Abstract
Mental health and health professionals' attitudes toward sexually explicit materials in the U.S. and Czech/Slovak Republics were investigated. An instrument measuring attitudes toward educational, soft-core, hard-core, violence, and bizarre/paraphiliac sexually explicit materials was administered to sexologists, psychologist/counselors, and medical professionals. These professionals were attending conferences in the U.S. and the Czech/Slovak Republics between November 1992 and September 1993. Mental health and health professionals had the most favorable attitudes toward educational sexually explicit materials followed by soft-core and hard-core materials, respectively. They had unfavorable attitudes toward violent and bizarre/paraphiliac sexually explicit materials, with particularly negative attitudes toward violent materials. Analysis of covariance showed that strength of religious conviction was a significant covariate; thus professionals with stronger religious conviction had more negative attitudes toward all five types of sexually explicit materials. When controlling for strength of religious conviction: (i) sexologists had more positive attitudes toward most types of sexually explicit materials; (ii) Czech professionals generally had more positive attitudes toward such materials than their U.S. counterparts; and (iii) there were few differences between female and male professionals in their reported attitudes. While previous literature has reported gender differences in attitudes toward sexually explicit materials, findings from this study suggest that this effect may be due to differences in religiosity among women and men, namely, that women tend to be more religious.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Argle, M., and Beit-Hallahmi, B. (1975).The Social Psychology of Religion, Routledge & Kegan Paul, Boston.
Athanasiou, R., and Shaver, S. (1971). Correlates of heterosexuals' reactions to pornography.J. Sex Res. 7: 298–311.
Becker, M., and Byrne, D. (1985). Self-regulated exposure to erotica, recall errors, and subjective reactions as a function of erotophobia and Type-A coronary-prone behavior.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 48: 760–767.
Bengtson, V. L., Casschau, P. L., and Ragan, P. K. (1977). The impact of social structure on aging individuals. In: J. E. Birren, and K. W. Schaie (eds.),Handbook of the Psychology of Ageing, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Colson, C. (1974). The evaluation of pornography. Effects of attitude and perceived physiological reaction.Arch. Sex. Behav. 4: 307–323.
Cornwall, M. (1989). The determinants of religious behavior: A theoretical model and empirical test.Soc. Forces 68: 572–592.
Cowan, G., and Dunn, K. (1994). What themes in pornography lead to perceptions of the degradation of women?J. Sex Res. 31: 11–21.
Cowan, G., Lee, C., Levy, D., and Snyder, D. (1988). Dominance and inequality in x-rated videocassettes.Psychol. Women Quart. 12: 299–311.
Davis, C., and Bauserman, R. (1994). Exposure to sexually explicit materials: An attitude change perspective.Ann. Rev. Sex Res. 4: 121–207.
de Vaus, D., and McAllister, I. (1987). Gender differences in religion: A test of the structural location theory.Am. Sociol. Rev. 52: 472–481.
Diamond, M., and Dannemiller, J. (1989). Pornography and community standards in Hawaii: Comparisons with other states.Arch. Sex Behav. 18: 475–495.
Duncan, D. (1991). Violence and degradation as themes in “adult” videos.Psychol. Rep. 69: 239–240.
Englar, R., and Walker, C. (1973). Male and female reactions to erotic literature.Psychol. Rep. 32: 481–482.
Fisher, W., and Barak, A. (1991). Pornography, erotica, and behavior: More questions than answers.Int. J. Law Psychiat. 14: 65–83.
Fisher, W., and Byrne, D. (1978a). Sex differences in response to erotica? Love versus lust.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 36: 117–125.
Fisher, W., and Byrne, D. (1978b). Individual differences in affective, evaluative, and behavioral responses to an erotic film.J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 8: 355–365.
Garcia, L. Brennan, K., DeCarlo, M., McGlennon, R., and Tait, S. (1984). Sex differences in sexual arousal to different erotic stories.J. Sex Res. 20: 391–402.
Garcia, L., and Milano, L. (1990). A content analysis of erotic videos.J. Psychol. Hum. Sex. 3: 95–103.
Goldstein, M., Kant, H., Judd, L., Rice, C., and Green, R. (1971). Experience with pornography: Rapists, pedophiles, homosexuals, transsexuals, and controls.Arch. Sex. Behav. 1: 1–15.
Gray, S. (1982). Exposure to pornography and aggression toward women: The case of the angry male.Soc. Probl. 29: 387–398.
Griffitt, W. (1973). Response to erotica and the projection of response to erotica in the opposite sex.J. Exp. Res. Pers. 6: 330–338.
Griffitt, W., and Kaiser, D. (1978). Affect, sex, guilt, gender, and the rewarding and punishing effect of erotic stimuli.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 36: 850–858.
Gough, H. G. (1986).California Psychological Inventory: Administrator's Guide, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA.
Hatfield, E., Sprecher, S., and Traupmann, J. (1978). Men's and women's reactions to sexually-explicit films: A serendipitous finding.Arch. Sex. Behav. 7: 583–592.
Izard, C., and Caplan, S., (1974). Sex differences in emotional responses to erotic literature.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 42: 468.
Jensen, R. (1991).The ideology of pornography: Portrayals of female sexuality in pornographic novels. Presented to the Commission on the status of women of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Boston.
Kelly, K. (1985a). The effects of sexual and/or aggressive film exposure on helping, hostility, and attitudes about the sexes.J. Res. Pers. 19: 472–483.
Kelley, K. (1985b). Sexual fantasy and attitudes as functions of sex of subject and content of erotica.IC. 4: 339–347.
