Page 1278 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
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relationship between non-violent erotica and violence. First of all its mentions the degradation and states: "Of course, it is the degradation of people, more often women". This is at page 41 of the report. It goes on:
With respect to the material of this variety, our conclusions are substantially similar to those with respect are violent material ... We are saying that such attitudes will increase the likelihood for an individual and the incidence for a population that acts of sexual violence -
this is non-violent erotica -
sexual coercion or unwanted sexual aggression will occur. Thus, we conclude that substantial exposure to materials of this type bears some causal relationship -
not "no casual relationship", as Mr Duby said -
to the level of sexual violence, sexual coercion or unwanted sexual aggression in the population so exposed.
That is what the Meese report said. That was the major study in the world.
One report that you omitted to mention, which was the second major study, was what is referred to as the Longford report, by Lord Longford in England in 1972. That was the first study conducted around the world - the first major investigation that showed that there is a causal link between non-violent erotica and harm. Did it study any other erotica? No. In 1972 it was hardly available. That is what it studied and that is what it showed.
The Williams report of 1979, in the UK, which was mentioned, has since been bagged all over the world. It was a small report; it had limited studies; it had no valid research data.
Once again, we need to look at the actual evidence. Doctors Dorf Zillman and Jennings Bryant showed in a study of four groups of university students, numbering 60, that the group that was exposed to pornography - non-violent erotica, as so many people keep calling it - had tendencies towards regarding women with less respect; they saw rape with less concern; they considered that adultery in marriage really was not that much of a problem, that it should be okay. There was a control group, another group that watched videos with next to nothing in them, and one that had a mixture of both.
Let us look at some of the reported rapes per 100,000 population in Western Australia from 1966 to 1986. Have a glance at the general graph as it goes up because it is a bit hard to read them all out. Around 1966 it was one rape
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