Societal threat levels correlate with violent themes in pornography

Evidence

Violent Pornography. Another aspect of sexuality that may engage authoritarian sentiments is the fusion of sex and aggression in violent pornography. Working from Rimmer’s (1986) description of X-rated videotapes, Donovan, Stires, and Morrett (1988) coded the incidence of violence (that is, sex fused with violence, defined as “sadistic, violent and victimized sex,” p. 2) in pornographic videotapes produced from 1967 through 1985. Using these figures, we found that during the high-threat years of 1978– 1982, an average of 15.1% of all X-rated videotapes contained violent sex, whereas in the later low-threat years of 1983–1985, this yearly average dropped significantly to 4.7%, t(8)=2.16, p<.05. (Consistent with this result is Slade’s, 1984, pp. 159–161, estimate of higher levels of violence in pornographic films during Sales’s two high-threat periods.) We conclude, therefore, that levels of societal threat are related to the incidence of themes of violent sexuality, at least in fantasy materials. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 806

Categorization

• QUESTION: Does this threat-fantasy link replicate in today’s streaming-porn era, where supply is commercially driven rather than reflecting national mood?
• SHARE: A friend who studies media or cultural psychology would enjoy this concrete coding study showing violent porn content tracking threat periods.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 806