Koenig, H. G., Kvale, J. N., and Ferrel, C. (1988). Religion and well-being in later life.Gerontologist. 28: 18–28
Koznar, J., Kusa, J., and Nagyova, E. (1990). Postoje a skusenosti stredoskolskej mladeze v oblasti partnerstva, erotiky a sexuality.Psychol. Patopsychol. Dietata. 25: 19–39.
Koznar, J., and Postoje, K. (1990). Masturbaci.Psychol. Patopsychol. Dietata. 25: 463–469.
Kutchinsky, B. (1991). Pornography and rape: Theory and practice?Int. J. Law. Psychiat. 14: 47–64.
Leiblum, S., Rosen, R., Platt, M., Cross, R., and Black, C. (1993). Sexual attitudes and behavior of a cross-sectional sample of United States medical students: Effects of gender, age, and year of study.J. Sex Educ. Ther. 19: 235–245.
Lenes, M., and Hart, H. (1975). The influence of pornography and violence on attitudes and guilt.J. School Health 45: 447–451.
Linz, D., Donnerstein, E., Land, K., and McCall, P. (1991). Estimating community standards: The use of social science evidence in an obscenity prosecution.Public Opinion Quart. 55: 80–112.
Lottes, I., Weinberg, M., and Weller, I. (1993). Reactions to pornography on a college campus: For or against?Sex Roles 29: 69–89.
Malamuth, N. M., and Check, J. (1980). Sexual arousal to rape and consenting depictions: The importance of the woman's arousal.J. Abn. Psychol. 89: 763–766.
Malamuth, N., Heim, M., and Feshbach, S. (1980). Sexual responsiveness of college students in rape depictions: Inhibitory and disinhibitory effects.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 38: 399–408.
Malamuth, N., and Spinner, B. (1980). A longitudinal content analysis of sexual violence in the best-selling erotic magazines.J. Sex Res. 16: 226–237.
Marshall, W. (1988). The use of sexually-explicit stimuli by rapists, child molesters, and nonoffenders.J. Sex Res. 25: 267–288.
Merritt, C., Gerstl, J., and LoSciuto, L. (1975). Age and perceived effects of eroticapornography: A national sample study.Arch. Sex. Behav. 4: 605–621.
Mosher, D. L. (1973). Sex differences, sex experience, sex guilt, and explicitly sexual films.J. Soc. Issues 29: 95–112.
Nunnally, J. C. (1978).Psychometric Theory, 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Palys, T. (1986). Testing the common wisdom: The social content of video pornography.Can. Psychol. Rev. 27: 22–35.
Rosser, B. R. S., Dwyer, S. M., Coleman, E., Miner, M., Metz, M., Robinson, B., and Bockting, W. O. (1995). Using sexually explicit material in sex education: An eighteen year comparative analysis.J. Sex Educ. Ther. 21: 117–128.
Rothenberg, M. B. (1975). Effect of television violence on children and youth.J. Am. Med. Assoc. 234: 1043–1046. (From Medline: Abstract No. 76048997)
Rubin, I. (1970). Survey on pornography.Sexology 36: 67–68.
Sapolsky, B., and Zillman, D. (1981). The effect of soft-core and hard-core erotica on provoked and unprovoked hostile behavior.J. Sex Res. 17: 319–343.
Schmidt, G., and Sigusch, V. (1970). Sex differences in responses to psychosexual stimulation by films and slides.J. Sex Res. 6: 268–283.
Schmidt, G., Sigusch, V., and Meyberg, U. (1969). Psychosexual stimulation in men: Emotional reactions, changes of sex behavior, and measures of conservative attitudes.J. Sex Res. 5: 199–217.
Schmidt, G., Sigusch, V., and Schaefer, S. (1973). Responses to reading erotic stories: Male-female differences.Arch. Sex Behav. 2: 181–199.
Senn, C., and Radtke, H. (1990). Women's evaluations of and affective reactions to mainstream violent pornography, nonviolent pornography, and erotica.Violence Victims 5: 143–155.
Sigusch, V., Schmidt, G., Reinfeld, A., and Weidemann-Sutor, I. (1970). Psychosexual stimulations: Sex differences.J. Sex Res. 6: 10–24.
Steele, D., and Walker, E. (1974). Male and female differences in reaction to erotic stimuli as related to sexual adjustment.Arch. Sex. Behav. 3: 459–470.
Wallace, D. H., and Wehmer, G. (1972). Evaluations of visual erotica by sexual liberals and conservatives.J. Sex Res. 8: 147–153.
Winick, C. (1985). A content analysis of sexually-explicit magazines sold in an adult bookstore.J. Sex Res. 21: 206–210.
Winick, C., and Evans, J. (1994). Is there a national standard with respect to attitudes toward sexually-explicit media material?Arch. Sex. Behav. 23: 405–419.
Wood, W., Wong, F. Y., and Chachere, J. G. (1991). Effects of media violence on viewers' aggression in unconstrained social interaction.Psychol. Bull. 109: 371–383. (From Medline: Abstract No. 91288726)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
A special thanks to the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) who generously funded the international communications costs of the study and to Renee Rich who convinced SPSSI about the merit of this project. Resources and assistance from the Program in Human Sexuality, Department of Family Practice and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School made this study possible.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Robinson, B.“.E., Scheltema, K., Koznar, J. et al. Attitudes of U.S. and Czech/Slovak mental health and health professionals toward five types of sexually explicit materials. Arch Sex Behav 25, 601–628 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02437842
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02437842