Gender, Race, and Aggression in Mainstream Pornography
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Archives of Sexual Behavior https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1304-6 ORIGINAL PAPER Gender, Race, and Aggression in Mainstream Pornography Eran Shor1 · Golshan Golriz1 Received: 20 May 2017 / Revised: 3 December 2017 / Accepted: 29 August 2018 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract The role of aggression in pornographic videos has been at the heart of many theoretical debates and empirical studies over the last four decades, with rates of reported aggression ranging widely. However, the interaction between gender and race in the production of aggressive pornographic contents remains understudied and undertheorized. We conducted a study of 172 popular free Internet pornographic videos, exploring gender and racial interactions and the depictions of men and women from various ethnic and racial groups in online pornography. Contrary to our theoretical expectations and to the fndings of previous research, we found that videos featuring Black women were less likely to depict aggression than those featuring White women, while videos featuring Asian and Latina women were more likely to depict aggression. Our fndings call for a reconceptualization of the role of race and ethnicity in pornography. Keywords Pornography · Aggression · Violence · Race · Gender Introduction class shape the experiences of women (in porn and more gener- ally). The few previous attempts to explore these issues empiri- The issue of aggression in pornography has created a divide cally have focused on diferences between two racial groups among feminist scholars. While some have argued that pornog- (most notably Black vs. White) and relied primarily on samples raphy is almost always violent, leading to misogyny and sexual of rental videos, which difer signifcantly in terms of audience, aggression against women (Dines, Jensen, & Russo, 1998; accessibility, length, and production from more recent porno- Dworkin, 1994; Jensen, 2007; Paul, 2005), others suggest that graphic materials. pornography ofers a feld full of contradictory, multilayered, In the current study, we ofer the frst comprehensive theoreti- and complex representations, which are often unharmful and cal discussion and empirical analysis of the interaction between can even be benefcial (Strossen, 1995; Watson & Smith, 2012; gender and major racial and ethnic categories in North America, Willis, 1994). Previous estimates of the prevalence of aggression focusing on White, Black, Asian, and Latino/Latina male and in rental and Internet pornographic videos have varied greatly, female performers. We examine the ways in which the interac- ranging from about 2% to almost 90% of all videos (see our tion between gender and race/ethnicity infuences the content discussion below regarding this diference in reported aggres- of Internet pornographic materials, in particular expressions sion rates). of aggression and afection. Our study is also the frst to ofer Still, one area where theoretical and empirical research various measures of aggression, based on difering defnitions, remains relatively scarce is the study of race and ethnicity, and trying to address ongoing debates in the literature over the “cor- that of the interaction between gender and race in pornographic rect” way to measure aggression in content analyses of sexually materials. Notable feminist race scholars, such as Hill Collins explicit materials (Bridges, Wosnitzer, Scharrer, Sun, & Liber- (2000), have argued that pornography exemplifes the interlock- man, 2010; McKee, 2015). ing relationships between gender and race and that mainstream (White) feminism has often ignored the ways in which race and Literature Review Previous research has looked at aggressive content in porno- * Eran Shor graphic magazines, books, movies, video covers, and Internet [email protected] videos. Estimates of the amount of aggression in these media 1 Department of Sociology, McGill University, 855 vary greatly, ranging from 1.9 (McKee, 2005) to 88.8% (Bridges Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3H 2J2, Canada Vol.:(0123456789)1 3 Archives of Sexual Behavior et al., 2010). Previous research, up until 2010, looked almost against White women, while Black men performed more acts exclusively at magazines and books (Barron & Kimmel, 2000; of aggression against White women than against Black women. Dietz & Sears, 1988; Malamuth & Spinner, 1980; Scott & Cuve- Monk-Turner and Purcell (1999) also looked at Black and White lier, 1993; Smith, 1976; Winick, 1985), at online discussion performers in 40 videocassettes, fnding that Black women expe- boards (Harmon & Boeringer, 1997; Mehta & Plaza, 1997; rienced more aggression from both White and Black men than Micheal & Plaza, 