A REINVESTIGATION OF EXPOSURE TO SEXUALLY ORIENTED MATERIALS AMONG YOUNG MALE PRISON OFFENDERS

The United States Congressional Commissionon Obscenity and Pornography (1967) published its report as a split decision. The majority of the commissioners recommended that most legal barriers between society and pornography be removed (Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, 1970). There was a group of dissenting commissioners whose main contention was that the data of the research studies utilized in the majority report were either invalid and unreliable or incorrectly analyzed and reported (Hill, Link, & Keating, 1970). A major study authorized and financed by the commission was that of Propper\u27s (1972) Exposure to Sexually Oriented Materials Among Young Male Prison Offenders. This study became the leading report of the dissenting commissioners\u27 statement. Propper\u27s (1972) study noted a relationship between high exposure to pornography and sexually promiscuous behavior and deviant behavior at very early ages, as well as affiliation with groups high in criminal activity and sexual deviancy (Hill, Link, & Keating, 1970, p. 466). The current investigation identified 10 scales/indices. The five scales/indices based upon Propper\u27s (1972) original scales were: Perversion Scale, Sex Information or Common Myths, Candor or Lie Scale, Sexual Behavior of Peers, and Anti-social Behavior of Peers. The five scales developed by this investigator were: Ego Functioning Behaviors, Exposure Index, Emotional Impact, Sexual Activity Scale, and Attitude Formation Scale. These scales/indices represented nine of the 11 sub-sections of the self-report schedule. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, factor analysis program (Nie, Hull, Jenkins, Steinbrenner, & Bent, 1975), was utilized in the analysis of Propper\u27s data. The hypothesis that utilization of a rigorous method of statistical analysis would not demonstrate a concomitant relationship between exposure to sexually oriented materials and anti-social behavior was supported. Exposure to sexual media tends to arouse sexual behavior. The sub-hypothesis, high exposure to sexually oriented materials increases acting out behavior, was rejected. The subjects of this study tended to be aroused rather than active in their reactions. The second hypothesis, that the higher the rate of sexual misinformation the greater the need for counseling, was supported. The subjects of this study were prone to sexual myths. They also tended to engage in new unusual sexual practices or renew old unusual sexual practices