Studies of rapists' and nonrapists' immediate sexual reactions to presentations of pornography showed generally greater arousal to non-violent scenes, and no difference can be found in this regard between convicted rapists, nonsexual criminals and noncriminal males. As in the latter, a certain degree of increased 'aggressiveness' has been found under certain circumstances, but to extrapolate from such laboratory effects to the commission of rape in real life is dubious. A number of laboratory experiments have been conducted, much akin to the types of experiments developed by researchers of the effects of nonsexual media violence.
The first part of the article examines and discusses the findings of this new research. Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (1970) had found no evidence of a causal link between pornography and rape, a new generation of behavioral scientists have, for more than a decade, made considerable effort to prove such a connection, especially as far as 'aggressive pornography' is concerned. While earlier research, notably that generated by the U.S. We have looked at the empirical evidence of the well-known feminist dictum: 'pornography is the theory-rape is the practice' (Morgan, 1980).