Pornography Promotes Rape and Aggression Towards Women

According to the following studies, there is strong evidence that shows a direct correlation between pornography and sexual aggression towards women. According to this statistical analysis, AAFES has a choice to make. They can choose profit by selling pornography or they can choose to aid in the protection against sexual harassment and sexual abuse by not selling pornography. This article is taken from KTK.ru:

Gray, Susan (1982)
"Levels of aggression in already-angered men are increased by exposure to hard-core materials."

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Research conducted involving 36 serial murderers revealed that 81% (29/36) reported pornography as one of their highest sexual interests, making pornography one of the most common profile characteristics of serial murderers.

Dr. William Marshall (1983)
He found that 86% of rapists admitted regular use of pornography, with 57% admitting actual imitation of pornography scenes in commission of sex crimes.

Malamuth (1981)
Responses found to characterize (convicted) rapists were:
1) general acceptance of rape myths, and
2) high arousal to rape depictions.

He studied male college students, asking them, "How likely would you be to rape if you knew you would not be caught?" --35% indicated they would.

Malamuth and Check (1985)
After studying 307 students, they concluded that "media depictions (pornography) suggesting that (showing that) rape results in the victim's arousal contributes to men's belief in a similar rape myth -- particularly men with higher inclinations to aggress against women."

Victor Cline, Ph.D. (Utah Psychologist)
He identified a common pattern of progression with many pornography users (sex offenders):
1. addiction to hard core pornography;
2. escalation in the need for more shocking material;
3. desensitization toward initially shocking material; and
4. an increased tendency to "act out" sexual activities

Zillmann, Dolf (1982)
Findings show that massive exposure (4 hours forty minutes over six weeks) to standard pornography (people having consensual, nonviolent sex) resulted in
1. a loss of compassion toward women as rape victims and toward women in general;
2. a loss of concern about the effects of pornography on others;
3. a need for more violent and bizarre forms of sex;
4. a desensitization to violent, non-coercive hard core pornography; and
5. a trivialization of rape.

Michigan State Police ( Lt. Darrell H. Pope)
Studied and recorded the use of pornography in sex crimes. He researched 48,000 sex crimes spanning a 20 year period (1956-1979). (Research was done in 1977, replicated in 1981).

In 42% of the 48,000 sex crimes investigated, police indicated that pornography was involved -- used just prior to, or during the act of sexual assault -- as stated by the victim or the offender.

Silbert and Pines (1984)
A detailed content analysis of 193 cases of rape and of 178 cases of juvenile sexual abuse revealed a clear relationship between violent pornography and sexual abuse.

Goldstein, Kant and Harman (1973)
Rapists are 15 times as likely as non-offenders (30% to 2%) to have had exposure to "hard core" pornography during childhood or between 6 to 10 years of age. They also tended to report an earlier age of "peak experience" with pornography."

It is highly likely, based upon McGaugh's studies on memory, that the early experiences "stood out in the minds" of these children because of the release of the chemical epinephrine during their emotional arousal. This makes these findings even more disturbing.

The correlation investigations show, that porno materials can provoke a man to behave aggressively with a woman. As J. Court (1984) mentioned, during 1960-1970 the quantity of rapes has sharply increased after the widespread distribution of porno materials. Such tendency was not observed only in those regions of the world, where pornography distribution was under control. Here are some examples: at Hawaii the quantity of rapes increased in 9 times, than decreased (a temporary limit on pornography was introduced), than increased again (after the cancellation of the limit on pornography). The example of northern American States shows, that the selling rate of magazines with sexual content is in strict correlation with rape statistics (the quantity of young people and other factors were taken into account). Alaska was the first at selling sex-magazines and also at rapes, Nevada was at the second place, and so on. Sexual criminals are usually an active consumers of such products. People, who were condemned for sexual harassment to children, had watched porno films much more often, than those, who haven’t committed such crimes. The same is true with the serial killers (according to FBI data). One can suppose, that the consumption of porno products is the consequence (and not the cause) of some psychological deviation. But laboratory experiments indicate quite clear dependencies: the analysis of 21 experiments in this field allows to conclude, that watching porno materials, especially containing violence scenes, fosters aggressive attitude to women.

Troops Weigh in on Sale of Sexually Explicit Materials

Article taken from ArmyTimes.com:

A consumer group of enlisted members and officers should be formed “to help analyze material for decency,” in addition to the senior civilians who weed out sexually explicit magazines, videos and audio materials from the shelves of military stores.

That’s what one person suggested to Defense Department officials during their periodic review and updating of procedures for reviewing sexually explicit materials.

Nice try.

