Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry

by Melinda Tankard Reist

  Diana E.H. Russell

  Russell’s Theory: Exposure to Child Pornography as a Cause of Child Sexual Victimization1

  Many people believe that exposure to pornography is cathartic, providing “a release of wishes, desires or drives such that they do not have to be acted on in reality” (Kelly et al., 1995, p. 23). The exposure is frequently described as a ‘safety valve’. According to the ‘safety valve’ theory, viewers of child pornography should be less likely to sexually victimize children, therefore child pornography should be legalized. I argue, in contrast, that exposure of men2 to child pornography can cause some of them to sexually abuse children when 3 causal factors (detailed below) co-occur. Each of these causal factors is necessary but not sufficient, and they do not have to occur in any particular order.

  While some clinicians (e.g. Wyre, 1990), law enforcement officers, and the public at large believe that perpetrators of child sexual abuse are always pedophiles, I do not subscribe to this view. I agree with Philip Jenkins that “a sexual interest in children is not confined to a tiny segment of hardcore … ‘pedophiles’” (2001, p. 25). I also reject the view that there are fundamental differences between perpetrators of child sex abuse who are not pedophiles, and ‘normal’ males. Jenkins refers to the sizable legal market in pseudo-child pornography in which adult women are made to look like young teens and argues that “the popularity of such materials indicates a mass popular market for teen sexuality” in the United States (2001, p. 28). For example, in a recent study, 92% of child sexual abuse offenders were in possession of images of minors that emphasized their sexuality or portrayed them as involved in explicit sexual activities (in M’jid Maalla, 2009, p. 10).

  As I will show, the existing research supports Jenkins’s contention and reveals that child pornography can help cultivate, normalize, and legitimize male sexual interest in children.3

  The theoretical foundation of this model, which I call Russell’s Theory, comes from the work in which I have been engaged over 3 decades.4

  Causal Factor 1a

  Viewing child pornography predisposes some males, not previously so disposed, to sexually desire children

  It is commonly believed that exposure to child pornography cannot create a desire for sexual contact with children in men for whom it did not previously exist. I disagree. There are 4 main ways in which exposure to child pornography can cause sexual arousal in these men.

  First, child pornography sexualizes or sexually objectifies children. Pornographers often instruct girls to get into sexual poses or to engage in masturbation or sexual intercourse by imitating women so engaged in adult pornography. One pornographer declared that “Girls, say between the ages of 8 and 13, are the very salable objects … young girls without overdevelopment [sic] and preferably with little or no pubic hair on their body” (cited in Campagna and Poffenberger, 1988, p. 133). By sexualizing children, child pornography sends the message that they are appropriate and desirable objects of sexual interest (American Psychological Association, 2007). Here, child pornography works in concert with other widely accessible media and products that depict young girls as ‘sexy’ and/or potentially interested in sex with adults (Durham, 2008; Oppliger, 2008; Levin and Kilbourne, 2009; Levy, 2005; Tankard Reist, 2009). The American Psychological Association (2007) has shown that the widespread sexualization of young girls in mainstream media and consumer culture can dehumanize girls and lead viewers/consumers to equate them with sexual objects (see also Frederickson and Roberts, 1997).

  Second, pseudo-child pornography is an increasingly popular genre that merges sexual images of girls and women, thereby confounding the distinctions between them. This genre, which is exceedingly prevalent online in the 21st century, portrays young-looking adult women as if they were young girls, using props (e.g. teddy bears and lollipops) and captions or text to describe the depicted women as children (Dines, 2010; see also Dines, this volume). The childification of women in pseudo-child pornography is also accomplished by dressing them in childish clothes and hairstyles, positioning them in childlike poses with childlike expressions and surrounding them with children’s toys. The transition of a male’s arousal to child pornography can be achieved through a step-by-step process of exposure to gradually younger sexualized teenagers and then prepubescent girls – a process described by the child-porn users who Pamela Paul (2005) interviewed. Adultification, on the other hand, involves depicting girls as mini-adults with the use of makeup, seductive clothes, sexy adult-like poses, and/or accompanying text. Like pseudo-child pornography, adultified child images can sexualize girls for some male viewers who never before experienced sexual interest in young girls.

