Is sexual erotica associated with sexual deviance in adolescent males?

Within the last few years, there has been a tremendous increase in the availability of highly sexually explicit material, specifically with the introduction of adult videos. Many people feel that such easy access to sexually explicit material will mean an increase in sexually related crime, and a more cavalier attitude towards sex in general (Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, 1986). In addition, the AIDS epidemic has created an atmosphere in which anything suspected of promoting sexual promiscuity is frowned upon. As pointed out by other authors in this issue, there are many problems associated with conducting research on the effects of pornography and its relationship to sex crimes. First, sex crimes can never be observed in a laboratory. One must rely on police statistics and retrospective reporting, both of which raise methodological issues. Second, it cannot be demonstrated experimentally that pornography causes sexual deviance unless a previously nondeviant subject is exposed to pornography under controlled conditions and then commits sexual crimes. Ethically this cannot be permitted. Third, the media tends to sensationalize sex crime cases, particularly when large amounts of pornography are found in possession of the offender. This creates a climate in which researchers may expect to find links between pornography and sexual violence which may in turn color the interpretation of research findings.