Sexual differences in response to erotica might better be labeled sexual similarities. Until fairly recently it was assumed on the basis of self-report, that women were less responsive to various forms of erotica imagery. All current laboratory data, including many of the studies cited above, indicate that women respond with arousal to many or most of the stimuli which arouse men. In fact, Byrne and others found that “husbands and wives exhibit greater than chance similarity in responding to erotica . . . spouses were found to be similar in their reported sexual arousal, in their judgments of pornography and in their attitudes about censorship following exposure to erotic stimuli”. They also found that authoritarianism was an important mediator of these responses. Englar and Walker reviewed the literature on sex differences and reported in their study that men and women responded equally to erotica. Izard and Caplan found small differences in male and female response to a passage from a book dealing with exploitative sex in which a virgin was seduced by a sexually experienced man. Men reported more sexual arousal than women did.
Herrell attempted to replicate their study and included a passage from (a book known to be not obscene) Lady Chatterly’s Lover. He found that the type of literature made a significant difference in reported levels of arousal. He concluded, in essence, that men may become aroused independently of the interpersonal content of erotica, but women may become aroused and angry after reading passages in which women are sexually exploited. He states, “Sex differences in response to erotic literature are complex and depend on the interpersonal as well as the erotic content of the passages”.
In summary, we find that the dominating evidence suggests that when normal adults view depictions of “ultimate sex acts,” their response, which is usually a quite normal degree of sexual arousal, is modulated by personality and social variables. Their reaction to their response is similarly related to experiential, personality, and social variables. There are virtually no data in the scientific literature which suggest a causal link between exposure to erotica and antisocial behavior, and there are many data which suggest the opposite. It may even be that a normal reaction of arousal to pornography may be able to separate sexually functional people from those with sexual dysfunctions.
There are no data which even hint that pornography represents a clear and present danger to society in the way that, say, alcohol or tobacco do. The debate over censorship therefore must continue to be based on attitudes, taste, and values. In a pluralistic and open society such as ours attempts to be, it is not likely that this debate will end soon.
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