  Third, there is learning by association. A classic experiment by Rachman and Hodgson (1968) found that male subjects can learn to become sexually aroused by seeing a picture of a woman’s boot after repeatedly seeing women’s boots in association with sexually arousing slides of nude females. Masturbation to these images reinforces this association, which was conceptualized by McGuire, Carlisle, and Young as “masturbatory conditioning” (1965, p. 185). The pleasurable experience of orgasm is a potent reinforcer. Several of the pornography consumers interviewed by Paul (2005) said that their initial disinterest in, or even disgust with, child pornography gradually diminished after repeated exposure, especially in the context of masturbation.

  The fourth way concerns males who have become habituated to adult pornography and who seek out more extreme forms of pornography. Margaret Healy argues that continued exposure to generally available so-called nonviolent pornography arouses an interest in, and creates a taste for, pornography that portrays less commonly practiced sexual activities, including those involving the infliction of pain:

  With the emergence of the use of computers to traffic in child pornography, a new and growing segment of producers and consumers is being identified. They are individuals who may not have a sexual preference for children, but who have seen the gamut of adult pornography and who are searching for more bizarre material (2002, p. 4).

  Gail Dines (2010) interviewed several incarcerated men who used child pornography and found that “not one of them fitted the definition of the pedophile” (p. 161).

  All seven told [Dines] that they preferred sex with an adult woman, but had become bored with regular pornography. Five of them had looked at PCP [pseudo-child pornography] sites first and then moved into actual child porn (p. 161).

  Causal Factor 1b

  Viewing child pornography intensifies the desire of some males who are already sexually aroused by children

  When pedophiles and other males who desire sex with children are exposed to child pornography which corresponds to their specific preferences (e.g. the gender and age of the child), their sexual arousal intensifies. For example, John Ferguson, an 18-year-old pedophile, described his reaction to seeing hardcore child pornography for the first time:

  One of the guys brought in three or four hardcore porno magazines that aroused me so intensely that I could barely control myself. Never in my life had I ever seen or heard of anything like this. Sex … oral sex …, everything … close up and in color. I fed on these magazines like a man possessed. Never in my life had I ever been aroused like this (Ferguson, 1985, p. 285; ellipses in original).

  Many males with a sexual interest in children deliberately use child pornography to intensify their sexual desire as a prelude to masturbation or the sexual abuse of children. Silbert and Pines report that a father in their study used to show “his friends pornographic movies to get them sexually aroused before they would rape” his 9-year-old daughter (1993, pp. 117–118). Masturbation reinforces the fantasies accompanying this activity which intensifies the desire to sexually abuse children.

  Child pornography also provides new ideas for sexually abusing children. Jenkins suggests that

  [a] common theme on pedophile Internet boards is requests for material that is not readily available: A few themes recur often and arouse real enthusiasm. B
y far the most common include calls for ‘Black loli’, African or African American subjects … Also in demand are incest pictures” (2001, p. 85).

  Most child pornography portrays the victims as enjoying the sexual abuse. Such depictions undermine any guilt the viewers may feel, as well as facilitate imitation by males who need or prefer to believe that the sex acts depicted are not abusive. Sadistic perpetrators are more aroused by pictures of terrified, crying, or traumatized child victims. For example, a young girl testified as follows to the 1985 Government Commission on Pornography (AGCP):

  My father had an easel that he put by the bed. He’d pin a picture on the easel and like a teacher he would tell me this is what you’re going to learn today. He would then act out the pictures on me (AGCP, 1986, p. 782).

  Similarly, Pamela Paul (2005) found that the child pornography users she interviewed often wanted (and sometimes tried) to enact the sexual scenarios they watched with actual children. In addition, there is now widespread use of live web cams on the Internet to provide made-to-order child sexual abuse, that also constitutes child pornography. A father, for example, asks his online web cam buddies what sex acts they would like him to enact on his child. He then acts out the sexual abuse that they request, after which his buddies pay him for his live show.

