Abstract
Critics of pornography have argued that the way men and women are portrayed in these media create images that can result in harmful gender socialization. The cartoons from all 1985 issues of Playboy were coded for the presence or absence of four themes that have been identified by these critics. It was found that, when these themes appeared, women were more often the victim of sexual coercion, were more often depicted as sexually naive and childlike, and were more often shown with a more attractive body than were the men in the cartoons.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbey, A. Sex differences in attributions for friendly behavior: Do males misperceive females' friendliness? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1982, 42, 830–838.
Brownmiller, S. Against our will: Men, women, and rape. New York: Bantam, 1975.
Chapman, A. J., & Gadfield, N.J. Is sexual humor sexist? Journal of Communication, 1976, 26, 141–153.
Chavez, D. Perpetuation of gender inequality: A content analysis of comic strips. Sex Roles, 1985, 13, 93–102.
Donnerstein, E. Erotica and human aggression. In R. Green & E. Donnerstein (Eds.), Aggression: Theoretical and empirical reviews, Vol. 2, New York: Academic Press, 1983.
Kanin, E. J. Date rape: Unofficial criminals and victims. Victimology, 1984, 9, 95–108.
Kanin, E. J. Date rapists: Differential sexual socialization and relative deprivation. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1985, 14, 219–231.
Killoran, M. M. Sticks and stones can break my bones and images can hurt me: Feminists and the pornography debate. International Journal of Women's Studies, 1983, 6, 443–456.
Lederer, L. Take back the night: Women on pornography. New York: Morrow, 1980. (a)
Lederer, L. “Playboy isn't playing” An interview with Judith Bat-Aba. In L. Lederer (Ed.), Take back the night: Women on pornography. New York: Morrow, 1980. (b)
Malamuth, N. M., & Spinner, B. A longitudinal content analysis of sexual violence in the best-selling erotic magazines. Journal of Sex Research. 1980, 16, 226–237.
O'Donnell, W. J., & O'Donnell, K. J. Update: Sex role messages in TV commercials. Journal of Communication, 1978, 28, 156–158.
Palmer, C. E. Pornographic comics: A content analysis. Journal of Sex Research, 1979, 15, 285–298.
Ross, L., Anderson, D. R., & Wisocki, P. A. Television viewing and adult sex-role attitudes. Sex Roles, 1982, 8, 589–592.
Schwartz, L. A., & Markham, W. T. Sex stereotyping in children's toy advertisements. Sex Roles, 1985, 12, 157–170.
Smith, D. C. The social content of pornography. Journal of Communication, 1976, 26, 16–24.
Tieger, T. Self-rated likelihood of raping and the social perception of rape. Journal of Research in Personality, 1981, 15, 147–158.
Venkatesan, M., & Losco, J. Women in magazine ads: 1959–1971. Journal of Advertising Research. 1975, 15, 49–54.
Winick, C. A Content analysis of sexually explicit magazines sold in an adult bookstore. Journal of Sex Research, 1985, 21, 206–210.
Zimbardo, P. G., & Meadow, W. Sexism springs eternal... in the Reader's Digest. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, San Francisco, 1974.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The authors wish to thank Mike Chambers, Bruce Healy, Cathy Thompson and Micheala Wilczynski for their help with the project.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Matacin, M.L., Burger, J.M. A content analysis of sexual themes in Playboy cartoons. Sex Roles 17, 179–186 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287624
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287624