“Forming the suggested consumer group is unnecessary,” defense officials wrote in their response to that comment, included with others in the Nov. 15 edition of the Federal Register.

“The Resale Activities Board of Review includes civilian representatives from the Army, Navy, and Air Force who are capable of identifying sexually explicit material,” officials said.

The updated rule includes one new policy change that will open the door to reconsideration of some materials that have been previously rejected. Materials that have been determined by the board to be sexually explicit can be submitted for reconsideration every five years.

The Defense Department regulations are simply carrying out the Military Honor and Decency Act, passed by Congress 10 years ago. The law, spearheaded by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., has been challenged, but has been upheld in federal court.

Judging from the public comments in the Federal Register, it’s clear that many people are unaware of the law — and are surprised and concerned when they hear about it.

“I don’t want regulations on what I look at,” one service member wrote.

Others expressed concern about censorship and restrictions on free speech.

But as defense officials wrote in response to every one of these concerns, the regulation “does not prohibit the possession or viewing of the sexually explicit material” by military personnel or Defense Department civilian employees.

It only “prohibits the sale of sexually explicit material on property” under Defense Department jurisdiction.

Not everyone opposes the law; in fact one person wants it to go further.

“I don’t see how the barring of sale or rental of pornographic materials is going to help anything,” the person wrote.

If the issue is pornography on property owned by the Defense Department, “then possession of it should be banned entirely.”

Checking the Age of Minors for Inappropriate Media

AAFES already posts the above sign at all its Shoppettes and Exchanges at Fort Riley, Kansas. This is a very good system that is already in place. However, only doing this for alcohol and tobacco is not good enough. AAFES needs to do something similar to this for Rated R movies and Rated M video games. AAFES has a responsibility to not only protect children from tobacco and alcohol, but from sexually explicit and inappropriate media.

Another idea that would be a suitable solution is to have a prompt at the register that reminds the cashier to card a customer when one of these inappropriate items is scanned.

Once a system is in place, it is also up to AAFES to ensure that the employees are properly trained. We are asking AAFES to be more like Wal-Mart who already has register prompts and gives formal training to all its employees that teaches them the different video game and movie ratings and what to do when confronted with a situation dealing with those forms of media.

Wal-Mart Makes Check-Out Lanes Family-Friendly

Taken from CWFA.org (Article Date: June 11, 2003):

Places Blinders Over Racy Magazines

Wal-Mart’s latest move toward a family-friendly environment is being greeted by cheers and ringing registers. On June 6 the nation’s largest retailer announced that it will be installing U-shaped blinders over four racy women’s magazines in its check-out aisles.

“For at least a year we’d been getting some feedback … from customers
who were uncomfortable with [the covers],” Wal-Mart spokesman Jay Allen told Reuters on Friday.

Wal-Mart announced that it will be installing specially
made, U-shaped magazine racks that will conceal the story tease lines on each side of the magazine, leaving the center and the magazine’s name viewable.

The magazines involved are Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Marie Claire and
Glamour. Those magazines will continue to be displayed in the store’s magazine section without any sort of cover.

Wal-Mart has been testing various blinders and ways to satisfy the
magazine’s readers while protecting children. The new magazine rack blinders should be in all Wal-Mart stores by July.

“We are very pleased that Wal-Mart has taken this step to protect our families,” said Robert H. Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America.

“This action, along with the discontinued sale of the racy men’s
magazines, and the retailer’s refusal to sell music with adult-rated lyrics, among other things, show’s Wal-Mart’s commitment to the family,” he added.

“We encourage families to be looking for these new blinders, and when
they see them to make sure they extend a thank-you to the store manager,” Knight said.

Arthur Ally, coalition leader and president of The Timothy Plan, a collection of pro-family mutual funds and, said he hopes that appreciative families will further reward the retail giant.

“I hope that customers will take the time to link their appreciation for
this action to their patronage of the retailer. Wal-Mart’s ‘language of love’ is the ringing of its registers. That 'thank-you,' linked to this action, will go a long way in the fight for decency both at Wal-Mart and among its competitors,” Ally told Culture & Family Report.

The Timothy Plan is also saying “thank-you” to the company by reversing its August decision to sell all of its shares of Wal-Mart stock. That move was made after repeated requests for the action went unheeded.

“As of today, Wal-Mart is off our screens,” Ally said. “Our fund managers now have a green light to buy Wal-Mart shares for our
family of mutual funds.”

Those customer complaints that led to this change were accompanied by united action from 10 pro-family groups, which sent a collection of letters to the retailer on May 30, 2003, asking for removal of the magazines from the check-out aisles. Each group stressed the action's goal was to protect families and children.

