IV. THE ROLE OF PORNOGRAPHY IN UNDERMINING POTENTIAL VICTIMS' ABILITIES TO AVOID OR RESIST RAPE

"He...told me it was not wrong because they were doing it in the magazines and that made it O.K." (Attorney General's Commission, 1986, p. 786).

Obviously, this fourth factor (the role of pornography in undermining potential victim's abilities to avoid or resist rape) is not necessary for rape to occur. Nevertheless, once the first three factors in my causal model have been met--a male not only wants to rape a woman but is willing to do so because his inhibitions, both internal and social, have been undermined--a would-be rapist may use pornography to try to undermine a woman's resistance. Pornography is more likely to be used for this purpose when males attack their intimates (as opposed to strangers).

(1) Encouraging females to get into high rape-risk situations.

Most adult rape victims are not shown pornography in the course of being raped, although the testimony of prostitutes reveals that this is quite a common experience for many who are raped (Everywoman, 1988; Russell, 1993a). But pornography is more often used to try to persuade a woman or child to engage in certain acts, to legitimize the acts, and to undermine their resistance, refusal, or disclosure of these acts. Donald Mosher, for example, reported in his 1971 study that 16% of the "sex calloused" male students had attempted to obtain intercourse by showing pornography to a woman, or by taking her to a "sexy" movie. When this strategy succeeds in manipulating women into so-called sex play, it can make women very vulnerable to date rape.

In a more recent study conducted in Canada, Charlene Senn found that "the more pornography women were exposed to, the more likely they were to have been forced or coerced into sexual activity they did not want" (1992). In addition, a male was present in most of the cases in which women were exposed to pornography. This suggests that most women who consume pornography do so because a man wants them to (1992). This is a particularly important finding because the media have made much of the alleged fact that increasing numbers of women are renting pornographic videos, presuming that they do so for their own gratification.

There are at least two possible explanations for the positive correlation between the quantity of pornography to which women are exposed and their experiences of forced or coerced sex. It could be that women who co-operate with males' requests to view pornography are more likely to be sexually assaulted because viewing pornography somehow undermines their ability to avoid being sexually assaulted. Or perhaps women who can be coerced into viewing pornography can also more easily be coerced sexually than women who refuse to view it.

Ms. M describes how her husband's continual pornography-related abuse of her during their years together almost drove her to suicide:

I could see how I was being seasoned by the use of pornography and I could see what would come next. I could see more violence and I could see more humiliation, and I knew at that point I was either going to die from it--I would kill myself--or I would leave. And I felt strong enough to leave (Russell, 1993a).

When women are shown such materials, they probably feel more obliged to engage in unwanted sex acts that they mistakenly believe are normal. The Reverend Susan Wilhem, for example, testified about her ex-husband that pornography "made him expect that I would want to do crazy things" (Russell, 1993a). Evidence for this hypothesis is provided by Zillman and Bryant's previously mentioned findings that massive exposure to pornography distorts the viewer's perceptions of sexuality by producing the lasting impression that relatively uncommon sexual practices are more common than they actually are; for example, "intercourse with more than one partner at a time, sadomasochistic actions, and animal contacts" (1984, pp. 132-133).

The following two statements by two other women reveal how their husbands used pornography for this purpose.

Once we saw an X-rated film that showed anal intercourse. After that he insisted that I try anal intercourse. I agreed to do so, trying to be the available, willing creature that I thought I was supposed to be. I found the experience very painful, and I told him so. But he kept insisting that we try it again and again (Attorney General's Commission, 1986, p. 778).

He told me if I loved him I would do this. And that, as I could see from the things that he read me in the magazines initially, a lot of times women didn't like it, but if I tried it enough I would probably like it and I would learn to like it (Everywoman, 1988, p. 68).

More systematic research is needed to establish how frequently males use pornography to try to undermine women's ability to avoid or resist rape and other sexual abuse, and how effective this strategy is.

(2) A pornography industry that requires female participation.

Because the portrayal of rape is one of the favorite themes of pornography, a large and ever-changing supply of girls and women have to be found to provide it. Clearly, some women are voluntary participants in simulated acts of rape. But many of the rapes that are photographed are real (for examples, see Everywoman, 1988; Russell, 1993a).

In summary: A significant amount of research supports my theory that pornography can, and does, cause rape. Nevertheless, much of the research undertaken to date does not adequately examine the four key variables in my theory. Malamuth's concept of males' self-reported likelihood to rape women, for example, merges the notion of a desire to rape with my notion that internal inhibitions against acting out this desire can be undermined. So if a man says that there is some likelihood that he would rape a woman if he could get away with it, he is saying both that he has the desire to rape a woman and that his internal inhibitions against doing so are at least somewhat undermined (the degree of undermining depends on whether he is very likely, somewhat likely, or only slightly likely to do it). I hope that more research will be guided in the future by the theoretical distinctions required by my model.