On college campuses, discussions and messages tend to describe pornography as empowering for women, a real breakthrough for sexual freedom. But the truth is, pornography instigates the opposite: it is an incredible vehicle of social injustice on many levels. One of its most notable effects is that it fuels an assault culture on college campuses, as Fight The New Drug articulates:
In 2014, a study showed that the number of reported rapes at four-year universities increased 49% between 2008 and 2012. It’s very clear that something very malicious is happening on our college campuses. At the very place where students are supposed to be free to learn, discover themselves, and make lifelong friends, they’re instead being faced with life-changing violence and degradation.
With more and more victims coming into the spotlight, universities are being forced to acknowledge the problem and work to combat it. In order to do so, many universities have made attempts to better educate their students on consent, yet they seem to be ignoring a poisonous every day activity which is undoubtedly playing a huge role in sexual assault: pornography.
A few years ago, researchers did a study of the most popular porn videos at the time. Their findings? Of the 304 scenes examined, 88% contained physical violence and 49% contained verbal aggression. 95% of the victims responded neutrally or with pleasure, and 94% of the victims were women. The message that comes from porn is that women enjoy getting beat up and forced into sexual acts. Many studies have shown that both non-violent and violent porn make users more likely to support violence against women and to believe that women enjoy being raped,[1] and those beliefs have been found across several research studies to be predictive of a person being sexually aggressive in real life.[2]
When it comes to violent and rape porn, the correlations become particularly strong.[3] One study even found that individuals who reported higher previous exposure to violent porn were six times more likely to report having raped someone than those who reported lower previous exposure.[4] Multiple studies have shown that even watching non-violent porn is correlated with the user being more likely to use verbal coercion, drugs, and alcohol to push women into sex.[5]
Men and women deserve to know the truth: pornography demeans both men and women into sexual objects and perverts human love and the true beauty of sexuality. Colleges are not sending the right message, which is why universities need strong, Christian leaders sharing the truth. The biblical teaching of sexuality and marriage is the most empowering: it honors manhood, womanhood, life, and human sexuality. Pornography is a drug; it ensnares, it devalues, and it abuses. It does not empower or liberate anyone.
