Feminists, especially radical feminists, continue to insist that pornography causes rape, sexual assault, child molestation, sexual harassment, etc. I have no idea about sexual harassment because that’s nothing more than some guy trying to get laid, but porn has been conclusively shown to reduce rape, sexual assault and child molestation.
And in areas where child pornography was legalized, rates of child molestation dropped. Rates climbed again when child pornography was made illegal. I am not saying that we should legalize CP, but I am pointing out that CP definitely does not cause pedophiles to molest children and in fact, it makes them molest children a lot less. Feminists are especially enraged at the notion of child pornography reducing rates of child molestation. To them it is counterintuitive and therefore it is wrong. But lots of things are counterintuitive and just because something is counterintuitive, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Lots of proven facts are counterintuitive.
Rates of rape, sexual assault and child molestation combined have dropped 63% since 1993. This fall has paralleled the rise in Internet pornography, and in fact, as pornography use increases, the rates of sex crimes fall even further.
Studies across a number of countries all around the world for over 50 years show an average drop of 25-30% in the rates of rape and child molestation after porn is introduced to a country that didn’t have it before. Not only that, but in a number of these countries, as porn becomes more available than it previously was, this causes further drops in sex crimes.
To me, what’s going on is obvious. Men who would otherwise be raping and molesting children choose to watch porn instead of acting out their antisocial desires.
Articles on porn reducing rape rates:
Here, and here.
And the studies:
The University of Montreal study.
Diamond, M. et al. “Pornography and Sex Crimes in the Czech Republic,” Archives of Sexual Behavior (2011) 40:1037
Diamond, M. “The Effects of Pornography: An International Perspective,” in Pornography 101: Eroticism, Sexuality, and the First Amendment, edited by J. Elias et al. Prometheus Press, Amherst, NY, 1999.
Diamond, M. and A. Uchiyama. “Pornography, Rape, and Sex Crimes in Japan,” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry (1999) 22:1.
Goldstein, M. et al. “Experience with Pornography: Rapists, Pedophiles, Homosexuals, Transsexuals, and Controls,” Archives of Sexual Behavior (1991) 1:1.
Kutchinsky, B. “Pornography and Rape: Theory and Practice? Evidence from crime Data in Four Countries, Where Pornography is Easily Available,” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry (1991) 14:47.
Kutchinsky, B. “The Effect of Easy Availability of Pornography on the Incidence of Sex Crimes: The Danish Experience,” Journal of Social Issues (1973) 29:163.
Poipovic, M. “Pornography Use and Closeness with Others in Men,” Archives of Sexual Behavior (2011) 40:449
