Santorum & Porn

According to Rick Santorum, porn is evil, and it will send us all to hell. I already have a mild sunburn from too much time spent on the beach this week, so I’m not thrilled about the idea of burning in hell for eternity. I’m also not thrilled with the idea of giving up porn.

Santorum claims that pornography causes violence in women, brain changes in adults and children, and the destruction of marriages. Hmm…interesting. Where is the empirical evidence to back this up? Has Santorum ever bothered to even read the research on the topic? Probably not. 

I also find it very difficult to believe that ANYONE would believe these ridiculous claims without some evidence to back them up. Do politicians expect that the American people will believe anything that they say, regardless of how outlandish it sounds? Sign me up to be a politician! I’m going to start going around telling people that I’m the daughter of God, and that for a hefty donation to my bank account, I can put in a good word to pops.

Ok, let’s get back on track. Santorum says that pornography CAUSES all of these evil things. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that correlation does not equal causation. In other words, even if correlational studies find that pornography viewing is correlated with violence, one cannot make any assumptions about “cause.” Just because X is related to Y does not mean that X caused Y. Santorum, it’s time to take a course in research design.

I skimmed through some of the research that’s been done on this topic, and found a few interesting studies on the topic. Here are some of the findings:

Davies, K. A. (1997). Voluntary exposure to pornography and men's attitudes toward feminism and rape. TheJowal ofSexResearch, 34(2). 131-137.

Here’s a study that examined the relationship between men’s use of porn and their attitudes towards feminism and rape. The study was specifically interested in seeing if there is a connection between men who watch porn and attitudes of violence towards women, versus those who do not watch porn. No significant correlations found.

Alexandra, S., Vatroslav, J. & Jan, R.  (2008). Is early exposure to pornography a risk factor for sexual compulsivity? Findings from an online survey among young heterosexual adults. International Journal of Sexual Health, 20, 270-280.

Here’s a study that examined the relationship between early exposure to porn and sexual compulsivity in 1,528 men and women, ages 18-25. No correlations were found between porn viewing and sexual compulsivity, for either gender.

Barak, A., Fisher, W.A., Belfry, S. & Lashambe, D.R. (1999) Sex, guys, and cyberspace. Effects of internet pornography and individual differences on men’s attitudes toward women. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality, 11, 63-91.

Here’s a study that examined the effects of exposure to porn on attitudes towards women in undergraduate males. There was no relationship between exposure to porn and misogynistic attitudes among the sample.

Ok, so that’s only three studies, and there’s plenty more out there. I’m sure there are also studies that show the opposite, but here’s the thing- NO study can claim that X causes Y.

Also, where the hell is the research that shows that porn “causes” brain changes in children? Did someone actually get approval to show porn to children? I would find that hard to believe, but if it’s out there, someone please send it to me.  xoxo, Page