Bergen, Raquel Kennedy, and Kathleen A. Bogle.
Violence and Victims 15, no. 3 (2000): 227-234.
Abstract
This article examines the relationship between sexual violence and pornography and offers further understanding of the effects of pornography on women’s experiences of violence.
There is a growing body of research that supports the notion that pornography is related to the sexual victimization of women. This study was conducted to further delineate the relationship between pornography and sexual violence against women. Data about women’s experiences of sexual violence and their abusers’ use of pornography were collected at a rape crisis center from 100 survivors.
Findings indicate that pornography is clearly implicated in some of the abusive experiences of women in this sample. Twenty-eight percent of the 100 participants said that their abusers used pornography. However, the majority of respondents (58 percent) answered that they did not know about their abusers’ use of pornography. A significant number of women surveyed indicated that pornography was part of the actual incident of abuse. Twelve percent reported that pornography was imitated during their experience of abuse.
Overall, the findings of this research support the idea that there is a relationship between pornography and violence against women. However, while it cannot be said that pornography causes violence against women, the research does provide more evidence about how pornography plays a role in the sexual violence experienced by some women. Further research on the effects of pornography should specifically target understudied populations of women. Notes and references
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