October 30, 2006
"How the Web Prevents Rape"
Yeah, they didn't teach us that in Crim Law. But there's a great article on Slate by that title. It also considers the correlation between violent movies and violent crime.
Money quote: "What happens when a particularly violent movie is released? Answer: Violent crime rates fall. Instantly... [V]iolent criminals prefer violent movies, and as long as they're at the movies, they're not out causing mischief. They'd rather see Hannibal than rob you, but they'd rather rob you than sit through Wallace & Gromit." [I do have to say that in certain cases I would completely understand this. There have been movies to which a life of crime would have been preferable.]
The conclusion is similar to the one regarding internet porn. If you're otherwise... ahem... occupied... you're less likely to be treating women badly in person.
A weakness to the argument is that while the release of a violent movie does indeed cause a momentary reduction in violent crime lasting perhaps 12 hours, the study makes no comment about the cumulative effect that watching dozens of violent movies over the course of a year has on the human psyche.
This is less true of the rape subject. There we're talking about overall reduction in crime rates, not momentary lapses. But just because fewer women are getting raped doesn't mean that the net contribution of pornography to culture is positive. There's any number of ways that a diet of porn can screw you up, so this is hardly a recommendation.
Still, it is a very interesting look at the data.
I don't even want to know the kind of traffic this post will generate for my site, but I don't think there's anything to do about that that doesn't wind up looking really silly.