  Habituation is an intrinsic feature in the escalation described by child pornography viewers, resulting in the desire to see more callous and sadistic images showing children upset, traumatized, or tortured. On the sadistic end of the range are Websites like russianrape.com (link no longer active) which invited viewers to “see the poor young girls swallow what they don’t want, but have to do … see the horror in the eyes of the young girls and see them wild scream [sic] in brutally [sic] rape and pain!” Another Website called rapedasians.com (link no longer active) promised “the very best collection of very young Asian girls brutally raped.” Gail Dines (2010) offers other examples of sexually sadistic materials that are easily accessible online. As explained below, some users visit these sites only after they have become habituated to non-violent material that portrays children ‘enjoying’ their abuse.

  Causal Factor 2

  Viewing child pornography undermines some males’ internal inhibitions against sexually victimizing children

  Each component identified in Causal Factor 2 undermines beliefs and feelings that inhibit the acting out of sexual desires.

  The first involves sexualizing, sexually objectifying, and/or depersonalizing girls. Many types of child pornography that portray girls in sexually provocative poses or happily engaged in sexual acts with other children or with adult men or women, can convince those exposed to it that some children want and enjoy sex with adult males. For example, a sexual offender who enjoyed viewing child pornography showing “girls actually having sex” said that the girls “had to look happy … I mean I wasn’t looking for rape or anything” (Taylor and Quayle, 2003, p. 82). The 2009 UN report on child pornography comments that “[n]etworks for the exchange of child pornography display photographs in which the children have been forced to smile in order to prove that they ‘are having fun’…” (in M’jid Maalla, 2009, p. 12).

  Secondly, child pornography undermines the prohibition against sex with children. Hiromasa Nakai, a spokesman for the Japan Committee for Unicef, said that to a degree, it has become socially accepted to lust over young girls in Japan. As Mr Nakai commented, “Condoning these works has meant more people have access to them and develop an interest in young girls” (Tabuchi, 9 February, 2011; see also Norma, this volume).

  There are also large numbers of child pornography Websites that promote adult–child sexual victimization through photographs, videos, or written stories. For example, an incest Website titled ‘Golden Incest Sites!’ listed 50 titles (www.incest-gold.com/indes.php, 6 June, 2002; link no longer active). The prevalence of child pornography sites, their content, and their positive portrayals of adult-child sexual abuse all serve to diminish recognition of the harm of incestuous and extra-familial child sexual abuse (see also Taylor, this volume). The Internet boards allow people to form their own subcultural communities in which such behaviors or desires are not considered wrongful and where pedophiles and others interested in child pornography can feel ‘normal’ (see Whisnant, 2010).

  Third, child pornography minimizes or trivializes the harm of adult–child sex by masking the pain and trauma of child victims. For example, a pedophile called Stewart describes how he masked victims’ pain when he photographed young girls:

  They couldn’t show fear or doubt in the pictures. They had to show happiness or love … To get that look, I’d give them something, from tricycles to stereos. It depended on what they wanted. You have to be able to express [evoke] excitement in the pictures (in Campagna and Poffenberger, 1988, p. 126).

  British journalist Davies (1994) describes “a video of a girl with her wrists and ankles chained to an iron bar in the ceiling and a grotesque dildo hanging out of her” (cited by Itzin 1996, p. 185). As Catherine Itzin comments, “The pornographer who was showing the video pointed to the girl’s smile as evidence of her consent” (1996, p. 185). Linz and Imrich note:

  Potential molesters who watch child sex depictions that supposedly had positive consequences for the victim may come to think that the victim does not suffer and may believe that a larger percentage of children would find forced sex pleasurable (2001, p. 91).

  Masking the pain and trauma of child pornography victims can thus undermine inhibitions against sexual abuse.

