Flutterby™! : Porn and sexual aggression: inversely correlated

Study: Pornography does not cause violent sex crimes

Pornography and Sexual Aggression: Can Meta-Analysis Find a Link? is based on research by Chris Ferguson, a professor of psychology at Stetson University, and Richard Hartley, chair of UTSA’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. The authors conducted meta-analytic research and examined more than 50 correlational, experimental and population studies that explored the association between pornography and sexual aggression during the past 40 years.

So many good pull-quotes:

“During the past few years many states have declared that pornography is a public health crisis,” said Ferguson. “Dr. Hartley and I were curious to see if evidence could support such claims—at least in regard to sexual aggression—or whether politicians were mistaking moral stances for science. Our evidence suggests that policymakers should examine other causes of sexual aggression and that beliefs about pornography may be driven more by methodological mistakes than sound science.”

and

“I hope that Dr. Hartley and I can point out some of the widespread problems in much of the research as well as the culture of this field, whereas some scholars appear to be too quick to try and find evidence for effects,” said Ferguson, who led the study. “We need more preregistered, transparent research and a field that is looking to falsify hypotheses and not entirely in confirmatory mode because it feels morally right.”

And, from the abstract of the paper:

... Population studies suggested that increased availability of pornography is associated with reduced sexual aggression at the population level. ...