Page 322 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

12. EFFECTS OF SEX IN THE MEDIA 311

you?”—7-point scale). It may also be measured more directly, albeit more
obtrusively, through the physiological measures of penile tumescence
(Eccles, Marshall, & Barbaree, 1988; Malamuth & Check, 1980; Schaefer &
Colgan, 1977), vaginal changes (Sintchak & Geer, 1975), or thermography
(Abramson, Perry, Seeley, Seeley, & Rothblatt, 1981).
Overall, by most measures men are typically more aroused than
women are, especially in response to sexually violent or dehumanizing
materials (Murnen & Stockton, 1997). Sexual violence may be particularly
arousing to sex offenders and other violence-prone men and even to “nor-
mal” men if the victim is portrayed as being aroused by the assault; these
findings are discussed later.
Sexual arousal in response to stimuli that would not typically be arous-
ing may be learned through classical conditioning. For example, Rachman
(1966) and Rachman and Hodgson (1968) classically conditioned hetero-
sexual men to be sexually aroused by women’s boots by pairing the boots
with nude female photos, thus providing a model of how sexual “turn-
ons” can be learned. This process could account for the vast individual
differences in which specific stimuli arouse people sexually. Through dif-
ferent experiences, people have been conditioned to respond to different
stimuli through their associations with those they love. Because of its
association with a particular person, someone may be aroused by a cer-
tain perfume or cologne, type of clothing, or specific behaviors. Media
provide many of the images and associations for such conditioning.
The degree of arousal is not highly correlated with the degree of explic-
itness of the media. Sometimes people are actually more aroused by a less
sexually explicit story than a more explicit one (Bancroft & Mathews,
1971). A scene that cuts suddenly from a bedroom one night to the next
morning may sometimes be more arousing than a more explicit version
with the intervening night uncut! Censoring a sex scene may make a film
more arousing because viewers can fill in their own script. Sexual arousal
is enormously individual. When people are allowed to use their own
imaginations to construct the ending of a romantic scene, they are more
likely to construct a reality that is more arousing to them personally than
if they view someone else’s idea of what is arousing. There is some valid-
ity to the old truism that the most important sex organ is the brain.

The Gender Skew. Explicit sexual materials have traditionally been
designed by men and for men. As such, they have a distinctly macho and
hypermasculinized orientation. Although magazines and videos show all
varieties of heterosexual intercourse, they place little emphasis on associ-
ated foreplay, afterplay, cuddling, or general tenderness. Women are seen
eagerly desiring and participating in sex, often with insatiable euphoria.
There is little concern with the consequences of sex or the relational
matrix within which most people experience it. Men are much more