1997; Rimm, 1995), or at rented videos (Bar- was the case for White women. The latter experienced the least ron & Kimmel, 2000; Bridges et al., 2010; Brosius, Weaver, amount of aggression when paired with a Black man. Finally, & Staab, 1993; Cowan & Campbell, 1994; Cowan, Lee, Levy, Zhou and Paul (2016) examined 170 Internet videos appearing & Snyder, 1988; Dietz & Sears, 1988; McKee, 2005; Monk- in the “Asian” category. They found that these videos included Turner & Purcell, 1999). These media have substantial difer- a lower mean number of aggressive acts compared with videos ences from free Internet pornography in terms of accessibility, from other categories (e.g., “Blonde,” “teen,” “cumshot,” and afordability, and anonymity, which may afect both the content “big tits”). and the identity of potential users. Only during the last 8 years, While these previous studies serve as important landmarks however, have studies begun to examine more systematically the in our understanding of the role of race and ethnicity in porno- content of free Internet pornographic videos and the prevalence graphic sexual aggression, they share a number of shortcom- of aggression in them (Gorman, Monk-Turner, & Fish, 2010; ings. First, they all defned aggression quite broadly and did not Klaassen & Peter, 2015; Zhou & Paul, 2016). We therefore still consider the issue of consent in their defnition (see more in our know relatively little about the content of these videos (Vannier, “Method” section). Second, they used either a convenience or Currie, & O’Sullivan, 2014). random sample of videos rather than a sample of more highly Furthermore, most previous studies examined women as a watched videos, putting in question the amount of exposure monolithic group of victims, paying little attention to diferences that these videos actually received (and therefore their cultural among women and among men and to the interactions among impact). Furthermore, Cowan and Campbell (1994) and Monk- them. In particular, the role of race and ethnicity in shaping Turner and Purcell (1999) relied on a sample of rented videos, the practices and principles of the adult entertainment indus- which likely difers signifcantly in terms of audience, acces- try remains undertheorized and understudied (Bernardi, 2006; sibility, length, and production from more recent pornographic Brooks & Hebert, 2006; Miller-Young, 2010, 2014; Shimizu, materials available on the web. Finally, all three previous stud- 2007). Hill Collins (2000) argued that we must conceptualize ies focused on one visible minority group (either Black men pornography as an example of the interlocking nature of race, and women or Asian women) and did not make comparisons gender, and class oppression. Dines (2006) noted that although between diferent minority groups and the various gender and racial diferences have traditionally been defned and coded racial interactions among them. through gender, previous feminist analyses of porn have often The current study thus ofers the frst comprehensive theoreti- excluded race, as well as economic and social inequalities. cal discussion and empirical analysis of the interaction between Brooks (2010), who studied the exotic dance industry, also iden- gender and various major racial and ethnic categories. We exam- tifed a void in the theoretical analyses of racial and sexual hier- ine the association between these interactions and various prac- archies within sex industries. Finally, Pyke and Johnson (2003) tices and behaviors in popular Internet pornography, focusing on suggested that this research paucity extends beyond the analysis aggression and degradation on the one hand, and expressions of of sexually explicit materials and sex work, as little empirical afection and pleasure on the other hand. work has integrated the doing of gender with the study of race. Indeed, a review of previous systematic analyses of porno- Theoretical Framework and Research Hypotheses: graphic content shows that most of them have neglected the role Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Aggression of race and ethnicity, with a few notable exceptions. Smith’s (1976) analysis of paperback “adult-only” books showed that Previous analyses of pornographic materials have often focused non-White ethnicities were almost completely absent. Winick primarily on female performers and the acts done to them. Male (1985) similarly found that only about one percent of porno- performers, their identities, and diferences among them remain graphic magazine content featured non-White women. Brosius invisible in many of these analyses. Following Dines (2006), we et al. (1993), who examined 50 pornographic videotapes, noted argue that a comprehensive gendered approach must take into an increase in the prevalence of African and Asian actors over account both “fuckers”