Pornography.pdf

Men’s leisure and women’s lives: the

impact of pornography on women

SUSAN M. SHAW

Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario,

Canada N2L 391

The issue of pornography as a form of leisure practice has received little attention

from researchers. In this study, the impact of pornography consumption on women’s

lives was examined. A diverse group of thirty-two women was interviewed, with

discussion focusing on their individual experiences, meanings, and perceptions of

pornography. The women’s reactions to pornography, especially to violent porno-

graphy, were consistently negative. Pornography elicited fear reactions, had a

negative effect on women’s identities and on their relationships with men, and was

seen to reinforce sexist attitudes among men. Despite this, many of the women felt

that their opinions were not ‘legitimate’, and overt resistance to pornography was

often muted. The Ž ndings are discussed in terms of the role of pornography in the

reproduction of gender, the ideology of individualism, and the potential for resistance

among women.

Introduction

Researchers have paid scant attention to the question of pornography as a

leisure issue or the consumption of pornography as a leisure practice.

Nevertheless, pornographic products, including magazines, videos, books,

live shows and Internet distributions, represent a multi-billion dollar industry

(Baird and Rosenbaum, 1998) that touches the lives of countless people

throughout the world. Relatively little is known about this form of leisure

consumption, in part because it is often a ‘hidden’ or covert activity. It is

evident that pornography is primarily aimed at the male consumer, and that

the majority of consumers are male (Fraser Committee, 1985; Senn and

Radtke, 1990). However, information is lacking about how this form of

activity Ž ts into, informs, or is in � uenced by other aspects of men’s lives. Even

less is known about the impact of pornography on women’s lives. While

many women are involved in the pornography industry as ‘models’, actors or

sex trade workers, the lives of other women may also be in � uenced by the

widespread availability of pornographic products. The pervasiveness of

pornography means that most women will be exposed to it during their

lifetimes (Senn and Radtke, 1990). Thus, the images of women and of

sexuality that are portrayed through such representations may impact on

their lives in a variety of ways.

Most of the empirical research on pornography has involved psychology

experiments conducted in the laboratory. Such experiments are typically

Leisure Studies 18 (1999) 197–212 0261–4367

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S.M. Shaw

designed to test the effect of exposure to pornographic videos on men’s

attitudes and behaviours, such as their reactions to rape, their attitudes

towards women, and their levels of sexual aggression (see Malamuth and

Donnerstein, 1984: Linz and Malamuth, 1993). Despite the problems

associated with this type of research, including dif Ž culties with de Ž ning

pornography, with measuring behaviours, and with the arti Ž ciality of the

laboratory setting, there have been some relatively consistent Ž ndings

indicating that exposure to violent pornography does increase, or is at least

associated with, callousness towards women as well as increased propensity

to violence (e.g., Donnerstein and Linz, 1986; Boeringer, 1994). Although this

research has usually focused on male subjects, and paid less attention to the

direct impact of pornography on women, it does indicate that women’s lives

may be seriously and negatively in � uenced by pornography consumption

because of the reproduction of misogyny and women’s increased risk of

becoming a victim of sexual violence.

A number of feminist researchers and legal scholars have addressed the

issue of pornography as well. These scholars have also drawn linkages

between male power, male aggression and the objecti Ž cation and dehumani-

zation of women in pornography (e.g., Russell, 1988; Cole, 1995). The role

of pornography as a source of disempowerment and silencing through the

curbing of women’s expressive freedoms has also been discussed (Grif Ž n,

1982; Jensen, 1995). Much of the feminist writing on pornography has

focused on legal and social policy issues. In the United States, for example,

Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin argued powerfully that pornog-

raphy violates women’s civil rights and freedoms (MacKinnon and Dworkin,

1988), and that legislation is needed to protect these rights. In Britain, too,

the Campaign Against Pornography and Censorship (CPC) has worked to

restrict the distribution of pornography, maintaining that such material

represents a propaganda tool that controls women and perpetuates gender

based inequalities (see Smith, 1993). This view of pornography, though, is not

shared by all feminists, and the debate between pro-regulation and anti-

censorship groups has been intense (see Berger et al. , 1990; Cowan, 1992).

