INTRODUCTION

A long-standing question in the field of psychology concerns the relationship between exposure to sexually explicit material like pornography and criminal behavior.

Over the last 10 years, the access and exposure to sexually rich content via the Internet, television, movies, video games, and reading materials has grown exponentially. But the question that arises involves the impact on the psychological development of the person and the potential for increases in sexually deviant behaviors that might lead someone to commit sexually based offenses. One of the most significant controversies focuses on the impact that pornography has on an individual’s propensity to commit rape.

There is a lot of psychological research addressing the personality characteristics of a sexual offender and there are multiple theories focusing on the impact of watching sexual content and if it results in sexual acting out behaviors. Is there a direct relationship between pornography and rape? Do sexually deviant individuals seek out sexual content and then act out? How about the non-sexual deviant who was not interested in or specifically seeking sexually explicit content, but was involuntarily exposed and then acted out in a sexually deviant way?

There is no significant correlational evidence that exposure to sexually explicit material results in sexual acting out, but we do see a correlation between people that did sexually act out with having previous exposure to sexual content.

INSTRUCTIONS

In your main post:

• Provide an argument for a correlation between pornography and rape.
• Provide an argument against a correlation between pornography and rape.
• State which position presented in the two articles is accurate in your opinion. Explain the evidence you see in the article that supports your determination on whether or not there is a correlation between pornography and rape.
• Articulate the advantages and disadvantages of the regulation of sexually explicit materials and whether regulation is necessary