  Fourth, child pornography creates and/or reinforces myths about child sexuality and child abuse. Joseph LoPiccolo has emphasized that most sex offenders have “distorted cognitive beliefs that are intimately related to their deviant behavior” (LoPiccolo, personal communication, 16 September, 2005; LoPiccolo, 1994). These ‘false belief-systems’ (in Itzin 1996, p. 170) can be created and reinforced when males view child pornography. For example, child pornography can convince some males “that the feelings and desires they have towards children are not wrong” (Tate, 1990, p. 110). Jenkins notes that many pedophiles justify their sexual behavior with children by claiming that children “consented to the actions” or directly sought sexual contact with their perpetrators (2001, p. 117). These pedophiles consider such experiences to be consensual: “Even if the child is three or five, she was still asking for it” (Jenkins, 2001, p. 117). Jenkins also maintains that “[l]inked to this is the denial of injury, since the sexual activity is seen as rewarding and even educational for the child, rather than selfish or exploitative” (2001, p. 117). As Kelly, Wingfield, and Regan observe, child pornography “enables them [perpetrators] to construct a different version of reality” (1995, p. 34) in which it is possible for them to believe that their needs and the needs of the child are being met.

  The fifth factor concerns the desensitization of some viewers of child pornography “to the pathology of sexual abuse or exploitation of children,” causing them to perceive the acting out of such sex acts as acceptable (in Linz and Imrich, 2001, p. 51). According to the US Congress:

  One likely source of desensitization to the degrading and abusive aspects of child pornography may be repeated exposure to ‘adult’ pornography wherein the models, although over the age of 18, are described and depicted as underage [pseudo-child pornography] (p. 94).

  Desensitization can also result in a preference for increasingly deviant and ever more abusive forms of child pornography.

  Sixth, the legitimatizing and normalizing of adults’ sexual victimization of children in child pornography are among the most frequently cited ways in which this material undermines inhibitions. As Tate points out:

  All paedophiles need to reassure themselves that what they are doing or want to do is OK. It [child pornography] validates their feelings, lowers their inhibitions and makes them feel that their behaviour is pretty normal … they see other people doing it in the videos or the magazines and it reassures them (1990, p. 24).

 
For example, a woman who was abused as a girl testified before the US Congress that she had been told: “See, it’s okay to do because it’s published in magazines” (AGCP, 1986, p. 786). Like other pornography users (see Whisnant, 2010), pedophiles “use porn to convince themselves that their behavior is not abnormal, but is shared by others” (Calcetas-Santos, 2001, p. 59).

  Seventh, child pornography provides specific instructions on how to sexually victimize a child (see also Taylor, this volume). Some men who have never acted on their desire to have sex with a child may be ignorant or anxious about how to proceed. Child pornography can remove this impediment by providing instructions for the sexual abuse of children. Tyler, a detective sergeant in a California Sheriff’s Department, testified in hearings on child pornography and pedophilia about a child pornography magazine that detailed “how to have sex with prepubescent children” (Child Pornography and Pedophilia, 1984, p. 33). The 1984 hearings also considered a book titled How to Have Sex With Kids that described “how to meet children, how to entice them, how to develop a relationship with them, and how to have sex with them” (1984, 30). Gail Dines, Robert Jensen, and Ann Russo have analyzed a scene in the best-selling pseudo-child pornography video titled Cherry Poppers Vol. 10 that included “realistic detailed instructions on how to initiate a child into sex” (1998, p. 88; see also Dines, 2010, chapter 8). According to law enforcement officials, the Bulletin of the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) “has step-by-step ‘how to’ instructions for locating, seducing, sexually assaulting, and preventing the disclosure of their crime by their child victims” (in Linz and Imrich, 2001, p. 92). In 2010, a similar publication, The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure (Greaves, 2010), was the subject of considerable controversy in the United States and around the world. Protests ultimately succeeded in pressuring Amazon. com to remove it from its online retail store (Heussner, 2010). Shockingly, but revealingly, this despicable book was rated #96 on Amazon’s Top 100 list at the time of its removal.