Activists working to restrict or censor pornography sometimes appear to be

linked in an unwanted political alliance with the religious right, who

represent an ideology which is antigay, antilesbian, antichoice and in favour

of a return to the traditional male-dominated family (Cole, 1989; Smith,

1993). While reasons for Ž ghting the production and distribution of

pornographic materials differ profoundly between feminists and right-wing

groups, the fact that these linkages are made can be disturbing for feminist

researchers (Cowan, 1992). On the other side of the debate, many anticensor-

ship feminists are opposed to any kind of censorship of cultural products.

While they may dislike much of the pornographic material that is produced,

they fear state censorship, arguing that state control of cultural products has

historically worked against the interests of radical groups, dissidents and

anyone who is committed to social change (Valverde and Weir, 1985;

Rodgerson and Wilson, 1991).

Men’s leisure and women’s lives

199

Despite these highly contentious debates among feminists, there remains

relatively little empirical research on the role of pornography in women’s

lives. One study of women undergraduate students in Canada (Senn and

Radtke, 1990) showed that pornography, and especially violent pornography,

was evaluated negatively by these young women, while ‘erotica’ was

evaluated positively. However, whether this evaluation of pornographic

material is the same for women of other ages as well, and how such material

affects women’s self attitudes, identities, or everyday social interactions

remains largely unknown.

The purpose of this present study was to explore women’s attitudes

towards, and experiences and perceptions of pornography. The focus was on

women’s everyday lives, and especially on their perceptions of the impact that

pornography consumption – whether their own or other people’s consump-

tion – had on various aspects of their lives. Research on pornography raises

some dif Ž cult issues, perhaps especially for feminist researchers. This is not

only because of debates over social policy and legislative initiatives, but also

because of the lack of consensus about how pornography should be de Ž ned,

and because of other associated conceptual and theoretical complexities

(McCormack, 1989; Kipnis, 1996). Thus, these issues had to be taken into

consideration in the initial design of the study.

Conceptual and theoretical issues

Research on pornography has been plagued by problems associated with

conceptualization and the de Ž nition of terms. Much of the discussion over

how to de Ž ne pornography has been concerned with the construction of legal

de Ž nitions. These de Ž nitions have typically included terms such as ‘obscenity’

or ‘community standards’ (see Dwyer, 1995, for a fuller discussion of this

issue), and tend to focus on sexual explicitness and the display of male sex

organs. Thus, they do not address the central concerns of feminists which

relate to the sexual subordination, victimization and degradation of women

(Cole, 1989). Proposals put forward by various feminist groups and

individuals, for example that pornography is the subordination of women or

that it represents a practice of sex discrimination against women, have not

been widely accepted in legal settings (Dwyer, 1995). Psychologists doing

research on pornography have also debated the issue of de Ž nition, seeking to

distinguish between terms such as ‘obscenity’, ‘pornography’ and ‘erotica’

(e.g., Linz and Malamuth, 1993). But again, there has been relatively little

attention to feminist conceptualizations or to the question of misogyny or

discrimination against women.

A number of other factors also confound the problem of de Ž nition. For

example, does the term pornography necessarily have a negative connotation?

If it is de Ž ned in terms of actions or images, how does it differ from art or

education? To what extent is the intent of the product to be taken into

account? Related to this is the issue of distinguishing pornography from

mainstream media productions. Is there an overlap between pornography and

other media forms, or is pornography a distinct and separate type of product?

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S.M. Shaw

How too can erotica, or the expression of women’s true sexuality, be

distinguished from pornography which degrades women? Concern about

some of these issues has, in fact, been part of the argument of the

anticensorship feminists who fear that the control of pornography is the ‘thin

edge of the wedge’, or the ‘slippery slope’ leading to much more wide-spread

censorship of antiestablishment products such as gay or lesbian publications

(e.g., Steele, 1985; Berger et al. , 1990).

Apart from the issue of de Ž nitions, debates surrounding the theorizing of

women’s leisure add to the complexity of conceptualizing the role of

pornography in women’s lives. Feminist theories of leisure, based on a

structural or modernist perspective, have been criticized for focusing too

much attention on power relations and for assuming a common experience of

oppression for all women (Rojek, 1991; Green, 1998). Postmodernist

approaches, on the other hand, while placing emphasis on diversity, personal

agency and multiple subjectivities, are subject to the danger of ignoring or

down-playing gendered power relations (Scraton, 1994). Pornography as a

focus of analysis may be particularly susceptible to this latter danger because

of the postmodernist emphasis on multiple interpretations and realities, and

societal views of sex as personal, private and autonomous (Baird and

Rosenbaum, 1998). Attention to the variety of interpretations of porno-

graphic representations and to individual freedom may mean that the

question of harm to individuals, or to groups linked through class, race,

sexuality, or gender, will be overlooked (e.g., McNair, 1996).