“A large percentage of your customer base does not appreciate having the kinds of sexually explicit (cover-page) headlines touted by these publications staring them (or their children or other family members) in the face as they wait to pay for their purchases,” wrote Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, to Lee Scott, head of the Bentonville, Arkansas, retailer, which had $244.5 billion dollars in sales last year.

“We have heard from many, many people regarding how offensive they find such publications staring them and their children in the face as they make their family purchases at their local Wal-Marts,” wrote Concerned Women for America President Sandy Rios.

The letters were sent to Wal-Mart thanking them for its early May decision to stop selling three sexually suggestive men’s magazines, Maxim, FHM and Stuff.

“However, of greater concern than what magazines are available to willing customers is the question of what magazines are forced upon unwilling customers by being aggressively displayed in the check-out lanes of your stores,” wrote Family Research Council President Kenneth Connor.

Appeals Court Upholds Ban of Sale of Porn at Military Bases

Taken from SFGate.com (Article Date: September 13th, 2002):

A U.S. appeals court in San Francisco today upheld the federal Military Honor and Decency Act, which prohibits the sale or rental of sexually explicit magazines and videos on military bases.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the 1996 law does not violate the First Amendment right of free speech.

A three-judge panel said the law is reasonable because it seeks to
restrict the sale of materials "at odds with the military's image of honor,
professionalism and proper decorum.''

The court made its ruling in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose in 1996 by three magazine distributors and three individuals.

The panel affirmed a 1999 ruling in which U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose turned down the magazine distributors' bid for a preliminary injunction.

The law primarily affects post exchanges -- the military stores that are open only to present and former armed services families.

A Department of Defense agency called the Resale Activities Board of Review periodically evaluates materials sold and rented at the exchanges and decides which books, magazines, films and tapes should be banned because they are sexually explicit.

The appeals court said free-speech rights are somewhat restricted at a military exchange because an exchange is not a traditional public forum where free speech is exercised.

The panel said an exchange is not a public forum because the military controls the items stocked and limits public access to the stores.

The 9th Circuit court agreed with a similar ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in 1997. Lawyers for the magazine distributors were not immediately available for comment today.

The Pentagon Takes Aim on Pornography

Taken from TFFKY.org (Article date: March 1999):

After a two-year court battle the Pentagon issued an historic directive last Sept. 21 to remove hard-core pornography from U.S. military bases worldwide, including Kentucky’s two bases at Fort Campbell and Fort Knox. The new policy is likely to have a massive effect as the military has been one of the nation’s largest outlets for hard-core pornography.

The sequence of events leading up to the action began in 1996 when Congress passed the Military Honor and Decency Act, banning the sale of sexually explicit material portraying nudity in “a lascivious way.” After a two-year court and appeal process, an eight-member panel was set up by the Department of Defense to decide precisely which materials pass the “lascivious” test.

Publications such as Penthouse and Hustler were found to fail the new guidelines and consequently have been banned from military base commissaries, while Playboy was allowed to remain. Altogether, the eight-member panel ordered 153 sexually explicit publications and videos to be removed from base shelves. Through this first assessment process only 14 items were permitted to remain, but the panel will continue to review material on an ongoing basis, thus making it possible for more to be dropped.

Hard-core pornography was permitted to stay in base stores for two years after the law was challenged by General Media Communications, the publisher of Penthouse magazine. General Media lost its final appeal when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected their arguments and let the ban stand.

“Its about time,” said Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, author of the Military Honor and Decency Act. “It’s sad that the military had to wait for an act of Congress and more than two years of litigation up to the Supreme Court before it could become a responsible employer and remove this garbage from Department of Defense store shelves.”

According to Fred Bluhm, Chief, Media Branch for the Army Air Force Exchange Service — the supplier of all commissary goods to the U.S. military, the removal of sexually explicit materials will cost base commissaries worldwide at least $10 million dollars per year in sales.

Kentucky’s two major military bases — Fort Campbell and Fort Knox, are home to nearly 50,000 family members who will notice a difference next time they shop at their base store. At Fort Campbell 90 different magazines and videos have been removed from the shelves. Not quite as many were removed from Fort Knox since it is a smaller base and sold fewer of the targeted materials.

Shoppers frequenting the base stores will now be able to navigate through a much more family-friendly atmosphere and peruse the shelves minus scores of sexually offensive material. “If you were to ask the average housewife and family member on base, most would say they welcome the action to remove sexually explicit material from base stores,” says Fort Campbell’s Public Affairs Officer, Lt. Col. Bill Buckner.

Some suggest that removal of the obscene material sends a strong message that the U.S. government is in the business of promoting more than just morale amongst the troops. “The army is values-based,” says Buckner. “It is about respect, honor, integrity, discipline, and courage.”