Rape has received widespread attention as a crime in the Twentieth Century. With the rise of women's rights movements, more has been done to prevent and explain this behavior. In particular, theorists have attempted to ascertain the motivations and other factors that cause rape. Does exposure to pornography make men more likely to rape? Is the relationship between pornography and rape causal? The question of a relationship between pornography and sex crimes concerns itself with the motivations of rapists. There are three theories of rape motivation, which are prevalent motivational paradigms in contemporary criminal psychology. The three theories are the feminist, social learning, and evolutionary. Each of these theories is distinct (Ellis 9). Discussion of these prevalent views on the motivations for rape will reveal the different ways in which this question of a cause and effect relationship between pornography and rape is perceived. We shall see that certain views of rape identify with the relationship between pornography and rape as indirectly causal at most and completely unrelated in some cases. Other paradigms hold strong arguments for the causal

The social learning theory postulates that if someone is exposed to something for an elongated period of time, they end up enjoying or tolerating it to an extent. For example, if a person was afraid of a dog, they would be put in the same room as a dog for a period of time and therefore begin to enjoy being around the dog. That is, new behavioral associations are formed in relation to a said object (like a dog), which replace the old relations. Behavioral patterns are determined by the relationships that a mind or brain makes with objects and situations. The formation of these new behavioral relations is sometimes called behavioral conditioning or reinforcement. According to A. Bandura, there are three main venues for reinforcement: associations with family members and friends, the culture one is brought up in, and the media (Ellis 39). It follows that if a person is exposed to abnormal materials by one of these reinforcement outlets, that they will develop reactions to certain objects or stimuli that are also atypical. Specifically, that if males are subjected to situations or social enclaves that pressure them to desire antisocial sexual behavior in one way or another, this association may cause them to develop deviant social or sexual behavior (Ellis 12).

While many theorists of the feminist rape paradigm maintain that it is not possible to gather any hard evidence on the causal relationship, they nonetheless assert that the relationship is obvious and that the evidence is being prevented from surfacing by males who feel threatened by such studies (Brownmiller, 394 - 399).

The evolutionary theory is based on the mating process and the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution postulates that all living beings struggle to survive, and that only those beings that have (by happenstance of mutation) the luck to have a survival mechanism above and beyond the rest of their kin will survive to bear young. It is hypothesized that the human form represents many years of natural selection, which would have weeded out any elements of grave detriment to the human existence. It is noted that males do not need to take any part in childbearing and may in fact impregnate several women with no real sacrifice of energy. (Ellis 43-54) Therefore, because of the structure of the genitalia of females and males, it is suggested that if rape were not a regular part of the human condition, then females would have evolved a natural defense mechanism against rape. Females seek to control the course of their bloodline and multiply by attempting to gain the protection of a male who will care for and defend their young. The males protect their bloodline by attrition. This causes tension between males and females (Strickberger, 484). Evolutionary rape theorists postulate that rape is an instinctual desire, brought about by the efficiency of the male ability to impregnate several women.

relationship between pornography and rape.

The evolutionary theory holds no real place for a relationship between pornography and rape. Because instinct is responsible for the behavior of rapists, pornography cannot be responsible for rape. At most, it would only aggravate a condition, which is already present. If men are motivated to rape by the desire to impregnate their victim, then it is said that this desire must be instinctual. Indeed, men are more likely rape a woman who is able to get pregnant and also around the time she would be able to get pregnant. The evolutionary theory predicts that most men who rape will rape women between the ages of 13 and 35 because that is the age that most women can bear children (Ellis, 50). The theory of evolution also stresses that living organisms usually survive through the most efficient lifestyle possible. The workings of the body and the instinctual motivations should guide an organism to the path of greatest success and least resistance. It should be noted that rape is usually met with resistance and puts the

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Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)