Pornography is defined as sexually explicit material meant to sexually arouse the viewer via the media (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). During this week’s assigned readings in Applied Social Psychology, Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems, by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts, we learned about the effects of long-term exposure of nonviolent pornography (nonaggressive, casual, nonromantic) and the effects of any exposure of violent pornography (male-dominated, degrading). According to Schneider et al. (2012), research studies have shown that the long-term exposure of nonviolent pornography can increase negative attitudes towards women, can influence changes in family values, increases interests in other types of pornography, and can occasionally result in sexual callousness. Furthermore, research studies regarding any amount of exposure of violent pornography in men have shown an increase in sexual arousal, an increase of rape fantasies, desensitization of embedded sexual violence, acceptance of violence towards women, and desensitization towards rape and rapists (Schneider et al., 2012). Applied Social Psychology, Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems, by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts dabbles in the effects of different types of pornography, but I wanted to know how pornography effects the population I am most interested in: adolescents. After applying knowledge from my personal experience and the information I found through research, I have come to the conclusion that pornography can influence adolescents to sexually offend others.
Personal experience: During the summer I was lucky enough to have an internship at an adolescent residential treatment facility. The facility was comprised of boys and girls from the ages 12 to17 on three different floors:
- First floor: Boys with severe behavioral and psychological disorders.
- Second floor: Girls with severe behavioral and psychological disorders.
- Third floor: Juvenile sex offenders (boys).
Many people read “juvenile sex offenders” and think “CRIMINALS! SEND THEM TO JAIL!” I was actually one of those people before I began my internship. However, I quickly learned that adolescents do not randomly become sexually aggressive. During my internship I took a training class regarding the treatment of adolescent sex offenders and learned a few factors that can contribute to a child becoming a sex offender:
- They have been sexually abused themselves
- They have been exposed to sexual content at a young age: pornography and/or parents are not maintaining age-appropriate boundaries
It makes sense to me that exposure to pornography could be a factor that influences juvenile sex offending because of social learning theory. For example, a ten-year-old boy sees a man receiving oral sex in a nonviolent pornography video and in turn, this ten-year-old boy wants to give or receive oral sex.
Research: Even though I was taught by clinicians that pornography can contribute to adolescents sexually offending other children, and I can make connections between theories from my psychology courses, I have never done outside research regarding pornography and juvenile sex offenders. According to Dr. Sharron Cooper, pornography makes adolescents believe the sexual situations (violent, nonconsensual, unprotected, emotionless) they are watching are normal and acceptable in their own lives (Baxter, 2018). Dr. Cooper also believes that adolescents are more likely to replicate the explicit sexual acts they are watching via pornography because they feel like they are experiencing what they are watching due to mirror neurons (Baxter, 2018). Another study on juvenile sex offenders yielded significant results that watching pornography before and after the age of 10 was correlated with sexual offending in adolescents, compared to nonoffender adolescents who had not watched pornography before the age of 10 (Burton, Leibowitz, Booxbaum, & Howard, 2011).
After reading Applied Social Psychology, Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems, by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts, it is obvious that long-term exposure to nonviolent pornography and any amount of exposure to violent pornography has negative effects to the viewer. However, because the effects of pornography on adolescents were not explored, I examined my personal experience at my internship and did outside research to conclude that pornography can influence adolescents to sexually offend others.
References:
Baxter, A. (2018). How Pornography Harms Children: The Advocate’s Role. ABA. Retrieved from: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/child_law/resources/child_law_practiceonline/child_law_practice/vol-33/may-2014/how-pornography-harms-children–the-advocate-s-role/
Burton, D. L., Leibowitz, G. S., Booxbaum, A., & Howard, A. (2011). Comparison by crime type of juvenile delinquents on pornography exposure: The absence of relationships between exposure to pornography and sexual offense characteristics. Journal of Forensic Nursing, 7(1), 54. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/867317020?accountid=13158
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied Social Psychology. Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Tags: juvenile sex offenders, media influence, mirror neurons, social learning theory
I appreciate your decision to write on a difficult and delicate topic. Your firsthand experience interning at an adolescent residential treatment facility allows you to discuss this information from a view point that is different from many of us.
When you shared your initial thoughts about juvenile sex offenders, I was reminded that in so many situations in our lives we need to look beyond our initial impression and truly seek to understand the situation instead of judging. Only when we understand the underlying cause for a problem can we then make progress toward solving it. Understanding what situational factors and experiences can contribute to an adolescent becoming a sexual offender can better enable us to handle the situation.
Equipped with this knowledge we can attempt to reduce young people’s exposure to all forms of pornography and mitigate the effects of things they have already been exposed to. According to Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts (2012), it is helpful to debrief people after exposure to pornography. Hopefully more studies like these will further our understanding of the effects of exposure harmful media and how to reduce the those effects. Thank you for sharing!
References:
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.