One solution to the dilemma over theorizing leisure and gender, that has

been suggested by Green (1998), is to place emphasis on culture rather than

structure. Such an approach facilitates incorporation of the notion of agency

and the theorization of women as ‘active agents, involved in the construction

of their own lives’ (Green, 1998, p. 173). It is also consistent with the idea

that individual and collective gender identities are not static, but are socially

constructed, and contribute to the reproduction of broader gender relations

in society (Lorber and Farrell, 1991).

Analysis of pornography based on this approach to theorizing gender and

leisure suggests that emphasis needs to be placed on individual women’s

meanings and interpretations of pornography. Predetermined de Ž nitions of

pornography may not only be unnecessary, but may mask the variety and

diversity of individual meanings that may exist. At the same time, a cultural

approach to the analysis of pornography also recognizes the potential for

cultural products, and the images and message embedded in such products, to

in � uence gender identities, the ongoing construction and reconstruction of

gender relations, and ideologies of femininity, masculinity and sexuality

(Shaw, 1994). Thus, this perspective seeks to be sensitive both to the diverse

realities of women as well as to the possibility of shared meanings, attitudes

and experiences.

In order to avoid predetermined conceptualizations, this study used an

inductive grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) to explore

women’s experiences and perceptions. This meant that no prior assumptions

were made about the meaning of the term ‘pornography’, about whether

Men’s leisure and women’s lives

201

pornography was oppressive, degrading, or harmful to women, nor about the

speci Ž c ways in which pornography might in � uence identities, attitudes or

interactions. A broad sample of women from a variety of backgrounds were

interviewed to allow for the emergence of a diversity of subjectivities and

interpretations. However, the data were also examined to see if, and where,

commonalities existed. The issues of legislation and censorship were not a

central part of the study, although there was some discussion of these issues

during the interviews. Rather, the main focus was on women’s meanings and

experiences of pornography, and on their perceptions of how pornography

has had an impact, if at all, on their lives.

The study

The study was based on interviews with 32 women, all of whom lived in a

medium-sized town (population, 250 000) in Eastern Canada. In order to

obtain a broad, yet representative sample of women, potential participants

were chosen through a random selection of households using the local

telephone book. Letters were sent to 134 households, explaining the study,

and asking if there was a woman, 19 years of age or older, who lived in the

household, and who would be willing to participate in an interview. Follow-

up phone calls to each household were made three to Ž ve days later, in order

to explain the study and to ask for volunteers to take part. Contact was never

established with 32 of the households, and an additional 16 households

contained no eligible women. Thus, the 32 participants who agreed to an

interview represented a 37% acceptance rate among those contacted and

eligible.

The women who participated in the study were a fairly diverse group in

terms of demographic characteristics. They ranged in age from 19 to 89 years,

although more than half (20 out of 32) were 40 years of age or younger.

Twenty-seven of the women were, or had been, married or living with a

partner. At the time of the study, 20 were married or living common law,

seven were divorced or separated, three were widowed, and Ž ve were single;

22 had children. The women were not asked about sexual orientation, and

none of them self-identi Ž ed as lesbian. Nineteen of the women were employed

outside the home (8 in full time employment and 11 in part-time employ-

ment), with occupations ranging from nursing to clerical and sales to

research-related work. Of the remaining 13 women who were not employed

in the labour market, four were full-time homemakers, four were retired, two

were students, and three were unemployed. Eleven of the women had

university degrees, and an additional 15 had completed other training or

vocational skills programmes. Twenty-six of the women identi Ž ed themselves

as either Catholic (17) or Protestant (9), although only 14 said that they were

regular church goers. The other six women did not identify any denomina-

tion, or said that they had no religion. The majority of the participants (23

out of 32) were white Anglo-Canadians, while the others were Francophone

Canadians (4) or from other European or East Asian backgrounds. None of

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