than men who are geared to view it in a more physical sense. Women tend to believe that pornography is degrading to themselves and to their gender as a whole, showing the objectification of women as mere objects for men's sexual gratification. Ann Gary (1978) notes that "pornography leads to behavior and attitudes showing disrespect for women, and pornography itself shows disrespect for women" (p. 232). Although some women may find pornography sexually stimulating in the bedroom, the overall stigma associated with pornography by the female gender seems to be vastly negative.

Lastly, one must view how men tend to view pornography. As males tend to commit sexually deviant crimes in a far more frequent manner than women, it can be said that viewing pornography may be a factor in looking at this statistic. Men tend to see sex as an enjoyable physical release before viewing it as an emotional connection, which may attest for the way women are portrayed in most pornography as merely the attractive tool to be used in order for the man to achieve sexual gratification.

Sociological Theories and Deviance

Pornography and sexual deviance in a sociological context can be considered related as the actions and behaviors that may ensue after viewing pornography violate the culturally accepted norms of sexuality and can lead to going against formally enacted-rules of the government in terms of sexually deviant criminal activity. Of all the three major theoretical perspectives in sociology, that which seems to most closely relate to the issue of pornography as a factor in sexual deviance is that of symbolic interactionism.

Symbolic interactionism places emphasis on smaller scale social interaction, which in this case can be compared to the porn industry and its customers and viewers. Herbert Blumer (1969), who coined the term "symbolic interactionism" noted that "humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things" (p. 45 ). In this case, this can be attributed to viewers of pornographic materials seeing the violent and deviant actions performed upon women in porn, taking these actions from the media they witness, and enacting this type of behavior in their own lives.

Sociologist Darryl Hall (2009) notes that the symbolic interactionism view of sexual deviance (which can relate to the issue of porn and sexual deviance) is as follows: "Symbolic interactionists suggest that the need of men to validate their sexual prowess or reaffirm their masculinity is an important factor in their seeking out pornography or prostitues" (p. 2). Such a notion can explain the rising level of sexually deviant crime in society, and can in turn associate this with the viewing of pornography as a man's need for sexual validation and masculinity.

Conclusion

As seen, the rise of pornography to a near norm in society has heightened the search to link the viewing of this material to sexual deviant behavior in society. Although a direct link is not conclusive, it is clear that the research in terms of this question is growing to slowly but surely support some link between the two.