Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihlpg.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!ihlpg!tan From: tan@ihlpg.UUCP (Bill Tanenbaum) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Re: Porn and Rape: a social disease Message-ID: <1306@ihlpg.UUCP> Date: Thu, 26-Sep-85 01:02:59 EDT Article-I.D.: ihlpg.1306 Posted: Thu Sep 26 01:02:59 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 28-Sep-85 04:46:31 EDT References: <10000008@orstcs.UUCP> <547@lasspvax.UUCP> <1695@watdcsu.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 43 > >(Cheryl Stewart) > >Oh, and the Tobacco industry has maintained for years that no causal > >relation between cigarrette smoking and lung cancer has ever been medically > >demonstrated. Sure, the sociological studies have only shown a high > >statistical correlation between pornography and rape in neighborhood- > >by-neighborhood studies. But, just as doctors have not PROVEN HOW > >cigarrette smoking causes lung cancer, sociologists have not PROVEN HOW > >pornography causes rape. So the porn-mongers have a cute, technical > >excuse to cover up the ill effect they have on society. ----- > [David Canzi] > There are important differences between the (smoking):(lung cancer) > evidence and the (porn):(rape) evidence. When something (A) is > strongly correlated with something else (B), there are three possible > explanations: A causes B, or B causes A, or some third thing (C) > causes both A and B. > > In the case of smoking and cancer, it's ridiculous to suggest that > cancer causes smoking (causes are supposed to *precede* effects, > right?), and nobody's ever come up with anything that might predispose > a person to both smoking and lung cancer. > > In the case of pornography and rape, it is at least plausible that the > feelings that can lead a man to commit rape can also lead him to enjoy > pornography, especially rape fantasies. Only if this possibility is > shown inadequate to account for whatever correlation exists can you > conclude that pornography causes rape. --------- There are two other flaws in Cheryl Stewart's argument that David Canzi does not touch on. 1) The statistical correlation between rape and pornography has not been conclusively shown, unlike the overwhelming correlation between smoking and lung cancer. David's arguments only become relevant AFTER such a correlation is established. 2) The great variety in pornography, ranging from depictions of non-violent consensual behavior to those of brutal violence. The chemicals in one brand of cigarette, on the other hand, are not very different from those in another brand. Any study showing the effects of pornography on behavior had better study each genre of pornography separately. -- Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL ihnp4!ihlpg!tan Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com